One of the major critiques of management theories or theories in general is its inability to influence the world of practice and derive appropriate solutions for the real-world problems. This broader issue of missing industry-academia linkage often gets highlighted across multiple forums. However, such is not always the case. Some theories actually help to capture and explain the complexity of the real-world phenomenon.
The case in point is the recent allegations against the well-known milk products-based organization. Recently, there were allegations from the grassroots organizations and communities in the Himalayan region that a noteworthy brand “Amul” (The Taste of India) is becoming a source of “waste in India”, especially in the mountains and fragile ecosystems of the eastern Himalayan region like Darjeeling.
Amul is the major player of milk-based products in this region and sells humongous amount of milk and allied products to the tourists, shops and hotels. The milk packaged in tetra packs is becoming a major cause of concern because of its improper disposal by the tourists into the mountains & rivers, and inefficient collection mechanisms by the other key stakeholders like producer, local administration, tourists, NGOs and ground workers. The mindless consumerism, administration apathy and relentless push of FMCG goods packaged in plastic without building the adequate reverse supply chain logistics and technology for recycling are the root causes for the growing pollution menace across the pristine rivers and mountain slopes of the region.
This posits a unique wicked problem involving multiple stakeholders with varied interests and responsibilities towards addressing the problem. To an extent, the stakeholder theory attempts to capture the essence of such complex problems. According to the tenets of stakeholder theory, the only purpose of the business is not to serve the profit-maximization motives of its shareholders, but also to consider the demands and concerns of broader stakeholders who impact or get impacted by the activities of the business. The failure to proactively address the interests of the important stakeholders may put the long-term survival, success and performance of the organization in question.
In the present case of Amul, the grassroots organization ‘TIEEDI’ working in the areas of waste management highlighted the important issue of Amul tetra pack waste through the power of social media (Video 1 and Video 2). They created impactful content on social media, engaged the relevant stakeholders and tagged the Amul officials to take significant action in tackling the problem. The Amul and Tetra Pak representatives responded to the situation, established the conversation with Tieedi and agreed to source the tetra pack waste to the nearest recycling facility. Together, all of them have also engaged to find a holistic solution to address the root cause of the problem.
The highlighted case is not to point against a particular brand, but to depict the complexity of the unforeseen problems and the impact stakeholders can have on the day-to-day functioning of the business activities and its implications on the perception of the brand. It is important to consider that “There is no such thing as away. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere”. Thus, it is the collective responsibility of all the stakeholders including the producer, consumer and local administration to reduce, reuse and recycle the sourced waste, and thereby ensure “zero waste” by aligning with the principles of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ and “Circular Economy”.
