Theorizing Business and Local Peacebuilding Through the 'Footprints of Peace' Coffee Project in Rural Colombia

Jason Miklian, Juan Pablo Medina-Bickel

Business & Society 59(4), 676–715, 2020

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Despite emerging study of business initiatives that attempt to support local peace and development, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding effectiveness and efficiency. This research examines the Footprints for Peace peacebuilding initiative by Colombia's National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC) through 70 stakeholder interviews. The project sought to improve vulnerable populations' circumstances in conflict-affected regions across four Colombian departments. Findings demonstrate FOP's success supported existing business-peace engagement theories, providing evidence for development-business collaboration and local business-led peacebuilding under targeted circumstances. The research identifies where existing theory received support, where FOP challenged assumptions, and reveals new research gaps, advancing business-peace theory and understanding success factors for such initiatives in Colombia and other conflict regions.
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Published version, deposited by the author. © The Author(s) 2018, Business & Society (SAGE). Provided for individual scholarly use. Version of record: https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650317749441

Key Messages

  • Evidence from 70 stakeholder interviews shows the coffee growers' Footprints of Peace initiative supported vulnerable populations across four conflict-affected Colombian departments.
  • The case gives empirical support for development-business collaboration and local business-led peacebuilding under targeted conditions.
  • The study marks where business-peace theory held, where the project challenged its assumptions, and which research gaps remain.

Research Topics

business and peace coffee Colombia local peacebuilding Footprints of Peace rural development

Citation

Jason Miklian, Juan Pablo Medina-Bickel. "Theorizing Business and Local Peacebuilding Through the 'Footprints of Peace' Coffee Project in Rural Colombia." Business & Society 59(4), 2020, pp. 676–715.

DOI: 10.1177/0007650317749441

Related Research Areas

BibTeX Citation 
@article{miklian2020_theorizing_business_and_local,
  title = {Theorizing Business and Local Peacebuilding Through the 'Footprints of Peace' Coffee Project in Rural Colombia},
  author = {Miklian, Jason and Medina-Bickel, Juan},
  journal = {Business & Society},
  year = {2020},
  url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0007650317749441}
}