| Course | SUST 5013 People First: Creating Value Beyond Profit |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Benefit corporation stakeholder map |
| Length | 1,260 words, about 5 pages plus title and reference pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | American College of Education |
| Program | M.S. in Organizational Leadership |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for SUST 5013 Module 1
Farmers, Crew, Hens and One Customer at 22 Percent: Mapping Vital Farms' Stakeholders
Student Name
American College of Education
SUST5013: People First: Creating Value Beyond Profit
Module 1 Assignment
Instructor Name
September 4, 2028
Introduction
Vital Farms sells pasture-raised eggs, butter and related products. It was founded in 2007 on a 27-acre plot in Austin, Texas, and by fiscal 2025 earned net revenue of $759.4 million and net income of $66.3 million. It is a Delaware public benefit corporation and has been a Certified B Corporation since December 2015, and it describes itself as committed to Conscious Capitalism, which it defines as prioritizing positive, long-term outcomes for all stakeholders (Vital Farms, Inc., 2026). This paper maps those stakeholders using the company's FY2025 10-K. It identifies each group and its interests, ranks the groups by salience and names the tensions among them.
Stakeholder Theory
Freeman et al. (2004) summarized stakeholder theory as resting on two questions: what the purpose of the firm is and what responsibility management has to stakeholders. Their answer was that firms create value by serving the interests of the groups that affect or are affected by them, such as customers, employees, suppliers, communities and financiers, and that these interests are largely joint rather than opposed over time. The theory does not deny tradeoffs, but it treats managing them as the central task of management rather than an exception. A benefit corporation, which must balance stockholders' interests with those materially affected by its conduct, gives this view legal form.
Stakeholder Salience
Not all stakeholders receive equal attention. Mitchell et al. (1997) proposed that the attention a group gets from managers rises with three attributes: power to affect what the firm does, a claim that society regards as proper and a demand that cannot wait. Stakeholders with all three are definitive and usually receive the most attention. Those with legitimacy and urgency but little power are dependent; they rely on others, such as advocates or the firm's own values, to press their claims. This model helps explain why some groups dominate decisions and others need deliberate protection.
How Vital Farms Names Its Stakeholders
The company lists five stakeholder groups: farmers and suppliers, customers and consumers, communities and the environment, crew members, as it calls its employees, and stockholders. Its certificate of incorporation names six public benefits: bringing ethically produced food to the table, bringing joy to customers through products and services, allowing crew members to thrive in an empowering, fun environment, fostering lasting partnerships with farms and suppliers, forging an enduring profitable business and being stewards of animals, land, air and water while supporting the community (Vital Farms, Inc., 2026). These statements provide the starting point for the map.
Farmers and Suppliers
The company's eggs come from a network of more than 600 small family farms in what it calls the Pasture Belt, a region where weather allows hens to be outside as much as possible. It says it offers supply contracts attractive to all parties, pays competitive prices for high-quality eggs and provides educational programs, and it credits this commitment with reducing farmer turnover. In 2025 it began placing hens on company-owned accelerator farms meant to test practices that can be scaled to the network (Vital Farms, Inc., 2026). Farmers' interests include stable prices, fair contract terms, technical support and assurance that the company will keep buying from them.
The Hens and the Land
The company's purpose, improving the lives of people, animals and the planet through food, names animals explicitly. Its eggs follow the Certified Humane pasture-raised standard, which requires at least 108 square feet of land per hen and daily outdoor access (Vital Farms, Inc., 2026). The hens' interest is in their welfare, and the land's in sound grazing and water management. Neither can speak for itself. In salience terms, animals and the environment are dependent stakeholders with legitimate and sometimes urgent claims, such as during outbreaks of avian influenza, but no direct power; their claims depend on standards, auditors, advocates and the company's own commitments.
Crew Members
At the end of 2025, the company had about 739 full-time crew members, 507 of them in operations, all in the United States; about 40 percent were women and about 19 percent identified as members of underrepresented minority groups. None is represented by a union. Most work at or support Egg Central Station, the company's processing plant in Springfield, Missouri, where the filing reports pay above a local living-wage benchmark and a package of benefits that includes ownership opportunities (Vital Farms, Inc., 2026). Crew members' interests include fair pay, safe working conditions, chances to develop and a share in the growth they help produce, and their bargaining power rises and falls with the local labor market.
Customers and Consumers
The company sells through retailers including Albertsons, Kroger, Publix, Target, Walmart, Sprouts and Whole Foods, and its products reach nearly 16 million households. Customer concentration is high: one retailer, unnamed in the filing, accounted for 22 percent of 2025 net revenue, and another for 10 percent (Vital Farms, Inc., 2026). Retailers want reliable supply, margins and products that draw shoppers. Consumers want quality, honest labeling and, for many, assurance about animal welfare; the company offers a Traceability initiative that lets consumers see the farm where their eggs were laid. Consumers also pay a premium, which limits who can buy.
Communities, Environment and Stockholders
Communities near its plants have interests in jobs, traffic, water and land use. The company reports consulting the Springfield community before building Egg Central Station, restoring native vegetation, managing stormwater and installing solar panels, and it is building a second plant in Seymour, Indiana, expected to be fully operational in 2027 (Vital Farms, Inc., 2026). Stockholders' interests center on growth and returns; net revenue grew from $260.9 million in fiscal 2021 to $759.4 million in fiscal 2025, a compound annual rate of 30.6 percent. As a public company, the firm faces continuous pressure to sustain that growth.
