Fruit and Vegetable Supply-chain Management, Innovations and Competitiveness

Markets are increasingly complex with new distribution innovations, food safety issues, retailer and wholesaler consolidation, and a changing legal environment for commodity marketing programs. International sources of supply have become more important to U.S. buyers as consumers have demanded more variety and year around supplies. Each of these areas presents promising research subjects. Changing cost structures across competing production regions, new free trade policies being implemented and new technology being developed create a high demand for research on competitiveness, market structure, and innovation.
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Objective 1: To assess the evolution of Supply-Chain Management in the fruit and vegetable sector, identifying strategic organizational and marketing implications for diverse firms and specific commodity sub-sectors. Methods used include: *In-depth interviews with producers, brokers, wholesalers, retailers, appropriate government agencies, and consumers. *Telephone and mail surveys. * Use of experimental auctions to assess consumer knowledge and acceptance of various produce-related issues. *Industry-wide strategic planning exercises (including SWOT analysis) with key participants in the produce sub-sector. *Creation of local working papers, presentations at local, regional, and national professional meetings. *The use of local, regional, and national workshops (this is explained in greater detail under organizational structure).
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Objective 2: To analyze the relative costs and competitiveness of fruit and vegetable sub-sectors, either regionally, nationally, and/or globally, using new and established analytical paradigms which incorporate theories from business schools and other fields. Methods used include: *In-depth interviews with producers, brokers, wholesalers, retailers, appropriate government agencies, and consumers to uncover true costs and benefits of a given produce issue. *Telephone and mail surveys. *The use of transportation and trans-shipment models. *Creation of local working papers, presentations at local, regional, and national professional meetings. *The use of local, regional, and national workshops (this is explained in greater detail under organizational structure).
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Objective 3: Develop demand models for the produce sector that can be used to evaluate trade, commodity marketing programs, labeling programs, traceability systems, and structural changes in the U.S. produce markets. Methods used include: *In-depth interviews with producers, brokers, wholesalers, retailers, appropriate government agencies, and consumers to obtain needed information for demand models. *Use of experimental auctions to assess consumer knowledge and acceptance of various produce-related issues to be used in demand models. *Creation of local working papers, presentations at local, regional, and national professional meetings. *The use of local, regional, and national workshops (this is explained in greater detail under organizational structure).