E-logistics of agribusiness organisations

Logistics is one of the most important agribusiness functions due to the idiosyncrasy of food products and the structure of food supply chain. Companies in the food sector typically operate with poor production forecasting, inefficient inventory management, lack of coordination with supply partners. Further, markets are characterised by stern competition, increasing consumer demands and stringent regulation for food quality and safety. Large agribusiness corporations have already turned to e-logistics solutions as a means to sustain competitive advantage and meet consumer demands. There are four types of e-logistics applications: (a) Vertical alliances where supply partners forge long-term strategic alliances based on electronic sharing of critical logistics information such as sales forecasts and inventory volume. Vertical alliances often apply supply chain management (SCM) which is concerned with the relationship between a company and its suppliers and customers. The prime characteristic of SCM is interorganizational coordination: agribusiness companies working jointly with their customers and suppliers to integrate activities along the supply chain to effectively supply food products to customers. E-logistics solutions engender the systematic integration among supply partners by allowing more efficient and automatic information flow. (b) e-tailing, in which retailers give consumers the ability to order food such as groceries from home electronically i.e. using the Internet and the subsequent delivery of those ordered goods at home. (c) Efficient Foodservice Response (EFR), which is a strategy designed to enable foodservice industry to achieve profitable growth by looking at ways to save money for each level of the supply chain by eliminating inefficient practices. EFR provides solutions to common logistics problems, such as transactional inefficiency, inefficient plant scheduling, out-of-stocks, and expedited transportation. (d) Contracting, a means of coordinating procurement of food, beverages and their associated supplies. Many markets and supply chains in agriculture are buyer-driven where the buyers in the market tend to set prices and terms of trade. Those terms can include the use of electronic means of communication to support automatic replenishment of goods, management of supply and inventory. The results of the current applications of e-logistics in food sector are encouraging for Greek agribusiness. Companies need to become aware of and evaluate the value-added by those applications which are a sustainable competitive advantage, optimisation of supply chain flows, and meeting consumer demands and food safety regulations. E-business diffusion has shown that typically first-movers gain a significant competitive advantage and the rest companies either eventually adopt the new systems or see a significant decline in their trading partners and perish. E-logistics solutions typically require huge investments in hardware and software and skilled personnel, which is an overt barrier for most Greek companies. Large companies typically are first-movers but small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need institutional support in order to become aware that e-logistics systems can be fruitful for them as well

Business-to-business e-commerce: an innovative tool for food chain management

A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished goods, and the distribution of the final goods to customers. The management of food chains, particular of fresh produce chains, need to achieve two goals: (a) create efficient physical flows of products by minimising logistics cost, and reducing lead times (b) run an effective value chain by safeguarding mutual gains for all members of the chain, building trust between suppliers and buyers and at the same time maintaining quality for end consumers. Food chain management was always at a loss for tools to leveraging its efforts on achieving value for chain members and eventually the end-consumers. Although food industry, both in USA and Europe, has experimented with various alternative solutions to this multimillion chain management, yet more can be expected. Business-to-business e-commerce (B2B) appears to be an innovative tool that meets the high standards of the industry and the potential growth. This study examines the uses of B2B in food industry to give chain management solutions. It reviews the uses of B2B and, in particular, highlights the applications of B2B by small agribusiness in order to forge their ring in food chains. It builds upon communication in supply chain. It describes contracting as an example how B2B e-commerce can advance supply activities and reports the development of a B2B olive oil supply chain application. It concludes that B2B can be a strong leverage for food chain management to achieve its goals and produce value for the members of the chain and the end consumers

E-COMMERCE: A NEW BUSINESS MODEL FOR THE FOOD SUPPLY/DEMAND CHAIN

The use of electronic commerce for quality control and cost cutting efficiencies by the food and agricultural industries in the United States is the focus of this paper. The food industry engages in e-commerce through 1.) Internet shopping for consumers called business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce 2.) Business-to-business (B2B) Internet market discovery exchanges used by food suppliers at any point in the supply chain, and 3.) Business-to-business (B2B) relationships that reduce costs and increase efficiencies in the procurement, storage and delivery of food to retail stores or distribution centers. This third use of e-commerce is the most highly developed and widely adopted. It allows retailers to share information about consumers' purchases and preferences with food manufacturers and farmers and for tracking food products' characteristics, source, and movement from production to consumer. This circle of information allows high quality and consistent products to be consumed at lower prices. This paper is about the development of e-commerce in the food industry, the economic concepts and goals that it meets, and the changes it brings to the industry. E-commerce both fosters and demands vertical coordination. It favors consolidation of firms. It changes the business culture from one of adversarial relationships to one of cooperation and trust. It changes the historical supply chain into a supply/demand loop while it lowers the cost of food. Policy issues arise around monopoly power, privacy, a diminution of variety, and the demise of small, undercapitalized firms.Industrial Organization, Marketing,

