Jutta Kister

Die Qualitat von Konsumgutern spielt fur deren Preisbildung und Vermarktung eine entscheidende Rolle. Dies gilt umso mehr in einer von Uberfluss gekennzeichneten postmodernen Konsumgesellschaft, in der Qualitat zu einem wesentlichen Differenzbildner geworden ist. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt sich die Frage, wie sich die Qualitat von Konsumgutern wissenschaftlich festmachen lasst. In der Wirtschaftssoziologie wird daher seit einigen Jahren verstarkt aus konstruktivistischer Perspektive diskutiert, wie Qualitat konstruiert und in einem komplexen Aushandlungsprozess zwischen Produzenten und Konsumenten definiert, speziellen Produkten zugeschrieben, und objektiviert wird. Einen der wichtigsten Beitrage zu dieser Debatte haben aus einer performativen Perspektive Michel Callon,Cecile Meadel und Vololona Rabeharisoa in einem Aufsatz zu „The economy of qualities“ beigesteuert, in dem insbesondere Qualifizierungsprozesse technologischer Dienstleistungen in den Fokus genommen werden. Aus der Sicht von Callon et al. (2002) werden Qualitaten von Gutern nicht einfach wahrgenommen, sondern uber spezifische Verfahren (wie bspw. Messungen und Tests) aktiv in Praxis konstruiert. Qualitaten und Produkte unterliegen dabei einem kontinuierlichen Wandlungsprozess und mussen deshalb standig performativ in immer neuen Qualifizierungsprozessen hergestellt werden. Akteure von der Angebots- und Nachfrageseite sowie aus den Bereichen Marketing und Vertrieb sind an diesem Prozess der Qualifizierung von Produkten beteiligt. Qualifizierung (Qualification) wird daher als standige reflexive Ko-Konstruktion zwischen Angebots- und Nachfrageseite verstanden. Hierbei zeichnen sich zwei wichtige Konstruktionsprinzipien von Qualitat ab. Erstens mussen Produkte vergleichbar gemacht werden um ihre Qualitat beurteilen zu konnen. Gleichzeitig muss paradoxerweise jedoch auch ihre Einzigartigkeit herausgestellt werden. Die Positionierung von Produkten im Verhaltnis zu anderen Produkten stellt demnach einen zentralen Aspekt der Wirtschaftsdynamik und eine entscheidende, hochgradig reflexive Aufgabe fur okonomische Akteure dar. Zweitens weist jedes Produkt sowohl intrinsische wie auch extrinsische Qualitaten auf. Sowohl die Materialitat eines Produktes als auch dessen Marke, die Reputation des Verkaufers oder eine personliche Bindung zwischen Verkaufer und Kaufer sind demnach Qualitaten, die sich zwar analytisch, aber nicht ontologisch trennen lassen. Die Wirtschaftssoziologie hat uber diesen veranderten Blick einen wichtigen Beitrag fur ein besseres Verstandnis der sozialen Konstruktion von Qualitat(en) und Preisen geleistet und liefert damit einen wichtigen Ansatzpunkt fur das Verstandnis der Handlungen der involvierten Akteure auf der Konsumenten- und Produzentenseite. Eine raumliche Perspektive auf Qualifizierung fehlt jedoch bislang in der Debatte. Ausgehend von einer von uns durchgefuhrten Fallstudie zu regionalen Restrukturierungsprozessen in der Sudtiroler Weinwirtschaft argumentieren wir vor diesem Hintergrund, dass Qualifizierungsprozessen immer auch eine geographische Dimension hinterliegt und gehen dabei der Frage nach, inwiefern Qualifizierungsprozesse lokal und regional kontextualisiert und interpretiert werden und dabei in global-lokale Beziehungsnetze eingebunden sind.

Fair trade is a fast growing niche market in Europe. Producer and consumer are linked via global value chains, based on the idea of solidarity manifested in a variety of social, economic and increasingly ecological criteria. In the German market, double-digit percentage growth is achieved by augmenting quality and diversity of fair trade products and selling sealed products via supermarkets and discounters. In consequence, the global value chains are subject to change; new actors not belonging to the social movement are getting involved. New steps of value creation are being inserted into existing value chains or shifted along the value chain, primarily into the consumer’s country. As a consequence, power shifts from south to north are observed. This aspect leads to the question whether the fair-trade-movement is still changing the conventional world trade system "from within" or if it is selling its reputation as a price for growth by cooperating with the market actors it is criticising. In this article the results of a study are presented, focusing on value chains of fair trade food products on the German market and their changes over time, on the upcoming of various new highly processed composite goods and on the new possibility for manufacturers and discounters to certify their in-house brand products.

