Restrictive Practices in the Food Trades

Agricultural Marketing: A Review of the Literature of Marketing Theory and of Selected Applications*

“…The problem of firms' objectives has been widely discussed (e.g. Galbraith, 1967;Baumol, 1965;Gasson, 1973); behavioural theories of the firm have been proposed (Cyert and March, 1963); some work has been done, chiefly in the U.S., on, for instance, farm attitudes to co-operation (Copp, 1964); a study of British Marketing Boards from the viewpoint of a political scientist has recently been published (Giddings, 1974); and no doubt there are many other relevant publications. But there is a real need for synthesising work in this area.…”

“…Only rarely have the food industries themselves been treated as a meaningful area of study, a surprising fact since they have been at the forefront of the entire merger movement (Van Musschenbroek et al, 1970) and are probably one of the areas where competition through product development and sales promotion has been most intense. Certainly, in the United States, Moore and Walsh (1966), Collins and Preston (I 960/61) and the National Food Commission have dealt specifically with the food industries; the few British studies include Cuthbert and Black (1959/60 and 1961/62), Mills (1959, Van Musschenbroek et a]. (1970), and Maunder (undated).…”