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Table grape is one of the most important horticultural crops in China. However, quality and safety have become major constraints for the further development of the Chinese table grape industry, which is dominated by small‐scale vinegrowers. Strategic partnership has been regarded as an effective mechanism to manage the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a supply chain model based on different strategic partnerships on the effect of safety and quality control and small‐scale vinegrowers' performance.

The field survey was performed in seven representative districts in China, including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Tianjin, Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. A semi‐structured interview was adopted as the data collection method. Both quantitative and qualitative data were generated and analyzed in this research. All quantitative analyses were conducted using EXCEL 2003 version and a comparative analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses.

The results show that modern supply chains are more efficient than the traditional one in improving the effect of safety and quality control and small‐scale vinegrowers' performance.

This paper first identified different models of table grape supply chain based on different strategic partnerships, and then analyzed the impact of supply chain model on the effect of quality and safety control and small‐scale vinegrowers' performance. It concludes with some policy suggestions relative to further development of the table grape industry in China.

Regarding the global development of the wine industry, China has gained a notable share in terms of wine consumption, and its domestic wine production has increased steadily since 2000. The wine production process requires close coordination between growers and processors to avoid disruption and instability in the supply chain of the wine grapes. However, vertical coordination in the Chinese wine regions has received little attention. Based on the existing theoretical background on vertical coordination, this study aims to detect the evolution processes of vertical coordination in the Chinese grape market.

Exploratory qualitative research fits with the aim of this study. From December 2018 to January 2019, interviews with grape growers and wine processors of various Chinese wine-producing areas took place. After transcribing all recorded files into text, a qualitative data analysis following the approach of Mayring (2015) was used to analyse and interpret the data.

The models of vertical coordination in the grape supply in China vary between the producer's requirements on grape quality/quantity and the arrangements of grape supply chains, which are diverse depending on regional strategies of the local government.

However, in this research, the authors did not get into details on the organization of the contractual coordination, and due to the limited access to grape growers, the relationship between farmers and processors cannot be analysed in detail. With a better understanding of the coordination relationship and enhanced contract enforcement, the vineyard management and grape supply chain management can be better performed, inducing a steady industrial development.

Regarding the global development of the wine industry, China has gained a notable share in terms of wine consumption, and its domestic wine production has increased steadily since 2000. However, vertical coordination in the Chinese wine regions has received little attention. The study provides a first insight into the grape market structures, as very little is known.

The paper aims to understand the cost-benefits, financial performance and relationships of the key actors in the table grape supply chain by using value chain analysis method.

This study presents the result of analysis on financial performance of key actors in three table grape supply chains and the relationship among them using value chain analysis. The table grape supply chain was analyzed using data collected from a field survey in 5 regions of China. The key actors of these chains were interviewed. The costs, benefits, operational and financial performance of supply chain actors were analyzed.

The results show that, despite receiving the highest proportion of total net profit and making the highest value creation, vinegrowers are facing fluctuant and uncertain commercial returns due to the production and market risks, fluctuation of farm-gate price and the buyer dominant relationship with wholesalers. Moreover, although it is profitable to all key actors, table grape supply chain still faces several challenges including unorganized and dispersed production systems, power asymmetry and lack of information sharing, all of which are the barriers to the improvement of the whole chain performance and the long term sustainability of this important industry.

This paper not only helps to understand the relationship among the key actors and the critical factors impacting on the whole chain performance, but also offer useful guidance for the policy makers and key actors to achieve further improvement of the table grape supply chain performance and provide valuable implications for the future studies on agriculture products.

The objective of this paper is to characterise the transactions between European buyers and Brazilian mango and grape producers.

The method selected for this paper was multiple case studies. The Brazilian mango and grape supply chains' export activities to Europe were investigated. The field research was undertaken in Brazil, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK. In total, 41 face‐to‐face interviews were carried out.

