Corporate biodiversity management and organisational change mechanisms: The case of a tea producer in Sri Lanka

Corporate biodiversity management (CBDM) is a primary environmental concern inthe food and beverage industry, especially the tea sector. However, the way tea-producing companies pursue sustainable biodiversity management practices, andhow these practices lead to organisational change at the lower tiers of the food sup-ply chain remain under-researched. Using alternative models of organisational changeand data from interviews, field visits, and documents, this study analyses the prac-tices adopted by a tea producer in a highly environmentally sensitive area inSri Lanka, and how these practices have led to organisational change. The findingsshow that environmental disturbances in the tea industry's value chain primarilyinfluence the organisation's design archetypes, in turn leading to CBDM throughorganisational subsystems and interpretive schemes. The study shows that adoptingCBDM practices gradually and consistently leads to sustainable outcomes over time.