The Sustainable Coffee Supply Chain: Actors, Activities, and Resources

In this chapter, the author presents the findings of the empirical research on the state of sustainability in the coffee supply chain. Drawing on the empirical study, this chapter explores the current state of sustainability in the coffee supply chain by examining involved actors, main practices and activities, and critical resources. The main objective is to map the current situation. The interpretative framework for this mapping was the ARA (Actors-Resources-Activities) model that is composed of three deeply intertwined elements: the activities undertaken, the resources used for these activities, and the actors performing the activities and controlling the resources. By applying these three different lenses on a complex context, the ARA model has already shown its usefulness for analysing various business processes and situations, such as technological development, business-to-business marketing, purchasing and supply management, physical distribution, and logistics (Håkansson et al., Business in networks. Wiley, 2009). In this work, applying the ARA model has facilitated the understanding of how these three entities interact, offering the base of knowledge for exploring tensions.