An analysis of the impact of fair trade: a case study of tea producers in the central province of Sri Lanka

This thesis investigates the impact of fair trade on tea producers in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. A comparison study is undertaken between fair and conventional trade farmers to investigate the monetary and non-monetary benefits of fair trade involvement. The study of 7 villages in the Central Province, incorporates 40 fair trade tea producers, who are members of a cooperative, and 40 conventional trade tea producers selling to a local buyer. Undertaken in July 2009, the research analyses quantitative and qualitative data gathered by means of questionnaires and interviews, to examine the different experiences of the two types of producers in terms of monetary and non-monetary benefits. Monetary benefits examined include factors such as improved income, income sufficiency, secondary income activities, pre-finance measures and excess money. Non-monetary benefits examined include education gains, household development and labour hours on tea production. The results are compared with other impact studies with similarities and differences analysed. The empirical results presented suggest that there are no significant differences in tea income between the two groups. However, fair trade producers work fewer hours in tea production and are more likely to report both an improved and excess income. Furthermore, the fair trade producers report improved spending on food and savings and have a more diversified crop. The results are due to the increased productivity, the provision of loans and saving schemes and the increased time available to work on secondary income generating activities either on or off the farm resulting in an overall improvement in living standards. This study contributes to the existing literature on whether and how fair trade is able to improve the well-being of small producers by offering new insights into the importance of cooperative management, working hours, productivity improvement, effective savings schemes and pre-finance arrangements. These findings are considered important to the success of the cooperative and hence to fair trade producers extracting the full benefits of fair trade and as such they are recommended as focus areas for fair trade. New data is included from tea producers in the Central Province of Sri Lanka, a new region for in-depth study and a new context, as the majority of existing studies focus on coffee and banana production

The effect of the interventions of the South African Breweries' Kickstart Youth Entrepreneurship Programme on entrepreneurial and small business performance in South Africa

The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the interventions used by the South African Breweries (SAB) KickStart Programme to establish and grow entrepreneurial small businesses among young South Africans. South Africa has an extremely high unemployment rate, low economic growth and a dismal Total (early-stage) Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA). With regard to established businesses (older than three-and-a-half years), the GEM report of 2005 ranked South Africa the lowest of all the countries surveyed. The SAB KickStart Programme comprises five phases: an awareness campaign, recruitment and training, a business plan competition for grants, success enhancement and national awards. The following interventions form part of the programme: the General Enterprising Tendency (GET) test; two-week live-in business management training; funding and mentoring; and a national competition for prize money. At every stage, adjudication is based on business plans and presentations. The evaluation of the effectiveness of an existing entrepreneurship programme, the SAB KickStart Programme, has several advantages, in so far as it determines whether the programme does indeed attain its objectives, and could help to improve the structuring of such programmes for future use by other corporations in South Africa. The population for the study comprised all the participants of the SAB KickStart Programme, from 2001 to 2006. A questionnaire was developed and a response rate of 28.5% was realised. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to the turnover and percentage profit figures of respondents to investigate the significance of the type of SAB KickStart support afforded. The results were confirmed by the Bonferroni multiple comparison of means test. The deduction is that funding and mentoring, after training, adds value to the programme. Eighty per cent of the SAB KickStarters were still operating their initial businesses, which they owned when they started on the programme, while a further six per cent had started another business, hence a "failure" rate of only 14 per cent. Many other meaningful findings emerged. In conclusion, it can be said that the SAB KickStart Programme adds value and advances entrepreneurship, and could possibly be applied by other large institutions in South Africa In conclusion, it can be said that the SAB KickStart programme adds value and advances entrepreneurship, and can be elevated to other large institutions in South Africa.Business ManagementD.Comm. (Business Management

Mining the microbiome for markers of microbiota-gut brain communication and mental health

