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Reduce surplus food: Linking corporate donors and food banks
... Food banks can be seen as independent public interest institutions by helping to reduce food waste and also by contributing to corporate social responsibility in relation to tackling poverty and the related nutritional needs of the population concerned (e.g. Caraher & Furey, 2018;Lipinski et al., 2013;Soon et al., 2016). Although food is provided free of charge to these banks, their operation is mostly dependent on subsidies from the state budget. ...
Corporate social responsibility in the food production and distribution sector in Europe is currently mainly linked to the activities of food banks. Food banks in the current form provide their services free of charge, however, these activities are closely associated with support from public budgets and volunteering. Currently, there is a growing tendency to revise the current funding scheme and the overall provision of food banks´ activities, as well as the efficiency aspects of their operation. It is, therefore, necessary to identify the essential aspects of the social responsibility framework, in particular from the side of participating entities as donors to food banks. The new situation calls for a revision of food banks´ operation schemes, including supportive voluntary intentions within the business environment. Specifically, the importance of the social responsibility of business entities can be seen in their inclusive assistance in the recent global COVID-19 crisis. This article aims at the identification of financial aspects behind voluntary donations to food banks, using the exploratory approach, namely via identification of major differences between voluntary donors and the respective industry benchmark in the field of financial criteria, focusing on Central and Eastern European countries (CEE). It was employed a methodological approach for testing independent observed samples to compare selected financial performance indicators´ mean values, using a two-sample T-test for equal and non-equal variances. Subsequently, a dynamic decomposition of observed financial performance indicators is conducted for a revision of the existence of mutual correlations. Differently from the main areas of interest of identified previous research on food banks´ activities, our effort is focusing on business entities in the role of food banks´ stakeholders. Corporate micro-financial data of foodstuff donors in Central and Eastern European countries according to their accessible annual reports and lists of donors to foodbanks are employed. Authors thus point out, based on provided empirical evidence, a need for a more inclusive type of attitude to food banks´ operations from the foodstuff production and distribution chain and its participants.
... incorrect labelling of products, products with damaged packaging, products after periods of minimum durability or otherwise qualitydeficient products at a level that does not reduce their food safety). Food banks can therefore be considered as independent actors in the public interest in reducing food waste as well as social responsibility in relation to poverty and related nutritional needs of the population groups concerned [1][2][3]. ...
Research background: Food banks, in their current form, provide services free of charge, but their activities cannot be conducted without public subsidies. Specifically, these are operational and investment subsidies mainly from the resources of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic. Thus, the tendency to change the current servicing scheme, mainly from the economic point of view, becomes a growing interest area for food banks and respective stakeholders.
Purpose of the article: Purpose of the article is to identify current best practice of food banks sector and to find common aspects of the financial position of food banks in the Czech Republic, using their financial statements and approaches of technical financial analysis in application on the sample of entities.
Methods: Authors use general methods of analysis and synthesis of relevant scientific articles and studies with respect to the fact that the problem area of effective and efficient activities in the CEE countries or even Europe is quite rare. There are employed data from accessible financial statements of currently existing 15 food banks in the Czech Republic.
Findings & Value added: This article provides an initial outcome of an ongoing specific research project on sustainable service of food banks in the frame of corporate responsible activities within a globalized food manufacturing and food supply chain industry. Authors fill with partial results of this article a gap in the research of the sustainable food bank activities in the CEE countries.
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