Asian drivers and the future of responsible production and consumption

This paper raises two questions to take a first step in developing a research agenda to assess the developmental relevance of responsible production, which includes both Fair Trade and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The first question is: How likely is it that responsible production becomes increasingly mainstreamed? After defining responsible production and contrasting the models and realities of Fair Trade and CSR, I present the rather optimistic "business case" for a "race to the top" which would also imply a further mainstreaming of responsible production. However, this optimism is put in perspective with some sobering observations about how the rise of China and India as centers of global production and consumption may well limit the reach of responsible production. To what extent can we expect the "tool" of responsible production to enhance developmental outcomes? Notwithstanding the limited overall reach of responsible production, I will argue that it might be feasible to develop "pockets" of responsible production in which various stakeholders have found ways to selectively work together in order to enhance the localized depth of responsible production. The paper concludes with formulating some hypotheses for further research and putting forward the policy relevance of such research

A Balancing Act: Private Actors in Development Processes

Introduction We live in interesting and challenging times because we find our- selves in a transition phase. Development models that are focused on the state and those that are focused on the market basically both have failed to deliver sustainable development outcomes at the global level. The past decades have seen industrial revolutions, service revolutions and ICT revolutions. They have been characterized by a capitalist growth logic, by unsustainable use of resources and by enormous prosperity in some places paired with continued poverty in others. The coming era calls for more integrated attention to sustainability, equity and solidarity. While both state-driven and market-driven models have lost much of their credibility, it is as yet unclear what kinds of development models might take centre stage in the new age

Rising Power Clusters and the Challenges of Local and Global Standards

__Abstract__ This paper explores the intersection between three processes associated with globalisation. First, the rise of emerging economies like China, Brazil and India, the so-called ‘Rising Powers’, and their potential to define the contours of globalisation, global production arrangements and global governance in the twenty-first century. Second, the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals in the shaping of global trade rules and industrial practices. Third, the significance of small firm clusters as critical sites of industrial competitiveness. Some of the most significant examples of successful, innovative and internationally competitive small firm clusters from the developing world are located in the ‘Rising Powers’ and cluster promotion is a core element of national industrial policy in some of these countries. There is also evidence of engagement by clustered actors with corporate social responsibility goals around labour and environmental impacts. While these three processes have been separately studied there has been no attempt to explore their intersections. This paper addresses this gap through a comparative analysis of secondary data, and a detailed reading of the literature, on CSR and clusters in Brazil, China and India. It assesses the evidence on small firm clusters in the Rising Power economies and considers how these Rising Power clusters engage with CSR goals pertaining to labour, social and environmental standards. It argues for a greater focus on the formal and informal institutional context, termed the ‘social contract’, in explaining divergent experiences and practices observed across these countries. This raises important questions for future academic and policy research on clusters, CSR and the Rising Powers. The paper concludes by outlining a research agenda to explore the local and global consequences of the relationship between Rising Power clusters and international labour and environmental standards

Connecting the Concepts of Frugality and Inclusion to Appraise Business Practices in Systems of Food Provisioning:A Kenyan Case Study

Small and medium size business enterprises (SMEs) are the linchpin in systems of food provisioning in sub-Saharan Africa. These businesses occupy the middle of the agri-food chain and face a food security conundrum: they must ensure that smallholder producers of limited means can operate under fair terms while low-income consumers are supplied with affordable and nutritious food. This task becomes even more challenging when resources are scarce. This paper explores how resource-constrained SMEs arrange the terms on which both farmers and consumers are included in agri-food chains. To this end, it combines the concept of inclusion with that of frugality. We use the case of a Kenyan SME to demonstrate how a focus on frugality can advance our understanding of how business practices create thriving business relationships with smallholders while simultaneously ensuring access to affordable food for consumers. We additionally identify what conditions for inclusion emerge from this type of dynamic business practices. Our perspective departs from assessing induced organisational interventions, such as contract farming or cooperatives, which deliberately shorten the agri-food chain, thereby overlooking the skilful practices being employed by business actors in the middle of the chain.</p

Social capital for industrial development: operationalizing the concept

The present report on Social capital for industrial development: operationalizing the concept is part of the broader Combating Marginalization and Poverty through Industrial Development (COMPID), research programme of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), designed to enhance the competitiveness of industrial producers in marginalized countries.1 The Industrial Development Report 2002/2003 posits that, especially in the least developed countries, building industrial competitiveness: ‘‘… can involve heavy costs and great risks and uncertainties’’ (UNIDO [131], p. 9). The main reason for conducting research on operationalizing social capital is that there are grounds for believing that social capital could potentially mitigate some of the risks and uncertainties that exist in low-income and marginalized countries, and thus help to increase their level of competitiveness