Conference Programme

Nearly 50% of packaged products rely on palm oil and many companies across the supply network depend on this raw material. Because palm oil production takes place largely in Southeast Asia with sensitive ecosystems and low-income communities, practices around palm oil represent a source of operational, legal, and reputational risk. To mitigate harmful practices, companies can rely on grievance mechanisms. Increasingly, grievance mechanisms are seen not just as a reactive process but as a tool to improve social and environmental practices. Prior work has shown how individual companies implement bridging and buffering processes to reduce risks along supply networks. However, little is known about what role power dynamics play across the supply network to foster sustainable practices beyond harm reduction. Through a qualitative study, this paper identifies micro-processes of how grievance claims are raised, addressed, and resolved with a path towards degenerative, harm reducing, and regenerative outcomes. The findings show that regenerative outcomes are possible when buyers have sufficient power; by contrast, when suppliers are dominant or business partners act independently, degenerative outcomes prevail.