IMD-2-0083 © 2006
Steger, Ulrich; Nick, Alexander; Salzmann, Oliver; Ionescu-Somers, Aileen
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an NGO – headquartered in London and established by WWF and Unilever in 1997 to set up a certification and eco-tagging system for the sustainable fishing. The case illustrate the MSC’s opening and more current challenges together with the Tragedy of the Commons; a wide range of less agreeable stakeholders; along with the intricacy of certifying fisheries on sustainability criteria. It also outlines management decisions to meet at least a number of the challenges: improved transparency and engagement with stakeholders; certification methodologies and new governance structures.
Learning objectives: Participants must 1) see the predicaments linked to the certification of sustainable business practices (in general and in fisheries in particular); 2) reflect on the institutional dilemma presented by the wide variety of often contradictory stakeholder demands; 3) see the importance to perform strategic (i.e. concentrated) stakeholder engagement (find the most important allies) and establish effective governance structures. This case was the 2010 ECCH prize winner in the class Economics, Politics & Business Environment.
Subjects: Sustainability; Certification; Labelling; Fishing; NGO; Stakeholder Management; Food & Beverage
Settings: Global; Europe; Fishing; Food & Beverage; Charity; 23 employees; 1997-2006
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