Corporate social entrepreneurship initiatives against food waste – The case of Lidl in Romania

Food waste is one of the major global sustainability issues which, in the last few decades, has come to the attention of numerous organizations which have implemented strategies aimed either at preventing food waste, recovering the food and reusing it for human consumption or ensuring that the food unfit for human consumption is recycled into compost, animal feed etc. Previous studies have highlighted that major retailers share a large portion of the responsibility for combating food waste and that they are particularly well-positioned to contribute with a solution to this issue. Thus, the study explores the ways in which food chain responsibility can be incorporated into the overall strategy of large chain retailers through the theoretical framework of corporate social entrepreneurship. Lidl’s initiative against food waste in Romania provides the background for the discussion of the means through which the resources owned by these chain retailers can be mobilized in order to help increase the amount of food that is recovered and reused for alleviating the problem of food scarcity among disadvantaged groups. The study highlights the aspects that are necessary for a successful corporate social entrepreneurship initiative aimed at reducing food waste: a) a clear articulation of the problem and solution; b) the mobilization of actors from the civil society; c) continuous investment; and d) the alignment of the scaling up strategy of the initiative with the retailer’s resources. The study concludes that a food waste program based on the principles of corporate social entrepreneurship can generate a sustainable competitive advantage for retailers.