Essays on Fair Trade

Synopsis

This paper discusses sustainable development and the leadership characteristics that initiate organizational change towards sustainability. In the increasingly competitive environment, leaders find themselves under constant challenges, which require them to embrace change and to steer their organization towards sustainability. Sustainable development, however, does not only pertain to economic sustainability, but it also pertains to environmental and social sustainability. Also known as the triple-bottom-line, this paper discusses the importance of achieving sustainable development through economic, environmental and social sustainability and the role of the leader in achieving this goal. Using real-life business scenarios, this paper provides contemporary examples of how ...

- Introduction

IBM is a world leader company in information technology and stands as the largest revenue generating Company in its field. In the past 50 years, IBM has earned a place for itself as the pioneer in information technology developments and innovation. The Company manufactures products ranging from hardware to software for its impressive clientele around the world. These products are designed for another range of storage products, line of business servers, customized microchips including the application software. In addition to manufacturing, IBM also serves as a consulting and outsourcing agent. The new information age is quite challenging to compete ...

Question 1: Microsoft updates and Performance monitor:

Microsoft updates its software products either using hot fixes or the Microsoft update service. Hot fixes are updates sent as executable file that is downloaded onto the computer and installed by the user. They are used for Microsoft software that use Hotfix.exe as the updater e.g. Windows NT 4.0. The Microsoft updates service updates Microsoft products by downloading live updates from the internet after scanning the computer. These kinds of updates are usually bug fixes and additional features to improve system performance and security. Hot fixes are released to fix specific problems and they come as executable files, while ...

Introduction

Owing to the increasing number of globalized operations among many international organizations, the extrinsic (external or environmental) factors have largely the key drivers of their success. For an organization to cope with and operate effectively in a global business environment, a comprehensive analysis of the environmental factors affecting its operations such as economic and trade practices; political and legal systems; ethics and social responsibility; demographics and physical infrastructure; and technology. Ideally, this paper presents a critical analysis of environmental factors affecting McDonald’s Corporation.

McDonald’s Corporation is the world’s largest retail chain of fast food restaurants (Schlosser 2012). Founded in ...

Abstract

The competitive nature of firms and their environment is important in establishing whether a market is a monopoly, a perfectly competitive, oligopoly or monopolistic competition. The antitrust laws are composed of four Acts of legislations that contribute towards the law. Antitrust laws focus on ensuring fair, transparent and competitive trade activities in all industries or markets. Industrial and social regulations are usually conducted by legally established bodies. The regulation is done according the kind of market structure. This is because different market structures have different characteristics. Therefore, the regulation must be tailored to suit the specific market problems. The regulatory bodies have ...

Question 1. Why should Starbucks, Kraft, and Nestle create "ethical supply chains”?

The concept of ethical supply chain has grown more and more popular in the recent years. Ethical in this case should not be confused with legally right, since ethical considerations go far beyond legislation or business relations. Ethical behaviour is usually linked to social responsibility of the companies, which is embedded into their strategy and operations. In businesses related to the global sourcing of inputs, ethical behaviour largely depends on the fair trade concepts, which promote supporting suppliers in the poor countries in order to improve their productivity and enhance competitiveness (Barrar, and Gervais). Since supply chain is in ...

UK drinking is becoming more social, female- and/or family-oriented and outdoors. Daily encounters in U.K.'s metropolitan and high street areas increasingly reflect a notable changing mood. A "Tea Nation" par excellence, Britons are shifting drinking mood not only for coffee but also for coffee shops in lieu of conventional bars. Indeed, rollout expansion rates of coffee shops in U.K. in recent years is showing how coffee shops are not a passing fad which Britons are embracing only to drop soon but is here is stay – for a while. According to case under investigation (Jobber, 2010), U.K. coffee shop markets is dominated by ...

International Trade Operations Management

Abstract The international markets operate in different dimensions and some of the fundamental principles it employs include free and fair trade. Free trade is defined by allowing organizations to trade freely in their products without restrictions. Fair trade is providing viable conditions for marginalized manufacturers in the market to operate without being overstepped by others. The paper focuses on the tenets of fair and free trade and also puts into perspective the corporate strategies employed by companies in the international market and the inherent challenges.

It is an international market policy that intimates that governments should not restrict ...

Hallstead, Ted and Cobb, Clifford, “The Need for New Measurements of Progress,” in Mander, J., & Goldsmith, E. (1996). The case against the global economy: And for a turn toward the local. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. Short synopsis of the article: The authors seek to discover why people and politicians are still focused on the obsolete economic measurement, GDP. Beginning by discussing the economic boom of the 1990s, Hallstead and Clifford explain that while Allen Greenspan was assuring the media that the economy was in great shape many Americans were wondering why they were working longer hours with seemingly ...

