Management stratégique des organisations du commerce équitable à partir des concepts de développement durable et de responsabilité sociale

Our work is part of a research program on the renewal of the discipline of strategic management. The concepts of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility would allow this regeneration. We particularly explore the case of fair trade organizations. The fair trade is indeed included in the sustainable development either by the will of the actors of the movement (FINE’s declaration 2001, AFNOR agreement 2006), or through an institutional framework (article 60 Loi PME 2005). We critically question the extent to which fair trade organizations integrate and contribute to sustainable development. Our research method is based on an exploratory approach and a qualitative research case study. 47 interviews were notably conducted with organizations and stakeholders of the fair trade french community. We demonstrate that radical models of fair trade are the vectors that enable organizations to integrate sustainable development into their strategic management. We also characterize the corporate social responsibility of fair trade organizations by deepening social, ecological, and economic obligations they support to contribute to sustainable development. Finally, we report the diversity of fair trade organizations’approaches to be part of sustainable development project through a configurational approach. These configurations are expressed through four archetypes : ethical organization, solidary organization, sustainable organization and social organization. We therefore conclude on the existence of several fair trades and on the emergence of a fourth age of the movement, the sustainable trade.