Alternative global food chains -like fair-trade- are underlying massive transformations in the market region in Central Europe due to mainstreaming initiatives, high growth rates, quality improvement measures, newly developed certification schemes and newly involved participants among others. In consequence, the regulations and requirements for producers in the global South to get or stay involved into specific global value chains seem to modify by getting more strictly and complex. However, it remains unclear whether and how these transformations in the market region are directly influencing the strategies of the small scale farmers in the producing region. Some authors perceive private standards in global trade (e.g. " Fairtrade ") as trade barriers, especially small scale farmers usually lack of financial and knowledge resources to comply with. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that niche markets open up development chances as well. Processes in the North and the South are clearly linked in their dynamics. The region of consumption does have impact on the producers in their regions, what Dannenberg (2012) calls " cross-regional-influences ". A case study using geographical qualitative research methods was carried out among coffee producing cooperatives in Nicaragua selling coffee to German fair trade importers. The outcomes show the importance of long-term trade relationships and the role of trust for enabling development strategies among the cooperatives. Professionalization strategies of cooperatives including an analysis on quality improvement, knowledge transfer and optimising working procedures will be shown. The individual strategies, developed by experienced small scale farmers can certainly be seen as a local or regional reaction reflecting ongoing transformations in the global North. In fact, also non-experienced small scale farmers can be newly integrated into the fair-trade chain.

Die Qualitat von Konsumgutern spielt fur deren Preisbildung und Vermarktung eine entscheidende Rolle. Dies gilt umso mehr in einer von Uberfluss gekennzeichneten postmodernen Konsumgesellschaft, in der Qualitat zu einem wesentlichen Differenzbildner geworden ist. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt sich die Frage, wie sich die Qualitat von Konsumgutern wissenschaftlich festmachen lasst. In der Wirtschaftssoziologie wird daher seit einigen Jahren verstarkt aus konstruktivistischer Perspektive diskutiert, wie Qualitat konstruiert und in einem komplexen Aushandlungsprozess zwischen Produzenten und Konsumenten definiert, speziellen Produkten zugeschrieben, und objektiviert wird. Einen der wichtigsten Beitrage zu dieser Debatte haben aus einer performativen Perspektive Michel Callon,Cecile Meadel und Vololona Rabeharisoa in einem Aufsatz zu „The economy of qualities“ beigesteuert, in dem insbesondere Qualifizierungsprozesse technologischer Dienstleistungen in den Fokus genommen werden. Aus der...

Fair trade is a fast growing niche market in Europe. Producer and consumer are linked via global value chains, based on the idea of solidarity manifested in a variety of social, economic and increasingly ecological criteria. In the German market, double-digit percentage growth is achieved by augmenting quality and diversity of fair trade products and selling sealed products via supermarkets and discounters. In consequence, the global value chains are subject to change; new actors not belonging to the social movement are getting involved. New steps of value creation are being inserted into existing value chains or shifted along the value chain, primarily into the consumer’s country. As a consequence, power shifts from south to north are observed. This aspect leads to the question whether the fair-trade-movement is still changing the conventional world trade system "from within" or if it is selling its reputation as a price for growth by cooperating with the market actors it is criticising. In this article the results of a study are presented, focusing on value chains of fair trade food products on the German market and their changes over time, on the upcoming of various new highly processed composite goods and on the new possibility for manufacturers and discounters to certify their in-house brand products.

Abstract Mountain landscapes provide a variety of cultural ecosystem services (CES), but recent developments such as land-use and climate changes, population growth or urbanization seem to lead more frequently to conflicts among users or restrict the use of natural resources. An enhanced understanding of such conflicts and limitations may improve decision-making and management of mountain landscapes and maintain high levels of CES supply. However, conceptual and empirical research on identifying and evaluating conflicts and limitations of use in qualitative, quantitative and spatial terms as well as interdependencies in socio-ecological systems (SES) is still rare, and suitable methods are underdeveloped. Therefore, this paper elaborates the outcomes of an expert workshop and presents eleven case studies related to different CES and various contexts to conceptualise conflicts and limitations of CES use in mountain regions, complemented by assessment approaches to facilitate their identification and management. Using a multidimensional framework, we find that conflicts were mostly related to socio-economic changes and an increasing recreational use, whereas limitations of use greatly depended on accessibility and legal issues. Our findings contribute to the advancement of research on CES and are particularly useful for landscape management and decision-making to develop sustainable solutions and maintain CES in mountain landscapes.