Introduction

Historically, Guatemala has been a well known producer and exporter of high quality coffee. In recent years, however, stiff competition from other coffee producing nations such as Brazil and Vietnam has driven global prices low. This means that it has become increasingly unprofitable to produce coffee in Guatemala. Despite the ample land and human resources available in the country, farmers have been forced to stop production since they can no longer pay workers from proceeds. For the most part of the country, this has led to poverty and under-development. Incredibly, however, some farmers have vowed to fight on, forming cooperatives ...

Executive Summary

Green Mountain is one of the leading coffee brands in the highly competitive American coffee market. The brand was established in the year 19981 and quickly grew to be most popular coffee brand in USA by overtaking market leaders like Starbucks. Apart from offering world class coffee to its customers, Green Mountain also commits itself to the sustainable business practices. It procures a substantial part of its coffee seeds through the Fair Trade Coffee route. Fair Trade Coffee involves procuring coffee directly from the coffee producers and ensuring a good standard of living for coffee producers and coffee workers. America is ...

Business as Unusual: The Body Shop

(Instructor Name) - Why has Body Shop been so successful? The Body Shop’s core positioning has been environment friendly products created through sustainable sourcing of natural ingredients. This positioning appeals to consumers at multiple levels: - The products are natural and therefore pure and unadulterated with high percentage of harmful chemicals. They will therefore not have any side-effects. - The products are environment-friendly and do not cause pollution. - The products are sourced from indigenous tribes and farming communities which produce them by sustainable methods. The social viewpoint supported the ecological perspective ...

One of the rapidly growing areas of modern "sustainable" agriculture is the movement of "fair trade» (Fair Trade). This movement advocates fair international labor standards, environmental and social regulation on agricultural products and handcrafts. In particular, this movement focuses on the export of goods from developing to developed countries. The system of production and sales of these products is designed to help farmers in poor countries get a decent wage for their work. In order to achieve the optimum cost structure of products it is obligatory to minimize the number of intermediaries between the farmer and the buyer. Production of " ...

INTRODUCTION

General Statements on Global Business Standards Codex and Fair Trade The Global Business Standards Codex comprises of various ethical principles that have elemental meaning. These ethical principles have different arguments and speculations that guide different business operations in different organizations and industries. On the other hand, fair trade as defined by Sally Smith and Stephanie Barrientos refers to a trading partnership that is based on elements of dialogue, respect and transparency, which seeks to promote greater equity in the international trade (Marcovitz, 2011, p. 33). Traditionally, the movement of fair trade sought to attain its goals by facilitating and ...

Using three ethical principles of the Global Business Standards Codex (GBSC), evaluate the fresh food industry

Fair trade refers to a trading partnership guided by dialogue, transparency and respect with a motive of fostering equity in international trade. Conventionally, the fair trade proponents have had their focus on encouraging involvement of small-scale producers in international trade through provision on guarantees especially fair prices for their commodities, constant supply relationship and access to credit facilities Clapp & Fuchs, 2009, 5). In my evaluation am going to use transparency, dignity and fairness ethical principles. Concerns have been raised by agri-food actors (farmers, producers and consumers) regarding abuse of market power by major supermarket chains (MSCs). As a result, control or ...

Value chain analysis of fair-trade hand made products:

Value chain can be defined as a series of activities of an organization, operating in a particular type of industry, that help in delivering a product or service of value to the customers. Michael Porter classified value chain as decision support tools. The primary activities in Porter’s value chains are Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing, and Sales. The secondary activities are Research, Human Resources and Technological Development. (valuebasedmanagement, 2014) In the given case, the company is a fair trade company. A fair trade company can be defined as an organization whose aim is to promote sustainability and greater equity for ...

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Fair Trade a term that refers to the entire Fair Trade Movement and all organizations that abide by the ten Fair Trade principles. Fair trade describes the labeling and certification systems governed by the Fair-trade International. (Miller, 2010, p. 19). The Agro Water Barrel Company promotes principles of fair trade. The company should continually advocate the adoption of more practices of fair trade. The following are recommendations for the organization are proficient to help solve the wicked problem. The business and concept of fair trade should be elemental by responding to all failures related to conventional trade (Renard, ...

