Personal and Professional Development for Business - Essay Example

Personal and Professional Development for Business Introduction Financial and industrial globalization has enhanced the instability of life and work conditions in the developing countries, however, have created new opportunities for the developed countries. Social and economic inequalities left millions of people without the basic necessities for food, water, housing, education and health-care. Small farmers across the developing countries have also been greatly affected by the globalization and numerous international trade policies. Besides, third world debt has caused losing of livelihoods and thus created the worst conditions for people in the developing countries in their attempt to simple feed their families or provide for the basic necessities for life. Moreover, the greater job insecurity and weakened right of workers have increased level of poverty in the developing countries (Goldberg & Pavcnik, 2006). For the purpose of giving the farmers and workers in the developing countries a living wage for their work, which can sustain them and create opportunities for social and economic development, the alternative system of trade which counteracts international free trade, corporate control and global policies was established. Such system is a Fairtrade initiative, which aims are to improve the living conditions of producers in developing countries with their attempts to achieve higher prices, greater availability of financing and longer-term and sustainable buyer-seller relationships. Along with that, an organized social movement was also called to improve social goods and community development and to use the environmental friendly production through a certification process for producers and suppliers. The initiative is simple about the better prices, decent working conditions and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the countries that are developing. The following report will examine precisely the question of Fair Trade, will analyze who are the main consumers and who and why people buy Fair Trade products. Further the report will investigate what retailers of selling Fair Trade products can do to increase sales. Fair Trade consumers A Fairtrade Foundation tends to relieve world from poverty, suffering and distress. That is why it promotes research and education concerning the causes and effects of poverty, in particular the relation of trade and to the conditions of employment of poor people living in the developing countries. Its mission is to collaborate close with businesses and different social groups in order to improve the trading position of producers in developing countries. Such approach of working all together is targeted to bring together producers and consumers in a common movement for change (Annual Report And Financial Statements, 2013). Around the world, Fairtrade Standards are known for their credible development process. This can interpreted that nine in ten consumers are those who recognize the Fair Trade Mark and trust it, according to the GlobeScan survey. Moreover, in the recent years there appeared a considerable growth in the consumers’ concerns about the product and process of agricultural food and the wider social and environmental consequences have arisen. Such conditions are now more studied by the researchers and their reflections show that people are paying more attention to the ethical considerations when deciding whether to purchase products with ethical attributes or not. Thus, the analysis conducted revealed Fair Trade marketing relationships with producers in developing countries (Cranfield, Henson, Northey & Masakure, 2010). The concrete example of Canada shows that this country has a high level of coffee consumption with sixty-three percent of Canadians over the age of 18 to drink coffee every day and an average coffee drinker consumes three cups a day. The in-home consumption of coffee accounts for sixty-six percent of all coffee consumption. With the increasing level of Fair Trade coffee consumption in Canada (the balance of out-of-home consumption at work (12%) and restaurants (16%), its coffee sales in this area is still small in comparison to Europe. Speaking about othe type of Fair Trade products, such as bananas, one in three bananas bought in the UK is Fairtrade and it makes a great difference to farmers, workers in the developing countries where those bananas came from. However, buying Fairtrade bananas in UK does not mean that producers will obtain much money for their products or get an extra premium to invest in their community. This does not also guarantee the improvement of workplace conditions and protection. In UK, the biggest number of consumers of Trade Fair is in such stores and supermarkets as Waitrose, Co-operative and Sainsbuty’s. The Co-operative is the first UK Supermarket that sells Fair Trade bananas to more than eight million customers and it is also the first organization that sells Fair Trade products in all stores. Today all of Co-operative’s bananas are Fair Trade. If to speak about coffee in China, this is a comparatively new niche market with its consumers who are concerned that coffee producers are not always receive a Fair price for coffee beans. However, Chinese consumers realize that buying coffee with Fair Trade label is a way to help coffee producers in their development. There are certain researches conducted, which explored the attitudes of Chinese consumers regarding Fair Trade coffee. After the evaluation of their willingness to pay, it appeared that individuals over forty years of age are rarely coffee drinkers in China and only a small percentage of coffee consumers are over thirty years of age. Still, consumers still require compensation to consume Fair Trade coffee, because of several reasons. For instance, they assume that Fair Trade producers use children labor