wicked problems and multi-stakeholder partnerships

Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships

& Wicked Problems in Agribusiness

Domenico Dentoni, Management Studies Group, Wageningen University

Increasing resilience of international supply chains

Research Capacity Building Event, 23rd - 25th November, 2015

Are agricultural and food chains resilient?

Source: FAO, World Bank statistics


World population People fed per hectare


19502.5 billion

20056.5 billion

2050

>9 billion

19602 people

2005>4 people

2050>6 people


World population People fed per hectare


19502.5 billion

20056.5 billion

2050

>9 billion

19602 people

2005>4 people

2050>6 people

870m 2bnpeople go to bed hungry

more people by

2050

More water is needed: agriculture already uses 70% of the world’s fresh water withdrawals, 4 billion people will

live in water-scarce countries

More arable land is needed: we lose a farmland a soccer field every second

More human labor is needed: weeding one hectares 200 hours of labor


Source: H.L. Mencken (1917)

For every complex problem, there

is a solution that is clear, simple…

… and

wrong.

Overview Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Wicked Problems in Agribusiness

Q1: Do we need

research on new ways

of organizing

agricultural and food

chains?

Q2: Why new

partnerships thrive,

but problems thrive

even more?

Q3: How can we

organize partnerships

to tackle problems

seriously?

Q4: What is our (new)

role as academics in

partnerships?

Are agricultural

and food chains

resilient? (No)

Question 1 Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Wicked Problems in Agribusiness

Do we need research

on new ways of organizing

agricultural and food chains?

Q1: Do we need research on new ways of organizing agricultural and food chains?

Problems are more than complex, problems are wicked

Problems in international food

and agricultural chains:

1. Change over time

2. Involve conflicts of values

among stakeholders

3. Have uncertain causes &

effects (even for scientists!)

These problems cannot be

dealt with traditional

strategic tools; they require

new ways of organizing

Source: Rittel and Webber (1973); Batie (2008); “Managing Wicked Problems in Agribusiness”, IFAMR Special Issue 15 B (2012); IFAMR Special Issue 16 A (2013).


Problems grow, few companies thrive

90,000

employees

; 1,200

outlets; #1

Africa

#1 in Asia

35

countries;

12,500

outlets

450

billion/year

sales!

+11%/year!

World’s #1World #2


“Collaboration” or “multi-stakeholder” are per se vague, insufficient and misleading concepts

Source: Backstrand 2006; Selski & Parker 2010; Dentoni and Peterson 2011, Mena & Palazzo 2013.

Multi-

Stakeholder

Partnership

Company

Competitors

Chain partners,

Farmers’

associations

Investors

Universities,

Research

centers

NGOs, Civil

society,

Trade unions

Government

International

organizations

31 out of 50

world top food

processing

companies

founded or

joined at least

one (2011)


Strategy theories help to understand when to collaborate

Value chains and networks:

- Gereffi et al. (2005)

- Williamson (1971)

- Gulati (1998)

Innovation eco-systems:

- Adner and Kapoor (2010)

- Klerkx and Leeuwis (2008)


Governance theories help to define how to collaborate

Knowledge-sharing

mechanisms

Decision-making

mechanisms

Enforcement

mechanisms

Reward

mechanisms

Formal

mechanisms

Informal

mechanisms

Source: Pascucci et al. (2015) British Food Journal. Special issue 117 (10);

Menard (2004); Grandori & Furnari (2008); Battilana & Dorado (2010)

HYBRID ORGANIZATIONS


Learning theories help to assess the effects of collaboration

Individual learning:

- Entrepreneurship

- Managerial competencies

Collective learning:

- Dynamic capabilities

- Organizational development

Source:

Bruton et al. 2008; Bird et al. 2012; Mintzberg & Gosling 2002.

Brown & Eisenhardt 1997; Eisenhardt & Martin 2000; Senge 2006; Scharmer 2009.


Q1: Do we need

research on new

ways of organizing

agricultural and

food chains?

Q2: Why new


but problems thrive

even more?

