The Eras and Participants of Fair Trade

Purpose: This paper investigates the increased mass-marketing in the fair trade industry to provide a robust analysis of the industry, participants and growth for use as both a starting point for researchers in this field and as a case study for readers with an interest in any ethical trading initiative Methodology: Utilising data from a longitudinal exploratory research project, participant observation from two organisations and in-depth interviews from a total of 15 organisations are combined to build strong theory grounded in the data. Findings: The paper provides insight into the nature of participants and industry structure in fair trade over time. Four distinct eras are identified which reflect both current literature and the practitioners’ perspective. The four eras can be split into 3 extant eras - the solidarity era, niche-market era and mass-market era, and the fourth - the institutionalisation era – depicts participants’ beliefs about the future for the industry. Research implications: The three principle theoretical contributions are the definitions which are provided for the different eras of the market’s progression, the view of industry structure and the newly defined participants from both the commodity and under-considered craft markets. Practical implications: Practical contributions are provided since the paper offers a holistic view of the fair trade market, so acting as a starting point for those new to fair trade. Originality/Value: This paper provides deep empirically grounded theory from which fair trade research can grow. It also provides future insights from participants in the industry advancing current theory

Voluntarism as an organizing principle for 'responsible organizations'

The aim of this paper is to promote the concept of organizational voluntarism, borrowed from political philosophy and to stimulate feedback and debate as to its efficacy in furthering the discourse on corporate responsibility

Self- or rule-based governance: Analysis of choice-making behaviour

Purpose - This study seeks to propose self-governance in organisations based on choice-making behaviour. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines selected literature on the behaviour of choice, moving from the individual as the unit of analysis to the organisation, in order to draw lessons for proper governance. To do so, it refers to a series of three independent studies, namely, of luxury, leadership and the role of luxury in helping to cope with organisational pressure. Findings - The paper reviews the need for choice (or human logic), exemplified by the Theta and Lambda worldviews, and the difficulties in its proper implementation. A study into luxury reveals the role of luxury in choice-making behaviour and the language used for making these choices. These findings are applied to a study into leadership and followed by a third and ongoing study that provides empirical evidence that tension in organisations results, in numerous cases, from an imposed lack of choice because of improper governance. The paper concludes with recommendations for organisational governance. Research limitations/implications - The claim that conflicts in organisations are based on differences between Theta and Lambda worldviews is based on some empirical evidence only. Criticising governance by rules, the paper does not look in detail into the reasons behind the drive for such a way of governance or how to help change an organisation's governance approach. Originality/value - The paper introduces the concept of Theta and Lambda worldviews, provides a psychological definition of what luxury is and its importance to organisational life and questions the usefulness of enhanced governance

Tax avoidance and corporate social responsibility: you can't do both, or can you?

Purpose: The payment of taxes is both a crucial corporate contribution to society and essential to good governance; but it is an under-researched aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Hence this paper first seeks to examine whether companies that engage in tax avoidance through locating their headquarters in tax havens - or Offshore Finance Centres (OFCs) - make any claims to act socially responsibly. If so, the paper, second, aims to investigate how being based in an OFC impacts on the firm's commitment to key organisational stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach: In the light of the sensitivity of the issue, the research questions are studied through an analysis of the content of codes of conduct that have been adopted by a sample of firms based in OFCs. The results are compared with a sample of US firms. Findings: OFC-based firms do indeed make claims that they engage in responsible business practices. However, the commitments by OFC-based companies vis-Ã -vis key stakeholders fall in almost all cases short of those made by the sample of US firms. Originality/value: With regard to CSR theory, the paper shows how organisational legitimacy is the result of a complex interaction between strategic legitimacy efforts by OFC-based companies and isomorphic processes in the wider social system. In terms of CSR practice, the paper argues that claims to acting socially responsibly by firms that do not even fully meet their economic responsibilities to society may, in the longer term, undermine the very idea of CSR