Stefano Ponte
I am a researcher interested in how the global economy is governed and in how developing countries (especially in Africa) fare in it. My research, fieldwork and policy work is informed by global value chain analysis and convention theory and explores the overlaps and tensions between private governance and public regulation. I am particularly interested in how standards, labels and certifications on food safety, quality and social-environmental conditions of production govern agro-food value chains. In recent research, I have been examining the increasing importance of celebrities in mobilizing 'compassionate' consumption and forms of corporate social responsibility that are 'distant and disengaged'.
less
InterestsView All (11)
Uploads
Based in over 15 years of theoretical engagement and field research, Business, Power and Sustainability draws from both labour-intensive value chains, such as in the agro-food sector (coffee, wine, fish, biofuels, palm oil), and from capital-intensive value chains such as in shipping and aviation, to discuss how sustainability governance can be best designed, managed and institutionalized in today’s world of global value chains (GVCs). Examining current theoretical and analytical efforts aimed at including sustainability issues in GVC governance theory, it expands on recent work examining GVC upgrading by introducing the concept of environmental upgrading; and through new conceptions of orchestration, it provides suggestions for how governments and international organizations can best facilitate the achievement of sustainability goals.
Essential reading on the governance of sustainability in the twenty-first century.
'A profoundly important book that will be required reading not only for today’s practitioners and students, but for the next generation as well.'
- Benjamin Cashore, Professor of Environmental Governance & Political Science at Yale University
‘Ponte shows not only how sustainability management is a key feature of contemporary capitalism, but also why pursuing "just sustainabilities’ is so imperative. I strongly recommend the book.'
- Peter Newell, University of Sussex, author of Globalization and the Environment and Global Green Politics.
‘Since the 1980s, the main question has been how to leverage foreign direct investment and GVC engagement for economic development. Now, with the habitability of the planet in question, this book shifts the lens toward sustainability. Very timely!’
- Timothy J. Sturgeon, Senior Researcher, MIT Industrial Performance Center (IPC)
'This book is a well-researched, systematically analysed and neatly presented examination of how large firms have captured environmental sustainability to control the world through global value chains. It is a chilling but compulsive reading. It is highly recommended for researchers and students especially those in production sites - the global south.'
- Christine Noe, Department of Geography, University of Dar es Salaam
‘A great book that all students of Global Value Chains and transnational sustainability governance should buy and read. Ponte is an expert and innovator in both fields of study, and successfully synthesizes insights from both literatures to build a provocative and compelling argument about ongoing and impending transformations in the global economy.’
- Luc Fransen, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Amsterdam.
In Brand Aid, Lisa Ann Richey and Stefano Ponte offer a deeply informed and stinging critique of “compassionate consumption.” Campaigns like Product RED and its precursors, such as Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong and the pink-ribbon project in support of breast cancer research, advance the expansion of consumption far more than they meet the needs of the people they ostensibly serve. At the same time, such campaigns sell both the suffering of Africans with AIDS (in the case of Product RED) and the power of the average consumer to ameliorate it through familiar and highly effective media representations.
Using Product RED as its focal point, this book explores how corporations like American Express, Armani, Gap, and Hallmark promote compassionate consumption to improve their ethical profile and value without significantly altering their business model, protecting themselves from the threat to their bottom lines posed by a genuinely engaged consumer activism. Coupled with the phenomenon of celebrity activism and expertise as embodied by Bono, Richey and Ponte argue that this “causumerism” represents a deeply troubling shift in relief efforts, effectively delinking the relationship between capitalist production and global poverty."
Key questions addressed in the book are: To what extent are agro-food standards and standard-setting processes changing? In what ways are these standards being practically implemented? Have enterprises in African countries achieved conformity with these standards? What barriers have they overcome to do so, and with what costs and benefits? "
Based in over 15 years of theoretical engagement and field research, Business, Power and Sustainability draws from both labour-intensive value chains, such as in the agro-food sector (coffee, wine, fish, biofuels, palm oil), and from capital-intensive value chains such as in shipping and aviation, to discuss how sustainability governance can be best designed, managed and institutionalized in today’s world of global value chains (GVCs). Examining current theoretical and analytical efforts aimed at including sustainability issues in GVC governance theory, it expands on recent work examining GVC upgrading by introducing the concept of environmental upgrading; and through new conceptions of orchestration, it provides suggestions for how governments and international organizations can best facilitate the achievement of sustainability goals.