in the production processes. Besides, the way Fair Trade coffee was produced does not respond sustainable regulations (Yang et al, 2012). Another study was conducted in the US with intention to investigate the differences in selection of Fair Trade alternatives. The research examined the dependence on generation belonging to whether to purchase Fair Trade products or not. No significant differences were found between the generation groups and their attitude to buy Fair Trade products. An interview survey was also conducted in UK with the object of better understanding older consumers’ reasons for choosing Fair Trade products. Participants were morally responsible for their choices and viewed them as certain social obligation and duty to consider ethical alternatives such as Fair Trade. Moreover, it was shown that they were ready to boycott as Fair Trade as other products. It also appears that women are more positively inclined towards Fair Trade and the principles associated with this social label compared with men (Grankvist, 2013). Why do people buy Fair Trade products? Fair Trade means purchasing products from those farmers and producers that are located in the developing countries. In this perspective, such conditions call for relatively more favorable predisposition to choose these products by consumers. Besides, there is a special attention on the commercial and marketing questions that are essential for the producers in the developing countries. Fair Trade buying is a specific type of ethical consumer behavior as well. Based on the different research, U.S. or European consumer fair trade consumption means purchasing items for their positive attitude toward people in the faraway developing countries. Based on a study among ethical consumers in the UK (Pelsmacker, Driesen & Rayp, 2005), it appeared that fair trade is the most important issue of ethical concern in consumer behavior with numerous brands and labeled products. However, the importance of a fair-trade label in the decision to purchase has not been investigated so far. One of such reasons is that not everyone is equally likely to purchase Fair Trade products. Thus, buyers of ethnic fair trade products are demographically homogeneous and consist of highly educated people with the large proportion of them as teachers, health professionals or social workers. Thus, Belgian fair trade consumers are relatively highly educated and have high income and social status. They are able to evaluate all the consequences of their choices due to their experience and position. The questionnaire conducted by BBC News (2005) revealed that knowledge the producers are paid the fair price for the commodity adds value to the product. Besides, market forces show that people are willing to pay more for fairy traded goods and the supermarkets are responding their demands. However, there are also people who consider that modern economy is making simple more money in promoting organic products but brings no profitability to people who produce fair trade goods. People should buy Fair Trade because the money that producers get are generated from selling the goods and go back into their communities supporting local and state economy. Besides, it helps farmers to establish a better price for their products and to employ more number of people on their farms. Fair Trade products mean that goods are of high quality, organic and I produced with high responsiveness to the environment. Fair Trade follows all the requirements to support the sustainable practices and minimize the environmental footprint. For many consumers around the world, Fair Trade goods connect them with the cultures where those products came from. These goods are unique to the places and people who make them. In addition, Fair Trade means that what one purchases is a great value for the one producer, since it is not only the possibility to assess the high quality of product but also to make a difference in the lives of those who grew the food. What can retailers selling Fair Trade products do to increase sales? According to the Fair Trade Annual report (2012), the growth in the markets, Fair Trade in South Africa sales are impressive and continuing to increase. In South Korea the sales reached seventeen million euros sin the market appeared. There is a ten percent increase in sales in the US. Australia and New Zealand are the emerging markets for Fair Trade products with the stable sales. The estimated Fair Trade paid in cocoa producers in 2011 six point nine million euros. In 2011 coffee standard review, the Fair Trade doubled the Premium to twenty cents of American dollars per pound. In UK, the Co-operative supermarket chain is the first that stays for developing Fair Trade products for its shelves. Since 1998, the Co- operative has grown into the UK's largest Fairtrade retailer, with the twenty percent increase in sales increase in 2013 (Smithers, 2013). With the popularity of organic food and the producers that are environmentally responsible, more people become conscious of their food source and such awareness is able to bring much profitability to the organizations such as Co-operative and Whole Foods. While the demand for Fair Trade products is rising in the recent years, more companies are interested in selling Fair Trade food, clothing and bedding product. They believe in being socially responsible and want to be part of a marketing strategy. Sixty percent of shoppers are willing to pay the higher prices for Fair Trade items. For retailers selling it is the best time to offer their customers Fair Trade goods, therefore increasing the sales and bringing much profit to the companies. However, Fair Trade is still a comparatively small part of food and clothing markets. Thus, the U.S. supermarkets had six hundred and twenty billion dollars in sales in 2013, according to the Food Marketing Institute. For retailers it is convenient