Cocoa Case Study

In light of these realities, there are institutions in place to make the cocoa industry more ethical and equitable. However, most of these institutions lose their potency when developed nations that import cocoa disregard them altogether. At the 2010 Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva, the United Nations introduced the International Cocoa Agreement; poverty alleviation, equitable trade practices, and strategic partnerships between exporting and importing countries were among the objectives outlined in the agreement, all of which would be significant strides toward a more just and civilized cocoa industry (“International Cocoa Agreement” 2010, p. 2). Although it was quickly signed and ratified by major cocoa exporters in the Global

Corporate social responsibility is an emerging theme in the international community, as transnational corporations look to prove they care about states and other actors in addition to profit margins. In the modern day, as issues like human rights and social justice gain attention on a global scale, “businesses can gain competitive advantage by improving the communities in which they operate” (Lalwani et al 2016, p. 741). In the cocoa industry, part of this relates to creating more desirable living conditions for farmers as to increase productivity, but it also has to do with developing a brand reputation. For most of the 20th century, the global economy concerned itself primarily with the objective quality of a commodity, and the ends were thought to justify the means. As civil society continues to progress, however, consumers become more fascinated with the ethicality behind these products. One of the benefits of globalization and global interconnectedness is that it gives people in developed countries a clear lens through which to view how their purchases affect the lives of those in developing nations. Furthermore, consumers are starting to realize how impactful their own individual consumer choices can be. As the cocoa industry continues to expand, each individual consumer plays an increasingly prevalent role in local economies on the other side of the world, which could affect the livelihood of countless civilians in cocoa producing communities (Adams