Meeting the producer of my sweater's cotton on Facebook - impossible?
Consumers and producers are intrinsically connected in complex global value chains. Global companies coordinate these chains, or rather, networks of mutual value creation. How can they influence the way we produce and consume? And can they influence the values that guide us in our decisions? These and other questions arose during a panel discussion on “The Next Billion Consumers: A Challenge for Sustainable Responsible Business” at the 3rd Bonn Conference on International Development Policy. Endeva’s managing director Christina discussed ideas with co-panelists Charles Dickinson (ESPRIT), Nicola Oppermann (Kraft Foods), and Vandana Shiva (Naydanya International India).
According to the company representatives, the power lays with the consumer. Today, few people are prepared to pay extra for fair and sustainable products, if one is to believe the market research data. However, the discussion also led to new ideas: Couldn't global consumer goods companies with their enormous marketing budgets change the ideas we have of a good life, and make sustainable living and fairness "sexy"? Couldn't global companies bring producers and consumers closer together as individual people and help to create an emotional connection and understanding, and thus a higher level of concern for the living conditions of those less fortunate? With social media connecting billions of people and mobile phones bringing access to even the poorest, it might not be all that impossible to meet the producer of my sweater's cotton on Facebook!