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Reports on a survey undertaken by the Merlin Leadership Consultancy in which 45 managing directors and chief executives of organizations in the north‐east of England were interviewed to find out what challenges they envisaged having to face over the next five years, and how these would affect their training and development, and their roles. Areas covered by the survey include skills development, routes to promotion, continuing development, and ethical dilemmas.

With the diverse, heterogeneous nature of relationships being a key characteristic of service supply chains, their management is an important area for consideration. This is particularly true in the maritime logistics industry, yet the factors that lead to this heterogeneity are less well understood. This paper aims to explore the structure of relationships within the maritime logistics network and determine why they vary.

Interviews were carried out with 41 practitioners involved in the Taiwanese maritime logistics network. The data from these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis and quasi-quantification.

The interviews identify that structural holes exist within this maritime logistics network, and that these particularly influence the relationships within this sector with ports being significantly affected. However, five factors are particularly identified that can further impact the strength of these relationships. Often, weak links between ports and both cargo owners and freight forwarders emerge as value-added services are provided by the network.

The findings are framed in a Taiwanese context, where cultural and political norms may give different results to other geographical regions. The research also limits consideration to containerized flows.

By providing detailed insights into relationship structures within the maritime logistics network, managers can take steps to develop appropriate links with other members of the network, reflecting upon the factors that lead to heterogeneity.

This paper expands knowledge on logistics service supply chains, identifying the importance of relationships in a derived demand environment. For maritime researchers, specific factors leading to relationship heterogeneity in the network are detailed, to inform future research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of the determinants of farmer participation in value addition through cassava processing in Nigeria.

This study employs the probit model to analyse the determinants of farmer participation in value addition whereas the Tobit model is used to investigate the determinants of the extent of producer’s involvement in value addition using a data set of 400 cassava farmers drawn from the Oyo State of Nigeria.

The findings further indicate that among other factors, human capital factors including farmer age and location variable tend to reduce farmer participation in value addition through processing whereas experience and record keeping promote farmer participation in cassava processing. Institutional variables, notably membership of farmer association, extension access and credit access, enhance farmer participation in value addition. Finally, ownership of a radio set, a television set and access to electricity strengthen the value-adding capacity of farmers.

This study only considers the determinants of producers’ participation in cassava processing but does not explicitly analyse the impact of value addition on their profit margin. This issue would form a basis for future research to enhance knowledge in the extant literature.

The study suggests that if the value-adding capacity of farmers is strengthened, rural economy is likely to be improved upon through the proliferation of rural food processing enterprises.

Despite the relevance of developing food value chains in Africa and integrating farmers in them, there are limited studies on promoting value addition among farmers. This study contributes to narrowing this knowledge gap.