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The aim of this thesis is to analyze the functioning of Fair Trade and define the main opportunities which it offers to the producers from Africa. The first chapter contains the typical features of this concept, its definition, essential principles, methods of certification, a brief historical overview and current development. It also introduces some important international organizations involved in Fair Trade. The second chapter focuses on Fair Trade in Africa. It includes the analysis of African market, SWOT analysis and definition of some important Fair Trade organizations in Africa and their main activities. The emphasis is given to Fair Trade in Africa, the utilization and distribution of Fair Trade premium, commodity structure, number of farmers involved in the concept of Fair Trade and some other factors. The last part is devoted to the cocoa industry in Africa and two major cooperatives operating in the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att ta reda på vad organisationen Rättvisemärkt vill kommunicera med sitt varumärke och hur en grupp mottagare uppfattar det. Genom att göra intervjuer med kommunikationsansvarige på Rättvisemärkt samt personer som via sina organisationer/företag medverkat i Rättvisemärkts kampanj ”Vi dricker Rättvisemärkt kaffe”, utreder vi våra frågeställningar för att kunna uppnå undersökningens syfte. Rättvisemärkt är ett varumärke eller snarare en produktmärkning, vilket innebär att endast produkter kan vara märkta, inte företag, platser eller annat. Det är ett mervärde åt företag eller produkter. Varumärket Rättvisemärkt påträffas på bland annat kaffe, kakao, apelsiner och textiler. För att få använda varumärket krävs ett skriftligt avtal med organisationen Rättvisemärkt. Avtalet innebär dels att endast produkter från producenter som är registrerade av organisationen Rättvisemärkt skall köpas och rapportering av inköpta varor men även regler för användning av märket. Teoretiska utgångspunkter som vi har använt oss av i studien är kommunikation och varumärke. Kommunikation, för att få en djupare förståelse av överföring av ett meddelande fungerar, vilket är grunden för varumärkeskommunikation och varumärkesbyggande. Metoden vi använt för vår undersökning är en kvalitativ analys av intervjuer, där vi tolkat och sökt efter de framträdande synpunkterna bland intervjuerna. Vårat resultat bygger på fem övergripande teman med tillhörande underkategorier och citat. Slutsatsen med vår undersökning är att organisationen Rättvisemärkt vill, genom sitt varumärke, förmedla sina kärnvärden samt att det ska vara enkelt att välja rättvisemärkta produkter. Vidare att den grupp mottagare som vi har intervjuat till stor del associerar varumärket till organisationen Rättvisemärkts kärnvärden. Två aspekter bör dock has i åtanke, dels att gruppen av mottagare som intervjuats är en grupp medvetna konsumenter och att resultatet av undersökningen hade kunnat få ett annat innehåll om andra konsumenter hade undersökt. Även att den undersökta gruppen även associerade varumärket till faktorer som organisationen Rättvisemärkt inte vill bli förknippad med. / The aim with this study is to investigate what Fairtrade intend to communicate with their brand and how the receivers interpret the brand. To fulfill the purpose of this thesis interviews with the head of communication at Fairtrade Sweden, and a group of receivers involved in Fairtrade by their employers were conducted. The brand Fairtrade is a product label, which means that only products can be labeled, not companies. It adds value to other companies and products. The label is mainly located on products such as coffee, cacao, bananas, oranges and fabrics. To get the permission to have the label on a product, an agreement has to bee settled with Fairtrade. This agreement involves that the company must buy products from producers that are registered by Fairtrade. Further demands are that the company has to continuously report regarding their purchases. This agreement also includes rules on how the companies should use the brand. The theoretical framework in this study regards theories about communication and branding. The reason why communication theories are included is due to the fact that they are the basis for branding and brand building. These theories help us to reach the aim whit the study. A qualitative method is the basis for this study. The interviews were performed based on a qualitative method and the analysis of the answers from interviews is also qualitative. We have transcribed the interviews and searched for the most significant aspects in the data. The results of this study are based on five different themes which also have sub categories. The themes and sub-categories are built on citations from the interviews. Conclusions that have been made are that the Fairtrade organisation intends to communicate the core values of their brand and that the group of receivers associates these core values with Fairtrade. We could also see that the group of receivers cognize the brand Fairtrade in the same way that the organization want them to do. However there are some aspects to be aware of. Firstly, the interviewed persons constitute a group of well-aware consumers and the results can be affected by that. Secondly the group of receivers did associate Fairtrade with other factors than the organization Fairtrade wanted to be associated with.

