Integrating Decision Support Tools into Organisations for Food Waste Strategies

This PhD project, presented as a thesis with publications, explores integrating decision support tools in daily strategising activities to mitigate food loss and waste (FLW). Even with the global capacity of the food industry and the supply chain to feed everyone, significant FLW persists annually. In addressing this challenge, the research investigates the multifaceted nature of organisational decision-making to curtail surplus food production and diminish FLW, a critical component for achieving sustainable food systems. By employing strategy as practice and sociomateriality frameworks, the research demonstrates the dynamics of social and technological factors influencing decisions within organisational contexts. Through 22 in-depth interviews with representatives from 20 diverse organisations, the findings provide insights into strategic approaches for industry-wide FLW reduction while considering the social and material factors influencing organisational decision-making processes. Hence, the central finding of this thesis is that entrenched practices tend to impede the adoption of sustainable strategies, posing constraints to the food industry's innovation and resilience amid growing environmental and social imperatives. The findings of this research are relevant to the academic literature in two ways. Empirically, the thesis contributes to the emerging literature on strategic management that explores social and material agencies within strategic decision-making for FLW reduction. Theoretically, identifying practice inertia in sociomaterial strategic practices offers novel insights into the interdependencies between organisational routines and technological platforms, contributing to the understanding of the barriers and catalysts in the food industry that are likely to hinder sustainable transformation. Thus, addressing practice inertia involves a comprehensive approach, intertwining technology, strategy, and behavioural transformation to foster sustainable and resilient food industry practices. In doing so, it proposes a pathway for research that examines sociomaterial concerns which may arise in the future within strategic management and the sociomaterial ecosystems these strategies create and influence.