Ranking Salience
Applying the salience model produces a clear ranking. Stockholders and the largest retailer are definitive stakeholders: both hold power, legitimate claims and, at times, urgent demands, and losing a customer worth 22 percent of revenue would be severe. Farmers are close to definitive as a group, since the company depends on their supply, but individual farms have little power on their own. Crew members hold legitimacy and some power through the labor market. Communities hold power mainly when a new plant is being approved. Hens and the environment are dependent stakeholders whose claims rest on others.
Tensions Among Stakeholders
The map reveals several tensions. Growth for stockholders requires more supply, but company-owned accelerator farms could, over time, compete with the family farms whose partnership is a stated public benefit. Concentrated retail customers can press on price, which could squeeze farmer pay or crew wages. The premium price that supports farmers and welfare standards also limits which consumers can buy ethically produced food. And disease outbreaks pit animal welfare and farmer income against supply commitments to retailers. The company's balancing duty as a public benefit corporation requires its board to weigh these tensions rather than default to stockholder interests.
Conclusion
Vital Farms names its stakeholders and public benefits more explicitly than most companies. Mapping them from its own filing shows a network of more than 600 contract farms, hens and land that depend on others to represent them, 739 full-time crew members, concentrated retail customers, consumers paying a premium, host communities and stockholders accustomed to rapid growth. Salience analysis shows stockholders and the largest retailer as most powerful, and animals and the environment as most dependent. The next module examines how the company's employee practices create value for crew members and the business.
References
Freeman, R. E., Wicks, A. C., & Parmar, B. (2004). Stakeholder theory and "the corporate objective revisited." Organization Science, 15(3), 364-369. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1040.0066
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853-886. https://doi.org/10.2307/259247
Vital Farms, Inc. (2026). Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 28, 2025. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1579733/000119312526073423/vitl-20251228.htm
The SUST 5013 Module 1 assignment instructions
The first SUST 5013 paper usually asks you to map a benefit corporation's stakeholders and their interests. Expect to define stakeholder theory with research, identify each stakeholder group from the company's own documents and explain what each group wants. Most prompts reward going beyond a list, for example by ranking stakeholders with a salience model, noting groups that cannot speak for themselves and identifying tensions among interests. Connect the analysis to the company's stated public benefits and its legal duty to balance interests. Use the company's filings or benefit report, and cite sources in APA 7. Choose a company that publishes enough detail to support each part of the map. A one-page table summarizing groups, interests and salience can help readers follow the analysis.
How the SUST 5013 Module 1 example is put together
The sample introduces Vital Farms with figures from its 10-K, then explains stakeholder theory and the salience model. The company's own five stakeholder groups and six charter benefits frame the map. Farmers in a network of more than 600 farms, hens and land under a 108-square-foot standard, 739 full-time crew members, retailers including one worth 22 percent of revenue, consumers, communities near its plants and stockholders are each described with their interests. A salience ranking follows, and tensions, such as accelerator farms and premium pricing, close the analysis. Every figure is dated to fiscal 2025 so readers know the period described.
SUST 5013 Module 1 rubric: what full marks look like
Stakeholder maps are graded on completeness, analysis and evidence. Graders look for stakeholder theory explained with research, each group identified from company documents and interests stated specifically rather than generically. Strong papers rank stakeholders using a model such as salience, include groups that lack a voice and identify real tensions among interests. Connecting the map to the company's public benefits and legal duties is often credited. Lists of stakeholders without interests, claims taken from marketing pages and maps that ignore conflicts tend to score lower. Cite the company's filings and research in APA 7, and keep figures tied to the year they describe. A short summary table is a welcome addition when the prompt allows one.
SUST 5013 Module 1 help: mistakes that cost points
Stakeholder maps can easily turn into long lists that say little about who actually shapes a company's choices. We can help you choose a benefit corporation with good public documents, identify its stakeholders from its own filings and analyze salience and tensions. Whether you already have a company in mind or want a recommendation, include the prompt and we will prepare a map grounded in stakeholder research and company evidence. Food, apparel, outdoor gear, finance and consumer goods companies all work well. Most maps are finished within two days, with every figure tied to its source so you can check it before submitting. Revisions are included.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official American College of Education document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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SUST 5013 Module 1 questions, answered
What does SUST5013 Module 1 usually ask for?
Module 1 of SUST5013 usually asks you to map a benefit corporation's stakeholders, explain each group's interests and analyze how the company balances them.
What is stakeholder salience?
A way of ranking stakeholders proposed in 1997: groups that can influence the firm, hold an accepted claim and need attention quickly tend to come first.
Can animals or the environment be stakeholders?
Many analyses treat them as dependent stakeholders with legitimate claims but no direct power, represented by standards, advocates or company commitments.
Where can I find a free SUST 5013 Module 1 sample paper?
This page has one: a stakeholder map of Vital Farms, with more than 600 contract farms, 739 full-time crew members and one retailer at 22 percent of revenue.
Where do I find a company's stakeholders and public benefits?
A public benefit corporation's 10-K often lists its stated benefits and stakeholder groups; its impact or benefit report adds detail.