Bioeconomy in Amazonia: Tensions and Synergies of Corporate Sustainability

Manioca is a successful food-tech company, an entrepreneurial initiative emerging from a desire to share the flavours of the Amazonia globally. The scarcity of typical Amazonian products in the Southeast region of Brazil, coupled with a general interest in Northern cuisine, led Joanna Martins to pursue her vision of commercializing local products. After an unsuccessful venture, her experience paved the way for success in her second business: the Manioca, a food industry based on local raw materials. The industry prioritizes sustainable sourcing and fair stakeholder relationships. Joanna and her co-founder, Paulo Reis, navigated numerous challenges but now face difficulties securing additional supply for the industry due to Amazonia’s limitations. She confronts the decision to either develop suppliers directly or outsource through intermediaries, each impacting the industry’s economic, social, and environmental dimensions differently. This case focuses on the concepts of triple bottom line and sustainability tensions and invites students to consider the factors influencing Joanna’s decision. This analysis is relevant to management, sustainability, operations, entrepreneurship, and agribusiness disciplines. It underscores the complexity of corporate sustainability, advocating for a systemic perspective beyond financial metrics and reevaluating current sustainability frameworks.