Agriculture Supply Chain Management: A Review

-- Deepak Bhagat and U R Dhar

The concept of agriculture supply chain management is relatively a recent idea in agribusiness management literature, though supply chain as such is few decades old. Efficient and fair agriculture supply chains can result from stable networks and common relations between input suppliers, producers, processors, traders and retailers. In recent years, crucial growth has been made in the development of new approaches for analyzing the arrangement and dynamics of agriculture food chains and networks. The objective of this paper is to investigate the critical factors that affect agriculture supply chain management by consolidating research from diverse disciplines of agribusiness, and to explore the relationships and associations that will enhance effective management of agriculture supply chain. The paper also reviews various research models to provide a better understanding of logistics, networks and relationships in agriculture supply chains. In its entirety, this study provides a healthier understanding of the critical elements of agriculture supply chain management and the effect of their interrelationship on supply chain, value chain and network performance.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Buyer-Supplier Relationship in SMEs

-- Rohita Kumar Mishra

In today’s world, relationship has immense value for all organizations. The status of relationship is not limited to the internal partners alone, but the thinking is much beyond that. Supplier is an important partner in any organization, and hence, maintaining relationship is important for an organization who is an industrial buyer. Considering supplier as a part of the organization, it is a crucial task for the organization to build a relationship between the buyer and supplier because the status of relationship depends upon the operating practice of the organization. In other words, we can say that the relationship model must fit with the organization’s operation system. This paper explores customer and supplier relationships from the perspective of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). A critique of supply chain literature highlights some key problems when such theory is applied to understanding the purchasing behavior of SMEs. This paper sets out an alternative rationale for exploring what SMEs ‘do’ in terms of building a buyer-supplier model.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Supply Chain Orchestration for the Luxury Alcoholic Beverage Sector

-- Jean Noel Dollet and Angel Díaz

This paper proposes a framework for choosing network strategies corresponding to the luxury goods market in general, and more specifically, the luxury alcoholic beverage sector. Its focus on the network orchestration models is an extension of the previous work of Dollet et al. (2010) and Dollet and Díaz (2010). The existing literature on luxury items, supply chains and network orchestration are considered, and in-depth case studies of Heineken, Baccardi-Martini, Diageo and Moët Hennessy (MH) are developed. Finally, from these case studies, a framework is induced to help companies determine and implement their supply network orchestration strategy.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

An Economic Analysis of Value Chain of Banana in Western Tamil Nadu

-- M Umagouri and M Chandrasekaran

India is the largest producer of banana in the world, accounting for 20.08% of the world production (15.9 million tons). Banana farming has become an important source of income for millions of rural families and provides employment for more than a million. The present study was undertaken to understand the value chain of banana sector in western Tamil Nadu. Cost, returns, post-harvest losses, price spread and marketing efficiency indices were worked out and discussed for different varieties of banana—Nendran, Poovan, Kathali and Robusta. The total cost of cultivation per hectare for these varieties ranged between 86,624.62 and 113,596.18. The net income realized ranged between 74,975.38 and 101,016.70 per hectare. The marketing efficiency for Nendran (2.4) was higher in Channel 1, and for the other varieties, the efficiency was higher in Channel 2—Poovan (1.89), Kathali (1.97) and Robusta (2.77). Thus, the analysis implied the following: to prevent the post-harvest loss there is need for training in post-harvest handling of fruit bunches; to improve the marketing efficiency, the growers should sell their produce directly to the wholesaler or tie up with the processor or retailer wherever feasible; and farmers must have the latest market knowledge, for taking better sales decision.

© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.