The supermarkets' literature tends to generalise the strategies of retailers focusing on differentiation and preferred suppliers. However, in empirical research conducted in the UK, Germany and The Netherlands it is possible to conclude that the procurement strategies of supermarkets can vary sharply. The results reveal the presence of different agents who demand different quality standards. The level of intensity depends on consumer behaviour, the features of product commercialised and the characteristics of the production segment in each country.

First, in relation to the empirical method there is a limitation because the case study does not allow statistical generalisation. Consequently, it will be interesting to undertake quantitative research in order to quantify the variables presented and their impact on the structure of value chains. Second, the research focuses only on two stages of the supply chain, producers and buyers.

The differences between UK and German supermarkets challenge the supermarket literature, which tends to generalise the strategies of retailers focusing on differentiation and preferred suppliers.

The study shows that the issue of influence and activities of retail agents along the value chain can be analysed taking several variables into consideration: the products commercialised; the distribution segment; and the consumer market. This result opens the way for analysing different structures of the value chain and the impact of these differences on the entry of producers for developing countries into the global market.

Supply chain risks (SCRs) do not work in isolation and have impact both on each member of a chain and the performance of the entire supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively assess the impact of dynamic risk propagation within and between integrated firms in global fresh produce supply chains.

A risk propagation ontology-based Bayesian network (BN) model was developed to measure dynamic SCR propagation. The proposed model was applied to a two-tier Australia-China table grape supply chain (ACTGSC) featured with an upstream Australian integrated grower and exporter and a downstream Chinese integrated importer and online retailer.

An ontology-based BN can be generated to accurately represent the risk domain of interest using the knowledge and inference capabilities inherent in a risk propagation ontology. In addition, the analyses revealed that supply discontinuity, product inconsistency and/or delivery delay originating in the upstream firm can propagate to increase the downstream firm’s customer value risk and business performance risk.

The work was conducted in an Australian-China table grape supply chain, so results are only product chain-specific in nature. Additionally, only two state values were considered for all nodes in the model, and finally, while the proposed methodology does provide a large-scale risk network map, it may not be appropriate for a large supply chain network as it only follows the process flow of a single supply chain.

This study supports the backward-looking traceability of risk root causes through the ACTGSC and the forward-looking prediction of risk propagation to key risk performance measures.

The methodology used in this paper provides an evidence-based decision-making capability as part of a system-wide risk management approach and fosters collaborative SCR management, which can yield numerous societal benefits.

The proposed methodology addresses the challenges in using a knowledge-based approach to develop a BN model, particularly with a large-scale model and integrates risk and performance for a holistic risk propagation assessment. The combination of modelling approaches to address the issue is unique.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the technical efficiency of Chinese table grape wholesalers and subsequently to examine the degree to which the calculated efficiency correlates with a set of explanatory variables.

A two-stage procedure is applied in this paper. First, a non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique is applied to investigate the degree of technical efficiency for Chinese table grape wholesalers. Second, Tobit regression is used to analyze the factors influencing technical efficiency.

Research results reveal that the mean technical efficiency of the sample is 0.544 and 0.860 under constant returns scale (CRS) and VRS assumptions, respectively, and the scale efficiency (SE) is 0.620. The variables of experiences, number of grape varieties on sale, daily selling volumes and fixed sale ratio have a significant effect on technical efficiency, while the other exogenous variables do not affect the efficiency in any significant way.

The findings of this research are specific to table grape wholesalers in China, however, the method used in this study is transferrable and applicable to the study of similar problems in others countries.

This research has yielded some interesting and original insights into the efficiency level of Chinese grape wholesalers and the factors that influence the level of efficiency. The findings have practical implications for Chinese agriculture policy makers, and are able to stimulate further research of a similar type in the international agricultural research community.

In 1998, the Chinese Communist Party introduced the strategy for modernizing agriculture with large-scale production and launching large commercial enterprises known as dragon head enterprises (DHEs) to process and market agricultural products. Although scholars have raised awareness of the development of DHEs in China, there has been little investigation on DHEs in the Chinese wine business. Based on the existing theoretical background on the concept of DHEs, this study aims to identify the structure and operating system of a DHE in the Chinese wine business. Changyu is chosen as an example because it is the oldest and largest wine company in China, operating in various grape-growing regions.

