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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the information shared by SMEs with their main customers and suppliers and its implications on their performance.

The paper puts forward the concept of arcs of communication based on the frequency and direction of the information exchanged by SMEs with their main customers and suppliers. SMEs are classified by the arc of communication they belong to using data from a survey carried out in the Canary Islands (Spain). The Rasch Measurement Theory is applied.

The largest group of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) shares information frequently with both customers and suppliers (broad arc of communication). Differences were detected in the performance of SMEs belonging to this broad arc, as well as, in those firms that communicated frequently with their main suppliers (asymmetrical arc of communication towards suppliers). In both cases, these firms were better than their competitors in innovation.

This study demonstrates the need for better management of the links between SMEs and their suppliers and with their customers in accordance with their strategies, promoting a greater cooperative behaviour throughout the supply chain.

SMEs’ customers and suppliers are their main sources of information compared to large firms, which have greater resources to search for and acquire information. This paper investigates the information exchanged by SMEs with their main customers and suppliers from a strategic focus by adding to the literature the concept of arcs of communication. It also has the added value of applying the Rasch Measurement Theory (Rasch, 1960/1980).

This paper aims to propose a method for the longitudinal analysis of the environment considering both firms' and environmental variables.

The study is based on a sample of firms in Canary Islands (Spain) for 2000 and 2003. Managerial perceptions are considered, based on the cognitive perspective. The measurements used are the result of applying the Rasch model and the rack and stack analyses. This approach provides information about how dynamic the firms perceive the environment and also about how the items are perceived.

The results show that most firms perceive that dynamism increased between 2000 and 2003. From the perspective of the environmental variables, the most dynamic are perceived to be competition, demand, consumer motivation and technological resources.

This paper proposes a longitudinal method for environmental scanning that include both firms' and environmental variables. It considers managerial perceptions, that is the information entering the decision making process. It is one of the first papers to study environmental scanning with Rasch model and one of the few about longitudinal environmental analyses. It opens a field of research and applications of the Rasch model in the management literature.

The purpose of this paper is to study the strategic process of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) including strategic reference points (SRP) (Fiegenbaum et al., 1996).

The paper identifies the strategic positioning of SMEs (Lavie and Fiegenbaum, 2000, 2003) according to the importance that their managers give to internal and external SRP. Their influence on strategic types (Miles and Snow, 1978) and performance are analysed. This study uses information, from 83 SMEs in the Canary Islands (Spain), collected with a questionnaire.

SMEs are primarily adaptive firms followed by narcissist ones: numerous SMEs focus their attention on internal SRPs. SMEs strategic positioning determines their strategic orientations to a much lesser extent than their characteristics (sector, size and age) do. The results show that product specialisation, the only difference between adaptive SMEs and narcissist and amorphous ones, is not evident in their performance.

Decision makers and institutions should reflect about the maturity of the strategic process and the adaptation dynamic of SMEs. The need for SMEs to focus on their external vision should be highlighted.

The study includes SRP in the strategic process of SMEs. It contributes to the literature by drawing a map of the strategic positioning of SMEs, based on their SRPs (Lavie and Fiegenbaum (2000, 2003) and by linking the strategic positioning of SMEs with their strategic types. It also has the value of applying the Rasch Rating Scale Model (Andrich, 1978, 1988).

The paper's aim is to develop a diagnosis of the environment of the agrifood supply chain based on members' perceptions of environmental uncertainty.

Environmental uncertainty is defined as the lack of information about the external environment and is obtained by integrating the perceived dynamism and complexity of the environmental variables. The measurements that are used are the result of applying the Rasch methodology to the information obtained by means of a questionnaire completed by the deciders of firms in the Canary Islands (Spain). Those measures permit the complexity and dynamism perceived by the groups of firms in the supply chain together with the levels of perceived dynamism and complexity of the environmental variables to be jointly positioned on a map.

According to the perceptions of the members of the agrifood supply chain (agriculture, agrifood industry and distribution), the main sources of environmental uncertainty are demand and competitors. The agricultural sector perceives somewhat more uncertainty than agrifood industry sector, while the distribution sector perceives a stable environment.

The paper presents a useful tool for the business population and public institutions to identify which variables are perceived as the most dynamic and complex and how those variables are perceived by each member of the agrifood supply chain.

The paper operationalises the proposal of Duncan by means of a new application of the Rasch methodology. The results reflect the thinking of the members of all sectors of a supply chain. It is one of the first to study the environmental uncertainty perceived in the agrifood supply chain from a strategic perspective as a fundamental antecedent of the promotion of vertical collaboration in the agrifood supply chain.

Today's environment imposes traceability compliance on food firms. Power within the interorganisational relationships in the food supply chain may hinder the integration necessary for that traceability to be effective. The purpose of the present study is to define the configuration of power in food industry‐distribution relationships from the food industry perspective.

The variables of power configuration considered in this study have been classified as mediated and non‐mediated power sources, in accordance with the criteria used by French and Raven. The Rasch model employed in the treatment of the values given by the food industries to the construct perceived power (mediated and non‐mediated power sources) permit a unidimensional measurement of that construct. Thus, the model estimated using this methodology explains power‐shaping in the food industry‐distribution relationships in the Canary Islands.

The results obtained are mostly based on the distributors' use of mediated power sources; they describe a situation that does not contribute to a high level of commitment in such relationships, since the negative effects of this type of power do not favour the climate required for the implementation of active traceability.

The data applied in this study were gathered prior to the implementation of traceability as a legal requirement, and consequently it would be advisable and useful to conduct a post‐implementation.

The paper adopts a business management approach, aimed at improving relations in the food supply chain. The methodology employed allows food firms to establish suitable chain integration strategies, facilitating the effective implementation of traceability. The paper presents a conceptual framework and analytical methodology which sustain the present study and subsequent work.

The objective of this study is to identify firms with a greater propensity to establish interorganisational relationships, as well as which value‐chain activities are affected by these relationships in the Canary Islands' food industry.

The firms are grouped into large firms and small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), given the different resource endowments and dependencies of these two groups. Differences in the degree of flexibility or rigidity of their interorganisational relationships and in the activities affected by these relationships were expected. The fieldwork used a survey of the managers of a representative sample of 201 food firms, and univariate analysis statistical techniques were used to handle the data.

The paper finds that only 53 sample firms have developed interorganisational relationships, and 62.5 per cent of these are large firms. The flexible interorganisational link predominates. With regard to the value‐chain activities affected by these relationships, the most prominent are distribution and supplies, although size only has a statistically significant relation with some support activities.

The small proportion of food firms that have carried out interorganisational links in the Canaries means that the findings obtained cannot be entirely generalisable to the rest of the firms in the sector.

Most studies of the food industry take a macroeconomic approach, and research taking a strategic and interorganisational perspective is scarce.

This type of study centring on this particular strategic behaviour has not been carried out before in the Canary Islands.