Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/211296 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2019/59
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
Supermarkets are strong catalysts to stimulate the growth and development of producers and suppliers of processed food and manufactured products in Southern Africa. This paper assesses the role of supermarkets and governments in developing supplier capabilities through supplier development programmes. In South Africa, a shift is evident in recent approaches by supermarkets away from mere compliance as part of black economic empowerment or social responsibility objectives, to more mutually beneficial, commercially oriented and long-term investments to develop supplier capabilities. There is still considerable scope to replicate, broaden and deepen these programmes, including extending them to the region. The paper draws lessons from the Namibian Retail Sector Charter of 2016 as the first and only sector-wide intervention in the region that combines a voluntary code of conduct and supplier development commitments. The paper further highlights interventions internationally through codes of conduct as a useful way to reduce possible abuses of supermarket buyer power.
Subjects: 
supermarkets
supplier development programmes
upgrading
industrialization
retail codes of conduct
JEL: 
F15
L1
L5
L66
L67
L81
O1
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-693-7
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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