Voices of the forest: (How) do alternative accounts govern relationships towards managing biodiversity loss in Sweden?

While there is an increasing number of B2B studies about sustainability, few centre on the issue of biodiversity loss and the business network processes needed to address this. In this paper, we focus on the Swedish forestry sector to investigate the role of alternative accounts made by actors not typically considered as part of the business network (e.g. NGOs, individual activists, ecotourism organisations or investigative journalists), in governing business relationships towards managing biodiversity loss. Through a combination of the sustainability accounting literature and the Industrial Network Approach (INA), we provide a new lens for understanding how network change is pre-mobilised in issue-based nets. Specifically, we introduce the concept of network nudging. We further draw on governmentality to show how the alternative accounts use ethical and emotive discourses to challenge dominant business logics. The paper emphasises the importance of inclusive, dialogical engagement with marginalised voices to strengthen relational governance. We conclude by arguing how current understandings of how sustainability is managed within issue-based nets is enhanced by including the pre-mobilising efforts of alternative accounts.