Fair Trade Practices for Fighting in Emerging Countries

Fair trade is a concept that is becoming increasingly ingrained in consumers. This means that companies that are committed to the development of fair-trade policies can find here a source of competitive advantage. Likewise, these practices will favour many producers in the primary sector, which could turn this into an effective way of fighting poverty. The aim of this research is to find out how fair trade has an impact on company results. To this end, managers from 102 companies in an emerging economy (Peru) are analysed. PLS-SEM is used for this analysis. The results indicate that there is a mediating effect of fair trade on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and company performance. However, significant differences have been found compared to developed economies. These results provide insight into emerging economy managers' assessments of responsible business practices.

Promoting the Tourist Experience Economy in LEDCs Through Authentic Fair-Trade Handicrafts

The handicraft sector plays an important role in providing economic benefits of tourism to local communities. However, this sector is threatened by globalized supply chains. This conceptual chapter explores the synergistic value of linking the experience economy, creative tourism, and fair-trade principles to increase the benefits of the handicraft sector to local communities while supporting positive tourist experiences. The handicraft sector contributes to the livelihoods of marginalized members of the supply chain side of a destination by opening opportunities for adding value to their tangible products through co-created experiences. Furthermore, the creative potential allows tourists to create memories, connecting with producers in interesting and meaningful ways, when fair-trade principles are integrated as part of the tourist experience. To ensure a balanced synergy and active connection between experience economy, creative tourism, and fair-trade concepts, well-trained and skilled artists, art managers, and creative entrepreneurs are needed in tourist destinations.

Virtual water flows and economic water productivity of Italian fair-trade: the case of bananas, cocoa and coffee

PurposeIn a globalized economic system, the role of agrifood production is to ensure at the same time both the population's livelihood and environmental resource conservation. The present study aims at expanding the debate on the potentials of the fair-trade in terms of environmental sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThe research presents a methodology divided into three phases: (1) the identification of the water footprint values associated with the production of bananas, cocoa and coffee imported from developing countries to Italy; (2) the calculation of the virtual water volumes used to produce the crops imported from developing countries to Italy through fair-trade; (3) the analysis of the economic water productivity, obtained by the fair-trade premium, for bananas, cocoa and coffee.FindingsThe results of this study identified and measured the amount of virtual water flows and water savings or losses deriving from the fair-trade of bananas, cocoa and coffee. The average virtual water flow related to the fair-trade imports in Italy amounts to 7.27 million m3 for bananas, 22,275 m3 for cocoa and 14,334 m3 for coffee. The research findings also highlight that fair-trade and the related premium ensures at the same time the achievement of social and institutional purposes but also the remuneration of virtual water used within the life cycle of the imported crops.Originality/valuePrevious scientific literature showed that fair-trade premium has commonly been used to finance environmental protection. No study has evaluated the environmental impacts associated with fair-trade, nor the monetary value associated with the natural resources exploited to produce crops to be exported. This empirical paper fills a literature gap in terms of identification, measurement and evaluation of virtual water flows along the supply chain processes of some fair-traded crops, also providing, through the economic water productivity approach, a useful tool for decision-makers.

Fast Fashion: pesquisa sobre a exploração da mão de obra em negócios de vestuário no Brasil

Essa pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar os episódios, na história da moda, em que houve o surgimento do fast fashion e do emprego de mão de terceirizada composta por trabalho análogo à escravidão. A metodologia foi pautada em pesquisas bibliográficas e no aplicativo Moda Livre®, do qual foram extraídas informações acerca de empresas auditadas. Constatou-se que: (I) em meados de 1990, a escravidão contemporânea começou a ser questionada dentro da indústria de confecção; (II) de 1994 até 2014, cresceram as denúncias de trabalho escravo ligadas ao fast fashion; (III) a partir de 2019, pela pressão do mercado consumidor e de novas legislações, varejistas mundiais passaram a adotar práticas de fair trade (comércio justo, em livre tradução); e, atualmente, (IV) percebe-se que, de 41 empresas autuadas no Moda Livre®, 25 estão cadastradas na Associação Brasileira de Varejo Têxtil (ABVTEX) que, por sua vez, realiza auditorias para averiguar se as práticas de trabalho respeitam à dignidade humana.

Fair Trade for Whom? The Contribution of Fair Trade to Combatting Trade Inequities Faced by East Timorese Coffee Producers

<p>Fair trade aims to empower smallholder agricultural producers in the global South to gain more power over their industries by the formation of transparent and democratically representative cooperatives. However, critiques of the fair trade system have emerged in ethical consumption literature, and pockets suggest that individual producer contexts have more of a role to play in determining the benefits of fair trade than had been previously understood or addressed. This work constitutes a case study designed to examine implementation and practice anomalies within the Timorese fair trade certified coffee industry, and the ways in which they impact on producers’ livelihoods and development. A mixed methods approach is deployed to analyse the coffee cooperative Cooperativa Café Timor, and the producers who sell to it. It finds the cooperative to be subject to a number of external pressures that prevent it from passing on the benefits of fair trade certification to farmers. Governance practices in terms of transparency and grassroots representation are found to be significantly hindered by reliance on outside organisations for market access. Also, producers are found to remain superficially represented within commodity chains; having little or no access to value-added income. The involvement of American private enterprise within the East Timorese fair trade system has served to distance the fair trade cooperative from its grassroots, and acts as somewhat of a barrier to democratic management, participatory decision-making, and the realisation of the objectives of fair trade.</p>

Fair Trade for Whom? The Contribution of Fair Trade to Combatting Trade Inequities Faced by East Timorese Coffee Producers

<p>Fair trade aims to empower smallholder agricultural producers in the global South to gain more power over their industries by the formation of transparent and democratically representative cooperatives. However, critiques of the fair trade system have emerged in ethical consumption literature, and pockets suggest that individual producer contexts have more of a role to play in determining the benefits of fair trade than had been previously understood or addressed. This work constitutes a case study designed to examine implementation and practice anomalies within the Timorese fair trade certified coffee industry, and the ways in which they impact on producers’ livelihoods and development. A mixed methods approach is deployed to analyse the coffee cooperative Cooperativa Café Timor, and the producers who sell to it. It finds the cooperative to be subject to a number of external pressures that prevent it from passing on the benefits of fair trade certification to farmers. Governance practices in terms of transparency and grassroots representation are found to be significantly hindered by reliance on outside organisations for market access. Also, producers are found to remain superficially represented within commodity chains; having little or no access to value-added income. The involvement of American private enterprise within the East Timorese fair trade system has served to distance the fair trade cooperative from its grassroots, and acts as somewhat of a barrier to democratic management, participatory decision-making, and the realisation of the objectives of fair trade.</p>