<p>Syftet med vår uppsats är att ta reda på vad organisationen Rättvisemärkt vill kommunicera med sitt varumärke och hur en grupp mottagare uppfattar det. Genom att göra intervjuer med kommunikationsansvarige på Rättvisemärkt samt personer som via sina organisationer/företag medverkat i Rättvisemärkts kampanj ”Vi dricker Rättvisemärkt kaffe”, utreder vi våra frågeställningar för att kunna uppnå undersökningens syfte.</p><p>Rättvisemärkt är ett varumärke eller snarare en produktmärkning, vilket innebär att endast produkter kan vara märkta, inte företag, platser eller annat. Det är ett mervärde åt företag eller produkter. Varumärket Rättvisemärkt påträffas på bland annat kaffe, kakao, apelsiner och textiler. För att få använda varumärket krävs ett skriftligt avtal med organisationen Rättvisemärkt. Avtalet innebär dels att endast produkter från producenter som är registrerade av organisationen Rättvisemärkt skall köpas och rapportering av inköpta varor men även regler för användning av märket.</p><p>Teoretiska utgångspunkter som vi har använt oss av i studien är kommunikation och varumärke. Kommunikation, för att få en djupare förståelse av överföring av ett meddelande fungerar, vilket är grunden för varumärkeskommunikation och varumärkesbyggande.</p><p>Metoden vi använt för vår undersökning är en kvalitativ analys av intervjuer, där vi tolkat och sökt efter de framträdande synpunkterna bland intervjuerna. Vårat resultat bygger på fem övergripande teman med tillhörande underkategorier och citat.</p><p>Slutsatsen med vår undersökning är att organisationen Rättvisemärkt vill, genom sitt varumärke, förmedla sina kärnvärden samt att det ska vara enkelt att välja rättvisemärkta produkter. Vidare att den grupp mottagare som vi har intervjuat till stor del associerar varumärket till organisationen Rättvisemärkts kärnvärden. Två aspekter bör dock has i åtanke, dels att gruppen av mottagare som intervjuats är en grupp medvetna konsumenter och att resultatet av undersökningen hade kunnat få ett annat innehåll om andra konsumenter hade undersökt. Även att den undersökta gruppen även associerade varumärket till faktorer som organisationen Rättvisemärkt inte vill bli förknippad med.</p> / <p>The aim with this study is to investigate what Fairtrade intend to communicate with their brand and how the receivers interpret the brand. To fulfill the purpose of this thesis interviews with the head of communication at Fairtrade Sweden, and a group of receivers involved in Fairtrade by their employers were conducted.</p><p>The brand Fairtrade is a product label, which means that only products can be labeled, not companies. It adds value to other companies and products. The label is mainly located on products such as coffee, cacao, bananas, oranges and fabrics. To get the permission to have the label on a product, an agreement has to bee settled with Fairtrade. This agreement involves that the company must buy products from producers that are registered by Fairtrade. Further demands are that the company has to continuously report regarding their purchases. This agreement also includes rules on how the companies should use the brand.</p><p>The theoretical framework in this study regards theories about communication and branding. The reason why communication theories are included is due to the fact that they are the basis for branding and brand building. These theories help us to reach the aim whit the study.</p><p>A qualitative method is the basis for this study. The interviews were performed based on a qualitative method and the analysis of the answers from interviews is also qualitative. We have transcribed the interviews and searched for the most significant aspects in the data. The results of this study are based on five different themes which also have sub categories. The themes and sub-categories are built on citations from the interviews.</p><p>Conclusions that have been made are that the Fairtrade organisation intends to communicate the core values of their brand and that the group of receivers associates these core values with Fairtrade. We could also see that the group of receivers cognize the brand Fairtrade in the same way that the organization want them to do. However there are some aspects to be aware of. Firstly, the interviewed persons constitute a group of well-aware consumers and the results can be affected by that. Secondly the group of receivers did associate Fairtrade with other factors than the organization Fairtrade wanted to be associated with.</p>

