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This paper seeks to pinpoint the role played by social enterprises in the growth and mainstreaming of fair trade.

The review encompasses seminal papers on the growth and mainstreaming of fair trade.

A crucial role is played by social enterprises in establishing fair trade in the mainstream. However this mainstreaming is contested and is argued by some to also lead to potential mission drift.

This review primarily investigates the Northern aspects of fair trade, in particular the role of social enterprise in the market growth of fair trade and its mainstreaming. However more research is required to unpack the producer perspectives of mainstreaming fair trade.

The article investigates one of the pioneering fields of social enterprise to see what lessons can be drawn for other social enterprise sectors that have mainstream ambitions.

This contribution provides a novel review to demonstrate the role played by social enterprise in the growth of fair trade. It argues that the dual mission of fair trade is out of balance and is in danger of becoming reduced to a certification scheme based on minimum compliance. However a rebalancing of social and commercial objectives and acknowledging the innovative approach of fair trade social enterprises would strengthen this pioneering social movement.

This editorial article aims to introduce the special issue of Critical Perspectives on International Business entitled “Critical perspectives on fair trade”.

The editorial provides a brief overview of the subject of fair trade, with an emphasis on the critical arguments that have been put forward in relation to the fair trade movement. It then locates the four papers included in this special issue within extant debates on fair trade.

While the fair trade movement has been attracting the attention of scholars for over a decade, there is still space and scope for academic debate, and especially for empirical studies focusing on different aspects of fair trade initiatives. This special issue contributes to addressing the current gap in critical studies of fair trade.

Further research on fair trade is needed to inform both academic thinking and policy.

The editorial fulfils an informative role of introducing the readers to the topics covered in the articles included in the special issue.

Investment funds use actual trading market prices to value their portfolio investments where possible and “fair valuations” (estimated values) when actual market prices are not available. The methods used to “fair value” portfolios recently have come under scrutiny. SEC inquiries and enforcement actions and shareholder lawsuits have revealed significant problems in the ways in which fair valuations of the portfolios of investment companies, as well as private investment funds are conducted. Congress and academic commentators are beginning to question fund valuation methods. Despite the importance of the issue to investors, there is little uniformity of practice among funds, no generally accepted means to conduct fair valuations, and little disclosure by funds of the methods by which fair valuations are conducted, who conducts them, when they are conducted, or how much fair valuation affects portfolio or unit valuations. The SEC has never conducted a public study or rulemaking, or issued a significant report on fair value practices. Instead, it is the stuff of a pair of short, 30‐year‐old SEC accounting bulletins and a few cryptic references in periodic revisions to Form N‐1A. Yet, in a letter the SEC staff sent to the Investment Company Institute (ICI) in April 2001, the SEC staff dramatically expanded the use of fair value pricing for use with securities for which actual trading market prices are available.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize and analyze the SEC's July 9, 2008 roundtable discussion regarding fair value accounting and auditing standards.

The paper discusses investor, auditor/accountant/actuary, and corporation views concerning the usefulness of fair value accounting, potential market behavior effects from fair value accounting, challenges in applying fair value standards, possible improvement to the current standards, and working with auditors who provide assurance for fair value accounting.

Some investor panelists said fair value provides investors with the most current and relevant information of any accounting method and some believe fair valuation is important for market integrity and trust because it is a transparent measure for valuation. Auditors are especially challenged in determining fair values in illiquid or frozen markets. Roundtable participants viewed disclosure as critical for implementation of fair valuation, particularly regarding key inputs and assumptions. Auditors and corporations would like more guidance on applying fair value accounting from the SEC and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

The paper provides expert guidance by experienced securities lawyers.

The introduction of labelling initiatives has provided an opportunity to introduce fair trade food products to the vast majority of the UK consumers via conventional retail channels. This case study outlines the characteristics and development of the fair trade concept, reviews the extent to which the major food retailers have incorporated fair trade products into their offer and discusses some of the current issues surrounding fair trade food in retailing.

This study aims to provide a timely review concerning the determinants and economic consequences of fair value reporting in real estate industry, as these topics have been gaining momentum in accounting literature recently.

Diverse editorial sources (e.g. Elsevier, Emerald, Meridian Allenpress, Springer, Sage, Taylor & Francis and Wiley-Blackwell) were consulted to identify relevant studies for this review. Keywords used to collect studies include “fair value” and “IAS 40” or “investment property” and “fair value or “fair value and real estate.” This search yields 33 studies published between 2009 and 2023.

