AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

Coffee has been traded for over a century and producing countries have not been able to upgrade in the global value chain. This thesis explores reasons why this has been the case and shows existing opportunities for producing countries. The core of the thesis is the presentation, analysis and discussion of five different value chains. These are Conventional Trade, Fair Trade, Direct Trade, Direct Trade of Roasted Coffee and the exceptional case of Juan Valdez Coffee Shops. I will show that all lead firms, except for the Juan Valdez case, are based in consuming countries. Furthermore I conclude that though Fair Trade and Direct Trade fulfill their promises, they are not able to build up a basis for further development of actors in producing countries. This is the case because actors in producing countries are not able and have few possibilities to functionally upgrade except for the cases of Direct Trade of Roasted Coffee and Juan Valdez case.