Project Team:

Commissioning Manager:

Authors:

Project Manager

Distribution Manager

Proposed title:

Project title:

Supermarket Industry and Policy Research for Scorecard Assessment

Campaign: e.g. OI + MTF

Lead publisher

Co-publisher(s)

Publishing partner

Oxfam

N/A

Expected length (give page extent and equivalent word count):

15,000 words (50 pages when published) up to a maximum of 20,000 words (70 pages when published). Summary c. 3000 words (10 pages when published)

Purpose:

Why is this being commissioned, and why now?

Please include an overview of the campaign strategy and how this report fits into it. This should include launch events, key dates, and events at which the report will be used 12-18 months after publication.

Also, if known, how the report and summary will be used as a basis for other campaigning materials.

This “Supermarket Industry and Policy Research for Scorecard Assessment” is being undertaken to support Thailand in engaging supermarkets and retails chains towards adopting/improving responsible sourcing practices and addressing inequalities in supply chains.  

The results of the campaign will feed into the global Uneven Portions (UP) campaign, which seeks to build the power of men and women consumers, producers, and workers in value chains. The UP campaign understands that inequality of power in value chains - manifested in the unfair distributions of risks and benefits among different actors in supply chains - is a critical factor in poverty and food injustice.

This research on “Supermarket Industry and Policy Research for Scorecard Assessment” is being commissioned with three main objectives, below:

1. 1. Identify the supermarkets operating in Thailand and understand how they operate and link with suppliers, consumers, and other players in selected fresh food commodity value chains.
   2. Build baseline information on supermarkets and retail chains sourcing and procurement policy and practice, which can be regularly updated by Oxfam with the use of score card; growing this database can help Oxfam develop updated and relevant engagement strategies to support future campaigning and program work involving supermarkets and retail chains
   3. Assess the development of supermarket’s policies and practices happened from 2018 – 2021 and the key challenges to mobilize the sustainable food sourcing and consumption.

Proposition:

What is the campaign report’s core argument and policy recommendation(s)? What impact will this have on poverty? (Summarise in one paragraph).

Oxfam engages supermarkets and their consumers and stakeholders as one strategy to promote sustainable supply chains and responsible business practices. This has been proven useful especially in northern markets where supermarkets and other retail chains are sensitive to pressure from consumers and other stakeholders.

In Asia, supermarkets are beginning to play an important role in bridging producers and consumers. Rapid urbanization saw the increasing spread as well as importance of retail chains and supermarkets. Supermarkets and retail chains in Thailand have broad consumer bases, carry a wide breadth of products, including those produced by small scale farmers, fishers and workers, and are generally conscious about their brand image. These factors that make these supermarkets and retail chains viable targets for advocacy and campaigning.

This paper asserts that it is possible to influence supermarkets and retail chains in Thailand towards addressing inequalities and sustainability issues in value chains. This can be done by developing campaign and advocacy strategies that understand the power dynamics as well as decision making structures and considerations of supermarkets and companies, taking into account the specific social economic and cultural context of the country, including the evolution and current sourcing policy/practice in relation to sustainability and inequality.

Audience:

For whom is it being written? Who are we trying to influence? What kind of tone/style will the paper adopt?

Please list primary and secondary audiences. What are your plans to launch to these audiences? Which are the key target countries?

Primary audience: This paper will be internal to Oxfam and will mainly be used to inform Oxfam’s advocacy and campaigning strategy of targeting supermarkets and retail chains. And to enable Oxfam in Thailand to development supermarket scorecard analysis.

However, the data and analysis generated by the study can be used in developing public campaign materials.

Contents:

List the contents of the campaign report in detail, including estimated page extents for each section.

Include killer facts where possible, and identify how you will incorporate gender justice issues.

1. Introduction

This section of the paper will discuss the emerging importance of supermarkets and retail chains in Thailand, together with their policy. It should establish the rationale for engaging supermarket and retail chains in line with the UP campaign’s goal of addressing inequalities in value chains. The data in the section should cover, among other things:

• Growth and spread of supermarkets in terms of number of branches and geographical coverage, considering the market share also in relation to wet/fresh and other traditional markets. 
• Revenue growth and market share of supermarkets industry and in specific on fresh-food category 
• Growth in aggregate number of consumers
• Top lines and/or quick enumeration of factors supporting these trends
• Growth projection of revenues and market share
• Review of goals and rationale of the study

2. The Supermarkets / Retail Chains in Thailand

The goal of this section is to present an overview of the supermarkets/retail chain sector while offering a more granular version and analysis of the data provided in the introduction. As part of this overview, this section identifies the top supermarkets for Thailand. This section should include, but not be limited to the following information:

2.1 Overview

• Time series data on aggregate revenues
• Time series data on aggregate number of consumers
• Time series data on aggregate number of branches and geographical spread

• Ranking of top supermarkets in country in terms of sales/gross revenue, market share, number of branches and/or geographical spread
• Description and breakdown of growth projections in terms of revenue, number of consumers, number of branches etc.

2.2  Industry analysis

• Political, Economic, Social, and Technology factors that affect supermarket/retails in Thailand
• Market structure and share (including market leader of supermarket / market leader of fresh food)
• Megatrends of supermarket industry in Thailand and Competition landscape of the industry
• Overall supply chain for fresh food product of leading supermarket

3. Policy analysis of top 8-10 supermarket/retail chains

Section 4 will provide information relevant for the assessment of supermarket policy in the Oxfam Scorecard, See attached for the Oxfam Scorecard Template);

Outputs from this process will be developed using a participatory approach. This section should cover following topics:

• Sourcing policy, with emphasis on fresh food

• Product sources and degree of significance
• Actual practice of the company, benchmarked with their written policies

• Company policies, initiatives or practices on promoting women empowerment in value chains
• How these supermarkets/retails connected with local and small-scale producers, communities where the store located, and environmental institutions

• Scoring of supermarket/retail policy against Oxfam Scorecard with regards to transparency & accountability, workers, small-scale producers and women, consumer welfare, environment (suppliers), and environment (supermarkets)
• Results of reviewing publicly disclosed policy of supermarket/retail that support and substantiate the scoring results
• Other relevant information important for company assessment

In this policy analysis must provide current status of policies and practices as well as show the development of policies and practices that the supermarkets have been implement from 2018 until 2021.

