Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T10:17:54.698Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Who defines “local”? Resistance to harmonizing standards in ethical markets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sara Jane McCaffrey  and
Nancy Kurland
Nancy Kurland
Affiliation:
Patricia E. Harris Center for Business, Government, and Public Policy, Franklin & Marshall College, Room 112, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604–3003, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Standards for “ethical” goods provide activists and mission-driven producers with opportunities to clarify decisions for so-called “ethical consumers” and spur growth in these new markets. But certification schemes also raise monitoring challenges, and may confuse consumers and create opportunities for cooptation by large corporate competitors. In this interview-based study, we examined the localism movement to understand why social movement leaders might resist harmonization of standards. We find that leaders define “local” in at least five ways, and argue that they resist harmonization of local for pragmatic, philosophical, and strategic reasons. We conclude that tolerance for multiple standards could be beneficial for core activists in market-oriented social movements. If and when these groups turn more systematically to the political system, maintaining loose and multiple standards may impede policy success. The “buy local” case suggests, however, that as long as the market remains activists’ primary mechanism for social change, decentralized governance and multiple standards in ethical markets allow activists to maintain a powerful voice in defining ethical products and business practices.

Type
Symposium on ‘Multiplicity and Plurality in the World of Standards’, Guest Editors: Frank den Hond and Marie-Laure Djelic
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , April 2014 , pp. 191 - 219
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2014 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, P., and Kovach, M. 2000. “The Capitalist Composition of Organic: The Potential of Markets in Fulfilling the Promise of Organic Agriculture.” Agriculture and Human Values 17 (3): 221–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
André, R. 2012. “Assessing the Accountability of the Benefit Corporation: Will This New Gray Sector Organization Enhance Corporate Social Responsibility?” Journal of Business Ethics 110 (1): 133–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacon, C. M. 2010. “Who Decides What Is Fair in Fair Trade? The Agri-Environmental Governance of Standards, Access, And Price.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 37 (1): 111–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartley, T. 2010. “Transnational Private Regulation in Practice: The Limits of Forest and Labor Standards in Indonesia.” Business and Politics 12 (3): 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benford, R. D., and Snow, D. A. 2000. “Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment.” Annual Review of Sociology 26: 611–639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, K. 2011. “Interaction Ritual Chains and the Mobilization of Conscientious Consumers.” Qualitative Sociology 34: 121–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, K. R. 2013. Buying Into Fair Trade: Culture, Morality, and Consumption. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar
Cashore, B. 2002. “Legitimacy and the Privatization of Environmental Governance: How Non-State Market Driven (NSMD) Governance Systems Gain Rule-Making Authority.” Governance 15 (4): 503–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cashore, B., Auld, G., Bernstein, S., and McDermott, C. 2007. “Can Non-state Governance “Ratchet Up” Global Environmental Standards? Lessons from the Forest Sector.” Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 15 (2): 158–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crane, A. 2001. “Unpacking the Ethical Product.” Journal of Business Ethics 30 (4): 361–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culpepper, P. D. 2010. Quiet Politics and Business Power: Corporate Control in Europe and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desrochers, Pierre, and Shimizu, Hiroko. 2012. The Locavore's Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-mile Diet. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
