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Corporate organizations could enhance their economic and commercial values through knowledge acquisitions and exploitations. The purpose of this study is to analyze the economic and commercial performance effect of poultry management absorptive capacity in Nigeria.

Structural equation modeling was used in the analysis of a random sample of 300 poultry managers and owners surveyed within the South-Eastern Nigeria. The scales that quantified the latent variables of the factors were tested for reliability and consistency using confirmatory factor analysis.

The study found evidence that the difference between economically and commercially viable poultry businesses and failing ones depends on the level of absorptive capacity. Absorptive capacity advanced innovations that resulted in higher economic and commercial performance of poultry farm. Poultry firms' profitability, sales growth and market shares were positively increased by absorptive capacity dimensions of acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation.

The study was carried out within a region in Nigeria and thus could be limited by generalization to the developed country.

This study is the first to link four dimensions of absorptive capacity to the economic and commercial performance of poultry businesses in Nigeria. As such, it originally breaks new frontier of poultry farming from dynamic capabilities and absorptive capacity perspectives.

Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.

The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.

The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.

This study sheds light on the complex relationship between international diversification and firm performance and explores whether future performance expectations seem to drive managerial decisions related to internationalization issues.

We conducted in-depth investigation of five firms. This qualitative approach is allegedly better equipped to uncover the peculiarities of specific internationalization decisions by individual companies and the performance consequences derived from modifications in the degree of international diversification, which might go unnoticed in large-sample statistical analyses.

In line with Hennart’s (2007, 2011) and Verbeke and Brugman’s (2009) theoretical arguments, our findings indicate that no universal relationship should be expected between international diversification and firm performance. Rather, the performance consequences of internationalization-related decisions depend on the particular combinations of a firm’s characteristics and environment contingencies. Given managerial discretion, internationalization decisions would not be randomly made, but rather would be endogenous, and, as such, the relationship between multinationality and performance can only be understood if one takes a contingent approach. Additionally, internationalization decisions seem to be taken within a context of uncertainty regarding the future, which suggests that managers seem to approach internationalization with a long-term perspective and may in fact be “buying real options.”

This study examined only five cases and they all relate to a particular type of firm: all are headquartered in a large emerging market with good domestic growth prospects, and each either is the leader or stands among the largest in its industry in the domestic market. While this relative homogeneity in the selection of the cases minimizes confounding factors, it suggests that findings may be specific to this particular (firm and market) context.

Managers should be aware that decisions that modify the international configuration of a firm might have distinct implications across different firms, given the particular (firm, industry, and environment) contingencies. Therefore, no universal normative orientation should be expected between international diversification and performance.

Although it is often implicitly assumed that managers make (informed) decisions with the objective of improving their firms’ (long-run) performance, there has been little discussion as to whether managers have detailed information about the expected performance implications arising from decisions that change the degree of international diversification of their firm and whether such decisions are driven by expected performance outcomes.

Following a negative attitude of consumers toward genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the spaces left by the labeling legislation on GMOs of different countries, some retailers and processors introduced their own non-GMO standards, with the intention of avoiding the presence of GMOs in their products. This paper aims to understand how the implementation of these new retailer-driven standards affects governance structures along the supply chain and the determinants of such change focusing on transaction cost approach (TCA) vs resource-based view (RBV).

The non-GMO introduction is investigated as a case study in the poultry industry of France and Italy. The case relies on data primarily collected from interviews with the main actors at five stages of the supply chain from the retailer up to animal feed and crop production.

Findings indicate that the introduction of non-GMO products had different impacts on the transactions along the supply chain, generally leading to more integrated relationships. Theoretical relevance depends on the observed transaction and the type of governance structure considered. Interestingly, only RBV explains the shift toward hierarchical governance when this is observed.

This paper contributes to the empirical literature highlighting the upstream effects caused by the adoption of new standards. On the theoretical side, building on Conner and Prahalad’s (1996) seminal work and leveraging on the concepts of opportunism, “potential” superior knowledge and strategic importance of an activity, this research suggests a comparative framework for identifying governance structures and their determinants under TCA and RBV.

Driven by scientific and technological intensification, Brazilian agribusinesses are among the main food producers and exporters worldwide. Knowledge management contributes to the development of agribusinesses. The objective of this study is to analyze knowledge management practices in the supply chain of broilers at the level of farmers and compare the differences between farmers who are members of cooperatives, and those who are suppliers of firms.

Using data from a sample of broiler farmers (n = 240, where 80 respondents are associated with cooperatives) from Brazil, descriptive statistics were used to measure the four knowledge management dimensions (leadership, people, process and technology). The Mann–Whitney test was performed to verify the difference in the adoption of knowledge management practices between farmers who are members of cooperatives, and those who are suppliers of firms.

The results showed significant differences between the analyzed groups of broiler farmers that are members of an agricultural cooperative and suppliers of firms. Farmers who supply firms adopt knowledge management practices with greater intensity. They are also more technified and have a larger scale of production.

The study was conducted in a single agribusiness chain. Future studies may look at another method of knowledge management assessment to see if the results will be similar.

