Ethical Consumerism and Modern Slavery Act: A Case Study of CFOODSTORES

This case study explores the implementation of ethical consumerism through the Modern Slavery Act by CFOODSTORES, a seafood retail chain. It examines the challenges faced by the company and suggests recommendations for dealing with them.

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Introduction
Ethical consumerism is one of the most popular and upcoming connect in the marketing
industry. In the modern 21st century it has been seen that the customers are agreeing to purchase
those goods and services that are mad in an eco- friendly way and nit at the cost of harming the
environment. Thus it is the duty of all the organizations to work over their production and their
supply chain system. CFOODSTRRORES, which is a sea food retail chain has also realized the
same and are trying to abide by the Modern Slavery Act.
Preliminary exploration of the broad topic
Business organizations have to make sure that they are aiding by their ethics. In the
modern day scenario abiding by all the ethical rules and regulations have become unavoidable
because the customers have become much more attentive, it is for this reason that all the business
organizations have to make sure that there are not in dealing in any kinds of unethical or illegal
aspects. CFOODSTORE is a sea food retailer that is mainly dealing in the production and sale
of the sea food. They have slowly progressed from being a local to a large retailer. They have
been successful in selling their products in about 115 stores via the e commerce or the internet
platforms. However the company has realized that in order to survive in this highly competitive
era, they will have to abide by the ethics so that they can appeal to the ethically conscious
customers and make sure that the customers make the repeat purchases. However they have now
decided to abide by the ethical codes of conduct. The main aim was to abide by the Modern
Slavery Act. However it was seen that there are some doubts that are arising from the Modern
Slavery Act . The Act was not imposing any penalties on those companies that did not file the
reports of the modern Slavery acts in their operations.

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Research aim
The research aim of the company is to check the ways in which the company is actually
trying to check the success of initiating the ethical consumerism. As they have started with the
new concept of ethical consumerism with the initiation of the Modern Slavery Act they have to
check if the decision is feasible and viable for the investors and the consumers.
Research objective
 To know the ethical consumerism that CFOODSTORE has actually targeted at
 To check the ethical behavior of the consumers that the company is targeting
 To check the issues that is lying in the concept of implementing the Modern Slavery Act
for targeting
 Ethical consumer To recommend the CFOODSTORES for dealing with the issues that is present in their act
of implementing the Modern Slavery Act for targeting an ethical consumerism
Research question
 What is the concept and the understanding of the ethical consumerism?
 Does the ethical behavior of the co summers get affected by the initiation of the concept
of the ethical consumerism system?
 What is the issue that is being faced by the company is targeting at the consumers?
 What can be the possible recommendations for the company for dealing with the issues of
ethical consumerism?

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Review the literature
Introduction
Systematic Literture review
The current literature review there will be the analysis of the ethical consumerism that is
being started by the CFOODSTORES Company. Different peer reviewed articles and journals
and books have been studied in order to find out the concept of ethical consumerism and also the
different other books by different authors.
Description of the search process
An effective approach has been undertaken in order to learn about the topic that is the
ethical consumerism. In order to understand the concept better a mixed approach has been used
so that both the qualitative and the quantitative approach can be undertaken in order to learn
about the different aspects through which the topic of ethical consumerism can be undertaken.
(Ganglmair-Wooliscroft, Alexandra and Ben Wooliscroft 2016, 2720) has stated that a wide
range of data must be utilized in order to undertaken an in depth understanding of the materials.
In this case the data base had been mainly obtained through the keywords on the various search
engines by typing key words in Google.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
It is always very useful to use some of the basic criteria while conducting any in depth
research analysis about any particular topic. However it must be noted that some of the criteria
have also been maintained here. The things to be included are-
 Journals used are not too old and are only selected from the year 2015
 Journals selected must be related to the topic

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 The journals used must not fall before the year 2015 and must be remember and upgraded
 The journal topics must be related to the assignment that is ethical consumerism
Result and discussion
 All the articles that have been selected matches are in accordance with the topic.
 It must be noticed that all the journal articles that have been selected are matching with
all the given criteria.
number Author Article title Research
design
content
1 Khan, Zeenath
Reza,
Gwendolyn
Rodrigues, and
Sreejith
Balasubramanian
Ethical
consumerism
and apparel
industry-
towards a
new factor
model."
Mixed Talks about
the ethical
standarads
that needs to
be
maintained
by the
industries for
developing
ethical

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consumerism
2 Summers, Nik "Ethical
consumerism
in global
perspective:
A multilevel
analysis of
the
interactions
between
individual-
level
predictors
and country-
level
affluence."
qualitative Talks about
the
differences
in the local
and the
Global level
ethical
consumerism
systems
The rise of Ethical Consumers
O'Connor et al. (2017,106) stated that in the 21st century a large section of the consumers
are trying to purchase the ethically made products, In other words consumer are ready to invest
their money over those products that are made in a sustainable manner and not at the cost of
harming the environment. However Bennett, Elizabeth (2018, 312) has argued in the same
context that though the companies are taking several stores in order to develop a concept of

