Porter’s Five Forces hits the fish counter

Sustainability, ethics and corporate social responsibility all feature heavily in the news about bluefin tuna this week, as does the theory of Porter’s Five Forces in shaping business strategy. The bluefin is the victim of consumer trends – the explosion in the demand for sushi and for fresh tuna steaks to barbecue, as well as successful campaigns to persuade us to eat a more omega 3-rich diet to protect us from heart disease (and even to prevent eye disease, according to this report on Monday). But it is being over-fished to a critical point at which stocks are becoming completely unsustainable. A film which premiered in the UK on Monday makes the point very clearly - The End of the Line, a documentary based on a book by journalist Charles Clover, examines the mismanagement of bluefin fisheries as a microcosm of how we are hoovering the seas of their fish to the point at which species cannot be sustained and risk dying out altogether. It is generating much publicity for the issue, such as this article from the Times, in order to give it a higher profile.