A term that is becoming increasingly popular is “Fair Trade”–you may have seen this plastered on chocolate, coffee, or tea labels around campus.  So what does Fair Trade actually mean?

A Fair Trade Certified good means it satisfies a set of criteria “including labour standards, sustainable farming, governance, and democratic participation.”  Since social enterprises enhance the triple bottom line, I found a distinct connection between these businesses and Fair Trade.

Social enterprises enhance the three pillars of sustainability: People, Planet, and Profit.  Fair Trade falls under the category of “people”, and “planet”.  By doing business with producers who engage in sustainable farming practices, and who are being treated with integrity, equality, and respect, the enterprise effectively enhances two out of the three tenets.

And if the company successfully maximizes profit, then it is at the same time enhancing the third tenet: profit.

I believe that social enterprises are much more effective in doing good for the society than large corporations that engage in environmentally, and socially costly activities (that later on recognize the problem they created, and attempt to rectify the situation by throwing a tiny portion of their profit at the problem.)

Large corporations throwing a tiny portion of their profits at a huge problem they caused.
(Source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Blxl_HbIEAAdUvP.jpg)

Additional reading: This news article by Fair Trade Canada explains how UBC (Canada’s first Fair Trade Campus) is trying to become more sustainable

In Jaeseung’s blog post about tobacco prices in South Korea, she mentions how the government is planning to impose a price ceiling to deter citizens from purchasing cigarettes.  The government aims to “almost double the price, and [to] eliminate all tobacco-related advertisements by January”.  Jaeseung makes the assumption that this increase in price will deter people from consuming cigarettes, thus improving the health of the general public.  I disagree with this point of view, as I believe that cigarettes are considered a relatively inelastic product due to their nature as an addictive.

Sure, there may be a reduction in the amount of cigarettes purchased through the traditional streams (convenience stores, gas stations, supermarkets, etc.) but a stream as old as the traditional market was overlooked: the black market.

An iconic photograph of Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961), with a classic cigarette holder.
Intellectual property of Pictorial Press Ltd.

Although there is a portion of the smoking population that will only buy through legal means, there are still people who are interested in purchasing the cigarettes for cheaper.  And there is always someone who’s trying to turn a profit.

Perhaps a more effective deterrent would be mandating anti-smoking ads on the cigarette packs.  In Taiwan, there are ads printed on every pack of cigarettes depicting the effects of tobacco on lungs, and teeth.  These graphic images, in conjunction with the strict smoke-free policies, have deterred students from trying smoking.  There was a reported decrease of 4% in 2011 from 27% in 2004.

The proposal of the Enbridge pipeline has spurred opposition from not just environmental activists, but also from groups of First Nations.  The Yinka Dene Alliance claims that the proposal encompasses building on their land.

The impact of the tribes’ opposition on Enbridge’s business model can be viewed as an external factor.  But I struggled to find a category that represented the pillars of a culture’s values. The closest category I found was “societal and cultural”, under “key external trends”.  Yet it didn’t seem right.  How can I label a culture’s values as a trend?  A trend suggests a fleeting, a craze-filled sensation.  But values important to the First Nations are exactly the opposite.  Stewardship, reciprocity, and gratitude, (among other facets) are not fleeting trends.  They are embedded in the culture, in the history of the people.

It is always difficult incorporating cultural values into business models: their impact is much greater than a simple number or statistic.  Sure, one could argue a particular value, for example, the dollar amount to which certain tribes agreed in exchange for approval in the building of the pipeline.

But cultural values are worth more than that: they represent the stories passed down from the elders, the native dances, languages, and art, the pain from the settlers’ desecration of sacred relics, and the horror of residential schools.

The First Nations’ cultural values represent the rich history of their legacy entwined with the birth of Canada.

I am a candid person who believes that the person you are should be the person you are to everybody.  I disagree with companies (and people) who mask a strategic move under an act of good intention.  There is nothing wrong with making a strategic decision.  Oftentimes, it is critical in running a business.  However, I believe that the distinction between tactic and altruism must be made clear.  A corporation that I would like to analyze today is a non-profit: Project Gutenberg.

Project Gutenberg is a non-profit organization dedicated to digitalizing works already in the public domain, and to breaking down the barriers of illiteracy.  It strives to empower people by providing them free access to information so that they can lift their quality of life through education.

A value proposition of Project Gutenberg is its accessibility.  However, I believe a company’s value proposition to its consumers (see business canvas) should entail principles, so that when the consumer buys the product or the service, a value is that they are supporting a company with principles that align with their own.

In a rudimentary overview of the company’s value propositions, I would like to include “value alignment” to the list.

This is a cause I believe in, and if you have the time, I would encourage you to check out the social enterprise.