Abstract for: Exploring the Dynamics of Full Information Product Pricing Networks: the Case of Fair Trade Coffee in Mexico

This poster describes research in progress undertaken by the Research Group on Comparative and Transnational Digital Government in North America, which is supported by the National Science Foundation Digital Government Research Program as well as by institutions in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This research explores distribution networks that attach non-price information to products as a differentiation mechanism. Often this non-price information is transmitted through trusting networks or certifiable labels such as "Organic" or "Fair Trade." We call such networks Full Information Product Pricing (FIPP) Networks. Major objectives of the research are to explore how government policies and investment in information and communication technology can be used to promote FIPP networks and to assess what impacts on economic and local development will result. The first fair trade FIPP network selected for simulation is a coffee cooperative in Mexico, Tosepan Titataniske. Current modeling efforts are aimed at eliciting dynamic insights from the case by the application of established system dynamics knowledge related to commodity models and supply chains.