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ethical consumerism in their operation and supply systems it is not really having a solid or long
standing impact. The same is also evident in the given case. It can be seen that the
CFOODSTORES Co. wanted to take an ethical approach and it is for this reason that they
initiated the Modern Slavery Act. The major aim was to ensure that the offshore sites are getting
an employee friendly working ambiance and better facilities. However it was noticed that there
are some drawbacks existing in the Act. The Act does not impose any penalties on those
companies that do not submit any risk analysis reporting. However this raises a question in the
minds of the consumers and also the investors. They are in the thought that whether they will be
actually be getting any ethical products or their money will be going in vain.
Ethical consumerism
As per the opinion of Matz, Sandra and Oded Netzer (2017, 12), in the modern day the
business scenario there are several transitions or transformations being seen in the purchasing
patterns of the customers. They want to give up their purchasing of the unethical products and
buy those items that are made in an eco friendly manner.
This new generation or section of customers are the ones who want to know if the goods and
services that are being purchased by them are prepared b following all the moral and the ethical
standards or are made at the cost of the harming the environment. It is for this reason that
CFOOSTIRES is not being able to target at the ethical consumers or the investors because they
have not been able to provide any solid evidence of the maintenance of the morally and the
ethically acceptable standards in their production process. In other words there are many other
efforts or clause that must be included in the Modern Slavery Act in order to ensure that the
CFOODSTIRES Co. is being able to properly target at the ethical consumerism.

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Ethical consumer market
Buerke et al. (2017,960 ) has opined that the organizations like CFOODSTORES that are
trying to develop ethical consumerism have to undertake an in-depth analysis of both the pros
and cons that are associated with this aspect. It is true that ion the modern day scenario the
number or the percentage of the ethical co summers are growing in number but at the same time,
it must be noticed that the consumers who are yet to understand about this concept often view
this as a market niche or stereotype. As is seen in the given case the customers and the investors
are still in a doubt on whether they can rely upon this new strategy that is being undertaken by
the company.
The business imperative
The organizations have to think about their corporate reputation before they can actually
implement this idea or this new strategy in their business models. It is for this reason that
CFOODSTORES also have to undergo this process. They have to ensure that they are
undertaking an in depth and critical investigation and analysis of the Modern Slavery Act.
Implications and Conclusion
This it can be concluded that the company CFOODSTORES have to investigate the
Modern Slavery Act in a proper way and in a detailed way before they can actually implement it
in their organization. They have to collect detailed information about the ethical acts like the
Modern Slavery Act before implementing them in their organization. However currently their
progress in field of ethical consumerism is less but the company can use this as their opportunity
for their future growth.

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References
Alshurideh, M., B. Al Kurdi, A. Abu Hussien, and H. Alshaar. "Determining the main factors
affecting consumers’ acceptance of ethical advertising: A review of the Jordanian
market." Journal of Marketing Communications 23, no. 5 (2017): 513-532.
Bennett, Elizabeth A. "Extending ethical consumerism theory to semi-legal sectors: insights from
recreational cannabis." Agriculture and human values 35, no. 2 (2018): 295-317.
Buerke, Anja, Tammo Straatmann, Nick Lin-Hi, and Karsten Müller. "Consumer awareness and
sustainability-focused value orientation as motivating factors of responsible consumer
behavior." Review of Managerial Science 11, no. 4 (2017): 959-991.
Crane, Andrew, Dirk Matten, Sarah Glozer, and Laura Spence. Business ethics: Managing
corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press,
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Ganglmair-Wooliscroft, Alexandra, and Ben Wooliscroft. "Diffusion of innovation: The case of
ethical tourism behavior." Journal of Business Research 69, no. 8 (2016): 2711-2720.
Khan, Zeenath Reza, Gwendolyn Rodrigues, and Sreejith Balasubramanian. "Ethical
consumerism and apparel industry-towards a new factor model." (2016): 1.

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Matz, Sandra C., and Oded Netzer. "Using big data as a window into consumers’
psychology." Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 18 (2017): 7-12.
O'Connor, Erin L., Lauren Sims, and Katherine M. White. "Ethical food choices: Examining
people’s Fair Trade purchasing decisions." Food quality and preference 60 (2017): 105-112.
Summers, Nik. "Ethical consumerism in global perspective: A multilevel analysis of the
interactions between individual-level predictors and country-level affluence." Social
Problems 63, no. 3 (2016): 303-328.