4. Conclusion and recommendations

Methodology

The study will gather quantitative and qualitative data using the following methods:

1. Primary and secondary data gathering
2. Participatory consultation and workshops to fine-tune scoring and discuss on the results

As much as possible, we would like to ensure comparability with other countries, so we like to adopt common research protocols, data gathering instruments and analytical framework for this research

Expected Outputs

Given the above methodologies and contents, key deliverables of this research should cover:

1. Industry Analysis

• Supermarket/Retail industry structure and competitive landscape

2. Policy Analysis

• Information relevant and sufficient for assessment of 8 leading supermarket/retail in the Oxfam Scorecard (See attached for the Oxfam Scorecard Template)
• Scoring of company policy and performance against the Oxfam Scorecard (on transparency & accountability, workers, small-scale producers, and women)
• Reviewing results of 8 supermarkets publicly disclosed policy that substantiate the scoring results

3. Workshops

• One workshop aimed to gather opinions from relevant stakeholders on the scorecard development and to present final scoring results to relevant stakeholders

Note: Key milestones and outputs are summarized in the Annex I of this TOR.

Connections with national/regional campaigns and programs:

How will the campaign report link policy to Oxfam’s programme experience?  Which countries will be involved? Will it be based on national research, or on global research?

Please attach a fuller document on the research requirements for this report, describing what already exists, and what new research will have to be commissioned, and a time frame for this.

The results of the research will be used to support UP and other campaigns. The information and insights generated from the research can also be useful for program work, for instance in helping communities’ access and secure fair-trading arrangements with supermarkets and retail chains.  

The writer will coordinate with Thailand country team regarding the validation and sign off said data.

The campaign team will also coordinate closely with national and global teams in disseminating information and messages from the research report.

Gender:

How does this campaign report look at either the power relations between men and women, and/or the disproportionate impact of unjust policy on women?

The research is designed to ensure that it generates and provides information on the gender specific manifestations as well as impacts of inequalities in value chains. The research team will ensure that gender lens is used in developing all data gathering instruments and guidelines, and analytical framework.

Look and feel:

What images and graphics will be included? How will they meet the needs of the target audiences?

(Include information on the key countries and concepts).

 (A full design brief should be completed, following discussion with the Publishing team Designer).

The paper will follow Oxfam’s typical tone and style. It will use primary and secondary data, as well as available literature in developing and supporting its arguments.

Summary:

Will the summary be used as a separate communications tool? If so, how, and will the audience differ from the one above? Will images and graphics be included? If so, what will be their purpose?

The summary will be part of the paper. This can later be used to develop press releases and other campaign materials.

Sensitivities:

What are the risks in publishing this campaign report?

(E.g. risk to staff security or to the programme; risk to Oxfam’s reputation; risk to Oxfam’s identity; quality of product and content; consistency with plans and priorities. If there is a risk that the research commissioned will not suit the purpose of the document, causing delays to the schedule, what implications would this have for the campaign?)

Risks

The research involved supermarkets and retail chains. Oxfam must take the necessary precautions against possible legal action by the companies that will be identified in the research. To mitigate this risk, the research team will ensure that:

1. All publicly disseminated materials from the research undergoes libel check;
2. All data presented in the research are vetted and verified by relevant parties or parties pertained to in the research;
3. All data relevant to countries are signed off by the CD

NB. The CM, project manager and publishing project manager will keep a check on risks (external and process) emerging as we go through the process of developing this report.

Translation requirements:

Specify whether the full text needs translating into Oxfam’s core languages (French, Spanish, English).

List any other languages needed, explain how they will be used, and confirm that there are funds allocated for this.

Please note: if the full text is to be translated, all language versions must publish together. English language papers will not be made publicly available in advance of the others, but will be held until all versions are complete.

English

Libel Check:

(Will this campaign report require a libel check by a legal expert? (for example, if company names or individuals are mentioned or are identifiable and there is the potential for libel)

Yes – libel check is required

Project schedule

Jun1^st, 2021 – September 16^th,2021

Research, policy development, writing

Jun 1st,2021 – June 30^th,2021

First draft due by:

June 30^th,2021

Consultation Round 1

July 8^th,2021

Comments required from:

Please list names and groups, including:

OTC period July 15^th, 2021 – August 26^th,2021

Revisions by authors:

(CM will respond to those who have commented).

July 8^th,2021 – August 31^st,2021

Second draft due by:

August 31^st,2021

Consultation Round 2

September 9^th, 2021

Comments required from:

Edit:
(1 day per 4000 words)

September 9^th,2021 - September 16^th,2021

Final author revisions and checks:

September 16^th, 2021

Regional and Affiliate Sign-off required:

Note: policy sign-off will be managed by the CM and obtained in advance as policy proposals are defined

Sign-off for related products needs to be agreed – preferably one decision maker plus regional sign off on case studies and images as necessary.

 [Libel check sign-off, if required, should take place before OI sign-off)

Design format and publication…etc

Publication date:
(mention any specific pegs or events, and whether an embargo will be in place)

September 30^th, 2021

Budget

Total cost of the study is THB XXX(incl. VAT), which is all inclusive of research team compensation and other expenses related to this study.