Value-Creating Strategies in Dairy Farm Entrepreneurship: A Case Study in Northern Spain

Abstract

This paper explores different value-creating strategies (VCS) used by dairy farmers engaged in on-farm diversification ventures. In order to explicitly identify the informal strategies followed by 49 farmers in their value-added ventures, we applied a theoretically informed business model framework combining three dimensions: value proposition linked to local food, customer engagement via quality schemes and shorter supply chains, and the key capabilities of the entrepreneur. Using cluster analysis, four different types of VCS were identified and labelled as ‘Ecological’, ‘Single-product’, ‘Innovative’, and ‘Traditional’. Whilst we found that these strategies are influenced by contextual factors and the owner’s entrepreneurial skills, in general, we did not observe significant differences in performance between them. The results suggest that farmers respond entrepreneurially to sectorial changes adopting those VCS that tend to align with their entrepreneurial capabilities and context, thus enabling them to succeed with any of the strategies pursued. Hence, our work contributes towards clarifying the relationship between VCS, entrepreneurial capabilities, and context. This is important for farmers and policymakers because it reveals the diversity of farm management and the resilience of farm systems. As a result, the potential challenges for Single-product VCS and Traditional VCS are discussed.

Deliver Smart, Not More! Building Economically Sustainable Competitiveness on the Ground of High Agri-Food Trade Specialization in the EU

“…The findings of this empirical research paper are supported by the body of literature dedicated to the topic of agri-food value chain management with a particular focus on the strategic actions for value creation along the chain links, hence contributing to building sustainable economic competitiveness [3,34,[76][77][78][79][80]82,[143][144][145][146][147][148][149]. To provide more literature evidence that supports the main highlights of this empirical paper, findings are convergent towards the following:…”

Effect of intensity and duration of anthropic noises on European mink locomotor activity and fecal cortisol metabolite levels

“…Second, a hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted to determine the number of groups of European mink based on the duration of total exposure time to audible playbacks and their corresponding SEL levels in order to study their differing behavioral characteristics and FCM levels. We adopted the minimum value of Akaike’s information criterion as a typical indicator for determining the number of clusters ( Dominguez-Ares et al 2020 ; Alvarez et al 2021 ).…”

Issues and Challenges in Short Food Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Planning of agricultural production [14,16,62,73,74] Planning of food processing [14,16,62,74] Planning of logistics activities [3,9,10,[14][15][16][17]20,23,25,62,[74][75][76][77][78] Sourcing agricultural input [24] Sourcing packaging material [24] Agricultural production [3,6,8,10,11,[13][14][15][16][17]20,21,[23][24][25]61,62,64,73,74,[77][78][79][80...…”

“…To satisfy the increasing demand and contribute to the creation of more sustainable and resilient food systems, SFSCs need to increase their overall impact [8]. To participate in SFSCs and expand their supply capacities, many active and potential stakeholders need the local, national, and supranational authorities to facilitate the access to infrastructure [9,10] and financial resources [11,12] as well as to training [13] and networking opportunities [11]. Policymakers also play an important role in facilitating the functioning of SFSCs through policy reforms [12,14,15].…”