Sustainability in large food and beverage companies and their supply chains: An investigation into key drivers and barriers affecting sustainability strategies

Abstract Food and beverage companies have a very significant environmental and social impact, and this has become a global issue. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the drivers and barriers to implementing sustainability in large food and beverage companies and their supply chains. A total of 21 semistructured interviews were undertaken with 16 large food and beverage companies operating in Australia, including 11 multinationals. Institutional theory and extended resource‐based view (ERBV) were applied to evaluate the companies' responses to the external pressures that they faced. The lack of a government regulatory and environmental framework was seen as a major barrier, while top management commitment was generally strong across the sample companies and was seen as a key internal driver. In order to develop an effective sustainability strategy, it is important that a company understands the drivers and barriers to sustainability implementation so that the appropriate actions can be taken. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is first time that the drivers and barriers to sustainability of large food and beverage manufacturers have been evaluated.