Brazil is one of the world’s biggest beef producers and its largest exporter. However, beef cattle ranching is a leading cause of deforestation and habitat conversion in the Brazilian Amazon, which challenges sustainable development. We adopted the triple bottom line (TBL) as a guiding theory of sustainability and assumed the necessity of a production system-specific approach. Based on an integrative literature analysis, we aimed to assess sustainability pillars in beef cattle production. The Web of Science, Scopus and Science Direct databases were searched for studies on mitigating the adverse impacts of beef cattle production before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. We found 108 references in these databases, 46 of which met the criteria for eligibility assessment, and ten studies were selected for textual cluster analysis and thematic synthesis. The review shows emergent research themes on sustainability in beef cattle production. It also elaborates a conceptual model of the sustainability pillars in the technique, science, and social aspects of the beef cattle sector that may guide the managerial and political strategies for the beef cattle supply chain in Brazil and other emerging markets. This study indicates that sustainable beef cattle development requires new digital technologies and ideas about sustainable supply chain management, which provides human, environmental, and animal welfare.

The study investigated the organisational resilience (OR) levels of rural non-profit organisations (RNPOs) in the areas of activity or non-activity to adapt under the global uncertainty conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, in April/May 2020, the managers of 35 RNPOs located in Poland were queried. The Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (${\rho }_S$), the coefficient of determination ($R^2)$ and a transformation coefficient (d) were primarily used to verify the hypotheses and interpret the relationships studied. The study revealed four OR descriptive levels—progressive (PR), sustainable (SR), regressive (RR), and downward (DR). The findings also show that the undertaken activities are related to the OR descriptive levels. RNPOs realised one of two adaptations: passive adaptation aimed at returning to the pre-pandemic original state with no changes may lead to a bounce backwards and an uncertain survival, whilst active adaptation leads to a transformation process between OR levels to move forward and thrive in adapting to post-pandemic changes. This study confirmed that building OR requires understanding the ways of transformations among OR levels to undertake activities in strategic areas, i.e., activity scope (AS), cooperation (CO), and finance (FI), to adapt and transform RNPOs’ in an environment of post-pandemic uncertainty.

Different studies demonstrate that urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) operate in so-called alternative food networks (AFNs). However, very little is known about UPA’s relational business models. Therefore, this paper investigates how the urban and peri-urban farms (UPFs) form business relationships in food networks. Their business and social relationships are much more comprehensive than traditional transactional relationships. Therefore, this study aims to delimitate the relational model of UPFs. The managers and owners of nine UPFs in Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, in 2019 and 2020 were investigated. To this end, we employed a triple triangulation approach—methodological, theoretical, and investigator. The study refers primarily to the theory of inter-organisational relations (IORs); the empirical analysis adopts a network approach and activities–resources–actors (ARA) model framework. The study identifies UPFs business relationships and the main features of their networks, which led to the development of a conceptual relational UPFs model. This shows the diversification of activities, the competitiveness of resources and formality of organisational structures as a basis of a farm business, the integration of activities, the sharing of resources, and the collaboration of actors as the basis of the relationship. Finally, this shows the joint nature of activities—locality of resources and mutual trust among actors—as the basis of UPFs networking.

The research goal of this paper is to identify the possibility to transform the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) towards the concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV) in agribusiness. In the paper, both concepts are compared and the ways of their application are exemplified. A literature review and summative content analysis have been used to study CSR reports of four leading food companies in Poland. The study enabled the exemplification of good practices of shared value creation in the analysed agribusiness entities which publish information on their social impact. It concludes that the implementation of a new CSV approach is an important challenge for agribusiness companies. There are many areas where economic value can be augmented by new approach applications in agribusiness. Unfocused philanthropy, in the form of charitable donations and volunteering, should be replaced by the direct activity of companies aimed at solving social and environmental problems of agribusiness. Companies should make more effort towards shared value creation focused on reconceiving products and markets, redefining productivity in the value chain and building supportive agribusiness clusters. Some good practices presented in this study already are implemented. It contributes to identifying and gaining insight into the process of superseding CSR by the CSV approach in agribusiness, in Poland. This paper brings the discussion about social responsibility in agribusiness to a new level.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the CSR scopes of the leading bank institutions in Poland and to discuss their strategic context in the light of the theoretical findings. This paper analyzes the scope of practices undertaken by banks that publish Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports. It demonstrates the important role of banks in reporting and introducing corporate social responsibility practices in Poland. This paper uses a content analysis of selected banks’ CSR reports. In the analyzed 2007–2016 period it notes the increasing amount of banks’ reports and reported by them practices. The leading CSR bank institutions covered by this study adopt numerous practices such as, primarily, community involvement and development, including charitable, philanthropic and educational activities as well as entrepreneurship, creating jobs and competencies. Ranked second are labor practices and initiatives, oriented mainly at employee volunteering as well as training and development. The third group are consumer issues, primarily including those focused on rising availability of products and services as well as on facilities for clients. This analysis shows that the leading CSR bank institutions better and better understand the role of corporate involvement in society as a modern strategic approach that leverages capabilities to improve salient areas of competitive context and transforms value chains activities to benefit society while reinforcing corporate strategy.

This paper contributes to the overall discussion on the relational resources then, in particular, attempts to recognize inter-firm investments in the agrifood industry. It is essentially grounded in an integrative approach which combines relational and resource-based views. Our goal in this paper is to find out if and how relational investment contributes to a sustainable relational advantage of business relationships in the agrifood industry. Producers, processors and traders who undertake investments in conjunction with their contractors were queried. The main areas of these investment activities and the potential of a sustainable relational advantage are explored. On this basis, a model of resource-based sustainable relational advantage in agrifood business relationships was executed. It was found that relational investments aimed at optimization of supply and provision as well as food safety and social responsibility create and sustain a relational advantage. Those aimed at technology and ecology implicate an unexploited relational advantage. Subsequent human, financial and real capital investments implicate a temporary relational advantage. The added value of this study lies in the implementation of an integrative approach to investigating the development potential of sustainable resource ties in the agrifood industry.