Tea industry in Sri Lanka makes a significant impact to the economy by contributing nearly 30%…

Tea industry in Sri Lanka makes a significant impact to the economy by contributing nearly
30% of foreign exchange earned by the country. It is the single largest agricultural export
industry in Sri Lanka both in terms of volume and net foreign earnings. Further, tea estates
occupy a land area of 230,000 hectares, of which 190,000 hectares are cultivated and
approximately one million of country’s population is residing in tea estates.
However, tea industry is often affected adversely by the changes in weather conditions from
extreme rainfall to drought conditions, which in turn impact on the crop production and quality
of tea and the commercial viability of tea plantation companies. This industry is highly labour
incentive with a strong presence of trade unions and the employees reside in the estates with
their extended families as a community. Further, there are many local and global socio-political
and economic factors that impact on these industries. Among these, an important consideration
is the tea buyers’ special attention on use of environmental-friendly and socially responsible
business practices in tea plantation companies and its implications on tea prices. Owing to
myriad of these challenges faced by the tea industry, tea plantation companies need to uphold
the best practices in agriculture and field development for future viability. Thus, concern for
sustainability has become a key strategic imperative in companies operating in tea industry.
However, some companies have responded to this need more effectively. In this context, this
case narrates the story of one such company – Paradise Plantations LTD (a hypothetical name
is used to keep the entity anonymous), which has introduced sustainable business practices to
address the environmental and social (including labour) issues that impact on company
operations.
2.0 The Company
Paradise Plantations LTD is a subsidiary of one of the largest business conglomerates listed on
the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). It has 16 estates spreading over 6,500 hectares of land,
of which the majority of estates are situated in high grown elevations in Talawakelle and Nanu
Oya, and the rest in the low grown elevations in Deniyaya and Galle. It has maintained the