Resumen de Selecting and assessing fair trade suppliers using multicriteria techniques
José Ramón Cobo Benita, Isabel Ortiz Marcos, Carlos Mataix Aldeanueva
Fair Trade has consolidated itself during recent decades as a useful instrument in co-operation for development, especially for small producers in the South. However, there is some concern that a situation of dependency between the producer organisations and the organisations that market their products in the developed countries may materialise. To avoid this situation of dependency, the producer organisations must progress and develop in order to become strong, sustainable entities even in traditional competitive markets, out of the protective reach of Fair Trade networks. This paper presents the development of a holistic methodology, based on the application of multicritera techniques, and is focused on supporting the selection and assessment process of Fair Trade Suppliers so as to understand what organisations are ready to enter the Fair Trade Networks and which ones are prepared to do business in competitive traditional markets.