<p>Tobacco kills 11,500 of its consumers every day, half of them living in developing countries. But there’s more to the picture, namely the producer perspective which show the consequences of tobacco growing for the small-scale farmer. In this paper I mean to investigate the labour conditions of tobacco growers in the world’s second largest tobacco producing country, Brazil. I also intend to examine the Fair Trade movement, with particular attention to FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisation). Finally I try to merge the difficulties of tobacco growing with the institution of Fair Trade, expressed by the FLO standards, as an alternative way out of the tobacco growing problems. The method for this investigation is to examine and compare secondary literature, reports and books, already written on the subject.</p><p>The first issue show a double-side situation, where Brazilian tobacco growers live under extremely crude labour conditions, but also a state where no other agricultural alternatives are available, since tobacco is a highly lucrative and beneficial crop to cultivate, especially for the small-scale farmer. Secondly this paper proposes, thorough the laws of institutional theory, that Fair Trade, especially the FLO standards, constitutes a highly stable and reliable institution, clearly benefiting international trade. Finally this paper concludes that Fairtrade labelled tobacco would not only reduce the problems of tobacco growing, but would also simplify the problematic transformation process, caused by tougher tobacco control policies, from tobacco growing to alternative crop cultivation. In addition, my paper states that Fair Trade as an institution could spread egalitarian principles to other parts of society, which in turn will create formal egalitarian institutions. However, as my interviews with FLO and tobacco companies show, all of this will not become a reality until there is a significant increase in the demand for Fairtrade labelled tobacco products.</p>

Tobacco kills 11,500 of its consumers every day, half of them living in developing countries. But there’s more to the picture, namely the producer perspective which show the consequences of tobacco growing for the small-scale farmer. In this paper I mean to investigate the labour conditions of tobacco growers in the world’s second largest tobacco producing country, Brazil. I also intend to examine the Fair Trade movement, with particular attention to FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisation). Finally I try to merge the difficulties of tobacco growing with the institution of Fair Trade, expressed by the FLO standards, as an alternative way out of the tobacco growing problems. The method for this investigation is to examine and compare secondary literature, reports and books, already written on the subject. The first issue show a double-side situation, where Brazilian tobacco growers live under extremely crude labour conditions, but also a state where no other agricultural alternatives are available, since tobacco is a highly lucrative and beneficial crop to cultivate, especially for the small-scale farmer. Secondly this paper proposes, thorough the laws of institutional theory, that Fair Trade, especially the FLO standards, constitutes a highly stable and reliable institution, clearly benefiting international trade. Finally this paper concludes that Fairtrade labelled tobacco would not only reduce the problems of tobacco growing, but would also simplify the problematic transformation process, caused by tougher tobacco control policies, from tobacco growing to alternative crop cultivation. In addition, my paper states that Fair Trade as an institution could spread egalitarian principles to other parts of society, which in turn will create formal egalitarian institutions. However, as my interviews with FLO and tobacco companies show, all of this will not become a reality until there is a significant increase in the demand for Fairtrade labelled tobacco products.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the antecedents and reinforcements of fairtrade purchase intention and to examine the effect of reporting good fairtrade practices on consumers’ punishment behavior. A stratified sample of 240 English-speaking, American, adult subjects was collected online. First, the Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM) (Foxall, G., 2007) was modified and four manipulations varying luxury/commodity product type and open/closed purchase settings were presented. The results of paired-sample t-tests demonstrated closed purchase settings did not increase luxury purchase intention by itself. A split-plot ANOVA combining closed setting and the participant’s fairtrade learning history did not produce