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 …show more content…
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
Unfortunately, not everyone involved in the production of this popular sweet benefits. Today, over 70 percent of the world’s chocolate is exported from Africa (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 10). While chocolate industry flourishes under international demand, the situation in Côte d’Ivoire in particular illustrates dependency theory and highlights the need for the promotion of Fair Trade. Chocolate has had a considerable impact on the country’s economic structure and labor practices.
Make Chocolate Fair, a European Campaign for ethic chocolate reports that cocoa farmers in West Africa live off of less that $1.25 a day, which means that a mere 6% of all revenues from chocolate such as Hershey goes to its farmers, while a whopping 70% goes too the conglomerate company. This 6% of shares is startingly low compared to the 1980's, in which farmers got 16%. (Make Chocolate Fair, 2013) These unlivable wages have led large portions of countries such as Ghana and Cote d'Iviore to become extremely impoverished, a consequence unjust considering the strenuous and dangerous work going into the growth of cocoa beans, which involves climbing trees, cutting the cocoa pods off with machetes, letting the beans fermet by covering them with banana leaves, and loading them into bags and carrying the one-hundred pound bags on their backs to be sold. However, admist the already outragious working conditions of cocoa farmers, Hershey and other chocolate companies have a far darker secret, and it isn't "Special
Smaller chocolate companies have taken steps to remove, and improve its chain supplies. “…West African cocoa farms is a longstanding and difficult problem for the entire chocolate industry. But while Hersey’s primary competitors have least taken steps to reduce or eliminate slavery and other forms of abusive labor under cruel conditions…” (Robbins 1) Hersey’s should also do its best to eliminate all issues towards abusive labor practices, human trafficking, and its forced labor. Doing so will make hersey’s appear much professional and caring towards its cocoa supply. As Robbin argues if other competitors have purchased cocoa from certified farm fields that are free from forced labors then Hersey’s can also take the same steps to eliminate such
CSR currently has no universal definition, but it is commonly agreed that the strategy engages the business brand with a specific societal issue that relates to the company’s field of work. For example a car company might apply their brand with uses of green energy with the automobile. Businesses have noticed the benefits CSR can generate for their company. However, this strategy is most effective when the company commits their entire brand around the particular cause. The Whole Foods Market (WFM) is the perfect example of how the use of the CSR works for a company. To understand how stores like the WFM influence society’s move towards sustainability and healthy living, it is important to look at the stores CSR strategy portrayed through their advertising, such as their website. In my paper I hope to further the conversation about the use of the corporate responsibility strategy for businesses to ...
This reality is a reflection of the inequality in income distribution in the production and marketing of cocoa-based products, where 70% of the final price of the product is received by transnational companies and the industry, while producers receive only 5% of final prices. This often does not even get the farmers to cover the costs of production. Additionally this means that the market structure leaves producers with little ability to make decisions and unlikely to actively participate in the definition of international economic rules. For this reason they are forced to produce at low cost, which affects the working conditions of farmers.
People have always had a sweet tooth. In the mid 17th century, the sugar cane was introduced to the New World by the Dutch, who, using slaves, seized this opportunity to make a profit in the British West Indies. Sugar, as well as slaves, played a vital role in the Atlantic Triangular Trade among the Americas, Europe and Africa. Slaves were the working force in this trade network because they harvested the cash crops that circulated around the Atlantic Ocean. A form of slavery very similar to those in the sugar plantations of the Caribbeans is child labor in the modern cocoa industry. Cocoa trees only thrive in humid regions near the equator, which is why two West African countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, supply well over half of the world’s total cocoa. In order to keep up with the demand for cocoa, farmers in Africa have employed some 15,000 boys ages 12 to 16 who have been sold into slave labor to harvest and process cocoa beans “under inhumane conditions and extreme abuse” (Chanthavong 1).
