To read this content please select one of the options below:

Introduction to special issue: smallholder value chains as complex adaptive systems

Alastair Orr (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Nairobi, Kenya)
Jason Donovan (International Centre for Research in AgroForestry, Lima, Peru)

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies

ISSN: 2044-0839

Article publication date: 12 March 2018

350

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new conceptual framework for smallholder value chains based on complex adaptive systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors review the application of the framework to three case studies and explore their implications. The authors reflect on the value of a framework based on complex adaptive systems compared to alternative frameworks.

Findings

The authors argue that the dynamics of smallholder value chains have received insufficient attention.

Research limitations/implications

By focusing on these dynamics and on the capacity for adaptation among value chain actors the framework provides a new perspective on smallholder value chains.

Originality/value

Complex adaptive systems provide a useful framework for analyzing value chain dynamics.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a special section “Smallholder Value Chains as Complex Adaptive Systems.”

Citation

Orr, A. and Donovan, J. (2018), "Introduction to special issue: smallholder value chains as complex adaptive systems", Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 2-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-11-2017-0123

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles