El impacto de las iniciativas sustentabilidad y las pol?ticas de certificaci?n. Una investigaci?n de las barreras y posibles acciones para los productos ecuatorianos
- Authors
- Land?n Ch?rrez, Mar?a Sol
- Format
- MasterThesis
- Status
- publishedVersion
- Description
The concern about sustainability has increased in the last decades. Consumers are more aware of their purchases and consumption, exerting pressure over the supply chains. Therefore, their demands have been the driving force to develop sustainable initiatives and programs, whose aim is to the transform the sector of different commodities. This is achieved through the joint work of different stakeholders over the chain. Additionally, sustainable initiatives use certifications as a tool to verify sustainability compliance. These standards are a differentiation instrument, which represent guarantee and process standardisation in auditable and credible criteria in sustainable terms. Nevertheless, these initiatives are moving from a voluntary option to a mandatory requirement; imposing compliance of standards backwards the chain, from buyers to producers. PRO ECUADOR is an isntitute attached to the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Ecuador. Its international trade office located in the city of Rotterdam is concerned about the impact of sustainable initiatives and certification policies for Ecuadorian exported products to enter the Dutch market in the following years. The increase of these policies, as a mandatory regulation, may affect the Ecuadorian exportations to this market. Therefore, the policies can be translated as a barrier for producers and exporters. These policies may reduce or finish the possibilities of Ecuadorian products to be exported to the Netherlands, if they do not have the required certifications to prove their standards and quality behind production. This research was a collaboration for PRO ECUADOR, which studied the Dutch Initiative for Sustainable Trade (IDH), the programs for three products (banana, cocoa and shrimp) under the scope of this research and the certification standards, which are partners in each commodity program. Therefore, this research studied the associated barriers with the sustainable programs and certifications. The aim of this study was to propose actions that can be implemented by different Ecuadorian governmental institutions and producers to handle the new requirements for their exportations. This study was developed through a literature review about the mentioned topics and a qualitative study with 32 semi-structured interviews, 12 in the Netherlands and 20 in Ecuador. The interviewees were classified into 5 groups. Two groups ?sustainable initiatives and institutions? and ?certifications and sustainable and sustainable standards? were from the Netherlands and three groups ?experts and governmental institutions?, ?producers and exporters? and ?certifier bodies? were from Ecuador. The main findings of this research are the broader and international impact of IDH initiative, beyond just Dutch market. The initiative aim is to transform commodities sectors beyond certifications, through collaboration and commitment of stakeholders. It is accepted the risk to pass the responsibility to the producers, without any support. Programs and certifications offer several benefits as premium price for certified products; however, these benefits are not always achieved by producers, for example when the product is not bough as certified. Nevertheless, the most important finding of this research is the acceptance of other alternatives besides certification, giving the possibility to develop strategies and standards, in order to support national production, maintaining exportations and international markets.
El presente estudio identifica las posibles acciones que podr?an ser tomadas en cuenta y ejecutadas por las instituciones y exportadores ecuatorianos, como medida a las iniciativas de sustentabilidad y pol?ticas de certificaci?n de pa?ses importadores como Holanda, quienes est?n incrementando paulatinamente los requisitos asociados a la sustentabilidad de los productos que importan, de pa?ses como el Ecuador Este estudio estuvo enfocado en tres productos de exportaci?n como son el banano, cacao y camar?n.
- Publication Year
- 2015
- Language
- eng
- Topic
- INICIATIVAS DE SUSTENTABILIDAD
CADENAS DE SUMINISTRO
CERTIFICACIONES
ECUADOR
- Repository
- Repositorio SENESCYT
- Rights
- openAccess
- License