Search results

This paper aims to provide insight in the set‐up and governance of niche (organic, local and/or regional) pork supply chains and networks (netchains) in the UK, Greece, and Spain, characterized by societal embeddedness and differentiation in food production.

The study consists of 29 expert interviews; it compares the different types of netchain innovation trajectories and concludes on each innovation driver and barrier what lessons can be learnt.

The findings clearly demonstrate the influence of the institutional setting on these netchains; whereas in the UK there is a clear focus on operational excellence and leadership, both in Greece and Spain the focus is on preservation of tradition and culture.

The paper provides directions for further research based on the conclusion that for niche pork netchains to enjoy market growth, effective netchain driven learning structures are needed to catalyze innovation.

Although a lot has been written on the adoption of innovations, the combination of the social network theory with innovation adoption theory seems to be absent in the present literature. So whereas normally theory on innovation adoption is looking at adoption of individual innovations, this study is taking a broader perspective by looking at the adoption of a range of innovations on a netchain level.

Much has been written on the effect of fast-moving business environments on organizational and supply chain (SC) management. Yet, empirical findings on the effect of changing external and internal contingencies on today’s globalized agrifood SC networks and performance are still fragmented into different organizational instruments, with some conflicting results remaining unexplained. This study aims to address these deficiencies by providing a comprehensive research framework to investigate how SC external and internal contingencies jointly influence organizational SC network structures and agrifood performance across mutually dependent tiers.

Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, the so-called “contingency–netchain–performance” framework, based on contingent resource-based theory and the netchain approach, was empirically tested on data obtained from a standardized survey of 405 artisanal producers and 238 processors in the Nigerian shrimp sector.

The results provide statistical evidence that supports the path dependency of firm performance from the interplay of vertical, horizontal and lateral relationships and, primordially, from both external and internal contingencies. The findings show that the contingency paradigm of fit among small-scale food producers and processors cuts across tiers and uncover a tendency to adopt relational governance and tighter network structures that result in an organic organization as the best-fitting structure.

The paper presents a new research framework that offers comprehensive empirical explanations for the joint influence of SC external and internal contingencies on organizational SC network structures and performance across mutually dependent agrifood tiers. This study’s conceptual, practical and policy implications for SC management provide a nascent and flexible basis on which to identify the best-fitting organizational strategies that maximize firm performance across agrifood SC tiers characterized by changing business environments.

Research efforts aiming to improve understanding of how various organisational relationships contribute to better food quality (FQ) in a constantly changing business environment are limited. This study examines the effects of supply chain (SC) organisations on the quality of food products across multi-tiered segments with dynamic business situations.

Guided by a conceptual research framework based on contingency theory and netchain analysis, moderation-based partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse multi-tiered data from 405 shrimpers and 238 women processors in Akwa-Ibom, Lagos and Ondo states in Nigeria.

The authors' findings show that unpredictable business environments such as market turbulence (MT), power asymmetry (PA) and distrust (DT) not only directly influence SC organisations but also moderate how organisational networks contribute to improved FQ. Further results reveal that closer vertical ties such as relational contracts are prerequisites for small-scale actors to guarantee improved FQ along multiple nodes of the food system.

This is the first study to examine, from a contingency and multi-tiered perspective, how small-scale actors can maintain FQ across interdependent nodes of a food chain in a developing country context and to explore the complex interplay between SC networks and the quality of highly perishable food products in unpredictable business environments. Relevant theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Effective and flexible organizational models have become an avenue for driving smallholder competitiveness in the agricultural sector. However, little is understood about the processes by which resource-constrained actors deploy their organizational networks to generate and retain value in rapidly changing agrifood environments. This study examines the moderating effects of business contingencies on the interplay between organizational relationships and the resource-based performance of small-scale farmers in a developing country.

The authors propose a novel conceptual framework grounded in the relational view, netchain and contingency theories. Cross-sectional data obtained from 330 maize farmers in rural Zambia were analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling, which involves mediation-moderation analysis.