significant results, but post-hoc testing revealed a significant effect of positive learning history on purchase intention. Two separate, repeated-measures ANOVA found that utilitarian reinforcement was not affected by purchase setting, but informational reinforcement was significantly increased by the presence of others. Second, four manipulations of good/bad press events were presented without/without the firm’s fairtrade performance history mentioned in a news article. A two-way, between-subjects ANOVA produced insignificant results for the effect of information on willingness to pay. Importantly, the type of event significantly affected willingness to pay, accounting for 18% of the variation, with positive events generating higher willingness to pay than negative, regardless of whether fairtrade performance information was included. This study suggested firms would benefit from including cues for the social reward aspect of luxury fairtrade purchasing in marketing efforts and from preventing missteps rather than bragging about past practices. Future research suggestions included further analyzing the effect of information on punishment of bad corporate actors, investigating the credibility of self-declaration of fairtrade certification versus independent certification labels, and incorporating the effect of culture into the BPM.

Syfte: Produktbeskrivningar kan kommunicera de fördelaktiga egenskaper som en vara medför, vilket kan få produkten att skilja sig från mängden. Under de senaste decennierna har det skapats ett ökat intresse för både sensoriska och miljömärkta produktbeskrivningar och för företag blir det allt viktigare att lyckas identifiera vilka faktorer som påverkar betalningsviljan hos konsumenter. Syftet med denna studie är därför att undersöka hur sensoriska och miljömärkta produktbeskrivningar påverkar konsumentens betalningsvilja. Metod: Metoden har en deduktiv ansats och vår empiriska insamling har skett utifrån en kvantitativ metod i form av en enkätundersökning. Populationen avser individer mellan 15–75 år som antingen dricker kaffe regelbundet eller som någon gång har inhandlat bryggkaffe i en livsmedelsbutik. Resultaten har bearbetats i SPSS där dem har analyserats utifrån deskriptiv statistik, korrelationsanalys och regressionsanalys.  Resultat och slutsats: Studiens resultat påvisar att sensoriska produktbeskrivningar på kaffe har en positiv effekt på konsumentens betalningsvilja. Sensoriska smakattribut är de viktigaste att kommunicera i en produktbeskrivning för att tilltala konsumenten. Däremot påvisar studiens resultat att produktbeskrivningar som är miljömärkta i form av ekologisk och Fairtrade-märkning, har en starkare påverkan på konsumentens betalningsvilja för kaffe än vid sensoriska produktbeskrivningar.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Vårt bidrag till ämnet företagsekonomi och marknadsföring är att produktbeskrivningar för kaffe främst bör framföra kvalitetsstämplar om sådana finns för att påverka konsumentens betalningsvilja. Vid icke ekologiska eller Fairtrade-märkta produkter, bör de sensoriska attributen förmedlas för att ha en positiv inverkan på konsumentens betalningsvilja. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Efter denna studie kan vi konstatera att betalningsviljan skiljer sig åt beroende på vilken produktbeskrivning som framställs. Det skulle därför vara av intresse att även se till olika varumärken för kaffe vid framställandet av olika typer av produktbeskrivningar för att se om betalningsviljan förändras. För framtida forskning vore det även av intresse att se till hur sensoriska produktbeskrivningar i samband med miljömärkningar hade påverkat konsumentens betalningsvilja. / Aim: Product descriptions can communicate the beneficial properties that comes with a product, which can make the product stand out, among others. In recent decades, there has been an increased interest in both sensory and environmentally friendly product descriptions and for companies, it is becoming increasingly important to succeed in identifying the factors that affect consumers’ willingness to pay. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how sensory and environmentally friendly product descriptions affect consumers’ willingness to pay.  Method: The method has a deductive approach, and our empirical data has been based on a quantitative method in the form of a survey. The population refers to individuals between the ages of 15 and 75 who either drink coffee regularly or have ever bought brewed coffee in a grocery store. The results have been processed in SPSS where they have been analyzed based on descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis.  