Technological progress and changes in the way animals are kept have led to animal products becoming comparatively cheap. This type of animal husbandry, which is often torture for the animals, is an unacceptable state in terms of animal welfare. Switzerland is still far away from being sustainable and animal friendly. The aim of this Bachelor Thesis was to understand the interests and impacts of the various market players while considering the entire value chain. The interrelationships in the market as well as market power of individual players are analyzed.

The authors conducted an extensive literature review which served to acquire knowledge and provided a basis for further reading. Since various studies and analyses have already been conducted from reliable sources, the authors of this work – together with the accompanying lecturer and the client – have agreed to base this work only on secondary literature and to not collect primary data via interviews, surveys, or experiments. The findings were brought together and recommendations on how to improve the current situation were elaborated and outlooks for future analyses were introduced.

Farmers deal with an extensive amount of additional costs when switching to animal-friendly farming which are not covered with the resulting increase in revenue, hence they lack the incentive to implement that switch. Concerning the consumer side, are community canteens an important market player since they are handling a significant quantity of animal-based products. While retailers offer a high quantity of animal welfare products, community canteens show little interest in decreasing the share of conventional products in favour of animal welfare. Financial reasons are a main reason for their resistance. In surveys consumers mostly answer that they prefer animal welfare products. Laws and regulations can be imposed to regulate the market to achieve a more sustainable development where animal welfare is respected adequately. With the findings an overview is provided where future research areas can be deducted.