Understanding stakeholders and stakeholder constellations is essential for governing FES sustainably and for fostering the identification and development of respective governance innovations. InnoForESt aims for an integrated approach to knowledge generation, stakeholder inter-action, and triggering governance innovation. Thus, identifying, mapping, and integrating a diversity of stakeholders’ knowledge, interests, visions, and concerns, including civil society perceptions, user demands, facilitators’ suggestions, and how stakeholders are interlinked is crucial for keeping the InnoForESt innovation action as compatible as possible with stakeholders’ perspectives. The assessment of the stakeholders’ key orientations regarding FES governance innovation is essential for fostering the co-production of the innovation networks and prototypes. More precisely, stakeholder analysis in the context of InnoForESt has the purpose of (1) identifying, organizing, and sharing the available, but uns...

With this study we assess the process of developing novel niche innovations for sustainable forest ecosystem services governance. We chose a comparative qualitative analysis approach and conceptually built on, transfer and adapt insights from innovation research. In particular, we conceive of innovation as a process or a journey and not solely as a product. Our conceptual approach further acknowledges the need for taking into account the socio-ecological-technical context. We thus include a focus on the socially enacted interactions between niches that offer particularly fruitful innovation potential, established regimes as well as other socio-cultural, economic and political landscape developments and trends, against the background of which the more specific dynamics of particular regimes and niches evolve. The Innovation Journeys are being reconstructed as an opportunity to get an overview of the mechanisms and dynamics of the innovation processes themselves. We proceed in an abdu...

This book critically examines different forms of urban-rural links for sustainable development in different countries. As intertwined processes of globalization, digitalization, environmental challenges and the search for sustainable development continue, rural and urban areas around the world become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. This book contributes to understanding the role of this growing interconnectedness from an economic geographical perspective. It does so by theoretically and empirically addressing the various existing linkages, such as food networks, value chains, and regional governance at local, regional, national and international levels. In doing so, contributions extend and contrast existing approaches dealing with urban and rural areas separately by considering the interplay between these two as well as their consequences for sustainability transition pathways. This edited volume adds to the academic and policy debate by bringing together a variety of concepts and themes in order to shift the research and policy agenda away from simple dichotomy to different notions of rural-urban linkages. Offering multidisciplinary insights into rural-urban linkages, the book will be of interest to decision-makers, practitioners and researchers in the fields of economic geography, regional planning, food studies and economics. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780429288111/rural%E2%80%93urban-linkages-sustainable-development-armin-kratzer-jutta-kister

Qualification strategies in processes of regional restructuring. The reinvention of the wine region South Tyrol in a globalized wine market.

Kurzfassung: Wissenschaftliche Studien zum quality turn im Weinbau haben vor allem die Restrukturierungsprozesse in Regionen der "Neuen Welt" des Weinbaus analysiert, während kaum Arbeiten zu europäischen Weinregionen vorliegen. Vor diesem Hintergrund nimmt der Beitrag die Südtiroler Weinwirtschaft aus einer pragmatisch-prozessorientierten Perspektive in den Blick und geht der Frage nach, wie es den Weinproduzenten in Südtirol gelungen ist, einen quality turn einzuleiten und sich erfolgreich in einem globalisierten Markt zu positionieren. Ziel ist es dabei, einen Beitrag zu einem differenzierteren Verständnis von global-lokalen Aushandlungsprozessen in der Weinwirtschaft zu leisten. Ein pragmatisch-prozessorientierter Blick macht sichtbar, wie unterschiedliche Qualifizierungsstrategien im Rahmen regionaler Restrukturierungsprozesse interpretiert und kontextualisiert werden und ermöglicht so neue Einsichten in die Dynamiken regionalen Wandels. Der Aufsatz zeigt, wie es Südtirol im Unterschied zur Neuen Welt gelungen ist, sich auch ohne Kapitalzuflüsse von außen und ohne tiefgreifende Veränderungen in der Agrarstruktur als Weinregion in einem globalisierten Markt neu zu erfinden. Abstract: Research on the quality turn in wine production has primarily focused on New World wine regions while the restructuring processes in European wine regions have received little attention. Against this background, the paper analyzes the dynamic processes of change in the South Tyrolean wine industry from a pragmatic, process-oriented perspective. The question of how South Tyrolean wine producers were able to induce qualification processes and position themselves in a globalized wine market stands in the center of the discussion. By pursuing this question, our goal is to contribute to a more differentiated picture of global-local interrelations in the wine industry. From a pragmatic, process-oriented perspective it can be shown how different strategies of qualification are regionally interpreted and contextualized. Therefore, this perspective offers new insights into the dynamics of regional change. We show how South Tyrol, in contrast to wine regions in the New World, was able to reinvent itself in a globalized market without external capital influx and without profound changes in the agrarian structure.