Q3: How can we


to tackle problems

seriously?



partnerships?

Are agricultural

and food chains

resilient? (No)


Why do partnerships thrive…

but problems thrive even more?

Q2: Why do multi-stakeholder partnerships thrive… but problems thrive even more?

Companies in partnerships learn only in first 2-3 years

X: Experience in multi-stakeholder partnerships

Y: S

ensin

g, In

tera

cting,

Learn

ing a

nd C

hangin

g

based o

n S

takehold

ers

Source: Dentoni, Bitzer, Pascucci (2015). Journal of Business Ethics

Partnership creation:

Intense discussion,

experimentation and

learning (2-3 years)

Partnership

institutionalization:

Implementation,

enforcement and

“marketing” (afterwards)


Companies build strategic “portfolios of partnerships”

Inclusive partnership: JBS

dialogues with all NGOs and

competitors on all socio-

environmental issues

Closed partnership: JBS

implements only with

two partners; seeking

efficiency on establishing

& enforcing an

environmental standard

Source: Schneider, Dentoni, Vieira (2016). Cross-Sector Social Interaction Symposium, Toronto (Canada), April 2016.


Most partnerships do not easily adapt to changing problemsSource: Dentoni & Bitzer (2013). Journal Management Studies paper development workshop. Dentoni, Bitzer, Schouten (2016). Cross-Sector Social Interaction Symposium, Toronto (Canada), April 2016.

Adaptive to the nature of problems = “problem-harnessing”:

Measured based on three dimensions:

“Open” governance of knowledge

“Open” governance of data

“Open” governance of values

- +


Companies do not easily adapt to changing problems in partnerships

More suitable in dynamic, turbulent,

nascent markets; and for rapid

experimentation & testing of new

processes & technologies

More suitable in stable and mature

markets; and for maintaining

efficiency through established

procedures

Source: MSc Theses by Marieke Kil, Willem Aberson, and Wouter Jager, Wageningen University (2014-2015)

Source: Brown and Eisenhardt 1997


Individuals need to adapt to changing problems as well

- STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

- ACTION COMPETENCE

7 COMPETENCIES that managers

need to engage in partnerships &

deal with wicked problems:

- SYSTEMS-THINKING

- FORESIGHTED-THINKING

- NORMATIVE COMPETENCE

- EMBRACING DIVERSITY

- INTERDISCIPLINARITY

Dealing with complexity

Dealing with heterogeneity

Dealing with value conflicts

Sources: Dentoni, Blok, Lans, Wesselink (2012), IFAMR.

Wesselink, Blok, Lans, van Leur, Dentoni (2015), Journal of Cleaner Production.


Q1: Do we need


of organizing


chains?

Q2: Why new


but problems thrive

even more?

Q3: How can we


to tackle problems

seriously?



partnerships?

Are agricultural

and food chains

resilient? (No)


How can we organize

agricultural and food systems

to tackle problems seriously?

Q3: How can we organize agricultural and food systems to seriously tackle problems?

We can advance practices to organize partnerships effectively

SYSTEMS DYNAMICS

as a participatory

appraisal (Walker et

al. 2002) to rapidly

assess how cause-

effect relationships

change over time;

Sources: Brouwers et al (2015). Center for Development Innovation, Wageningen University.


We can use systemic tools to build more effective partnerships

Sources: Dentoni, Klerkx, Krussmann (2015), FAO workshop on systems dynamics in food and agriculture; Dentoni & Dries (2015), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual

Meetings.

VALUE

NETWORK

ANALYSIS

(Allee 2000)

To assess how

actors share

resources in

Malawian

legume systems


We can use systemic tools to build more effective partnerships

!!

Bank!

Input!Supplier!

Farmers!

Government!

Market!Info!System!

Middlemen!

NGO!

C,!F!

C,!F,!K!

I!K!

F!

F!

H!

H!

H!

I!

Trader!Processor!

C,!F!

Sources: Dentoni, Klerkx, Krussmann (2015), FAO workshop on systems dynamics in food and agriculture; Dentoni & Dries (2015), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual

Meetings.

