An increased openness and rapidity of the media has resulted in more comprehensive coverage of organizations and their behavior. Additionally increased customer awareness of corporate ethical behavior has led to higher customer demands and expectations resulting in added pressure on companies. Corporate social responsibility has by researchers been identified as the solution to these increased expectations. There are various types of CSR activities and this study focuses on the concept of Fair Trade. A literature review examining the existing research within the field was performed to identify a research gap that assisted in establishing the purpose of the study. The purpose of this study is to assess how practicing CSR strategies at Coop influence subjective performance, and if these are deliberate or emergent. Three research questions were formulated to answer the purpose. The study tests a research model that has not yet been tested in practice, namely the 3C-SR model. The study has been conducted through a case study in the form of in-depth interviews and content analysis. The study was carried out through five interviews with employees from the Swedish grocery chain Coop. Organization-wide needs for well-developed communication, consistency and clear goals regarding CSR and Fair Trade were recognized. Practical managerial implications have been concluded based on these findings. Additionally, a suggestion for developing the existing research model is presented. The study reveals that Fair Trade is not practiced entirely in accordance with the 3C-SR model. Potentiality was identified concerning the subjective assessment, hence the subjective performance was not ultimate. The study further concluded that despite deliberate features, the corporate strategy was highly emergent.

The fair trade movement attempts to use the market to bring about social change. Fair trade supports small-scale commodity producers in the global South by paying them a negotiated, fairer price. It also provides consumers with products that meet certain environmental, economic, and social criteria. While the primary goal of some fair trade enterprises is to provide market access for producers, others seek to reform the market, and still others would replace it. Like the fair trade movement, the co-operative movement strives to ensure that the benefits of production and exchange are more fairly distributed. Producer co-operatives in the South and consumer co-operatives in the North use aspects of globalization to create mutually beneficial links between producers and consumers. In some instances, these linkages are brokered by fair trade enterprises that are themselves organized as co-operatives, or are members of second-tier trading and distribution co-operatives.<p>Most intermediaries are involved in fair trade for diverse reasons and act in ways that may have a range of consequences with respect to market reform and market access. This research investigates the activities of large and small co-operatives involved in fair trade to examine whether, and to what degree they contribute to market reform. Based on secondary sources and on interviews with member-owners of first and second-tier fair trade co-operatives, as well as several co-operative specialists, I conclude that although co-operatives rarely transform markets, they can and do help to reform the market while helping producers to gain access to it on more equitable terms. Some leading retail co-operatives actively support the fair trade movement, promoting the interests of producers and consumers through the exchange of good quality products, promoting a critical view of the conventional market, and advocating for change. Although none of the enterprises in this study has been able to substantially change the market through its own activities, they are part of the international movement to achieve a fairer globalization. Fair trades commercial success, however, has attracted transnational enterprises not committed to the philosophy of fair trade, and this may ultimately threaten its ability to achieve lasting market reform.

Reducing health disparities requires intervention on the social determinants of health, as well as a means to monitor and evaluate these actions. Indicators are powerful evaluation tools that can support these efforts, but they are often developed without the input of those being measured and invariably reflect the value judgments of those who create them. This is particularly evident in the measurement of subjective social constructs such as gender equity, and the participation and collaboration of the intended beneficiaries are critical to the creation of relevant and useful indicators. These issues are examined in the context of a study to develop indicators to measure gender equity in the Nicaraguan Fair Trade coffee cooperative PROCOCER. Recent studies report that Fair Trade cooperatives are not adequately addressing the needs of its women members. Indicators can provide cooperatives with a consistent means to plan, implement, and sustain actions to improve gender equity. This study used participatory and feminist research methods to develop indicators based on focus groups and interviews with women members of PROCOCER, the cooperative staff, and external experts. The findings suggest that the cooperative has a role in promoting gender equity not only at the organizational level, but in the member families as well. Moreover, gender equity requires the empowerment of women in four broad dimensions of measurement: economic, political, sociocultural, and wellbeing. The indicator set proposes 22 objective and subjective indicators for immediate use by the cooperative and 7 indicators for future integration, mirroring its evolving gender strategy. The results also highlight salient lessons from the participatory process of indicator development, where the selected indicators were inherently shaped by the organizational context, the emerging research partnership, and the unique study constraints. These findings speak to the need for continued efforts to develop a critical awareness and organizational response to gender inequities, as well as the importance of providing spaces for women to define their own tools of evaluation.