6) Fair Trade Products Private Limited Products Private Ltd is a company that is based on the model to provide the maximum benefits of the trade activities to the original farmer or producer such as Coffee growers in Africa, Wheat grower in Asia and Cocoa growers in Middle East. It aims to reduce the role of brands and middle men in the process. Usually, these brands and middlemen get away with the bulk of the profits leaving very little profits and margin for the original farmers and producers of the goods and services who have contributed to the production process. ...

Introduction

Global business standards codex principles (GBSC) define the conduct of business and business people when engaging in business activities that often requires partnership amongst stakeholders (Holmes & Hatch, 2007, p. 376). This paper discusses three prime principles namely; The Fairness Principle, The Transparency Principle and The Reliability Principle. The three principles are used to evaluate the state of global business in the supermarket business. Primarily, the essay is based on the GBSC principles mentioned about the role that they play in shaping the nature of supermarket businesses across the globe. According to Paine, Deshpande, Margolis and Bettcher (2005, p. 124), ...

Part 1.1

The title of the EPA audit policy is “Incentives for self-Policing: Discovery, Disclosure, Correction and Prevention of Violation”. The policy is developed to empower and sensitize the organizations about the need for policing themselves and earn benefits relation to environmental regulations.

Part 1.2

There are four incentives announced by the EPA for self-policing. 1. Elimination of gravity-based penalties, 2.Reduction in gravity-based penalties (75%), 3. No recommendation for criminal procedures, and 4. No routine requests for audit reports. With these benefits the organizations can be proactive in protecting the human health and environment and earn goodwill among the government agencies.

Part 1.3

Penalties proposed ...

Organization Behavior

Holden Outerwear is a company that cares about the internal and external environment. The professional internal team of Holden Outerwear finds the inspiration in fashion. In comparison with the competitors, that look for the inspiration mostly in the internal environment, Holder Outerwear goes beyond the boundaries and always look outside. External environment, like friends, travelling, permits Holden outerwear to make the unique products. Holden outerwear cares about the environment and uses the eco-friendly family of techniques and recourses, like recycled fabrics, solvent free laminations, biodegradable packaging. Holden Outerwear has the pretty high standards. A compliance with those standards is a ...

Abstract

Culture and personality are two ideologies that compliment and supplement each other. So several times, society has never failed to use culture in the process of convincing and influencing people to believe in the same beliefs as it have. This paper sought to justify the effect of each towards one another and to establish that several of these effects can be geared towards the positive or the negative side. Keywords:Culture, personality, globalization

Consumer: Culprit to the Disintegration of Culture

The image the public have about a particular gender is dictated by the society. In other words, in a male-dominated culture male will always have the upper-hand and ...

Integrated Business Management

Executive Summary This case study is based on the legal and commercial position of Choc Deluxe. The USP of this small scale specialist chocolate company was the quality. In the global industry of eighty-billion dollars, Choc Deluxe was a player. An issue emerged concerning to the availability of cocoa, which is the key ingredient in chocolate-making. There was a large order in hands of Choc Deluxe of supplying chocolate bars to a top-end department store for Christmas. However, the issue was that the order cannot be met effectively due to unavailability of Criollo cocoa. In such situation, the executive management of ...

Globalization has led to firms becoming multinationals since additional international markets are opening up and, therefore, economies are becoming integrated. With the increase in trade, migration and finance there are expected to be a rise in the level of global domestic Product. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was established to stimulate trade between countries and also ensure that there is economic progress. OECD has thirty-four member states currently including the U.S, France, and U.K among others (OECD, 2005). These are some of the best economies in the world hence OECD hence this business plays a major role in ...

Introduction

When talking about natural resources there have a number of conflicts that has been brought forward by various people from all over the world. These conflicts have been named as conflict minerals. Conflict minerals are defined as the conflicting situations in which minerals are mined which involves abuses of the people involved human rights. Blood diamond is also known as conflict diamond or war diamond. The reason why blood diamond got this name was because of the way, the diamonds that was being used in order to finance for the insurgence or army for war especially in the African countries. ...

Any individual who has an interest in a business is termed as the stakeholder of that business; this also means that someone who may contribute in some way towards the growth and the success of the business is known as the stakeholder of that business. All the stakeholders differ in their roles and also in their involvement level. When considering the role of particular people, their roles and responsibilities tend to evaluate how critical they are for the operation of the business in reality. The Chief Executive Officer or the CEO is the term used for the head of ...