to sell Fair Trade items online or in stores that specialize in organic and natural foods. However, in the current day, there only two out of hundred and thirty brands that have Fair Trade labels. One of the consequences of economic crisis is that private labels start to sell better and many products are trying to get a premium for socially responsible customers (Rosenberg, 2014). Therefore, there is a whole niche for developing and implementing of concept of Fair Trade products for the retailers. Conclusions and recommendations Buying and promoting Fair Trade products means that a company is illustrating solidarity with a wider global movement towards rights and work of people in the developing countries. However, Fair Trade is not the charity initiative, but it is about rethinking of the relationship between producers and consumers and establishment of better conditions for the producers of high quality and healthy products. Fair Trade is aimed to ensure the relationship to be based on honesty and respect to the rights of all to decent living and working standards. When one chooses to buy Fair Trade products, it is an important way to ensure that the people who have made those products are treated fairly. However, without adhering of regulations and laws, it is impossible to track whether the Fair Trade good meet the need of the producers. However, even if the laws are abided, there is still no guarantee that the producer is paid well enough for the product one sells. Thus, the Fair Trade Foundation which is committed to providing better prices, working conditions for farmers and workers in the developing world, was accused for paying low wages to the producers of flowers, coffee and tea in Ethiopia and Uganda. What will make even more of a difference is encouraging others to buy Fairtrade despite such accusations (Vidal, & Provost, 2014). While Starbucks, the House of Commons and Virgin Atlantic are among many organizations that serve Fairtrade produce from these countries, these companies should also make all possible to make an impact on the Fair Trade initiative in order to ensure adherence of working conditions in the developing countries. Despite the fact that it is up to the Fair Trade organization to ensure workers to have proper salary for their work, big companies such as Starbucks will only have more disadvantages when involved into scandals like this one. By taking action on Fairtrade, everyone is securing rights for some of the most marginalised producers in the world by helping to ensure that they get a fair wage and are able to work towards the sustainable development of their communities. In terms of certification, there also appears an issue toward producers from African and Asia, which are conquered by the producers from Latin America. The thing is in the availability to be certified for Mexican producers is in the better condition than or those in Africa. Latin America enjoys a double benefit because certification is less costly and Fair Trade markets are dominated by its main exports. Its GDP is higher than of the whole of sub-Saharan Africa (Sylla, 2014). If the Fair Trade touches not only American continent and strives to ensure with fair prices, wages and working conditions all around the world, it should also provide equal possibilities to all countries, which support fair trade. References Annual Report And Financial Statements, 2013, The Fairtrade Foundation, Available from http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/~/media/fairtradeuk/what%20is%20fairtrade/documents/policy%20and%20research%20documents/general%20briefing%20papers/annual%20reports/2013%20annual%20report%20and%20financial%20statements%202013.ashx [Assessed on 24 January, 2015]. Annual report, 2012, For producers, with producers, Fairtrade International, http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/2009/resources/2011-12_AnnualReport_web_version_small_FairtradeInternational.pdf Cranfield, J., Henson, S., Northey, J. & Masakure, O.2010, An Assessment of Consumer Preference for Fair Trade Coffee in Toronto and Vancouver, Wiley Periodicals, DOI: 10.1002/agr.20217 Do you buy fair trade products? 2005, BBC News, Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/4304207.stm [Assessed on 24 January, 2015]. Goldberg, P. & Pavcnik, N. 2006, Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries, Industry Wages, the Yale University Grankvist, G. 2013, Consumer Attitudes to Ethically Labelled Products, The report here is a translation from the Swedish-language report Konsumenters inställning till produkter med etisk märkning. Trollhättan: Högskolan Väst Pelsmacker, P., Driesen, L. & Rayp, G. 2005, Do Consumers Care about Ethics? Willingness to Pay for Fair-Trade Coffee, The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 39, No. 2 Rosenberg, J. 2014, How the Fair Trade Brand Gives Small Retailers a Boost, Available from http://www.inc.com/associated-press/fair-trade-new-business-opportunity.html [Assessed on 24 January, 2015]. Smithers, R. 2013, Growing taste for Fair Trade show it’s Britain’s cup of tea, The Guardian, Available from http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/mar/02/fairtrade-taste-growing-britain [Assessed on 24 January, 2015]. Sylla, N. 2014, Fairtrade is an unjust movement that serves the rich, The Guardian, Available from http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/sep/05/fairtrade-unjust-movement-serves-rich [Assessed on 24 January, 21015]. Vidal, J. & Provost, C. 2014, Fairtrade accused of failing to deliver benefits to African farmworkers, The Guardian, Available from http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/may/24/fairtrade-accused-of-failing-africas-poor [Assessed on 24 January, 2015]. Yang, S. et al, 2012, Consumer Willingness to Pay for Fair Trade Coffee: A Chinese Case Study, Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 44,1 Read More