The synthesis of reviewed papers suggests that studies were mainly conducted in the European countries after the mandatory adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in 2005 and the Australian setting. The first stream of research deals with the choice of fair value approach. Reported empirical findings suggest that corporate size and market-to-book ratio are negatively associated with fair value choice, whereas ownership dispersion increases the likelihood of choosing fair value approach. The empirical evidence concerning the determinants of fair value magnitude suggests the type of appraiser represents a key predictor of the extent of fair value use. The second stream of research examines the impact of fair value reporting in real estate industry. Findings suggest that empirical evidence is still limited with respect to creditors, managers and financial analysts; fair value reporting is generally associated with higher level of value relevance for investors; and the use of Level 3 inputs in fair value estimates for investment properties is associated with high degree of estimation uncertainty for external auditors leading to increased audit risk and fees.

With respect to regulators, this review emphasizes that the beneficial impacts of fair value reporting are linked to institutional characteristics (e.g. legal system, the degree of market development), the reliability concerns regarding fair value estimates and the independence of appraiser. Because real estate industry is generally characterized by the lack of active market, regulators may adopt regulations requiring the independence external appraiser.

This literature review represents a historical record and an introduction for accounting scholars, in emerging economies and other settings, where fair value accounting has gained wide acceptance among the investment community. It also offers guidance for future research avenues.

This paper aims to investigate whether Brazilian firms that legally bond to stricter enforcement and commit to stringent corporate governance requirements experience increased value relevance of discretionary fair value measurements (Levels 2 and 3), and how different measurement levels are associated with firms’ systematic risk.

The Brazilian data’s distinctive feature helps in analyzing fair value’s relevance in an emerging market with heterogeneous enforcement regimes. Given the inherent self-selection in corporate governance levels and cross-listing decisions, the authors use a two-step generalized method of moments approach. Building upon Song et al.’s (2010) framework, the authors carefully address potential selection biases. Furthermore, the authors expand Riedl and Serafeim’s (2011) model, based on Ohlson’s (1995) model, to explore whether the negative correlation between Level 1 net assets (assets minus liabilities) and firms’ beta is more pronounced compared to Levels 2 or 3 net assets. Additionally, the authors investigate whether this relationship intensifies when firms align themselves with enhanced governance structures and stricter enforcement regimes.

Fair value measurements which require more judgment (Levels 2 and 3) are more value-relevant when a firm is legally bonded to higher enforcement and better corporate governance. Level 1 fair values of these firms’ net assets are associated with lower systematic risk, while Levels 2 and 3 fair values (high subjectivity valuation) are not.

The authors show that firms that bond to better corporate governance and stricter enforcement regimes mitigate the information risk involved in subjective fair-value measurements.

Organizational justice research traditionally focuses on individuals’ reactions to how they are treated by others. However, little attention has been given to why individuals choose to behave fairly or unfairly in the first place. Our chapter draws on the literature in ethical decision making (Rest, 1986) to identify five distinct factors that influence an individual's decision to treat others fairly. Using this model as a foundation, and drawing on extant research in justice, we explore five different types of roadblocks to fair behavior. We explore the implications of these roadblocks for organizations concerned with creating and maintaining a fair workplace. Finally, we discuss future research suggested by the five factors and some dilemmas, issues, and caveats relevant to the proposed model.

The evolution of the Fair Trade movement offers an apposite case through which to examine the idea of regulating risk through a “social sphere.” An analysis of Fair Trade through the lens of “defiance” reveals discrete models and actors of risk regulation that evolve in an iterative fashion. These findings not only add complexity and heterogeneity to the social actors and mechanisms of regulation in the social sphere, but also highlight the challenges this diversity poses for the project of alleviating market risk. In turn, the framework of defiance offers a fertile analytical framework for the study of transnational risk regulation by capturing the dynamic actor and institutional complexities that underpin, and embody challenges for, the regulation of risk through the social sphere. The article begins with an overview of the Fair Trade movement and consideration of Fair Trade’s approach to regulating market risk. It then introduces the notion of defiance, focusing on two of its subtypes: game playing and resistance. Following a short overview of the methodological framework employed to analyze these dynamics, the third section applies these analytical categories of defiance to explore primary data gathered on Fair Trade’s evolution. The article shows that the motivational posture of game playing, through its continued experimentation and entrepreneurship in transnational risk regulation, is pregnant with potential to mitigate the risks generated by economic activity.

This chapter contrasts the representation of Third World farmers in Fair Trade marketing campaigns with data drawn from long-term fieldwork involving cocoa producers in Ghana and evidence provided by older anthropological monographs on these communities. In doing so, it practically illustrates the disparity between global assumptions and local perspectives on production and consumption. The key contention underlying this chapter is that the representation of producers as needy, helpless, and disgruntled with multinational corporations is deeply problematic. Such a representation reveals a significant and somewhat concerning discrepancy between the lives of farmers and the narratives displayed in Western campaigns for trade justice. By using fieldwork data and earlier anthropological literature showing the determination, ingenuity, and far-sighted strategies of cocoa farmers in Ghana, this chapter demonstrates that producers in the Third World are not the passive and helpless individuals they are sometimes portrayed as.