Abstract
Two billion people worldwide lack access to clean water. Firms rival over limited natural resources such as freshwater in both their operations and upstream supply chains. Such rivalry goes beyond the rivals typically discussed within the Factor Market Rivalry theory, namely (non)product market rival firms. Households and nature also rival for the same freshwater resources yet pose different risks and require different firm responses. We analyse water rivalry in the California drought (2012-2016) and four embedded corporate cases, by using secondary data from CDP and other sources. This novel theory elaboration extends our understanding of how firms compete over water with peers, households and nature alike. We identify nature, households and the third sector as additional rivals and authorities as boundary condition of factor market rivalry. Case firms anticipated droughts, (extensively) rivalled for water during droughts and responded to water rivalry in different ways. One case firm actively engaged in FMR interdiction which negatively impacted households and especially nature.