Vol 7, No 2

Table of Contents

  1. Research Article
    Choice of Retail Outlet for Fresh Fruits: The Case of Women in Trinidad and Tobago PDF
    C.W. Ardon Iton, Govind Seepersad
    Retailing in Trinidad and Tobago is in the midst of a major transformation as foreign retailers such as Price Smart attempt to penetrate the market. At the same time roadside retailers are emerging on a daily basis in the prepared food sector, fresh produce sector and dry goods sector. Traditionally fresh produce was predominantly sold in the public markets (wet markets) and roadside stalls in Trinidad and Tobago. Today the range of fresh produce offered by the supermarkets makes one wonder why some shoppers still frequent the public markets. Trinidad and Tobago is classified as a high income country and with relatively high levels of disposable income, health conscious and time pressured consumers; shoppers are faced with choices of the retail outlet from which they will predominantly purchase their fresh fruits. A review of the food marketing literature reveals that there is a paucity of research on the changing food market in the Caribbean. This study, which is just one part of the investigation into food marketing in the Caribbean, focuses on the socioeconomic variables that influence female consumers' retail outlet choice for fresh fruits in Trinidad. The results obtained indicated that the only demographic variable that was statistically significant was income. It is therefore concluded that age, educational level attained, marital status, household size and employment status does not influence where Trinidadian women purchase fresh fruits.

  2. Research Article
    Sustainable Development, Greening and Eco-efficiency PDF
    Luke Amadi, Prince Ikechukwu Igwe, Steve Wordu
    Paul Collier argues that, "Proper stewardship of natural assets and liabilities is a matter of planetary urgency: natural resources have the potential either to transform the poorest countries or to tear them apart, while the carbon emissions and agricultural follies of the developed world could further impoverish them"1. This line of debate has been more fashionable in understanding the growing deleterious effects of environmental use currently riddled with inequality. The essay builds on seminal studies such as UNEP 2012 post Rio environmental reports, TRUCOST,(2008,2013)an independent environmental survey  which provided  an analysis of global cost of damage on the environment by the business sector. The aim is to create possible linkages between environmental consumption and sustainability. This strand forms an offshoot of the "unsustainability" thesis where core development issues such as green economy, eco- efficiency, ecological footprints, dematerialism etc,   are marginalised by the high income countries. In an increasingly globalizing world, eco-efficiency, emphasizes creating more goods and services with ever less use of resources, waste and pollution. This paper sets to interrogate the post Rio+20 Summit and the extent of global operationalization of eco-efficiency among corporate organizations. It explores certain theoretical evidence on production and consumption dynamics of multinationals in the high income countries using the political ecology tools of analysis. Findings suggest evidence of prevailing global unsustainable environmental use which taints green economy, eco efficiency and sustainable development. It recommends that lack of policy implementation in this direction poses greater challenges to sustainable development.