Green Capital Accumulation: Business and Sustainability Management in a World of Global Value Chains

Abstract

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Global Value Chains and Intermediaries in Multi‐stakeholder Initiatives in Pakistan and India

“…Drawing on the work of Riisgaard et al (2020), this leads us to argue that the roles of regulatory intermediaries may be compromised by GVC pressures, such as the need for rapid upscaling of sustainable commodity production, retailers not wishing to increase product prices, and the need to verify farmer compliance with sustainability standards at the base of GVCs (see also Ponte, 2019;Raynolds, 2018). Based on an analysis of the standard formulation process of the BCI, Riisgaard et al (2020) identify two dilemmas that regulatory intermediaries face in their interaction with end users (farmers).…”

“…They label this the 'capacity building' vs 'auditing' dilemma. This dilemma can also be traced back to GVC pressures, wherein brands and retailers are now attempting to organize their supplier networks in ways that pro-actively upscale more sustainable forms of commodity production, while ensuring that it is possible to verify that these commodities are indeed produced in a more sustainable manner (Ponte, 2019). On the one hand, capacity building of farmers may often be required in order for MSI standards to be effectively implemented: such measures must enable farmers to gain greater control and awareness of their own production methods, save costs, improve productivity, reduce the use of harmful pesticides, and ensure better conditions for on-farm workers (Raynolds, 2018).…”

“…In the last two decades, multi‐stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) have proliferated across a wide range of contexts, industries and sectors, involving, for instance, the monitoring and certification of factories and farms in garment, textiles and footwear production at the base of value chains in the global South (Fowler and Biekart, 2017; Kabeer et al., 2020; Soundararajan et al., 2019). Although sustainability standards promoted by MSIs, for example, fair trade or organics, historically covered only a marginal part of world production and trade in most commodities (around 1–2 per cent, according to Ponte, 2020), recent years have witnessed significant upscaling and mainstreaming of world production and trade in commodities covered by sustainability standards, such as bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, palm oil, soy beans, sugar cane, tea and forestry (Raynolds, 2018). For instance, between 2013 and 2017, the certified area of cotton production increased by 172 per cent and by the 2017–18 growing season, at least 19 per cent of the global total was covered by a single sustainability standard, the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) (ITC, 2019).…”

“…At the same time, many giant retailers and brands have institutionalized sustainability concerns as part of the core business of marketing their products, managing business risks in their value chains (for example, the risk of child labour), and ensuring the sustainability of their supply of raw materials in an era dominated by increasing water shortages, flooding, declining soil quality and climate change (Alexander, 2019; Ponte, 2019). This upscaling of ‘sustainable commodity production and trade’, the proliferation of MSIs, and sustainability becoming a part of ‘business as usual’ for many giant retailers/brands, have led to an increase in demand for local‐level intermediary organizations that facilitate the implementation and upscaling of sustainable commodity production (Marques, 2019; Munir et al., 2018).…”

The evolution of power in the global coffee value chain and production network

“…As they aim to scale up their performance in this lucrative sector, roasters frequently adopt top-down sourcing management schemes that negate the aspirational equal-footed relations pursued in relationship coffees. For instance, the sustainability verification systems used by Starbucks and Nespresso allow them to obtain precious information on suppliers' cost structures as well, thus strengthening roasters' bargaining power and ability to extract value in higher-margin markets (Muradian and Pelupessy, 2005;Elder et al, 2014;Grabs, 2017;Ponte, 2019).…”