Developing Strategic Benchmarking, Innovation, and Communication in the Global Certification Market for Fair Trade USA

Abstract

FairTrade USA (FTUSA) is a leading third party certification scheme with a focus on triple bottom line benefits of global agricultural commodities. The issue FTUSA wanted to address was how best to effectively communicate their impact to brands and consumers in their annual impact reports. Research was conducted on global retailers, consumer product goods brands, and certification schemes to assess the landscape in order to benchmark FTUSA. The major themes found were as follows: optimizing through partnerships, data as a perspective, human rights and social advancement, removing boundaries, and economic stability. Based on the top performers, a grading methodology was used to create a comprehensive report card. This report card along with internal interviews were used to influence the new, updated “best in class” impact report focusing on coconut as a case study.