摘要
Certified companies translate voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) into local practice, yet little is known about how company-level implementation of VSS relates to farmer compliance. This paper examines Rainforest Alliance (RA) implementation bythree certified companies in the Indonesian cocoa sector. Drawing on compliance and regulatory intermediation theories, wedistinguish the following three compliance mechanisms: enforcement, incentives, and capacity-building. Although VSS definegeneral rules on these mechanisms, certified companies exercise substantial discretion in how they implement them, potentiallygenerating heterogeneous compliance outcomes. We combine original quantitative survey data from 458 farm-households withqualitative data from 43 interviews and three focus groups to assess variation in company implementation and certified farmers'compliance with seven RA-related indicators. We find substantial implementation heterogeneity across companies and show thatenforcement, capacity-building, and incentives can each support compliance, but for different types of indicators: Enforcement ismost useful for visible and auditable practices, capacity-building for teachable and low-cost practices, and incentives for practicesrequiring investment. However, these mechanisms remain insufficient where compliance is constrained by productivity pres-sures, low or volatile prices, and limited access to suitable inputs. Our findings highlight companies' crucial role in mediatingglobal standards and warrant stronger attention to implementation rules and accountability.