Essential reading on the governance of sustainability in the twenty-first century.
'A profoundly important book that will be required reading not only for today’s practitioners and students, but for the next generation as well.'
- Benjamin Cashore, Professor of Environmental Governance & Political Science at Yale University
‘Ponte shows not only how sustainability management is a key feature of contemporary capitalism, but also why pursuing "just sustainabilities’ is so imperative. I strongly recommend the book.'
- Peter Newell, University of Sussex, author of Globalization and the Environment and Global Green Politics.
‘Since the 1980s, the main question has been how to leverage foreign direct investment and GVC engagement for economic development. Now, with the habitability of the planet in question, this book shifts the lens toward sustainability. Very timely!’
- Timothy J. Sturgeon, Senior Researcher, MIT Industrial Performance Center (IPC)
'This book is a well-researched, systematically analysed and neatly presented examination of how large firms have captured environmental sustainability to control the world through global value chains. It is a chilling but compulsive reading. It is highly recommended for researchers and students especially those in production sites - the global south.'
- Christine Noe, Department of Geography, University of Dar es Salaam
‘A great book that all students of Global Value Chains and transnational sustainability governance should buy and read. Ponte is an expert and innovator in both fields of study, and successfully synthesizes insights from both literatures to build a provocative and compelling argument about ongoing and impending transformations in the global economy.’
- Luc Fransen, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Amsterdam.
In Brand Aid, Lisa Ann Richey and Stefano Ponte offer a deeply informed and stinging critique of “compassionate consumption.” Campaigns like Product RED and its precursors, such as Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong and the pink-ribbon project in support of breast cancer research, advance the expansion of consumption far more than they meet the needs of the people they ostensibly serve. At the same time, such campaigns sell both the suffering of Africans with AIDS (in the case of Product RED) and the power of the average consumer to ameliorate it through familiar and highly effective media representations.
Using Product RED as its focal point, this book explores how corporations like American Express, Armani, Gap, and Hallmark promote compassionate consumption to improve their ethical profile and value without significantly altering their business model, protecting themselves from the threat to their bottom lines posed by a genuinely engaged consumer activism. Coupled with the phenomenon of celebrity activism and expertise as embodied by Bono, Richey and Ponte argue that this “causumerism” represents a deeply troubling shift in relief efforts, effectively delinking the relationship between capitalist production and global poverty."
Key questions addressed in the book are: To what extent are agro-food standards and standard-setting processes changing? In what ways are these standards being practically implemented? Have enterprises in African countries achieved conformity with these standards? What barriers have they overcome to do so, and with what costs and benefits? "
certification agencies and other intermediaries. High expectations and many resources have been invested in these initiatives. Yet, we still do not know whether more sophisticated organizational structures, more stakeholders involved, and more advanced participatory processes have delivered better sustainability outcomes, and if so, in what sectors and under what circumstances. To fill this knowledge gap and build capacity in this area, the NEPSUS research and capacity building project assembles a multidisciplinary team to analyze sustainability partnerships in three key natural resource sectors in Tanzania: forestry, wildlife and coastal resources. In each of these sectors, we assess whether co-management with local communities and private and civil society actors, and putatively more participatory processes in the governance of renewable resources, result in more equitable and sustainable livelihoods and environmental outcomes. We compare ‘more complex’ partnerships to relatively ‘simpler’, more traditional top-down and centralized management systems, and to
instances where sustainability partnerships are not in place. This working paper tackles the main conceptual, methodological and research design issues arising in this effort.
green economic initiatives in the global South multiplying. These can
offer integration into wealth-generating markets – as well as displacement,
alienation, conflict and opportunities for ‘green washing’. The
articles included in this collection bring together a multidisciplinary
team of scholars and a range of case studies, from forestry governance
to tourism to carbon finance, to provide nuanced analyses of
Green Economy experiences in the global South – examining the
opportunities they provide, the redistributions they entail and the
kinds of resistance they face.