Although Fair Trade provides better trading mechanisms and a set of well-documented tangible benefits for small-scale coffee producers in the Global South, large inequities persist within Fair Trade certified cooperatives. In particular, gender equity and womens empowerment are considered to be integral considerations of this system but visible gender inequities within certified cooperatives persist. Responding to this apparent contradiction, local partners in Nicaragua articulated a need to better understand how gender equity is understood and acted upon and thus this research projectan exploration of implemented gender equity-promoting processes at three different organizational levels (a national association of small-scale coffee producers, a second-tier cooperative, and a base cooperative)emerged. Drawing on feminist and social determinants of health approaches to research, the study was informed by semi-structured key informant interviews and document revision. Both the interviews and the documents revealed that although gender work is being considered at all three levels, each organizations approach and interpretation is unique, which exposes different challenges, tensions, and experiences.<p> Notably, results indicate that there is no clear definition of gender equity amongst the different organizational levels. As a result, these groups appear to be interpreting gender equity, and therefore initiating equity-promoting processes based on different criteria. Interviews also revealed that although there is no evidence of active discrimination or exclusion of women within cooperatives, gender equity work is nonetheless constrained by a constellation of socio-cultural and organizational challenges that women face. Examples of socio-cultural challenges revealed through the interviews include illiteracy, ascribed child-rearing responsibilities, household chores, machista culture, land tenure arrangements and gendered power relations in terms of decision-making, while organizational challenges include the attitudes and influence of leaders, a lack of gender mainstreaming in the cooperatives work and the fact that becoming a member requires an input of resources that most women do not have access to.<p> In eliciting experiences and perspectives from various levels of organizations in the Fair Trade coffee sector, the research revealed numerous tensions between rhetoric and practice. These tensions reflect blind spots in Fair Trade marketing and research wherein existing rhetoric does not reflect the experiences of the women, cooperatives, and organizations shared in this research. The three most predominant tensions that are explored in this study are: empowerment and organizational autonomy versus standardization; the subordination of gender work to commercial interests and; the concentration of power within democratically-organized cooperatives. The study acknowledges that it is not the primary role of Fair Trade to solve gender inequities, but does suggest that through some basic changes, including most notably a stronger consideration of local contexts, Fair Trade and local cooperatives can effectively support local gender work and contribute to womens empowerment and health.

The fair trade movement attempts to use the market to bring about social change. Fair trade supports small-scale commodity producers in the global South by paying them a negotiated, fairer price. It also provides consumers with products that meet certain environmental, economic, and social criteria. While the primary goal of some fair trade enterprises is to provide market access for producers, others seek to reform the market, and still others would replace it. Like the fair trade movement, the co-operative movement strives to ensure that the benefits of production and exchange are more fairly distributed. Producer co-operatives in the South and consumer co-operatives in the North use aspects of globalization to create mutually beneficial links between producers and consumers. In some instances, these linkages are brokered by fair trade enterprises that are themselves organized as co-operatives, or are members of second-tier trading and distribution co-operatives.<p>Most intermediaries are involved in fair trade for diverse reasons and act in ways that may have a range of consequences with respect to market reform and market access. This research investigates the activities of large and small co-operatives involved in fair trade to examine whether, and to what degree they contribute to market reform. Based on secondary sources and on interviews with member-owners of first and second-tier fair trade co-operatives, as well as several co-operative specialists, I conclude that although co-operatives rarely transform markets, they can and do help to reform the market while helping producers to gain access to it on more equitable terms. Some leading retail co-operatives actively support the fair trade movement, promoting the interests of producers and consumers through the exchange of good quality products, promoting a critical view of the conventional market, and advocating for change. Although none of the enterprises in this study has been able to substantially change the market through its own activities, they are part of the international movement to achieve a fairer globalization. Fair trades commercial success, however, has attracted transnational enterprises not committed to the philosophy of fair trade, and this may ultimately threaten its ability to achieve lasting market reform.

