What do Corporations have to do with Fair Trade? Positive and Normative Analysis from a Value Chain Perspective

Reed, Darryl

doi:10.1007/s10551-008-9757-5

Cited by 120 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The positive impacts of large firms participating in sustainability efforts may include (a) an increasing proportion of industry activities that meet sustainability criteria [6,15], (b) an increased availability of products and services for consumers that meet these criteria [16], and/or (c) a greater level of resources devoted to raising consumer awareness of sustainability goals [17]. There are also potential negative impacts, including tendencies for large firms that do participate in sustainability efforts to (a) only apply those practices to a very small percentage of their purchases or sales, while reaping benefits of positive publicity, (e.g., -greenwashing‖ or -fairwashing‖) [15,[18][19][20] and/or (b) attempt to weaken the original sustainability goals on an industry-wide basis in order to increase profits [9,21].…”

Section: Firm Size and Sustainability Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tensions Between Firm Size and Sustainability Goals: Fair Trade Coffee in the United States

Howard

Jaffee

2013

Sustainability

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Sustainability marketing trends have typically been led by smaller, more mission-driven firms, but are increasingly attracting larger, more profit-driven firms. Studying the strategies of firms that are moving away from these two poles (i.e., mission-driven but larger firms, and profit-driven firms that are more committed to sustainability) may help us to better understand the potential to resolve tensions between firm size and sustainability goals. We used this approach to analyze a case study of the U.S. fair trade coffee industry, employing the methods of data visualization and media content analysis. We identified three firms that account for the highest proportion of U.S. fair trade coffee purchases (Equal Exchange, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Starbucks) and analyzed their strategies, including reactions to recent changes in U.S. fair trade standards. We found an inverse relationship between firm size and demonstrated commitment to sustainability ideals, and the two larger firms were much less likely to acknowledge conflicts between size and sustainability in their public discourse. We conclude that similar efforts to increase sustainability marketing for other products and services should be more skeptical of approaches that rely on primarily on the participation of large, profit-driven firms.

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Section: Firm Size and Sustainability Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tensions Between Firm Size and Sustainability Goals: Fair Trade Coffee in the United States

Howard

Jaffee

2013

Sustainability

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“…Mainstreaming is regarded by an increasing number of scholars as one of the most significant developments of the Fair Trade movement (Moore 2004;Hira and Ferrie 2006). Researchers have described the changes in the Fair Trade organization (Moore 2004;Gendron et al 2009;Ö zçaglar-Toulouse et al 2009;Davies 2008), the role of commercial companies that adopt the Fair Trade certification system (Fridell 2008;Raynolds 2009;Reed 2008), and the role of specific Fair Trade brands that have contributed to the growth of Fair Trade products in mainstream distribution channels (Davies et al 2010;Randall 2005). Less attention has been devoted to the role of Fair Trade in the dynamic market processes, including the emergence of alternative sustainability standards, which underlie the mainstreaming of sustainability standards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of a Market for Sustainable Coffee in The Netherlands: Rethinking the Contribution of Fair Trade

Ingenbleek

Reinders²

2012

J Bus Ethics

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In recent years, researchers have observed the process of mainstreaming Fair Trade and the emergence of alternative sustainability standards in the coffee industry. The underlying market dynamics that have contributed to these developments are, however, under-researched. Insight into these dynamics is important to understand how markets can develop to favor sustainability. This study examines the major developments in the market for certified coffee in the Netherlands. It finds that, in the creation of a market for sustainable coffee, decisions that significantly influence market creation are made in the lead companies (retailers and coffee roasters). These decisions are made possible by the availability of multiple systems of sustainability standards and by the existence of a small segment of loyal Fair Trade customers that ensured that sustainability remained an issue on the coffee market in the years before the market creation took-off. Fair Trade did not become the new rule in this process, but it became the benchmark against which companies could compare themselves and the basis upon which they built in adopting or developing new standards that would be more feasible in their business models.

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“…The various country-based labelling initiatives joined together into "Fairtrade Labeling Organisations International" (FLO or FLO-I), now "Fairtrade International", in 1997. The emergence of labelling has brought a fundamental change in the evolution of FT (Moore et al 2006;Raynolds and Long 2007;Reed 2009). Indeed, it opened the door of the FT sector to any type of company through the possibility of having products recognized as meeting the FT standards by an external certifying body and not specific organisations.…”

Section: Social Enterprise and Social Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative Economies and Spaces : New Perspectives for a Sustainable Economy

Zademach¹,

Hillebrand²

2013

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.Cover concept: Kordula Röckenhaus, Bielefeld Cover illustration: Alexandra Kaiser, Eichstätt, 2011 Printed by Majuskel Medienproduktion GmbH, Wetzlar ISBN 978-3-8376-2498-4 Content AcknowledgementsThe volume in hand contains a collection of contributions that are concerned with alternative modes of economic and social exchange, among them alternative currency schemes, fair trade, and social enterprises. Earlier versions of these papers have been presented in the context of the study program 'Space -Society -Economy' at the Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt during the winter term 2011/12. This new program was established on the initiative of the Geography Department as a platform that aims to introduce, discuss and advance new concepts and debates at the intersections between geography, the social sciences and economics. For this purpose, each term addresses a specific topic in usually five public lectures of international guest speakers and additional work in an accompanying seminar.It is worth noting that this study program is fully financed by tuition fees of local students; thus, first of all, we wish to thank our students for making these events possible. In this vein, we also want to thank our student assistants Julia De Gregorio and Julian Rochlitz for their excellent support in organising the series as well as valuable comments on earlier drafts of the introductory chapter. A special thanks is also due to Alexandra Kaiser for her assistance with the figures in this book and for designing the web page and further announcement materials for the study program that not least influenced the design of the cover of the book. Our team assistant Theresia | ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIES AND SPACESNeubauer deserves special appreciation for her great care and patience in processing all administrative tasks.Our utmost gratitude goes, of course, to the distinguished colleagues that accepted our invitation to present and discuss selected parts of their contemporary work in course of the series; they were not deterred by the efforts to travel to wintery snowy Eichstätt, in some cases (such as in the case of Roger Lee who did the whole trip from London by train) indeed a weary journey. By dint of their insightful reflections and rich illustrations of how alternatives are performed at various scales and spaces, they offered all participants in the program, students and colleagues, a great opportunity to delve deeper into the highly relevant, challenging and exciting project to interrogate and practice alternatives in relation to and beyond economic mainstream. We hope that this volume contributes to carrying this project a little further. Hans-Martin Zademach and Sebastian Hillebrand Eichstätt, March 201...

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What do Corporations have to do with Fair Trade? Positive and Normative Analysis from a Value Chain Perspective

Abstract: fair trade, value chain, commodity chain, corporate social responsibility, social economy, co-operatives,

Cited by 120 publications

References 33 publications

Tensions Between Firm Size and Sustainability Goals: Fair Trade Coffee in the United States

Tensions Between Firm Size and Sustainability Goals: Fair Trade Coffee in the United States

The Development of a Market for Sustainable Coffee in The Netherlands: Rethinking the Contribution of Fair Trade

Alternative Economies and Spaces : New Perspectives for a Sustainable Economy

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