Quantifying the Agri-Food Supply Chain

Proceedings of the Frontis Workshop on Quantifying the agri-food supply chain, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 22-24 October 2004

Editors:
Christien J.M. Ondersteijn
Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Jo H.M. Wijnands
Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Ruud B.M. Huirne
Animal Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Olaf van Kooten
Horticultural Production Chains Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Series editor:
R.J. Bogers
Frontis – Wageningen International Nucleus for Strategic Expertise
Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

About the book | Table of Contents

Due to globalization and internationalization of agri-food production, the arena of competition and competitive advantage is moving from individual firms operating on spot markets towards supply chains and networks. Therefore, coordination between firms within the chain becomes more important. Topics like costs, efficiency, risk and investment analysis have received little empirical attention within chain and network research. Nonetheless, these performance measures are of vital importance for continuity of individual companies, chains and networks.

This book aims at offering a coherent view on this matter by discussing the possibilities and limitations of quantifying performance, risks and investments in the agri-food chain. A wide variety of approaches from different economic disciplines was used to analyse the complex systems of agri-food supply chains and develop appropriate models for management decision support. Research gaps and discussion points are identified by an international forum of researchers in order to enhance progress in this field.

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available from Springer Science+Business Media (former Kluwer Academic Publishers)