Companies change tack. Can they achieve development goals through ethical trade?

How useful is ethical trade in addressing global development issues? Private companies are now taking greater social responsibility for improving employment conditions in the export markets that supply them by way of corporate codes of conduct. But is ethical trade merely a cosmetic response to NGO pressure or is it a fundamental shift in the way companies operate in the global free market economy? Research at the University of Hertfordshire examines why ethical trade has emerged as an issue in process of globalisation and considers its significance for broader development issues.