Doherty, B., Davies, I. A., and Tranchell, S. 2013. “Where Now for Fair Trade?” Business History 55 (2): 161–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ecowatch. 2012. “The Organic Watergate: Advocates Condemn USDA's Relationship with Corporate Agribusiness.” Retrieved from http://ecowatch.com/2012/the-organic-watergate-advocates-condemn-usdas-relationship-with-corporate-agribusiness/. May 18, 2012; accessed 5/28/2013.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, E. M. 1984. “Ambiguity as Strategy in Organizational Communication.” Communication Monographs 51 (3): 227–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenhardt, K. 1989. “Building Theories from Case Study Research.” Academy of Management Review 14 (4): 532–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuchs, D., Kalfagianni, A., and Havinga, T. 2011. “Actors in Private Food Governance: The Legitimacy of Retail Standards and Multistakeholder Initiatives With Civil Society Participation.” Agriculture and Human Values 28 (3): 353–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giroux, H. 2006. “‘It Was Such a Handy Term’: Management Fashions and Pragmatic Ambiguity.” Journal of Management Studies 43 (6): 1227–1260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golding, K.M. 2009. “Fair Trade's Dual Aspect: The Communications Challenge of Fair Trade Marketing.” Journal of Macromarketing 29 (2): 160–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, A. Christine. 2007. “The Cost of Low-Price Organics: How Corporate Organics Have Weakened Organic Food Production Standards.” Alabama Law Review 59: 799–830.Google Scholar
Guba, E. G. 1981. “Criteria for Assessing the Trustworthiness of Naturalistic Inquiries.” EJTC 29 (2): 75–91.Google Scholar
Guest, G., Bunce, A., and Johnson, L. 2006. “How Many Interviews Are Enough? An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability.” Field Methods 18 (1): 59–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunther, Marc. 2009. “Exposed! Starbucks Goes Undercover” Huffington Post, Retrieved on 9/1/2012.Google Scholar
Guthman, Julie. 2004. “Back to the Land: the Paradox of Organic Food Standards.” Environment and Planning 36 (3): 511–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guthman, J. 2008. “Neoliberalism and the Making of Food Politics in California.” Geoforum 39 (3): 1171–1183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallstein, E., and Villas-Boas, S. B. 2009. “Are Consumers Color Blind? An Empirical Investigation of a Traffic Light Advisory for Sustainable Seafood.” Working Paper. Berkeley: UC Berkeley Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics.Google Scholar
Hatanaka, M., Bain, C., and Busch, L. 2005. “Third-party Certification in the Global Agrifood System.” Food Policy 30 (3): 354–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, D. J. 2009. Localist Movements in a Global Economy. Boston: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinrichs, C. C. 2003. “The Practice and Politics of Food System Localization.” Journal of Rural Studies 19 (1): 33–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinrichs, Clare C., and Allen, Patricia. 2008. “Selective Patronage and Social Justice: Local Food Consumer Campaigns in Historical Context.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 21 (4): 329–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollender, Jeffrey, and Fenichell, Stephen. 2004. What Matters Most: How a Small Group of Pioneers is Teaching Social Responsibility to Big Business, and Why Big Business is Listening. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Ingram, P., and Rao, H., 2004. “Store Wars: The Enactment and Repeal of Anti-Chain-Store Legislation in America.” American Journal of Sociology 110 (2): 446–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaffee, D. 2012. “Weak Coffee: Certification and Co-Optation in the Fair Trade Movement.” Social Problems 59 (1): 94–116.Google Scholar
Jaffee, D., and Howard, P. H. 2010. “Corporate Cooptation of Organic and Fair Trade Standards.” Agriculture and Human Values 27 (4): 387–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janssen, Meike, and Hamm, Ulrich. 2011. “Product Labelling In The Market For Organic Food: Consumer Preferences And Willingness-To-Pay For Different Organic Certification Logos.” Organic Agriculture 1 (1): 31–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, R., Aussenberg, R., and Cowan, T. 2012. “The Role of Local Food Systems in U.S. Farm Policy.” Congressional Research Service Report for Congress 42155.Google Scholar