The results can contribute to the development of programs and policies, incorporating knowledge management into agribusiness as a competitive strategy.

While knowledge management is a widely studied topic, there has been little focus on this subject with regard to agribusiness. Empirical findings of an important agribusiness supply chain are provided and show the differences in knowledge management perceptions between farmers who are members of cooperatives and those who are suppliers of firms.

The purpose of the paper is to identify the location decision criteria and their relative weights in the context of food manufacturing internationalisation into emerging markets, and to clarify how supply chain related factors are reflected in the location decision criteria. Knowledge of these factors is considered crucial in understanding the entry and location decisions of foreign food manufacturers into emerging markets where a high level of operational uncertainty may be evident.

The AHP method is utilised in the creation of a location/investment target ‐model, with input from a panel of decision makers in the Finnish food industry. A real‐life application from the Russian agribusiness industry is presented.

Seven criteria reach above average values, namely economic activity potential (10 per cent), consumption potential (9 per cent), available acquisition targets (12 per cent), adequate supply of raw materials (13 per cent), competitive situation (16 per cent), favourable level of input costs (11 per cent), and SCM readiness and know‐how (9 per cent). The significant weight of the last item and the supply chain related factors in general underscore the total demand‐supply network‐oriented thinking in the food industry.

Supply chain considerations are a major factor in the food industry location decisions, due to the need to utilise the local sourcing, distribution and service systems in the economy. The downstream, upstream and related service sectors in the supply chain can thereby serve as constraints for the business expansion process.

The research addresses the sparsely researched area of linking a firm's internationalisation decision making with supply chain management issues in the emerging market context.

Broiler meat is the most commonly used meat product worldwide. Although China is regarded as one of the three largest broiler producers, the per capita chicken consumption remains low. Consumers' cognitive bias and the information acquisition channels are believed to be the main factors contributing to this. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issue.

To explore the phenomenon empirically, the current study uses the survey data of 1,056 consumers from China and analyses them using ordered logistic regression.

The results revealed that consumers' cognitive bias significantly affects their behaviour toward broiler products, and the order of influence is cognitive bias regarding industry cognitive > product nutrition and taste > food safety. The study further revealed that the more diverse the information acquisition channels, the more likely they are to promote consumer behaviour toward broiler chickens. The order of influence of the channels was self-organising > new media > traditional media.

Overall, the findings suggest that the government and enterprises should strengthen and upgrade information channels to boost both the broiler industry and consumer consumption behaviour regarding poultry products.

Rather than the usual focus on the impact of consumer cognition on consumer behaviour, this study examines the impact of cognitive bias on consumer behaviour. Further, centring on broiler products with high protein, low fat and feed-to-meat ratios, this study explores the reasons the per capita consumption of broiler products in China is far lower than the national average.

This chapter aims to provide a descriptive analysis and a theoretical interpretation of the challenges for international expansion of four large multinationals of each of the BRIC countries (JBS from Brazil, VimpelCom from Russia, Tata Motors from India, and Lenovo from China).

This study employs a qualitative approach, following a multiple-case study methodology, by analyzing four prominent cases of the internationalization of BRIC multinationals.

The internationalization process of the studied BRIC multinationals was influenced by the type of inputs and resources that each company had in their home country and the search for needed resources in other firms abroad that may have helped them to complement their business assets. The international expansion of these firms have been characterized by overcoming of several obstacles through the possession of firm-specific advantages, mainly composed of managerial capabilities, expertise, and knowledge about the markets and their companies.

When entering foreign markets, multinationals can acquire part of a foreign firm and can increase or decrease their equity stake over time. However, extant studies have mainly focused on equity stake acquired during initial market entry. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This study fills this gap by using the Uppsala model to analyze six cases of international acquisitions of Finnish multinationals in global markets.

The authors found that firms change their equity stake in partially acquired foreign subsidiaries: when they have learned about the host country and businesses of the partially acquired firms, when they have gained target-specific experience, when they build trust and ensure relationship commitment and finally, when they jointly develop and exploit opportunities.

This study is one of the first to apply the Uppsala model to empirically analyze international acquisitions, thus paving the way for behavioral and process-oriented approaches. The study contributes to knowledge of post-entry strategies of multinationals.

This research seeks to develop a better understanding of internationalization patterns of agrifood firms and explains why different paths are adopted. Further, a conceptual framework to support public and private decision-making is proposed.

An exploratory qualitative research framework was developed featuring case studies about three highly internationalized Brazilian meat processing firms. Top managers were interviewed, and documents were collected to support the intraand crosscase analyses.

Results suggest that meat processing firms tend to adopt a dual internationalization pattern. Distribution-oriented foreign direct investment (FDI) is normally established gradually, whilst horizontal FDI – the establishment of foreign production facility – tends to be conducted through a fast-paced expansion mode. Interestingly, it was found that food safety issues play a central role in internationalization decisions.

An extension to the Uppsala model was provided by considering agrifood characteristics in the analysis. The results have broad appeal to managers and policymakers. Agribusiness managers could use the theoretical and empirical evidence to support their internationalization decisions. Policymakers can also use this research to gain a better understanding of how agrifood firms expand internationally to either attract or foster FDI.