Malawian Commodity

Exchange: storage +

warehouse receipts + market

information + quality

certification services

Phone providers

EsokoLtd.

Multiple donors

Example of

VALUE

NETWORK

ANALYSIS in

Malawian

legume systems


We can study and design coordination across partnerships

CONVERGENCE-

DIVERGENCE

PROCESSES for

public R&D in

Australian fisheries

(2010-2013)

Time

State/local fishers’

associations meetings

Academic and policy-

making meetings

Sources: Dentoni and Klerkx (2015), Marine Policy.

Seafood CRC multi-

stakeholder meetings


We can study and support bottom-up organizing efforts

Sources: Dentoni, Pascucci, Migliore (2015), Academy of Management (AoM) Meetings, Vancouver (Canada); MSc theses by Isabel Miralles (2014) and Pintip Sevikul (2015)

Organization of

sharing:

• Market

elements

• Bureaucratic

elements

• Community

elements

Food consumer =

participant

entrepreneurship:

- Vertical

leadership

- Team

leadership

- Creativity

Community-

Supported

Agriculture

performance:

Financial

sustainability

Participants’

quality of life

Spain, Italy

and

Netherlands


Q1: Do we need


of organizing


chains?

Q2: Why new


but problems thrive

even more?

Q3: How can we


to tackle problems

seriously?



partnerships?

Are agricultural

and food chains

resilient? (No)


To deal with these problems in partnerships…

what is our role as academics?

Q4: What is our role as “new generation of academics”?

Experts; bridges; facilitators; reflectors; & student-enhancers

Sources: Dentoni and Bitzer (2015), Journal of Cleaner Production.

Academics

are formally engaged

in 31 out of 41 global

multi-stakeholder

partnerships

(Bridges)


Role of bridges in Global Center for Food Systems Innovation

- Bureau of Food

Security

- Global

Development Lab

25 $

Million:

Higher

Education

Solutions

Network

Complementary

programs:

Climate-Resilient

Maize

18 $ Million:

Open-Sourced

Innovation

Grants

1,5 $ Million:

Leverage with

- Australian ACIAR;

- European Union;

- Dutch Scientific

Institute;

- Dutch Embassies

Complementary

Wageningen-led

programs: Integrated

Seed Sector

Development, N2Africa

Sources: Global Center for Food Systems Innovation: MSU website and Wageningen website; USAID Higher Education Solutions

Network; USAID Global Development Lab website.


Role of student enhancers through Wageningen Starthub

Source: Wageningen University Starthub website.


Role of student enhancers through IFAMA

Source: www.ifama.org

IFAMA 2016 Student Case Study Competition in Aarhus, Denmark.


Let’s continue our collective reflection and experimentation…

through 2 Special Issues with new format

The Role of Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in Value Creation

MANAGING WICKED PROBL EMS IN AGRIBUSINESS

PART TWO

Special I ssue

Open-access; - ISI; - Wide

dissemination to practitioners; -

case-based, - for “engaged

scholars”, - for actors in emerging

economies.

Deadline: November 2016

- Interdisciplinary; - impact

factor 1,65; - optional open

access; - paper

development workshop in

Wageningen.

Deadline: January 2017

2017

2018


Q1: Do we need


of organizing


chains?

Q2: Why new


but problems thrive

even more?

Q3: How can we


to tackle problems

seriously?



partnerships?

Are agricultural

and food chains

resilient? (No)

Last thought Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Wicked Problems in Agribusiness

To tackle problems seriously, we need to strive for a Large Systems Change (LSC)

Agricultural

and food

systems

Financial

systems

Energy

systems

Geo-political

Systems

Academic

system

Source: Waddell et al (2015). Special Issue, Journal of Corporate Citizenship; Waddock, Waddell, Merszoely, McMillan, Dentoni (2015), Journal of Organizational Change Management.

Thank you!

Looking forward to a lively discussion

… And come visit us in Wageningen

Domenico Dentoni

Management Studies Group

Wageningen University

Email:

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]