Reducing health disparities requires intervention on the social determinants of health, as well as a means to monitor and evaluate these actions. Indicators are powerful evaluation tools that can support these efforts, but they are often developed without the input of those being measured and invariably reflect the value judgments of those who create them. This is particularly evident in the measurement of subjective social constructs such as gender equity, and the participation and collaboration of the intended beneficiaries are critical to the creation of relevant and useful indicators. These issues are examined in the context of a study to develop indicators to measure gender equity in the Nicaraguan Fair Trade coffee cooperative PROCOCER. Recent studies report that Fair Trade cooperatives are not adequately addressing the needs of its women members. Indicators can provide cooperatives with a consistent means to plan, implement, and sustain actions to improve gender equity. This study used participatory and feminist research methods to develop indicators based on focus groups and interviews with women members of PROCOCER, the cooperative staff, and external experts. The findings suggest that the cooperative has a role in promoting gender equity not only at the organizational level, but in the member families as well. Moreover, gender equity requires the empowerment of women in four broad dimensions of measurement: economic, political, sociocultural, and wellbeing. The indicator set proposes 22 objective and subjective indicators for immediate use by the cooperative and 7 indicators for future integration, mirroring its evolving gender strategy. The results also highlight salient lessons from the participatory process of indicator development, where the selected indicators were inherently shaped by the organizational context, the emerging research partnership, and the unique study constraints. These findings speak to the need for continued efforts to develop a critical awareness and organizational response to gender inequities, as well as the importance of providing spaces for women to define their own tools of evaluation.

Although Fair Trade provides better trading mechanisms and a set of well-documented tangible benefits for small-scale coffee producers in the Global South, large inequities persist within Fair Trade certified cooperatives. In particular, gender equity and womens empowerment are considered to be integral considerations of this system but visible gender inequities within certified cooperatives persist. Responding to this apparent contradiction, local partners in Nicaragua articulated a need to better understand how gender equity is understood and acted upon and thus this research projectan exploration of implemented gender equity-promoting processes at three different organizational levels (a national association of small-scale coffee producers, a second-tier cooperative, and a base cooperative)emerged. Drawing on feminist and social determinants of health approaches to research, the study was informed by semi-structured key informant interviews and document revision. Both the interviews and the documents revealed that although gender work is being considered at all three levels, each organizations approach and interpretation is unique, which exposes different challenges, tensions, and experiences.<p> Notably, results indicate that there is no clear definition of gender equity amongst the different organizational levels. As a result, these groups appear to be interpreting gender equity, and therefore initiating equity-promoting processes based on different criteria. Interviews also revealed that although there is no evidence of active discrimination or exclusion of women within cooperatives, gender equity work is nonetheless constrained by a constellation of socio-cultural and organizational challenges that women face. Examples of socio-cultural challenges revealed through the interviews include illiteracy, ascribed child-rearing responsibilities, household chores, machista culture, land tenure arrangements and gendered power relations in terms of decision-making, while organizational challenges include the attitudes and influence of leaders, a lack of gender mainstreaming in the cooperatives work and the fact that becoming a member requires an input of resources that most women do not have access to.<p> In eliciting experiences and perspectives from various levels of organizations in the Fair Trade coffee sector, the research revealed numerous tensions between rhetoric and practice. These tensions reflect blind spots in Fair Trade marketing and research wherein existing rhetoric does not reflect the experiences of the women, cooperatives, and organizations shared in this research. The three most predominant tensions that are explored in this study are: empowerment and organizational autonomy versus standardization; the subordination of gender work to commercial interests and; the concentration of power within democratically-organized cooperatives. The study acknowledges that it is not the primary role of Fair Trade to solve gender inequities, but does suggest that through some basic changes, including most notably a stronger consideration of local contexts, Fair Trade and local cooperatives can effectively support local gender work and contribute to womens empowerment and health.

