Value chain

About: Value chain is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7206 publications have been published within this topic receiving 224183 citations.

Gender, assets, and market-oriented agriculture: learning from high-value crop and livestock projects in Africa and Asia

Abstract: Strengthening the abilities of smallholder farmers in developing countries, particularly women farmers, to produce for both home and the market is currently a development priority. In many contexts, ownership of assets is strongly gendered, reflecting existing gender norms and limiting women’s ability to invest in more profitable livelihood strategies such as market-oriented agriculture. Yet the intersection between women’s asset endowments and their ability to participate in and benefit from agricultural interventions receives minimal attention. This paper explores changes in gender relations and women’s assets in four agricultural interventions that promoted high value agriculture with different degrees of market-orientation. Findings suggest that these dairy and horticulture projects can successfully involve women and increase production, income and the stock of household assets. In some cases, women were able to increase their control over production, income and assets; however in most cases men’s incomes increased more than women’s and the gender-asset gap did not decrease. Gender- and asset-based barriers to participation in projects as well as gender norms that limit women’s ability to accumulate and retain control over assets both contributed to the results. Comparing experiences across the four projects, especially where projects implemented adaptive measures to encourage gender-equitable outcomes, provides lessons for gender-responsive projects targeting existing and emerging value chains for high value products. Other targeted support to women farmers may also be needed to promote their acquisition of the physical assets required to expand production or enter other nodes of the value chain.

The impact of the Internet on the distribution value chain: The case of the South African tourism industry

Abstract: The Internet is an important new channel for commerce in a wide range of industries. While the opportunities afforded by this phenomenon seem readily apparent, there is still much debate and speculation on exactly how the use of the Internet and in particular the World Wide Web will affect established industries. In this article we analyse the value chain of the tourism industry, using as a case study the tourism industry in South Africa. Specifically, we examine the roles played by intermediaries in the distribution chain and explore the threats and opportunities that the emergence of the Internet, and other associated trends, present for the industry. Based on this, a profile is made for successful new intermediaries and, finally, we assess the implications of this profile on the control of the electronic channel.

Beyond the vertical? Using value chains and governance as a framework to analyse private standards initiatives in agri-food chains

Abstract: The significance of private standards and associated local level initiatives in agri-food value chains are increasingly recognised. However whilst issues related to compliance and impact at the smallholder or worker level have frequently been analysed, the governance implications in terms of how private standards affect national level institutions, public, private and non-governmental, have had less attention. This article applies an extended value chain framework for critical analysis of Private Standards Initiatives (PSIs) in agrifood chains, drawing on primary research on PSIs operating in Kenyan horticulture (Horticulture Ethical Business Initiative and KenyaGAP). The paper explores the legislative, executive and judicial aspects of governance in these southern PSIs highlighting how different stakeholders shape debates and act with agency. It is argued that governance is exercised ‘beyond the vertical’ in that one can identify wider horizontal processes of governance, including how the scope of key debates is constructed (especially in legislative governance) but analysis of executive governance emphasises the dominant role of the lead buyers.

Managing Information Processing Needs in Global Supply Chains: A Prerequisite to Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Abstract: Sustainability is an important topic in supply chain management research and practice. For buying firms, one of the most pressing challenges associated with sustainable supply chain management is that they frequently do not possess sufficient information on what is occurring in their complex supply chains, as demonstrated by numerous incidents lacking sustainability. Using eight in-depth case studies across four industries and elaborating on information processing theory, we identify three forms of sustainability-related uncertainty that each firm is facing in its supply chain. We refer to them as task uncertainty, source uncertainty, and supply chain uncertainty. The study shows that the extent to which these uncertainties translate into information processing needs depends on a newly identified boundary condition labelled uncertainty intolerance. With respect to the management of such information processing needs, prior research has pointed primarily at matching information processing needs with fitting information processing capacity and secondly at mitigating information processing needs with corrective measures. This study illuminates how some innovative firms occasionally employ a more radical sustainability-driven supply chain modification mechanism. In doing so, this research exemplifies how sustainable supply chain management may eventually turn from an amendment to a firm's daily business to a decisive factor for shaping future supply chains. In addition, the study constitutes a nascent step to elevate information processing theory to the supply chain level. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.