Negotiating partnerships, understanding power

Doing action research on Chilean Fairtrade wine value chains

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5286495
AutoresDorothea Kleine (0000-0002-6847-8807, Royal Holloway University of London, autor correspondente)
Ano2008
Volume174
Fascículo2
Páginas109-123
Data de publicação2008-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoGeographical Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0016-7398 • E-ISSN: 1475-4959
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-4959.2008.00280.x
OpenAlexW2060172519
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas14
Referências citadas19

Sales in Fairtrade wine have been growing rapidly worldwide, and the UK is the most important market. This paper reports on an action research project undertaken with different economic actors along the value chain of a Chilean Fairtrade wine. The aim of the interdisciplinary project was to explore how the internet and tracking and tracing technologies could be used to render value chains more transparent for consumers and producers. An internet interface combined with a barcode-based data retrieval system could allow actors in the value chain to call up economic, social and environmental information about a product. Early findings from the action research process show that while supermarkets are the lead firms in the Fairtrade wine chain in terms of economic power, the producers and the Fairtrade certification body wield 'moral power' over other actors in the value chain. Fairtrade producers and the Fairtrade certification body relate to each other in cycles of mutual recognition, thus underpinning each others' legitimacy and moral power. The paper argues that action research, in particular the positionality of the researcher team as a collaboration partner, can lead to a better understanding of the nature of linkages and power relations between the economic actors in value chains

Action (physics · Business · Certification · Commerce · Economics · Industrial organization · Legitimacy · Management · Negotiation · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Supply chain · Value (mathematics · Value chain · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Marketing · Organic Food and Agriculture · Wine Industry and Tourism