Direct Trade Toward Sustainability – The Case of Coffee Roasteries
Nguyen, Nhu (2024)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024120432932
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024120432932
Tiivistelmä
Sustainability is crucial in the coffee industry due to its massive global scale, affecting around 125 million people and having significant environmental, social, and economic impacts. Key concerns include social, economic, and environmental challenges. Addressing these issues is vital for the long-term viability of the coffee industry, which has been pioneering various sustainability initiatives. Direct Trade (DT) in the coffee sector is a sustainability strategy that aims to shorten the supply chain and improve coordination and transparency between actors. It focuseson ensuring high-quality coffee supply by promoting economic, social, and environmental sustainability in production. DT is characterized by its emphasis on quality and sustainability, often involving direct relationships between roasters and farmers. However, DT faces challenges in implementation and monitoring, including the lack of a standardized definition and potential limitations in accessibility and transformative potential.
This study investigates how coffee roasteries currently implement DT as a sustainability initiative. It seeks to understand the motivations, practices, and challenges roasteries encounter when adopting DT, as well as the resources supporting its development. The research uses qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews with industry professionals representing roasteries. Key findings reveal that roasteries adopt DT to ensure high-quality coffee, improve farmers' compensation, and address sustainability concerns. The study identifies trust building as fundamental in DT practice. However, roasteries face challenges such as building trust, conforming to quality and sustainability criteria, and overcoming accessibility issues due to high investments. Resources like funding and support from governments and NGOs are valuable for DT implementation, especially for small-scale or startup roasteries.
The research suggests two practical implications for roasteries implementing Direct Trade: trust-building and utilizing available resources. It also highlights several inconclusive aspects, including the long-term impact on farmers' empowerment and the effectiveness of different trust-building approaches. Future research should explore DT from other perspectives in the supply chain and include a larger, more diverse sample of roasteries to enhance the generalizability of findings.
This study investigates how coffee roasteries currently implement DT as a sustainability initiative. It seeks to understand the motivations, practices, and challenges roasteries encounter when adopting DT, as well as the resources supporting its development. The research uses qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews with industry professionals representing roasteries. Key findings reveal that roasteries adopt DT to ensure high-quality coffee, improve farmers' compensation, and address sustainability concerns. The study identifies trust building as fundamental in DT practice. However, roasteries face challenges such as building trust, conforming to quality and sustainability criteria, and overcoming accessibility issues due to high investments. Resources like funding and support from governments and NGOs are valuable for DT implementation, especially for small-scale or startup roasteries.
The research suggests two practical implications for roasteries implementing Direct Trade: trust-building and utilizing available resources. It also highlights several inconclusive aspects, including the long-term impact on farmers' empowerment and the effectiveness of different trust-building approaches. Future research should explore DT from other perspectives in the supply chain and include a larger, more diverse sample of roasteries to enhance the generalizability of findings.