Result &amp; Conclusion: The results of the study show that sensory product descriptions of coffee have a positive effect on the consumer’s willingness to pay. Sensory taste attributes are the most important to communicate in a product description to appeal to the consumer. On the other hand, the results of the study show that product descriptions that are ecological and Fairtrade-labeled have a stronger impact on the consumer’s willingness to pay for coffee than with sensory product descriptions.  Contribution of the thesis: Our contribution to the subject of business administration and marketing is that product descriptions for coffee should primarily communicate ecological and Fairtrade-labels if such exist, to influence the consumer’s willingness to pay. In the case of non-ecological or Fairtrade-labeled products, the sensory attributes should be communicated to have a positive impact on the consumer’s willingness to pay. Suggestions for future research: After this study, we can state that the willingness to pay differs depending on which product description is presented. It would therefore be of interest to also look at different brands for coffee when producing different types of product descriptions to see if the willingness to pay changes. For future research, it would also be of interest to see how sensory product descriptions in combination with environmentally friendly product description had affected the willingness to pay.

While the movement for fair trading practices in the world market dates back to the 1940s, the labeling and certification initiative “Fairtrade” has existed for about 25 years. My thesis is based on independent research I conducted in November 2013 in La Convención Valley, Peru. Through in-depth interviews with fifteen small farmers and several cooperative officials at La Central de Cooperativas Agrarias Cafetaleras (COCLA), I examine the discrepancies between what Fairtrade’s claims and what farmers themselves perceive to be the benefits and failures of the certification system. I argue that while in theory farmers receive a competitive price for their Fairtrade coffee, in reality this price is subject to many deductions at the cooperative level such that many certified farmers express little understanding of their role in Fairtrade. Additionally, claims of corruption within the cooperative point to deeply entrenched local hierarchies of power. Comparing La Convencion’s history of exploitative feudal systems to present-day complaints of farmers – that the majority of money remains in the hands of cooperative officials, who limit farmers’ access to important market information and flaunt a higher quality of life – suggests that Fairtrade is actually reproducing harmful conditions of the past. I conclude that Fairtrade certification fails to empower farmers to escape local hierarchies of power and the exploitative conditions of the capitalist neoliberal world market. Making global trade truly fair requires an emphasis on an alternative international economic world order that holds consumers more accountable and places more value on the lives and experiences of producers.

The care for the environment has been a hot topic during the last fifteen years. Ecological and Fairtrade products made from sustainable materials and methods can be found in almost every store. It seems like awareness regarding our environmental impact has increased and therefore changed our purchase behavior. The awareness has also created pressure on the companies to behave in an ethical manner, if the consumers feel that their ethical needs are not acknowledged, they will tend to stop purchasing products from that company. In this new aware society there is a new player that in a few years will make up the new buying force. Generation Z is individuals born after 1995 and is expected to bring new demands to the market. The purpose of this thesis is to study if ethical products and ethical consumption have an effect on the buying behavior of Generation Z. To better understand if the ethical awareness affect the purchase behavior of Generation Z and if they are willing to boycott companies that misbehaves, theory within the fields of CSR, consumer behavior and ethical consumption has been collected to form questions for a survey. The findings show that the ethical awareness do not affect the purchase behavior of Generation Z, however there is discovered attributes such as ethical profile that affect the frequency of purchases. The findings also show that Generation Z will actively boycott a company if that company misbehaves.