Introduction

Free trade entails an unhampered sale and purchase of goods and services between different countries with no apparent constraints that stems from tax levy, tariff execution and implementation of duties (Fridell 9). Essentially, free trade enables a country to profoundly concentrate on their competitive advantages hence maximizing output and fuelling the economic growth of the citizens consequently. Evidently, the economy of those countries that adopted free trade much earlier are seen to prosper a fact that concur with the notion that free trade is a possible route towards developmental catch up. The growth of those countries that adopted free trade earlier particularly ...

Executive summary

Just Us! Coffee is the leader retailer and wholesaler of fair trade products in Canada. The company also deals in other fair trade products such as tea, sugar, and chocolate. Its main differentiation is to sell organic products under the fair trade umbrella. Fair Trade gives the company a sense of social responsibility and environmental responsibility in addition to dealing in premium quality products. The fair trade market is a growing market supported by its differentiation values. Just Us! Café wishes to expand its business in order to maintain its share of the current market in Canada. Meanwhile the company has ...

Abstract. 3

Background 3 Methodology 4 Results 5 Discussion 7 Conclusion. 7 Recommendations. 8 Reference List .. 9 Abstract The paper shall present a comprehensive information on how the impact of globalization has influenced the retail businesses of Oxford City. In this study, the retail sector of Oxford is made up of Gloucester Green Market, Covered market and High Street market which ensure that the supply chain is effectively met within the City. However, this study shall mostly dwell on the food service markets where globalization is believed to have had a greater significance in ...

Step 1: Identify Ethical Issues

In this scenario, a clothing company is determining whether or not it is right to source from an Asian manufacturing company. The following ethical issues are identified: The factory is shown to work the employees long hours, with very low pay compared to America. However, the workers claim that they are very grateful for the jobs that are given to them.

Is it fair to work employees so much for so little, even if they are satisfied by it?

Threads with Style is dedicated to social responsibility as well as profitability. The basic pay of the workers might be low, however it would be better if some form of benefit was given. Although the workers are paid ...

Step 1: Identify Ethical Issues

In this scenario, a clothing company is determining whether or not it is right to source from an Asian manufacturing company. The following ethical issues are identified: - The factory is shown to work the employees long hours, with very low pay compared to America. However, the workers they talk to say they are grateful for the job. Is it fair to work employees so much for so little, even if they are satisfied by it? - Threads with Style is dedicated to social responsibility as well as profitability. Should the company favor profitability (in hiring a cost-effective manufacturer) ...

Introduction

Ethical policies and compliance is an important aspect that should be met by all companies. Ethics is used to refer to the measure of how right or wrong an act is, basing on the available standards and guidelines. An organization seeks to protect the company, customers, staff and the key stakeholders from any kind of lie that they may be lured into. This serves to keep the company’s reputation, enhance reliability from the customers and avoid risks that may be associated with the crime committed(Murphy, 1988). Ethical issues are, therefore, regarded highly and given lots of attention. ...

Introduction

This essay is about making decision on what would be a better choice. Carly LeBlanc works for Fashionforward!, an online auction site where interested customers can bid on designer apparels. Having caught between two options, Carly needs to decide which T-shirt manufacturer should she consider of having business with to promote the company; is it the one cheaper from Chinese manufacturer or the more expensive one from San Francisco CA? Both options have pros and cons on them. This essay is written including the analogy of the case to identify Carly’s dilemma and the moral issue, reflection on the ...

For years globalization has been a buzz word mentioned in a variety of contexts. Some people use the phenomenon as an explanation for most of the recent economic and political catastrophes. Others refer to globalization as an ultimate development path for the contemporary world. This ambiguity arises from the large numbers of areas affected by globalization and by the diverse impacts that it may have. The current paper aims to explore effects of globalization and to suggest whether its net impact is mostly positive or negative. Globalization can be broadly defined as the process of world compression and consciousness intensification ...

5 Question Based on Four case Studies - For each case identify in chart form the key problems each individual is facing. Figure 1: Chart showing problems experienced in Case Study A: Juliana Figure 2: Chart showing problems experienced in Case Study B: Rosa Figure 3: Chart showing problems experienced in Case Study C: Joanne Figure 4: Chart showing problems experienced in Case Study D: Juliana Figure 5: A combined chart for all the four case studies and their respective problems - Assume that Richard decided to visit Juan in Nicaragua. What ...

Fair trade coffee refers to t a coffee that is licensed as having been manufactured and marketed at a stated set of values. Customers in the developed countries tend to pay more for this coffee with an impression that they are helping farmers at the least developed nations meet their basic and psychological requirements. Free trade, on the other hand, refers to a market model whereby movements of goods within and without the involved countries happen without government’s limitations, for example, charges and taxes. While, fair trade tends to benefit only the producers of the products in the assumed, least ...

