IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibf/beaccr/v1y2009i1p121-130.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Economically And Environmentally Sustainable Business Model Initiative For Micro Enterprise In Guatemala: Observations From Field Research

Author

Listed:
  • Angelina I. T. Kiser
  • Norma A. Trevino
  • Mike McVicker

Abstract

Five research teams representing the HEB International Peace Program at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas completed field work in the coffee industry and micro enterprise in Guatemala during October 2008. Of special interest to one team was the As Green as it Gets (AGG) organization, an incubator for micro enterprise. AGG began in 2005 when founder, and now director, Franklin Voorhes identified the opportunity to improve the lives of disadvantaged families in Guatemala with a non-governmental organization (NGO) model of incubation. Voorhes partnered with coffee farmer Felix Poron to pilot a small business development program. AGG now includes non-coffee micro enterprise owners such as jewelry and textile producers and assists the owners to operate as both economically and environmentally sustainable enterprises. The authors’ focus in this paper is upon the AGG business model, its process to provide financial support, and how it identifies viable micro enterprises to incubate. In addition, the authors describe how AGG has made a difference in the success patterns of its client micro enterprises, and how those patterns may be exported to other economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelina I. T. Kiser & Norma A. Trevino & Mike McVicker, 2009. "An Economically And Environmentally Sustainable Business Model Initiative For Micro Enterprise In Guatemala: Observations From Field Research," Business Education and Accreditation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 1(1), pages 121-130.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibf:beaccr:v:1:y:2009:i:1:p:121-130
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.theibfr2.com/RePEc/ibf/beaccr/bea-v1n1-2009/BEA-V1N1-2009-11.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Torsten Steinrücken & Sebastian Jaenichen, 2007. "The Fair Trade Idea: Towards an Economics of Social Labels," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 201-217, September.
    2. Peter Leigh Taylor & Douglas L. Murray & Laura T. Raynolds, 2005. "Keeping trade fair: governance challenges in the fair trade coffee initiative," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(3), pages 199-208.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chester, Winston C. & Alam, Bhuiyan Monwar & Haase, Dwight, 2016. "“One slowly loses everything”: Development and debt in San Antonio Aguas Calientes," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 24-29.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shannon Sutton, 2012. "Add Producers and Stir? (Re) politicizing Fairtrade participation," Working Papers 38, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    2. Sini Forssell & Leena Lankoski, 2015. "The sustainability promise of alternative food networks: an examination through “alternative” characteristics," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(1), pages 63-75, March.
    3. Hannes Koppel & Günther Schulze, 2013. "The Importance of the Indirect Transfer Mechanism for Consumer Willingness to Pay for Fair Trade Products—Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 369-387, December.
    4. Hindsley, Paul & McEvoy, David M. & Morgan, O. Ashton, 2020. "Consumer Demand for Ethical Products and the Role of Cultural Worldviews: The Case of Direct-Trade Coffee," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Sara D. Elder & Jane Lister & Peter Dauvergne, 2014. "Big retail and sustainable coffee: A new development studies research agenda," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 14(1), pages 77-90, January.
    6. Pilar Portillo-Tarragona & Sabina Scarpellini & Jose M. Moneva & Jesus Valero-Gil & Alfonso Aranda-Usón, 2018. "Classification and Measurement of the Firms’ Resources and Capabilities Applied to Eco-Innovation Projects from a Resource-Based View Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, September.
    7. Benjamin Huybrechts & Darryl Reed, 2010. "Introduction: “Fair Trade in Different National Contexts”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 147-150, April.
    8. Stefan Hoffmann & Katharina Hutter, 2012. "Carrotmob as a New Form of Ethical Consumption. The Nature of the Concept and Avenues for Future Research," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 215-236, June.
    9. Aashish Argade & Sukhpal Singh, 2016. "Seeking Markets in Production Fields: An Assessment of the Potential for Fair Trade in India," Millennial Asia, , vol. 7(2), pages 131-152, October.
    10. Vincent Terstappen & Lori Hanson & Darrell McLaughlin, 2013. "Gender, health, labor, and inequities: a review of the fair and alternative trade literature," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(1), pages 21-39, March.
    11. Johann Meckenstock & Ana Paula Barbosa‐Póvoa & Ana Carvalho, 2016. "The Wicked Character of Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Evidence from Sustainability Reports," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(7), pages 449-477, November.
    12. Sterie Cristina Maria & Ion Raluca Andreea, 2022. "Approaches to implementing fair trade practices for smallholder farmers," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 446-455, August.
    13. Schollenberg, Linda, 2011. "So how much do you pay for ethical consumption? Estimating the hedonic price for Fair Trade coffee in Sweden," HUI Working Papers 31, HUI Research.
    14. Iain Davies & Bob Doherty & Simon Knox, 2010. "The Rise and Stall of a Fair Trade Pioneer: The Cafédirect Story," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 127-147, March.
    15. Iain Davies & Lynette Ryals, 2010. "The Role of Social Capital in the Success of Fair Trade," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(2), pages 317-338, October.
    16. Beuchelt, Tina D. & Zeller, Manfred, 2011. "Profits and poverty: Certification's troubled link for Nicaragua's organic and fairtrade coffee producers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1316-1324, May.
    17. Fernández Jardón, Carlos Mª, 2018. "Motivaciones de compra en consumidores de productos de comercio justo/Motivations of Purchase in Consumers of Fair Trade Products," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 36, pages 579-602, Mayo.
    18. Sushil Mohan, 2009. "Fair Trade And Corporate Social Responsibility," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 22-28, December.
    19. David Phillips, 2014. "Uneven and unequal people-centered development: the case of Fair Trade and Malawi sugar producers," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(4), pages 563-576, December.
    20. Tierney Bondy & Vishal Talwar, 2011. "Through Thick and Thin: How Fair Trade Consumers Have Reacted to the Global Economic Recession," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 365-383, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sustainable business; micro finance; micro enterprise; field research; Peace Program;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibf:beaccr:v:1:y:2009:i:1:p:121-130. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mercedes Jalbert (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.