As certain food products become more and more popular in first-world countries, people don’t think about the effect that happens in the countries they originate from. The rise in popularity in quinoa has caused a rise in the price of quinoa. This has resulted in the indigenous people in South America not being able to afford to buy it anymore, even though it has been a staple in their diets for centuries. Milton Friedman said “there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.” The companies that are producing and selling quinoa are going against this statement because they are ultimately committing an act of fraud against the South Americans who they are purchasing from. They are purely looking at the financial gain they are receiving from its popularity. However, the company Runa whose “revenue jumped from $800,000 in 2012 to $2.5-million last year“ is complying by Friedman’s statement in that they are very focused on the ethics side of their business by ensuring that not only their suppliers of guayasa are benefiting from the increase in popularity of the product but all of their stakeholders are benefiting.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/ditch-your-morning-java-and-smell-the-guayusa/article20495025/