The results show that all relational networks – vertical, horizontal and lateral – positively mediate the effects farm resources and social capital have on farmers' performance. However, these effects change depending on the predominant agency situations. Specifically, asymmetric power from customers and reputable competitors weakens the positive effect of closer horizontal relationships on business performance, while the positive effect of tighter informal vertical relationships on farmers' performance weakens under conditions of high affective trust. Moreover, the gender-based multigroup analyses highlight variations in the contingent relational view of men- and women-headed households.

The study relies on cross-sectional data from one agribusiness sector in Zambia, thus generalizations should be cautious.

The uniqueness of this study lies in the proposed theoretical framework and new empirical insights, which extend the scope of the relational view to small-scale farming households in developing countries.

South America is an important agricultural producer. Farming is characterized by the availability of vast areas of land, a reasonable climate and low cost. These conditions have led South America to be an important supplier of agricultural goods on the world market. Traditionally farmers owned some hundreds of acres and invested their money in all kinds of assets, i.e. land, buildings and equipment. A new phenomenon has emerged in this area i.e. farming companies. These companies have capital but do not own assets. They rent what they need, i.e. land, work force, machinery, transportation, storage and manage from 15,000 ha to 330,000 ha. The purpose of this paper is to determine the perspective of network companies.

Representatives of 11 network companies in Uruguay and Argentina were interviewed, which provided the opinions of 81 interviewees.

The most important conclusion of this research is that, though sometimes these companies are called in a pejorative way pools de siembra, network companies might bring prosperity to the members of their supply chain and to a larger extent to the rural population of South America. The possibilities to reduce risk with regards to bad weather, to optimize the combination of soil and crop, and to realize economies of scale are the main factors for this success.

The size and number of network companies is steadily growing and this study contributes to a large debate taking place in Argentina and Uruguay, in order to assess the real impacts of these companies on the economy, environment and population.

The importance of a market orientation as the basis for meeting customer expectations is well known in marketing. In applying this concept to networks or netchains, the concept “customer horizon” is proposed to measure the ability to name or identify downstream customers and their requirements. A case study of five organizations in a netchain is examined to determine each company's customer horizon in terms of “breadth” and “length”. Based on the findings, it is suggested that companies can choose between alternative configurations of customer horizons. It is argued that it may be important to watch out for narrow and short customer horizons – especially when customer satisfaction is low, end consumer requirements are changing and/or these changes are not being communicated upstream to suppliers.

This chapter reviews the recent polarisation of debates in agrofood and rural studies, in particular the opposition between network (social relations, actor-network) and political economy analyses. It explores the contributions of different network approaches and draws on the French convention and regulation traditions, which provide alternative guidelines for confronting micro–macro tensions. Networks have similarly assumed analytical centrality in the new institutional economics and subsequent elaborations of the Williamsonian transaction costs paradigm have involved an approximation to some of the central tenets of social network analysis. Alternative traditions of political economy analysis (Global Value Chains (GVC), Global Production Networks) are now making an important contribution to agrofood studies. A distinctive feature of these analysts is their overture to social networks, actor-network, transaction costs and convention theory in the effort to capture the multiple dimensions of economic power and coordination. The possibilities for a fruitful convergence between these apparently conflicting approaches are best captured in the emergence of the concept of the “netchain”. At the same time, the intractability of values to absorption within economic transactions suggests the need to move forward to a focus on the tensions between netchains and social movements and a different type of network, the global policy network.

This research paper explores the roles of electronic texts in research projects in the humanities and seeks to deepen the understanding of the nature of scholars' engagement with e-texts. The study used qualitative methodology to explore engagement of scholars in literary and historical studies with primary materials in electronic form (i.e., e-texts). The study revealed a range of scholars' interactions with e-texts during the whole research process. It uncovered a particular pattern of information-seeking practices in electronic environments called netchaining and the main types of uses and contributions of e-texts to research projects. It was found that e-texts play support and substantive roles in the research process. A number of influences from electronic environment are identified as challenges and aids in working with e-texts. The study does not have statistical significance. It indicates a need for further research into scholarly practices, training requirements, and new forms of service provision. Study results are relevant for the development of digital collections, information services, educational programs, and other forms of support for the use of technology in research. The results can be also used to inform approaches to text encoding and development of electronic information systems and have implications for organizational and industry policies. The study found a range of scholars' interactions and forms of intellectual engagement with e-texts that were not documented and analyzed by earlier studies. It provides insights into disciplinary variations in the humanities and contributes to the understanding of scholarly change catalyzed by information technology.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pharmaceutical supply chain for artemisinin‐based combination therapies (ACT) in Ghana.

