Table 3.

Factors affecting food business investment in more sustainable supply chains. (Based in part on Paths to Sustainability in Supply Chain Management. Nordic Partnership SSCM Self Diagnostic Tool v. 1.0, August 2004.)

	supporting investment	counteracting investment
resources	resources available for strategic work	works to tight margins or in highly competitive environment. No time or energy for strategy
vision	long-term business vision	no long-term vision
culture	culture of involvement in (local) communities and support for local and national priorities high standards of social and environmental care within the business and with employees	considers that responsibility to communities and national priorities is confined to paying taxes and obeying the law
	knowledge of issues (e.g. eco-efficiency, waste management, agronomy, biodiversity) and their management, based on in-house expertise or strong relationships with external experts
products	high-quality products, trusted brands, high brand reputation	short-lived product lines or products, perhaps subject to rapid changes in fashion
	value of differentiated products
pressure	high-quality products, brands, brand reputation	no pressure for change from customers
	customer requirements for supply chain management to deliver environmental and social performance assurances	media exposure has negligible effect on customers or employees
	risk of negative media exposure owing to social or environmental performance of suppliers
supply chain	local or conserved food supply chain where consumers purchase a recognizable farm product (e.g. fruit or vegetable)	commodity-based supply chainscomplicated, dynamic supply chains or multiple ingredients for manufactured foods
	long-term relationships and interdependency with suppliersgood understanding of own supply chains	buy entirely on cost rather than valuedoes not value stable supplies or long-term relationships with suppliers