Due to the research's explorative character, the qualitative approach and case study focus were considered adequate. In-depth interviews have been conducted with the employees of the company. The authors analysed data with a qualitative content approach of Gläser and Laudel (2010).

Results show that the grape procurement of Changyu is organized in an integrated system, which consists of the DHE (Changyu), the Changyu-led cooperative, and the grape producers who have a contract with the cooperative. The company takes different measures in terms of intra-organizational coordination to secure the required quantities and qualities of its grape supply base.

In this research, the authors could only access three interview partners of Changyu's grape procurement department, and it was not possible to conduct interviews with the management of Changyu. Another limitation is that it is difficult to collect adequate data in the Chinese wine industry.

There has been little investigation on DHEs in the Chinese wine business. This research contributes to the existing literature as it takes a closer look at the structure and operating system of a DHE in the Chinese wine business. The case study and chosen example (Changyu) allow a better understanding of DHEs and provide first insights into their operating principle.

The viticulture sector represents a conspicuous part of the Catalan agricultural and agro food sector. While wine production in Catalonia has been increasing markedly over the first half of the 2000s, prices that grape producers receive have steadily declined threatening their standard of living. This has raised social and political concerns and calls for a better understanding of its causes. This paper aims to comprehend the sources of such price crisis.

A Delphi survey is conducted during 2005 among a panel of 27 wine sector experts.

The results find that experts agree in considering wine surplus and imperfect price transmission as the main causes determining low farm‐gate prices in the Catalan wine sector.

The analysis aims at characterizing the food marketing chain for wine products in Catalonia by quantifying the trade flows occuring within this chain. This paper is the first attempt in Catalonia and Spain to quantify and characterize such flows.

The paper aims to understand consumers' perception and cognition toward table grapes, which focuses on the most important attributes, consumption consequences and personal values of grape consumption and the relations among them.

The study related grape consumption with consumers based on Means-end chain analysis. The data were gathered with both laddering interviews (n=37) and questionnaire survey returned by 843 individuals in 31 provinces of China. The data were firstly processed by SPSS software and descriptive statistics was adopted to evaluate consumers' awareness. Furthermore, MECanalyst software was opted for, to construct the hierarchical relations of table grape consumption.

The findings are that consumers consume grapes based on their functional cognition and sensory perception. The quality-orientated characters are deemed to be the most important grape attributes, healthy and practical function are the main expected benefits and desired values in table grape consumption.

The findings can provide some implications to producers, administers and operators in the grape industry and inspire them to design products that will better satisfy consumers. Stakeholders in grape industries should take measures to inform consumers of grape benefits so as to increase grape consumption and expand the market.

The paper fulfils the combinations of laddering interview and structured questionnaire to conduct the large-scale samples survey about consumers' perception based on MEC analysis. Findings from this study reinforce the importance of research into the relationship between products and consumers.

The aim of this paper is to explore the value of collaborative risk management in a decentralised multi-tier global fresh produce supply chain.

This study utilised a mixed methods approach. A qualitative field study was conducted to examine the need for collaborative risk management. The simulation experiments with industry datasets were conducted to assess whether risk-sharing contracts work in mitigating joint risks in parts of and across the supply chain.

The qualitative field study revealed risk propagation and the inefficiency of company-specific risk management strategies in value delivery. The simulation results indicated that risk-sharing contracts can incentivise various actors to absorb interrelated risks for value creation.

The research is limited to risks relevant to supply chain processes in the Australia–China table grrape supply chain and does not consider product-related risks and the risk-taking behaviours of supply chain actors.

Collaborative risk management can be deployed to mitigate systematic risks that disrupt global fresh produce supply chains. The results offer evidence-based knowledge to supply chain professionals in understanding the value of collaborative risk assessment and management and provide insights on how to conduct collaborative risk management for effective risk management.

The results contribute to the supply chain risk management literature by new collaborative forms for effective risk management and strategic competition of “supply chain to supply chain” in multi-tier food supply chains.