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2023 | Buch

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The Transformative Potential of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Cocoa-Chocolate Chain

Insights from Sustainability Certification Practices in Ghana

verfasst von: Franziska Ollendorf

Verlag: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden

Buchreihe : (Re-)konstruktionen - Internationale und Globale Studien

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This book engages with the implications of an expanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of Transnational Corporations in their supply chains. Taking the case of a cocoa sustainability certification project in Ghana, the study examines the implementation process of such a transnational CSR intervention and its outcomes regarding the local governance and institutional environment of the cocoa sector in Ghana. The study deploys a theoretical framework based on Global Value Chain Analysis and a neo-Gramscian approach to Global Governance to assess transnational CSR as a concept and strategy that reflect power struggles in global production fields.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

In times of a plurality of global crises such as environmental degradation and continuous extreme poverty, the search for strong players with the capacity and resources to intervene is wide-spread among academics and practitioners. In this context, transnational corporations (TNCs) are often presented as such strong players, since their value chains reach around the globe and down to local levels in many countries, but importantly in those with weaker governmental structures, too (Matten and Crane 2005, p. 172). It is mainly the perceived absence of governmental capacity of nation states and the international community to appropriately ensure the realization of human rights and the sustainable development goals that caused the call for and implementation of more voluntary responsibility of TNCs from the 1990 s onwards (Utting and Marques 2013).

Franziska Ollendorf

CSR as a Governance Tool in the Global Cocoa-Chocolate Chain

Frontmatter

Chapter 2. The Evolution of CSR as “a Concept for All”

Abstract

The idea of a social responsibility for business entities has been in existence almost as long as the modern form of transnational corporation. Early academic work on CSR has been traced back to US American business schools where a controversy around the consequences of the increased power of US corporations emerged during the 1930s. From the 1970s onwards, research on CSR has spread to other social sciences disciplines and became a prominent topic. Being closely related to ongoing economic and social globalization processes over the past decades, the concept of CSR is no longer merely something debated amongst academics.

Franziska Ollendorf

Chapter 3. Consent and Control: A Conceptual Framework for the Study of CSR in the Global Cocoa-Chocolate Chain

Abstract

CSR is a multi-faceted umbrella concept and a large number of studies approach it from a wide variety of angles. While CSR’s justification, content, and reach are under continuous debate, its application in practice and its establishment in international agendas and treaties are diverse and pluralistic. The present study is particularly interested in understanding how CSR is applied in the Global Cocoa Chocolate Chain (GCCC) and how it shapes the institutional environments, especially at the local level of production.

Franziska Ollendorf

Chapter 4. CSR in a Dynamic Global Cocoa-Chocolate Chain

Abstract

For the investigation of CSR’s potential to serve as a tool for improved control and consent in a given supply chain, the GCCC is an instructive and fruitful example for several reasons. As already highlighted in the introductory chapter, the final good, that is chocolate and other confectionery, has a high emotional value attributed to it. The contradiction of consuming a product that has such a high positive emotional value and while possessing the knowledge of poor working conditions and severe poverty among cocoa producers, causes concern for many consumers. This often translates into the willingness to pay a price premium for Fair Trade other sustainability certified products which increasingly are results of transnational CSR strategies

Franziska Ollendorf

CSR and Transformations in Ghana’s Cocoa Sector as Part of Governance Dynamics in the Global Cocoa-Chocolate Chain

Frontmatter

Chapter 5. The Cocoa Sector in Ghana—a Frontier at its Limits?

Abstract

The story of cocoa in Ghana is the story of a moving cocoa frontier which enabled unprecedented increase in production and catapulted Ghana to one of the world’s top cocoa producing countries. After a strong cocoa recession in Ghana starting in the 1970 s and leading almost to the collapse of the industry in the country in the 1980 s, Ghana achieved its comeback and is today the second largest cocoa producer right after its neighboring country, Côte d’Ivoire. This second cocoa boom, however, was not only achieved through expansive migration movements into new virgin rainforest lands but also through a rapid and widespread adoption of intensification measures by the farmers.

Franziska Ollendorf

Chapter 6. Field Work Design and Procedures

Abstract

The overall research interest of the present study is to estimate if CSR serves TNCs as a tool of private sustainability governance that seeks to increase their control over a given local production context and foster the consent for this intention among stakeholders. Therefore, the study seeks to reveal the mechanisms through which CSR transforms the local institutional setting and to understand how this process shapes the future perspectives of cocoa farmers. Inspired by Global Justice Theory, which highlights the importance to empirically assess perspectives on global institutions of those affected by them, it is a core aim of the present study to give room to CSR-targeted and non-targeted farmers and other sector stakeholders to articulate their concerns about and experiences with CSR.

Franziska Ollendorf

Chapter 7. CSR in Practice: Assessing the Implementation of one Cocoa Sustainability Program in Ghana

Abstract

In this chapter, the results of the empirical study on transnational CSR in Ghana’s cocoa sector are presented. The case study project, hereafter “the studied project” has been selected in order to shed light on the implementation process of transnational CSR and resulting transformative dynamics in Ghana’s cocoa sector. The studied project was a tripartite partnership project which sought to improve sustainability of cocoa production in Ghana by implementing the UTZ Code of Conduct and certifying achievements by UTZ certified.

Franziska Ollendorf

Chapter 8. Transnational CSR as a Governance Tool and Local Development in the Global South

Abstract

Sustainability certification has triggered diverse dynamics of change in the Ghanaian cocoa sector, which has been strongly targeted by TNCs’ sustainability strategies over the past decade. While new forms of sector organization and patterns of cooperation can be observed at both the national and the local level in Ghana’s cocoa sector, a major transformative process is most evident at the local level, and particularly in the high production areas in the country where most CSR interventions are located. In the Chapters 4 and 5, major sustainability challenges of the GCCC and more precisely at the local level of production in Ghana have been described.

Franziska Ollendorf

Chapter 9. Conclusions

Abstract

This study was primarily concerned with unpacking the governmental and power implications of an enlarged voluntary social responsibility of TNCs in global sustainability governance, more precisely through sustainability interventions in their supply chains. For this discussion, the study has taken the example of the Global Cocoa-Chocolate Chain (GCCC) and the implementation of an UTZ cocoa sustainability certification project in Ghana’s most productive cocoa growing area by one of the biggest transnational agricultural companies in the GCCC.

Franziska Ollendorf

Backmatter

Titel: The Transformative Potential of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Cocoa-Chocolate Chain
verfasst von: Franziska Ollendorf
Verlag: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-658-43668-1
Print ISBN: 978-3-658-43667-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-43668-1