Annotated bibliography

Cailleba, P., & Casteran, H. (2009). A quantitative study on the fair trade coffee consumer. Journal of Applied Business Research, 25(6), 31-46. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/227583556?accountid=45049

This article draws attention on the manners in which ethical behaviors

of consumers contributes to fair coffee trade. This is vital because most people purchase coffee depending on the consumer perception and values. However, the article also offers the French transactions case study conducted between 2005 and 2007, whose major aim was to find out the effects of personality traits, types of promotion and the characteristics of a product on coffee purchases. Further, the article goes ahead to investigate on the relationship between coffee purchases, personal ...

In current times almost all people in the world participate in one way or another in a global economy. Even though the global economy is a shared system, the underlying values of people throughout the world are not. Some people are set in their native culture and traditional value systems. Other people are drawn into the world where the accumulation of wealth equals power and opportunity. This division cannot be rationalized by the two diverse groups in the equation. The traditional group cannot fathom a world where wage labor is the means of existence as they see it as depersonalizing their souls. ...

Why fair trade is so important in this day and time Fair trade is a structured social movement whose aims are to help producers in developing countries to enhance better trading conditions and promote sustainability. Fair trade is becoming so important in this day and time. First, the trade fair today enhances direct trade among business investors in the world. Fair trade has encouraged this dream by empowering groups of investors to strive towards working directly to disregard middlemen and other extra costs which discourage profits. As a result, workers are able to receive more profit for their goods and also ...

Unfair Exploitation of Child Labor

Introduction Child labor is defined as all those work that affect children’s life in terms of health and their education. Other instances where children help their parents in running errands at home do not qualify as child labor. When the activities involved is positive then we cannot say it is child labor rather it enhances the skills of the child. Child labor has a long historical background dating back to the colonization time when there was slave trade. Industrial revolution contributed to the relocation of people to urban areas where child labour was preferred in many factories because ...

My product brand Grade Why?

Peak organic beer (Grade A-) it’s a local organic brewer. Category Corporate hero why? New Belgium. The company relies on wind energy and conserves about 50% of water as compared to other breweries. It is an employee owned company and gives about $1.6 million to the community.

Category corporate villain why?

Budweiser The company ranks as number 41 of 100 most toxic air polluters. Its overall community responsibility rating is poor Chocolate My product Equal exchange Fair trade chocolate supports farmers and artisans across the globe Category corporate hero Endangered species Ethically ...

Protection of Customers’ Interests under the Terms of the Competition Act 1998

Introduction Effective competition is considered to be the crucial factor both for protection of consumers’ interests and for business sector development. Protection of consumers’ interests is the key issue for the development of effective competition policy. Maintenance of effective competition in the UK markets is important to achieve necessary balance between prices and supply of goods. The first part of this essay is devoted to the competition issues, detailed analysis of practical implications of the Competition Law 1998, protection of consumers’ interests, and analysis of the lawsuits with regard to the Act. The second part of ...

Science

Impacts of a Borderless Society Breakfast: Orange juice, eggs, toast, butter, jam, bacon, tea Breakfast: The orange juice was made with oranges from Florida, freshly squeezed. The eggs came from my Mom’s friend’s farm. My Mom made the bread and the butter was from Wisconsin. Someone my Mom knows made the jam. I think the bacon came from Nebraska but that may be where it was packaged or where the package came from (the label wasn’t very clear). The tea was from Sri Lanka.

Lunch: Burger King Hamburger, juice in a box, French Fries

Lunch: The hamburger was probably from a big containment-type feedlot out in ...

Information pervasiveness, along with all its benefits, brings concerns with respect to security issues. Data is no longer hidden behind the walls of companies. It does not reside only on mainframes physically isolated within an organization where all kind of physical security measures are taken to defend the data and the systems. Systems are increasingly open and interconnected, which poses new challenges for security technologies.

A number of privacy issues also arise with the proliferation of digital technologies. Personalized services such as reward programs require collection, processing, and often even distribution of personal data and sensitive information. With ubiquitous ...

‘Black Gold’ is film about the production of coffee in Ethiopia which is the known to be birthplace of coffee. It focuses on the plight of the Ethiopian workers who spend endless days and nights harvesting a crop that is their only source of income. The coffee industry is a multi billion industry that has seen the GDPs of International countries rise as the major exporters of this treasured commodity continue to remain impoverished (‘Black Gold’).

My take on the movie

With America being the country that consumes the most coffee in the world .This movie was an eye opener for the way the role of ...