This study employed an inductive approach in examining the dynamics of the pharmaceutical supply chain. The study also used analytical hierarchical process in identifying factors that are detrimental to the ACT supply chain.

The study revealed that there are basically two main supply channels through which ACT enters the Ghanaian pharmaceutical system – private and public. The ACT network depicts a strong evidence of actor interdependence and long‐term relationships. However, the key supply chain enabler – the use of information technology – was found to be lacking, leading to delays and disruptions in the supply chain system. Disruption was found to be the main detrimental factor to the supply chain although delay was found to be occurring more frequently. Price increases indicated a low effect on the supply network at the pharmacy level, but the general price of the highly subsidised effective ACT (Coartem) remains very high.

Owing to constraints in accessibility, it was challenging to contact all the actors in the network individually, especially the consumer. Drugs considered in the study were the WHO approved ACT, even though efforts were made to compile available anti‐malarial drugs on the market.

This study has provided insights into the supply chain for ACT. The findings of the study are relevant in improving the supply chain system.

The paper brings to the fore the need for a proper pharmaceutical supply chain management in the health sector with regards to one of the world's most infectious and deadly diseases – malaria.

This purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence of how cooperation is related to suppliers’ performance, a relationship that is thought to be affected by the type of customer and the extent to which the market is diversified. It analyzes horticultural exporting firms in southeastern Spain, which are the main suppliers of European markets. Together with their primary customers (large-scale retail companies such as Carrefour, Tesco and Aldi), these firms constitute a complex supply network composed of a variety of agents and sales channels. This network will be studied from the perspective of the supplier–supplier relationship that is critical to their survival.

Starting with a detailed description of Europe’s vegetable supply chain, a hierarchical regression is used with an index of cooperation intensity, moderated by retail sales and market concentration. The authors test the hypotheses using panel data on a set of 118 horticultural marketing firms in southeast Spain for the period 2009-2011.

Cooperation strategies are shown to have positive effects on performance (market creation, promotion, quality, training, joint supply purchases and research ventures). Moreover, the retail channel and market diversification are observed to have a positive effect on the relationship between cooperation and the supplier’s performance. They demonstrate that active cooperation strategies have a greater bearing on performance in those firms whose primary customers are retailers. This circumstance provides evidence of the synergies and benefits that may arise when the supplier integrates the retailer in the supply chain, but which do not arise with other types of customers.

Although this study refers to a specific sector (fruits and vegetables) and the statistical results are limited, they provide insights that may assist in understanding how other perishable produce-related industries work: such industries share many common features.

A more stable relationship between suppliers and retailers in the perishable produce market will render the supply firm more cooperative, competitive and profitable. Increased performance does not arise from the better conditions and improved sales power offered by the customer but instead from the adaptability of the supplier. Likewise, market diversification drives the supply firm toward a cooperative strategy, making it more profitable and competitive. As a practical norm, market diversification alone will not have positive results on performance unless the firm proves capable of enhancing its capacity for cooperation.

Proper management of the agricultural produce supply chain has repercussions on all of the members of that chain, although special emphasis should be placed on producers and consumers. The availability of food, its quality and its safety depend on management during the production phase. Along these lines, and more specifically for the consumer, this work is relevant because the sector analyzed accounts for 40 per cent of the vegetables consumed in Europe.

This article defends the supplier–supplier relationship as the starting point for the analysis of a supply network. In certain sectors, the suppliers’ ability both to solve their clients’ problems and to be profitable is conditioned on maintaining the network and, therefore, the basic focus must center on analyzing their relationships, always including the customer, who has a direct or indirect influence on those relationships. Previous research has not comprehensively addressed this issue, let alone that of a sector with agile and perishable products in which, due to its nature, decision-making about market destinations and sales channels is the order of the day.