Ambiente institucional e responsabilidade social corporativa na cafeicultura africana

Abstract

Coffee farming is an important economic activity for farmers in many countries in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. However, African coffee production has lost its share of the world market in recent decades. This paper analyzed the decline of African coffee production from the perspective of the New Institutional Economics (NIE). The research was done in two stages. First, a bibliographical research was carried out on the political history of four countries that were the most important coffee producers in Africa in the 1960s: Angola, Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire and Uganda. In the second stage, a documentary survey was conducted on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions of multinational coffee companies in African countries in recent years. The data obtained were processed with contente analysis and nterpreted from the assumptions of the NIE. The results indicate that there was great political instability in the four countries analyzed, something that prevents the development of institutions capable of fostering economic development. In this context, the results show that the action of multinational companies fills a void left by the State.