With regard to the follow-through rate… my assumption is that improving welfare will raise costs, and higher costs will cause customers to switch providers. Are you at all worried about companies that follow through going out of business?
I wonder if companies that follow through would be interested in sponsoring legislation that forces their competitors to also improve welfare? That could help solve this problem maybe?
In any case, this might be an argument for people interested in farm animal welfare to concentrate their efforts on improving welfare for one animal product in one country at a time. (Or, if you’re acting as an individual, try to figure out which animal product is currently getting the most pressure from activists and add to that pressure through your individual actions.) If a particular market is an oligopoly, and all the firms in the oligopoly can be persuaded to raise welfare standards simultaneously, it seems like they face less risk of going out of business. (Note that what’s important is the animal product, not the animal itself. My guess is that eggs are an easier target than chicken meat, for instance, because if you target chicken meat, people will probably substitute chicken meat with beef & pork to some degree as chicken prices rise, putting the chicken companies at risk. Additionally it might make sense to concentrate on particular industries, e.g. hotels, high-end restaurants, fast food restaurants, etc. Presumably McDonald’s is more worried about being undercut by Burger King than Marriot. I think this could be considered a prisoner’s dilemma for the companies from a game theory point of view, so ideally there is some enforcement mechanism for cooperation, i.e. contracts that companies sign such that they have to give their competitors $ if they don’t follow through on their commitments. It might be worth studying the parallels to cartel formation in oligopolistic competition.)
I wonder if companies could be held liable for something like misleading advertisement in case of voluntarily failing to fulfill their commitments. I googled it a little bit; there’s a growing concern about legally enforcing CSR commitments, but I still can’t make my mind on this possibility (and its desirability: could it backfire?)
my assumption is that improving welfare will raise costs, and higher costs will cause customers to switch providers. Are you at all worried about companies that follow through going out of business?
The value of Mean years of impact is smaller because I considered companies going bankrupt, but I didn’t think about them being more likely to go bankrupt (or decrease their market share) because of commitments. Note that companies that don’t follow-through (or don’t commit in the first place) will eventually have to face campaigns from animal advocates, which also puts them at a disadvantage. It’s not like animal advocates stop once half of a country is using higher welfare products. However, if a period between campaigns against different competitors is long, this can be a concern. I haven’t heard of anyone complaining about this though.
I wonder if companies that follow-through would be interested in sponsoring legislation that forces their competitors to also improve welfare? That could help solve this problem maybe?
I actually asked someone about this. They said that companies that made commitments stop campaigning against such legislation, but they haven’t heard about food companies sponsoring such legislation. I imagine that it would only make sense for very big food companies and I’m unsure if any company is big enough.
In any case, this might be an argument for people interested in farm animal welfare to concentrate their efforts on improving welfare for one animal product in one country at a time.
Animal activists are focusing on one issue at the time and indeed, Bollard (2017a) claims that this as one of the primary reasons why corporate campaigns are so successful. But we have enough resources to do it in multiple countries at the same time. Also, animal advocates that live in different countries can’t all work on one country at a time, they are better at achieving success in their own country.
people will probably substitute chicken meat with beef & pork to some degree as chicken prices rise
Good point. One could argue that this still would be a win from an animal welfare perspective (although a smaller one) because chicken requires many more hours of suffering per calorie than beef or pork (see http://ethical.diet/) and because broilers arguably live in worse conditions. On the other hand, cows and pigs are more complex animals. Also, maybe some people would substitute chicken with fish, which could be even worse. Thinking about this also makes me less excited about campaigns/legislation against veal crates and gestation crates for pigs because they might increase the consumption of chicken. I don’t know how much these reforms increase prices though.
Additionally it might make sense to concentrate on particular industries, e.g., hotels, high-end restaurants, fast food restaurants, etc. Presumably, McDonald’s is more worried about being undercut by Burger King than Marriot.
Also a good point. I don’t know if animal advocates do that.
With regard to the follow-through rate… my assumption is that improving welfare will raise costs, and higher costs will cause customers to switch providers. Are you at all worried about companies that follow through going out of business?
I wonder if companies that follow through would be interested in sponsoring legislation that forces their competitors to also improve welfare? That could help solve this problem maybe?
In any case, this might be an argument for people interested in farm animal welfare to concentrate their efforts on improving welfare for one animal product in one country at a time. (Or, if you’re acting as an individual, try to figure out which animal product is currently getting the most pressure from activists and add to that pressure through your individual actions.) If a particular market is an oligopoly, and all the firms in the oligopoly can be persuaded to raise welfare standards simultaneously, it seems like they face less risk of going out of business. (Note that what’s important is the animal product, not the animal itself. My guess is that eggs are an easier target than chicken meat, for instance, because if you target chicken meat, people will probably substitute chicken meat with beef & pork to some degree as chicken prices rise, putting the chicken companies at risk. Additionally it might make sense to concentrate on particular industries, e.g. hotels, high-end restaurants, fast food restaurants, etc. Presumably McDonald’s is more worried about being undercut by Burger King than Marriot. I think this could be considered a prisoner’s dilemma for the companies from a game theory point of view, so ideally there is some enforcement mechanism for cooperation, i.e. contracts that companies sign such that they have to give their competitors $ if they don’t follow through on their commitments. It might be worth studying the parallels to cartel formation in oligopolistic competition.)
I wonder if companies could be held liable for something like misleading advertisement in case of voluntarily failing to fulfill their commitments. I googled it a little bit; there’s a growing concern about legally enforcing CSR commitments, but I still can’t make my mind on this possibility (and its desirability: could it backfire?)
The value of Mean years of impact is smaller because I considered companies going bankrupt, but I didn’t think about them being more likely to go bankrupt (or decrease their market share) because of commitments. Note that companies that don’t follow-through (or don’t commit in the first place) will eventually have to face campaigns from animal advocates, which also puts them at a disadvantage. It’s not like animal advocates stop once half of a country is using higher welfare products. However, if a period between campaigns against different competitors is long, this can be a concern. I haven’t heard of anyone complaining about this though.
I actually asked someone about this. They said that companies that made commitments stop campaigning against such legislation, but they haven’t heard about food companies sponsoring such legislation. I imagine that it would only make sense for very big food companies and I’m unsure if any company is big enough.
Animal activists are focusing on one issue at the time and indeed, Bollard (2017a) claims that this as one of the primary reasons why corporate campaigns are so successful. But we have enough resources to do it in multiple countries at the same time. Also, animal advocates that live in different countries can’t all work on one country at a time, they are better at achieving success in their own country.
Good point. One could argue that this still would be a win from an animal welfare perspective (although a smaller one) because chicken requires many more hours of suffering per calorie than beef or pork (see http://ethical.diet/) and because broilers arguably live in worse conditions. On the other hand, cows and pigs are more complex animals. Also, maybe some people would substitute chicken with fish, which could be even worse. Thinking about this also makes me less excited about campaigns/legislation against veal crates and gestation crates for pigs because they might increase the consumption of chicken. I don’t know how much these reforms increase prices though.
Also a good point. I don’t know if animal advocates do that.