Fair trade is a fast growing niche market in Europe. Producer and consumer are linked via global value chains, based on the idea of solidarity manifested in a variety of social, economic and increasingly ecological criteria. In the German market, double-digit percentage growth is achieved by augmenting quality and diversity of fair trade products and selling sealed products via supermarkets and discounters. In
consequence, the global value chains are subject to change; new actors not belonging to the social movement are getting involved. New steps of value creation are being inserted into existing value chains or shifted along the value chain, primarily into the consumer’s country. As a consequence, power shifts from south to north are observed. This aspect leads to the question whether the fair-trade-movement is still
changing the conventional world trade system “from within” or if it is selling its reputation as a price for growth by cooperating with the market actors it is criticising. In this article the results of a study are presented, focusing on value
chains of fair trade food products on the German market and their changes over time, on the upcoming of various new highly processed composite goods and on the new possibility for manufacturers and discounters to certify their in-house brand products.

Alternative global food chains -like fair-trade- are underlying massive transformations in the market region in Central Europe due to mainstreaming initiatives, high growth rates, quality improvement measures, newly developed certification schemes and newly involved participants among others. In consequence, the regulations and requirements for producers in the global South to get or stay involved into specific global value chains seem to modify by getting more strictly and complex. However, it remains unclear whether and how these transformations in the market region are directly influencing the strategies of the small scale farmers in the producing region. Some authors perceive private standards in global trade (e.g. " Fairtrade ") as trade barriers, especially small scale farmers usually lack of financial and knowledge resources to comply with. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that niche markets open up development chances as well. Processes in the North and the South are clearly linked in their dynamics. The region of consumption does have impact on the producers in their regions, what Dannenberg (2012) calls " cross-regional-influences ". A case study using geographical qualitative research methods was carried out among coffee producing cooperatives in Nicaragua selling coffee to German fair trade importers. The outcomes show the importance of long-term trade relationships and the role of trust for enabling development strategies among the cooperatives. Professionalization strategies of cooperatives including an analysis on quality improvement, knowledge transfer and optimising working procedures will be shown. The individual strategies, developed by experienced small scale farmers can certainly be seen as a local or regional reaction reflecting ongoing transformations in the global North. In fact, also non-experienced small scale farmers can be newly integrated into the fair-trade chain.

Der Faire Handel weist die Besonderheit auf, dass die enorme soziale und vor allem räumliche Distanz zwischen Produzent und Konsument einen direkten Kontakt praktisch unmöglich macht. Die Herstellung eines Verhältnisses, geprägt von Vertrauen und Glaubwürdigkeit, ist trotzdem unerlässlich für die Kaufentscheidung. Insbesondere im Konsum von Nahrungsmitteln kommt der Bedeutung des Normativen eine hohe Stellung zu. Der Konsument entscheidet sich für bestimmte Nahrungsmittel und definiert dadurch seinen eigenen Lifestyle. Durch diese normative Aufladung des Konsumierens wir der Akt des Konsumierens zum politisch moralischen Akt. Mit zunehmender Marktausweitung des Fairen Handels jedoch, mit neuen Verkaufsorten und-kanälen über Supermärkte, Bioläden und Discounter müssen neue Formen entstehen, wie der Konsument von der Erfüllung der normativen Anforderungen überzeugt werden kann.

This book critically examines different forms of urban-rural links for sustainable development in different countries.

As intertwined processes of globalization, digitalization, environmental challenges and the search for sustainable development continue, rural and urban areas around the world become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. This book contributes to understanding the role of this growing interconnectedness from an economic geographical perspective. It does so by theoretically and empirically addressing the various existing linkages, such as food networks, value chains, and regional governance at local, regional, national and international levels. In doing so, contributions extend and contrast existing approaches dealing with urban and rural areas separately by considering the interplay between these two as well as their consequences for sustainability transition pathways. This edited volume adds to the academic and policy debate by bringing together a variety of concepts and themes in order to shift the research and policy agenda away from simple dichotomy to different notions of rural-urban linkages.

Offering multidisciplinary insights into rural-urban linkages, the book will be of interest to decision-makers, practitioners and researchers in the fields of economic geography, regional planning, food studies and economics.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780429288111/rural%E2%80%93urban-linkages-sustainable-development-armin-kratzer-jutta-kister

Ähnlich grundlegend ist die Einführung in die Perspektive der globalen Wertschöpfungsketten und die ihnen inhärenten Governance-Aspekte von Jutta Kister. Sie stellt eine grundsätzliche Diskrepanz der Fairhandels-Idee zwischen Werteorientierung und Integration in den Massenmarkt fest. Kister beschreibt in ihrem Beitrag die Methodik des Value Chain Mapping, einer graphischen Visualisierung und Beschreibung globaler Handelsverflechtungen, und leitet daraus Erkenntnisse über bestehende Machtasymmetrien ab. Damit werden die Gefahren deutlich, die mit einer Perpetuierung und Konventionalisierung der aktuellen Macht- und Steuerungsmechanismen einhergehen können.