The rising global concerns related to climate change and the exhaustion of natural resources due to the intensified human activity in multiple industries have been triggering the need for shifting to sustainable development. Food security and resource scarcity issues are of particular importance within this perspective, since the performance of agriculture and other food-related industries are at risk of being adversely impacted. The chocolate industry, which globally relies on the supply of cocoa from African countries, faces significant resource scarcity threats due to climate change that reduces the amount of water in the tropical areas (Naranjo-Merino, C.A., Ortiz-Rodriguez, O.O. and Villamizar, 2017; Zhang, 2016). While cocoa production exceeds the demand, there are multiple difficulties related to taxes, pricing, and production regulations that farmers face. However, the rising volumes of production trigger the concerns of the exhaustion of natural resources necessary for sustainable chocolate manufacturing.
The long-term vision of the future of cocoa production as the main agricultural resource for the chocolate industry necessitates the evaluation of the availability of resources for sustainability purposes. However, while some areas are more impacted by the resource shortage than others and the data on the state of the chocolate industry vary, it is necessary to research the level of impact of resource scarcity on the chocolate industry (Maltais, 2019; Wilmore, 2015). This paper will be based on the environmental complexity and source scarcity theories to investigate the business case of the Ferrero Rocher company. The evaluation of the level of influence of Ferrero Rocher on the availability of resources will be presented. The overview of the company’s past and current performance, the analysis of its supply chain, and the forecasts for the future trends in relation to resource scarcity will be provided.
Reference List
Maltais, K. (2019) ‘What chocolate shortage? Cocoa prices steady as record output projected’, The Wall Street Journal, Web.
Naranjo-Merino, C.A., Ortiz-Rodriguez, O.O. and Villamizar-G, R.A. (2017) ‘Assessing green and blue water footprints in the supply chain of cocoa production: a case study in the Northeast of Colombia’, Sustainability, 10(1), pp.1-9.
Wilmore, K. (2015) ‘A chocolate shortage? Why the world’s favorite treat could get a lot more expensive and harder to find’, Junior Scholastic/Current Events, 7, p. 12.
Zhang, Y. (2016) 5 facts about the chocolate industry. Web.