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Bushmeat is a large but largely invisible contributor to the economies of west and central African countries. Yet the trade is currently unsustainable. Hunting is reducing wildlife populations, driving more vulnerable species to local and regional extinction, and threatening biodiversity. This paper uses a commodity chain approach to explore the bushmeat trade and to demonstrate why an interdisciplinary approach is required if the trade is to be sustainable in the future.

There has been tremendous growth in the sales of certified fair trade products since the introduction of the first of these goods in the Netherlands in 1988. Many would argue that this rapid growth has been due in large part to the increasing involvement of corporations. Still, participation by corporations in fair trade has not been welcomed by all. The basic point of contention is that, while corporate participation has the potential to rapidly extend the market for fair trade goods, it threatens key aspects of what many see as the original vision of fair trade – most notably a primary concern for the plight of small producers and the goal of developing an alternative approach to trade and development – and may even be undermining its long-term survival. The primary purpose of this article is to explore the normative issues involved in corporate participation in fair trade. In order to do that, however, it first provides a positive analysis of how corporations are actually involved in fair trade. In order to achieve both of these ends, the article draws upon global value chain analysis.

The majority of global commodity chain analysis is concerned with producer firm upgrading, because it is held to engender local-level development. This represents a myopic comprehension of the interaction of firms under capitalism. This article argues, in contrast, that lead firm chain governance and supplier firm upgrading attempts constitute strategies and practices that reproduce global poverty and inequality. Schumpeter’s concept of creative destruction represents a starting point in undertaking this endeavour. However, his formulation of capitalist competition ignores class and global economic relations. A Marxian conception of creative destruction, in contrast, rests upon an understanding of globally constituted class relations, which provides a novel perspective in comprehending and investigating processes that re-produce global poverty and inequality. The article substantiates these claims by examining cases of buyer-driven global commodity chains, and lead firm strategies of increasing labour exploitation throughout these chains.

Global commodity chains (GCC) present a fairly new and innovative approach for understanding the prospects for development among Third World countries within a larger environment characterized by globalization. To date, most research using the framework concentrates on the changing organization of manufacturing activities and helps to explain why the chains touch down where they do. This article concentrates on two related questions: what can commodity chains tell us about the globalization of services and to what extent do services suggest the need to refine the GCC approach? Both questions are examined by focusing upon tourism, the largest service activity in the world. Concentrating on hotels and airlines, the article demonstrates that tourism services have become internationalized in a manner unlike manufacturing activities. Most notably, organizational or governance structures do not conform to either buyer-driven or producer-driven models frequently predicted by GCC analysis. The article concludes that while commodity chain analysis is useful for examining the political economy of tourism, especially in highlighting power and exchange relationships, it must be broadened to 'account' fully for the unique organization of the global tourism industry.

Small scale producers in developing countries lack easy access to efficient logistics services. They are faced with long distances from both domestic and international markets. Unless they consolidate their trade volumes they face high costs which diminish their ability to trade. However, the process of consolidation is not without cost nor does it occur on its own accord. As a result, the consolidation is typically handled by intermediaries. Using case studies of sisal and soybean supply chains in Brazil and India respectively, this study explores the role and impact of intermediaries in facilitating trade in lagging regions. The study assesses the horizontal relationships between the small scale producers in thin markets and the vertical connections between different tiers of the same supply chain. The study analyzes the traditional approach to linking producers namely through cooperatives and itinerant traders and the relatively newer innovations using ICT. The study finds that farmers linked through the different mechanisms are more integrated to international supply chains or are able to better manage supply chains longer than would otherwise be the case. Intermediaries play several roles including providing transport services and facilitating market exchanges, payments, risk sharing and quality improvements. Generally, information technology driven innovations make it easier to integrate adjacent steps in the value chain. This report on logistics performance at the sub-national level is an on-going endeavour. Similar analysis is being carried out in some countries in Africa to identify the evolving role of intermediaries in low income regions. The results will be developed into a major publication on this topic, with recommendations on how development agencies, civil society and the private sector can improve the design of strategies to reduce logistics costs in low income areas.