There has been a growing acknowledgement of the involvement of the gut microbiome - the collection of microbes that reside in our gut - in regulating our mood and behaviour. This phenomenon is referred to as the microbiota-gut-brain axis. While our techniques to measure the presence and abundance of these microbes has been steadily improving, there are many factors that prevent us from understanding what aspects of the gut microbiome specifically influence the microbiota-gut-brain axis. In this thesis, we set out to identify and investigate aspects of the microbiome that are informative to gut-brain communication. We do this by investigating the state of the gut microbiome in both health and disease, as well as after supplementing or perturbing it. While all of the work presented here is based on real data from real experiments, the thesis has a strong bioinformatics focus, that means that while the physiological background and interpretation are important, my role in these projects has been to bioinformatically and statistically zoom in on the features of the microbiome that are the most informative to our questions. As such, all results will be discussed from a primarily bioinformatics point of view. Two main aspects of the gut microbiome came out as the most promising features to measure, namely functional capacity and volatility. Traditionally, the microbiome is thought of as a collection of microbes and most analysis is done on the taxonomical level. However, we find that by investigating microbial function - as defined by the genes that are found or associated in the detected microbes - rather than taxonomy, we are able to perform more sensitive analysis and that our results are more easily interpretable. Second, microbiome studies are typically conducted using a single sample per subject. We find that the degree of change in the microbial ecosystem, called volatility, is an important feature of the microbiome and that is linked to severity of stress response. While volatility was coined before in the context of the microbiome, this was only in passing. We were the first to investigate volatility as a feature of the microbiome. Our research in this thesis reconfirms the existence of the microbiota-gut-brain axis and demonstrates novel metrics that can be used to interrogate the microbiome. We utilize mathematical frameworks originally from geology and classical ecology to bolster our analysis. We show that considering the microbiome as an ecosystem is a powerful model that can help us better formulate our scientific questions and interpret our findings. We argue for strategies to unify bioinformatics methodology in the microbiome-gut-brain axis field in an effort to move towards mechanistic understanding

An Exploration of an Elite Scottish Football Academy Experience: The Role of Psychological and Environmental Characteristics in Facilitating Success

The nature of the talent development environment, and key psychological attributes of the players themselves (e.g., self-regulated learning) can explain why some players realise their potential and others do not. Therefore, understanding the environmental factors and learning approaches that differentiate between those that ‘make it’ and those that don’t is crucial for the ongoing effectiveness of talent identification and development processes in an elite tier Scottish football academy.Thesis Objective:To explore how talent is identified and developed within an elite Scottish football academy, specifically investigating the learning and development experiences of academy players as they navigate the academy talent pathwayThesis Aims:To understand the perceived quality of the academy development environment, identifying strengths and areas in need of further developmentTo understand the degree of which academy football players engage in football orientated self-regulated learning behavioursTo investigate possible variances between the quality of experiences of the talent development environment and the perceived provisions available to players of different levels of perceived future potential and progression.To investigate the academy players’ ability to self-regulate their footballing development; specifically examining the frequency of engagement, behaviours utilised, and the role self-regulation plays in the ability of players to cope with the demands and challenges of the talent pathway.To investigate the presence and influence of relative age effects on the academy recruitment and evaluation of potential processesTo understand the lived experiences of academy players, with specific attention paid to the nature and influence of challenge, the behavioural approaches taken to overcome pathway challenges and, the pressures and naturally occurring difficulties within the talent pathway.To examine the competencies and behaviours utilised by academy players in an attempt to successfully navigate the talent development pathwayMethodological Approach:A mixed methods approach led to the design of four linked studies;1) The Talent Development Environment Questionnaire and Self-Regulated Learning – Self Report Scale were utilised to examine the players’ perceptions of the quality of their development environment and the level of their engagement with self-regulated learning skills2) A quantitative examination of the nature of player recruitment, coach rated player potential and progression was carried out with regards to relative age, SRL skills and environmental experiences3) A longitudinal, qualitative study then allowed for a deeper investigation of the nature of player development experiences across a season, from a player perspective4) An examination of coach perspectives on player development experiences across the season to understand the players’ psycho-behavioural approaches adopted during a football season in relation to emerging barriers, challenges and experiences.Findings:Aspects of the academy environment was perceived to be of a high quality. High potential players also perceived the development environment to be of a higher quality compared to the perceptions of their peers with less potential. Additionally, high potential players self-regulate learning more frequently than their peers, specifically, significant variances were detected in evaluation behaviours. Qualitative investigations found that academy players felt pressure to stand out from their peers to avoid deselection and receive a professional contract. The academy lifestyle was described as challenging, specifically balancing academic demands with football expectations. From a coach’s perspective, ‘good developers’ were observed as taking responsibility for their own development, embracing opportunities that challenged them and seeking out opportunities to fail and learn from