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This book has traced the evolution of certification as a form of private governance in forestry, fisheries, and coffee industry. It has highlighted the complicated pattern in these certification programs, as well as the disagreements and contestations involved. It has also explained how different types of benefits accruing from certification programs generate incentives to protect relative gains. Factors such as fair trade and organics and the role of markets and politics in the evolution of certification programs have also been discussed. This concluding chapter reviews the challenges faced by global-first and local-first certification programs as they evolved, along with the lessons from the sector-level patterns across the forestry, coffee, and fisheries sectors. It also considers the conceptual and theoretical issues involved in certification as well as their implications for private governance and the dynamics of institutional change.

This book investigates the evolution of certification as a form of private governance by focusing on three key industries: forestry, coffee, and fisheries. It offers an account of how market conditions and early decisions influenced the maturation of social and environmental certification programs. More specifically, it analyzes the influence of market demand as well as institutional development and change on the development of certification. By taking a cross-program and cross-sector look at the rise and evolution of certification systems, the book sheds light on the risks and possibilities of this form of governance. It examines how certification programs have sought to play a role in ameliorating social and environmental challenges. It also highlights a number of notable differences in the histories and trajectories of such programs.

This chapter traces the origins of certification programs for responsible forest management practices, with particular reference to the impact of intergovernmental processes on forests and the role played by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). It also examines the support provided by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and how the unique structure of the FSC's governance and its attention to social and environmental issues influenced the forest sector. The chapter concludes by explaining why producers created programs as substitutes and why the entry of similar initiatives has so far been unsuccessful.

This chapter traces the origins of certification programs in the fisheries sector and how the process was influenced by the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) institutional design. It discusses the three separate paths through which information relating to fisheries certification and labeling was transmitted: the organic certifiers' application of the ideas of organic husbandry to the burgeoning fish farming industry; the World Wide Fund for Nature's attempt to replicate in fisheries its experience with the Forest Stewardship Council; and the response of producers in North America to building campaigns directed at fisheries. It also examines the MSC's focus on ocean capture and environmental considerations.

This chapter examines market, political, informational, and capacity factors that are expected to influence the initiation of certification programs in different sectors. It begins by reviewing research on institutional development to advance an evolutionary perspective for private governance, paying particular attention to path dependence in markets and politics. It then considers expectations about how certification programs will evolve based on the interplay of actors' strategic decisions and the program's internal governance structures. It also discusses gaps in the literature with respect to the development of social and environmental certification programs. The chapter concludes by looking at insights on how best to address these gaps.

This chapter traces the origins of certification programs in the coffee industry, with particular reference to the impact of developments in the intergovernmental arena since the 1960s. It examines factors that helped in the development of three separate streams of certification: organic agriculture, fair trade, and sustainable production. It also considers the impact of the coffee supply chain's low barriers to entry on the development of private initiatives.

This chapter examines the history of the professionalization of computer programming. It describes the need of programmers to establish the institutional structures associated with professionalism, including professional societies, certification programs, educational standards, and codes of ethics and suggests that the professionalization of computer programming represented a potential solution to the looming software crisis that appeared to programmers and employers alike. It highlights the struggle of computer programmers to prove that they possessed a unique set of skills and training that allowed them to lay claim to professional autonomy.

This chapter examines the conditions and processes that led to the emergence of certification programs for responsible forest management practices. More specifically, it looks at the role of markets and politics in the initiation of certification programs. It also outlines the relevant market features of the forest sector, including high barriers to entry, multinationals' occupation of several points of concentration in the supply chain, and low levels of international trade compared with fisheries and the coffee industry. Furthermore, it traces the history of intergovernmental processes on forests and describes how they have coevolved with the activism of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Finally, the chapter highlights differences in opportunities available to NGOs and businesses.

This chapter examines the role of markets and politics in the initiation of certification programs in the coffee industry. It begins by describing production in the coffee sector and the market conditions expected to affect the rise of certification. It then reviews the history of intergovernmental processes for coffee and how they have coevolved with the activism of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It also assesses both the opportunities for influence available to NGOs and businesses and the changing perceptions of social and environmental problems in the coffee sector. Finally, it discusses the coffee sector's low barriers to entry, the multinationals' occupation of extensive points of concentration in the sector's global supply chain, and the level of international trade for coffee.

This chapter examines the role of markets and politics in the development of certification programs in the fisheries sector. After presenting a descriptive overview of the fisheries sector, the chapter reviews the history of fisheries governance processes as well as the opportunities available to nongovernmental organizations and businesses. It then looks at the market and political conditions that are relevant to the opportunity structures within the sector, including barriers to entry, points of concentration in the supply chain, and levels of international trade.