Interactions between and re-definition of quality conventions for coffee: An Institutional analysis of international value chains
Abstract
As coffee growers are confronted with fierce competition, and therefore strive to differentiate their coffees to be able to make a living, this research intends to look at the institutional contexts This research intends to look at the institutional contexts (e.g., formal and informal institutions) by which value chain actors such as growers, traders and industrial processors (e.g., roasters, brand owners) build, re-define and combine quality conventions of three selected voluntary standards (e.g., Fairtrade and Organic, GI). It specifically aims to: i) grasp the formal (e.g. specific legislations (in the origin country and in the target markets, Codes of Practice according to standards, etc.); ii) the informal institutions (e.g. rules of growers’ organizations and/or individual growers, social norms, forms of collaboration and interacting (collectively/individually), social learning, integration of diverse types of knowledges (e.g., grower, trader, buyer), i.e., growers´ perception of what a “good” coffee means for them); and iii) the chosen differentiation strategy/strategies to follow as well as the observed dynamics/interrelations and typology of value chain actors. Thus, this research intends to systematically analyze the interrelations/transitions/pathways and dynamics between the use of voluntary standards (e.g., combination or not of Fairtrade and Organic, GIs) and the anchoring of key value chain actors (e.g., growers, traders, roasters) within specific institutional settings. The guiding research questions are: 1) How do value chain actors (e.g., growers, traders, roasters) build and re-define their quality conventions (according to used voluntary standards such as Organic, Fairtrade, GI) since the dismantling of the ICA in 1989 in selected cases/countries? 2) How and why do value chain actors (e.g., growers, traders, roasters) prioritize on those chosen quality conventions? The convention is considered a coordination mechanism that emerges to collectively resolve a situation that could not be done exclusively through an individual decision (Marescotti, 2000). To grasp the institutional contexts, this research aims to understand the position of coffee growers, institutions and their organizations in the South (as it is usually presented), but also the position of buyers -mainly industrial processors- (traders, roasters, brand owners) in the North. Empirical cross-case and cross-country comparisons shall deliver more in-depth of quality building/re-definition of quality conventions for coffee and the role that international buyers play in these developments. The guiding assumption is that producers located in regions with well-established/robust supporting (formal and informal) institutions (Quiñones-Ruiz et al., 2015; Barjolle et al., 2017) as well as with (strong) interlinks with global economic structures (Manning et al., 2012) ahttps://forschung.boku.ac.at/fis/projektantrag_erfassen.antrag_teilprojekt_erfassen?sid=5902D95C30DB1CF426088839C11D31BAre able to build and re-define their quality conventions for coffee production.
keywords coffee organic fairtrade geograhical indications institutional analyisis
Publikationen
Project staff
Xiomara-Fernanda Quinones-Ruiz
Dr.rer.soc.oec. Xiomara-Fernanda Quinones-Ruiz MA
xiomara.quinones-ruiz@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-93339
BOKU Project Leader
01.09.2018 - 31.10.2021
Marianne Penker
Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Marianne Penker
marianne.penker@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-73115
Project Staff
01.09.2018 - 31.10.2021