Kreftig, L. 1991. “Rigor in Qualitative Research: The Assessment Of Trustworthiness.” The American Journal of Occupational Therapy 45 (3): 214–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurland, N. B., McCaffrey, S. J., and Hill, D. H. 2012. “The Localism Movement: Shared and Emergent Values.” Journal of Environmental Sustainability 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leininger, M. M. 1985. “Nature, Rationale and Importance of Qualitative Research Methods In Nursing.” In Qualitative Research Methods in Nursing, edited by Leininger, M. M. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Locke, R. M. 2013. The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, R., and Romis, M. 2010. “The Promise and Perils of Private Voluntary Regulation: Labor Standards and Work Organization in Two Mexican Garment Factories.” Review of International Political Economy 17 (1): 45–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Low, W., and Davenport, E. 2009. “Organizational Leadership, Ethics and the Challenges of Marketing Fair and Ethical Trade.” Journal of Business Ethics 86 (1): 97–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinez, Steve. 2010. “Local Food Systems; Concepts, Impacts, and Issues.” ERR 97, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.Google Scholar
May, K. A. 1989. “Interview Techniques in Qualitative Research: Concerns and Challenges.” In Qualitative Nursing Research: A Contemporary Dialogue, edited by Morse, J. Rockville, MD: Aspen.Google Scholar
Meuwissen, Miranda P.M., Velthuis, Annet G. J., Hogeveen, Henk, and Huirne, Ruud B. M. 2003. “Traceability and Certification in Meat Supply Chains.” Journal of Agribusiness 21 (2): 167–182.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Stacy. 2009. “The Dirty Tricks Behind Local-Washing: How National Corporations Are Co-Opting the Idea of ‘Local’.” Indy Week, July 8, 2009.Google Scholar
Nicholls, A., and Opal, C. 2004. Fair Trade: Market-Driven Ethical Consumption. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, R., and Simula, M. 2005. The Forest Certification Handbook. 2nd ed. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Park, K., and Gomez, M. 2010. “Do Price Premiums Exist for Local Products?” Journal of Food Distribution Research 42 (1): 145–152.Google Scholar
Reinecke, J., Manning, S., and Von Hagen, O. 2012. “The Emergence of a Standards Market: Multiplicity of Sustainability Standards in the Global Coffee Industry. Organization Studies 33 (5–6): 791–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renard, M. C. 2005. “Quality Certification, Regulation and Power in Fair Trade.” Journal of Rural Studies 21 (4): 419–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitz, H. (Ed.) 2004. Local Enterprises in the Global Economy: Issues of Governance and Upgrading. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schouten, G., and Glasbergen, P. 2011. “Creating Legitimacy in Global Private Governance: The Case of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.” Ecological Economics 70 (11): 1891–1899.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sikavica, K., and Pozner, J. E. 2013. “Paradise Sold: Resource Partitioning and the Organic Movement in the U.S. Farming Industry.” Organization Studies 34 (5–6): 623–651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternfeld, E. 2009. “‘Organic Food’ Made in China.” EU-China Civil Society Forum Hintergrundinformationen 10: 1–12.Google Scholar
Strauss, A., and Corbin, J. (1998/1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Strom, Stephanie. 2013. “China's Food Play Extends Its Reach, Already Mighty.” New York Times, May 20, 2013.Google Scholar
Taylor, P.L. 2005. “In the Market But Not of It: Fair Trade Coffee and Forest Stewardship Council Certification as Market-Based Social Change.” World Development 33 (1): 129–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tepper, Rachel. 2012. “‘Stealth’ Starbucks: Unbranded Store to Open in Macy's.” Huffington Post, Retrieved on September 1, 2012.Google Scholar
Trumpy, Alexa. 2008. “Subject to Negotiation: The Mechanisms Behind Co-Optation and Corporate Reform.” Social Problems 55: 480–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, C. L., and Matthews, H. S. 2008. “Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States.” Environmental Science & Technology 42 (10): 3508–3513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weber, K., Heinze, K., and DeSoucey, M. 2008. “Forage for Thought: Mobilizing codes in the Movement for Grass-fed Meat and Dairy Products.” Administrative Science Quarterly 53: 529–567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winham, Gilbert. 2009. “The GMO Panel: Applications of WTO Law to Trade in Agricultural Biotech Products.” Journal of European Integration 31 (3): 409–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, Michael. 2003. “Embeddedness, the New Food Economy and Defensive Localism.” Journal of Rural Studies 19 (1): 23–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wirth, F., Stanton, J., and Wiley, J. 2011. “The Relative Importance of Search versus Credence Product Attributes: Organic and Locally Grown.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 40 (1): 48–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar