Value co-creation for resilient supply chains: a cross-country study in the coffee industry

Purpose - The purpose of the research is to identify and categorize value co-creation projects carried out by three main stakeholder groups of the coffee supply chain (large corporation, Non Governmental Organizations and dependent stakeholders alias farmers) and provide a management model for the value co- creation project implementation. Secondly, we seek to gather dependent stakeholders' perception on value co-creation projects and understand if there is consistency of value creation objectives among Lavazza, NGOs and dependent stakeholders and if projects actually contribute to overcome the vulnerability factors as identified in the literature (Pettit et al., 2010) and make the supply chain more resilient. Design/methodology/approach - We propose an approach based on the elaboration of multiple exemplifying case studies (20) respecting data triangulation by considering value co-creation projects carried out by the Italian coffee roaster Lavazza (market leader in Italy and seventh worldwide by market share - Statista 2014) together with 3 NGOs with a cross-country logic in 13 developing and emerging countries. Moreover, we have designed and conducted 3 focus groups (15 individuals per each) among farmers located in the coffee extraction area of Brazil in order to gather their perception on value co-creation projects. Originality/value - This methodology puts in evidence the main best practices of value co-creation projects activated in developing and emerging countries, in which dependent stakeholders of the upper end of the supply chain sit. We adopt a theoretical framework of vulnerability factors and apply it to the coffee industry to empirically demonstrate how co-creation is possible through empowering of farmers that can support supply chain resilience. Moreover, by providing a qualitative perception of value creation, we underline the need of understanding perceptions as precondition to design effective value co-creation projects. We aim at enriching managerial and academic debates over clarification of value creation for dependent stakeholders. Practical implications - The outcomes of the application are developed around two mainstreams. The first suggests a management model for value co-creation processes to work as catalyst for resilient supply chains (based on empirical results of existing projects) that can be replicated to similar complex supply chains. We underline that engagement of dependent stakeholders for co-creating value is obtained only through specific empowerment actions aiming at increasing farmers' social inclusion, business mentality and awareness. By describing such empowerment actions we aim at favouring replication of co-creation projects.