Sustainable value and trade‐offs: Exploring situational logics and power relations in a UK brewery's malt supply network business model

Abstract

Abstract Conceptualizing firms from a business ecosystem, value‐ or supply‐network perspective captures the boundary‐spanning nature of value creation. However, the relationship dynamics that enable or inhibit sustainable value creation, as well as the understanding of how to resolve trade‐offs in sustainable supply chain management, need to be better understood. To explore these, we present a comparative case study of how situational logics and power relations are embedded in business models within a UK brewer and its malt supply chain. The exploratory case illustrates how network‐centric business model innovation resolves the trade‐off between economic and environmental value through the prioritization of sustainability‐related ‘cultural’ resources. These findings suggest that organizations seeking to implement sustainable supply networks need to pay greater attention to how they use business model innovation to institutionalize situational logics that enable or inhibit sustainable value creation and resolve trade‐offs.