On a surface, the role of a consumer in the market environment, not to mention the global market realm, seems rather restricted. It is not that this role is minor – far from it, customers define the type of goods produced, their amount, etc. On a global scale, though, especially in the prospect of environmental issues, a consumer is traditionally viewed as dependent on industries. However, despite the seemingly insignificant role, a customer has, in fact, a major impact on whether the companies working within a particular market use the sustainability principles in their work.
The Fair Trade concept is a graphic example of how significant the impact of consumers’ choice on the industry and its sustainability is. Defined as one of the forms of “ethical consumption” (Fridell “Fair Trade Slippages and Vietnam Gaps: The Ideological Fantasies of Fair Trade Coffee” 2), the specified phenomenon defines the choice of consumers as crucial to not only the progress of industries, but also the choices that they make, specifically, the ethical ones.
The specified Fair Trade concept, for instance, creates the premises for improving the production principles that are currently adopted by a range of companies, therefore, altering the impact, which these processes have on the environment.
In his lecture, Fridell delivers a rather convincing argument about the significance of the customer as one of the agents that modify not only the production processes, but also the operation of a company, thus, making it reconsider the paths taken and the resources utilized.
According of the lecturer, the companies producing Indian coffee, the recipe for which was developed based on the analysis of the target audience and, therefore, “spends a lot on the research and development” (Fridell Fair Trade Fantasies, Vietnam Gaps and Coffee Statecraft 00:30:40), proves to be a more efficient in its coffee-making industry than the states that disregard the aforementioned component.
The Vietnamese coffee-making organizations, on the other hand, seem to fail, as they rely on the concept of the “fair trade fantasy” (Fridell “Fair Trade Slippages and Vietnam Gaps: The Ideological Fantasies of Fair Trade Coffee” 2), which does not allow for focusing on the needs of the customer and realize how significant the opinion of the latter on the industry is (Irwin 4).
In other words, the fact that customers shape industry, thus, making the company managers choose more sustainable approaches, is obvious. Customers are capable of shaping the production processes of major companies, which is extremely important in the wake of global environmental concerns.
Naturally, major issues are to be dealt with when introducing the customer factor to the industry. Acknowledging the necessity to comply with customers’ demands regarding the production processes change means acquiring new and more expensive equipment, as well as improving the skills of the staff.
Though, at first glance, it might seem that a typical customer has little to do with the sustainability rates of the approaches chosen by the companies selling their products to the specified target audience, customers shape the sustainability rates greatly by creating a demand for specific products of sustainable entrepreneurship.
By promoting the concept of free trade, consumers will be able to not only support organizations in their endeavors to improve the quality of their services and goods, but also encourage organizations for utilizing the principles of sustainability in the process. As a result, a range of issues related to environment in general and resources in particular may be resolved.
Works Cited
Fridell, Gavin. Fair Trade Fantasies, Vietnam Gaps and Coffee Statecraft. n. d. MP4 file.
—. “Fair Trade Slippages and Vietnam Gaps: The Ideological Fantasies of Fair Trade Coffee.” Third World Quarterly 35.7 (2014), 1179–1194. Print.
Irwin, Douglas A. Free Trade under Fire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009. Print.