Under de senaste åren har försäljningen av rättvis handelsprodukter ökat markant. Denna utveckling berättar om en växande medvetenhet om konsumtionens baksidor hos människor i allmänhet. Inom rättvis handelsrörelsen är aktörers och produkters visuella identitet ett aktuellt ämne och det pågår diskussioner om dessa, om än i andra termer. Det har dock ännu inte skrivits så mycket inom detta område vilket motiverar min undersökning. Den här uppsatsen behandlar frågeställningen Vilken form har rättvis handel? Hur framstår rättvis handels visuella identitet idag genom rörelsens aktörer och deras produkter? Frågeställningarna exemplifieras och besvaras i uppsatsen genom ett designpedagogiskt projekt. En workshop, med deltagare som hade en direkt eller indirekt anknytning till världsbutiken Fair Trade Shop i Stockholm, fungerade som en sorts utgångspunkt för projektet. Några perspektiv som uppkom i denna workshop fördjupades ytterligare genom intervjuer och en analys av julmarknaden Schysst Jul (”den rättvisa julmarknaden”). I undersökningen använde jag mig av etnografi-inspirerade metoder och materialet analyserades med hjälp av varumärkesforsknings- och strategisk designteori. Workshopen berörde olika perspektiv på frågan Vilken form har rättvis handel?. Genom övningar och samtal synliggjordes våra uppfattningar om rättvis handels formmässiga beståndsdelar som färg, form och material. Cirkeln, ofta föreställande stiliserade jordglober, var en av de former som återkom hos många aktörers logotyper. Ett relativt brett spektrum av färger uppfattades som rättvis handel och vissa av dessa färger associerade till en identitet som flera av deltagarna inte vill att rörelsen ska förknippas med. Vi diskuterade även rättvis handelsprodukter och kom fram till att t.ex. olika material indikerade skilda åsikter om rättvis handel och dess visuella identitet. Undersökningen visar att det finns förutfattade meningar om rättvis handelsaktörers produkter och påvisar produkter som både bekräftar, men också bryter mot dessa uppfattningar. Undersökningsresultatet visar även att det finns en brist i hur butiker och andra aktörer kommunicerar genom marknadsföringen eller spridandet av information och att denna brist medverkar till dessa förutfattade meningar. I en utställning i projektets avslutande del kunde besökarna själva interagera med frågan Vilken form har rättvis handel?. Detta syftade till att fortsätta väcka frågor samt att visa att frågan om rättvis handels visuella identitet är beroende av den kontext där den ställs.

A European option is a contract in which the seller of the option grants the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase from or sell to the seller the underlying asset at pre-specified price at maturity date. Herewith the buyer should pay out a premium for the value of flexibility that he was granted. Such premium as the compensation to the seller was provides in close form by Black and Scholes (1973) and Merton (1973). Even since then the option pricing methodology, or otherwise known as ¡§contingent claim analysis¡¨ has found its application in many prospects. Otherwise known as the real option analysis first induced by Myers (1977) and the structure form model of the credit risk analysis first induced by Merton (1974). In the thesis, we consider the application of the optional pricing methodology to the rationality and valuation of penalty in a contract and extent the penalty to the money back guarantee. In the former, we provide the general form solution to illustrate the both parties all hold the right to default the contract, and prove the existence of the optimal penalty is a policy to protect the disadvantaged minority such as to make the trade contract to be fair. In the latter, we prove the suitable way to evaluate that the consumer buy a good and long a MBG is the call option but the put by reviewing the final cash flow of the replicated strategy and the put-call parity at firstly, and then we find out the better way to grant the consumer to return the good to the vendor is penalty if the good is normal and the utility function of the consumer is concave. In sum, we integrate the penalty and in the MBG with the contingent claim analysis in this thesis, we find out we can use the uncomplicated model to explain the real world. Herewith we consider the option pricing model as another methodology to illustrate the social environment.

Since the mid-2000s, the production of the pseudo-cereal quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) for export has increased due to growing demand in the United States and Europe. To meet demand, many of those living in the Bolivian high plateau or altiplano have transitioned from traditional livelihood strategies to commercial quinoa production oriented at the international export market. The following looks at how Bolivians living in the community of Pampa Aullagas have adapted to commercial production by looking at three vignettes of different actors living in the community. Looking at traditional agropastoralists, teachers, and modern producers, this thesis seeks to understand the nuances and complexities associated with integration into the global export market. / text