Every Purchase Matters: How Fair Trade Farmers, Companies, and Consumers Are Changing the World

In this book, Rice, founder and CEO of Fair Trade USA, a certifier of fair trade products, offers a critical account of the history and future of conscious capitalism—a philosophy in which businesses operate with a higher purpose beyond making maximal profits—and discusses his experiences in international development. One of Rice’s biggest influences is business theorist and strategist Michael Porter, whose concept of shared value for businesses calls for companies to strive to meet the important needs of employees, the environment, and society at large as well as making profits. Thus, one of the most distinctive features of the requirements of Fair Trade USA is that there must be an impact premium that an elected fair trade committee allocates to various causes, such as education, health care, and more. Rice tells of both the successes and failures of his organization and the fair trade movement in general, as well as the disagreements over tactics and approaches among promoters of fair trade. For readers to envision the big picture, this work includes interviews with a number of people involved in international business and development.