Research on Integration Pattern of Agricultural Product Supply Chain under Electronic Commerce Environment in China: with Zhejiang as an Example

The electronic commerce is a modern emerging agricultural trading pattern, which brings deep influences on the commercial circulation. The traditional agricultural product supply chain consists of the producer, local market of production and sale place, wholesaler and retailer. This pattern features low circulation efficiency and big consumption of the agricultural products. To overcome these problems, the emerging agricultural product supply chain based on electronic commerce seamlessly integrates production, processing, circulation and consumption steps of agricultural products in order to fully share the supply chain information, reduce the trading cost and shorten the trading cycle. By analyzing the current conditions of the agricultural products in Zhejiang province, this paper points out problems in circulation of agricultural products in Zhejiang province, proposes supply chain integration model of agricultural products in Zhejiang province based on electronic commerce, analyzes strengths of the integration model, and proposes the recommended strategy for the supply chain of agricultural products under the electronic commerce environment in China

The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019

An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africa’s smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT ‘agripreneurs’. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains

Research on optimization and improvement of agricultural supply chain model under the background of “Internet Plus”

“Internet +” technology brings new opportunities for the optimization of agricultural product supply chain model, and constantly promotes the transformation and upgrading of agricultural product production, processing, sales, transportation and other links. With the development of intelligent and digital technology, the online sales of agricultural products have been more optimized and developed. Under the background of “Internet +”, the supply chain of agricultural products should make use of new technologies on the basis of traditional, provide a good environment for the modernization of agricultural product sales, and form an effi cient supply chain system. Based on this, this paper will focus on the optimization and improvement of agricultural product supply chain model under the background of “Internet +”

The Empirics of Information Sharing in Supply Chains: The Case of the Food Industry

Using the Supermarket Panel Data gathered by The Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota, the behavior of food retailers is examined in their adoption of Information Technologies that facilitate information exchange with suppliers. Using a theoretical framework developed by Mohtadi and Kinsey (MK) (2004) the predictions of that paper are examined. Logistic Regressions based on Maximum Likelihood Estimation support the hypothesis that food retailers with greater market power and numerous suppliers are more inclined to share, rather than to withhold, sales information. Stock-outs play a key role in the process as well. Finally, the structure of the market plays an interesting role in the type of information sharing platforms that the retailers adopt.Industrial Organization,

ISSUES AND TRENDS IN THE U.S. FIELD CROP SECTOR

Crop Production/Industries,

China’s E-commerce Development Path and Mode Innovation of Agricultural Product Based on Business Model Canvas Method

Rapid development of modern e-commerce technology has greatly improved the efficiency of China’s agricultural product supply chain operation , and the traditional e-commerce of agricultural products mode and path have been far from enough to solve new problems that modern economic development brought in China. This paper synthesizes the domestic and foreign development status of e-commerce of agricultural products, further establishes the analysis frame of e-commerce of agricultural products mode, first applies the business model canvas method to generalize China’s e-commerce mode of agricultural products from nine important dimensions of customer segmentation, key business, value proposition, core resources etc, aiming at the deficiencies of the present model,creatively put forward new mode, LBS O2O Community with WeChat, and explores development path of the community e-commerce of agricultural products, provides feasible suggestions to agricultural operators in the selection and optimization of electronic business mode

Adoption of e-commerce by the agri-food sector in China: the case of Minyu e-commerce company

In recent years, increasing numbers of smallholders in developing countries such as China have begun to sell agricultural products directly to consumers via online shops using a third-party trade platform. It is increasingly clear that e-commerce has become a new and effective way to help smallholders gain access to the market. The investigation of agricultural e-commerce practices has a significant role in helping to understand the development of the agri-food sector in China. This teaching case provides an example of adopting e-commerce in the interaction and trading activities between participants in the food sector through a typical agricultural products e-commerce company in China, Minyu E-commerce. Particularly, the case analyzes the business model evolution through the ecosystem life cycle at the company. This case can be used to teach graduate/postgraduate students in agricultural business, MBA and executive programmes about the agri-food e-commerce business model