Many companies are now looking into their business practices and how it benefits society. Corporate responsibility continues to be impacted as consumer awareness to global issues grows. For example, a small locally owned grocery store located in a metropolitan area just closed the doors to two stores located in high-crime-rated areas of the city due to no financial gains. The store just added a health conscious section for consumers that requested a need for it in the store, even though the cost and marginal is higher than most options in the store. With all of that going on the owner of the store was approached by a local food bank for one day old products that can be donated to them to help the community. The owner declined to help by citing that he feels by help he is opening a chance for loss of revenues due to employees not being honest. He thinks that his employees will just say that products are being donated when they are stealing.
In places like Africa and Brazil where they grow cocoa beans the economy is very unstable and without the help of fair trade the farms don't get enough money to sustain them self. Such as the average age for cocoa farming is 45-50 and more and more people are looking for other jobs because the
Supplier evaluation, it is important that General Mills determine that “a potential supplier is or could be an International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) certified producer” (Anga). If the quality of suppliers is poor, the rest of the supply chain will suffer and efforts will be wasted. General Mills must then choose how the supplier will be integrated into its system, and the purchaser must make certain that the supplier has an appreciation of quality. “General Mills will benefit from a cost-based negotiations strategy, because it requires the supplier to show the purchaser its books. From there the purchaser will draft contracts that spell out the terms, boundaries and conditions of the relationship so that each party involved shares equal benefits and risks” (Heizer 443).
Fair-trade is often the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about small coffee bean farmers and the coffee crisis. Fair-trade practices encourage the international trading community to use sustainable business practices that will ensure the livelihoods and development of small, independent coffee farmers (Utting 2009). Research shows that fair-trade efforts are attempting to alleviate the coffee crisis and have had little to no negative impact on Central American coffee farmers. Fair-trade practices are designed to provide farmers with a fair price for their produce. Coffee shops that sell fair-trade coffee beans charge extra but unfortunately the coffee farmers do not see the financial return from the fair-trade coffee (Sick 2009). There has been considerable media and hype of the ‘green’ or fair-trade coffee bean and how the collapse of the fair-trade coffee beans is the cause for the coffee industry. Consumer misconception has actually resulted in an oversupply of the coffee beans which only creates an even greater drop in coffee prices. But even consumer misconception about fair-trade coffee can be ruled out as a major cause for the crisis because Cent...
From 2008 to 2012, the exports value (in current prices) of chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa increased on average by 5.6% to reach its peak of 24.1 bln US$. During the same period, imports showed a similar development with an average increase of 5.5% to amount t...
Globalization Phase, companies were known locally, regionally and internationally, their products were already improved offering innovative services. However, as The Economist (2007) has highlighted, while more global the companies are more aware of corporate social responsibility they need to be, namely, foreign stakeholders will expect, not only innovative and effective products, but also they will open their doors and invest their money to companies that are social responsible.
Cocoaland Holdings Berhad is a money investment company. It was established on 8 October 2004 and the founder is Dato’ Azman Bin Mahmood. Besides that, this company is located in Rawang, Selangor. Moreover, it also is a main market for consumer product industry. They sell chocolates, wafers, soft drink, nuts, jelly, fruit gummies, jelly cups, crackers, hard candies and etc. It also distribution of various kinds of beverages, import and export other products such as gummies, trading and preserved foods and foodstuffs in Indonesia, Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China.
Growth of the chocolate industry over the last decade has been driven in large part by an increasing awareness of the health benefits of certain types of chocolate. Chocolate consumers are considerably price insensitive. Except in rare circumstances consumers are willing to purchase what they consider an “affordable luxury.” Chocolate is one of the most popular and widely consumed products in the world, with North American countries devouring the lion's share, followed by Europe
Global business today not only survives on corporate reputation but as well as social responsibility. Reputation is quite important for the smooth operation of the business especially in today’s internet age where information travels in a few seconds and impact is very fast. Consumers in the present day are more concerned with whether companies are good citizens to the community and for one to do business today it is required for companies to be good global citizens concerned with social responsibility besides profits. As companies