Fairtrade Facts and Fancies: What Kenyan Fairtrade Tea Tells us About Business’ Role as Development Agent

Various promising claims have been made that business can help alleviate poverty, and can do so in ways that add value to the bottom line. This article begins by highlighting that the evidence for such claims is not especially strong, particularly if business is thought of as a development agent, i.e. an organization that consciously and accountably contributes towards pro-poor outcomes. It goes on to ask whether, if we did know more about either the business case or the poverty alleviation case, would this give cause for greater optimism that business could make a significant contribution to development. By exploring the experiences of producers of Fairtrade tea in Kenya, we reveal the complex nature of what constitutes a beneficial outcome for the poor and marginalized, and the gap that can exist between ethical intentions and the experience of their intended beneficiaries. The lessons of these experiences are relevant for Fairtrade and any commercial initiative that seeks to achieve outcomes beneficial and recognizable to the poor, and raise questions about the integration of social and instrumental outcomes that a future generation of ethical entrepreneurship will need to address.     

Maximizing the Utility of Customer Product Testing: Beta Test Design and Management

Many companies regularly use beta tests as part of their product development program. Beta testing can validate the product concept, eliminate performance problems prior to market introduction, and serve as an effective sales promotion device. The risks are significant, however, in that a poorly designed test can destroy account relationships, generate inaccurate data on product performance, and stimulate negative publicity. Robert Dolan and John Matthews present guidelines for effective management of beta test programs. They develop these guidelines based on a literature review, an analysis of twenty-one beta test programs as described in secondary sources, and four in-depth field investigations with cooperating firms.     

Pricing strategies that adjust to inflation

Recently, the inflation rate has moved to significantly higher levels than most firms anticipated. The firms' errors in projecting the inflation rate proved costly to many—especially those with long-term contracts to deliver at a fixed price. This experience has led many firms to consider alternatives to fixed price contracts. This article addresses alternative contractural forms and develops the economic principle to be employed in designing the optimal contractual arrangement.