Vertical Coordination and the Design Process for Supply Chains to Ensure Food Quality

Venturini, Luciano; King, Robert P.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-0609-6_5

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Due to new consumers' needs such as increasing appreciation for variety and quality which turn consumers away from standardized and commoditized industrial food (Venturini, 2002; Senauer and Venturini, 2004; Goodman, 2004), speciality products are expected to absorb an increasing share of consumers' spent on food in developed countries (Slee and Kirwan, 2007). Speciality may cover a variety of different products with rather “fuzzy” symbol‐laden qualities such as organic, local, typical, high‐quality, slow, ecological sustainable and fair trade food (Manniche, 2007; De Roest and Menghi, 2000), which are subjects of a growing number of research publications[1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internationalization patterns among speciality food companies: some Italian case study evidence

Testa

2011

British Food Journal

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of internationalization patterns among speciality food small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), investigating dimensions that may have a bearing on such patterns, using a series of case studies. In particular the investigation seeks to gain new insights about differences among companies in their internationalization patterns. These differences are examined in a framework which tries to relate three company‐level dimensions (market, technology and space) to internationalization patterns. The three dimensions are derived from the constructs developed by Storper and Salais, and Straete.Design/methodology/approachTwo research questions (RQs) are formulated: Is there a relationship between the internationalization pace of speciality food SMEs and their technology, market, and space dimensions? Is there a relationship between the internationalization modes of speciality food SMEs and their technology, market, and space dimensions? A qualitative approach was adopted and cases from a broad dataset were used. The present research is an explorative research: it is intended to provide insights from which hypotheses might be developed.FindingsThis paper provides an empirical and conceptual contribution to the food internationalization debate. On the empirical side, it provides new evidence on speciality food internationalization, showing a rather diversified set of internationalization patterns, both in terms of pace and modes. On the conceptual side, it shows that the three dimensions of technology, market and space may help to enrich the comprehension of internationalization phenomena. While data collected seem not to provide insights from which hypotheses might be developed concerning RQ1, they seem on the contrary to provide useful insights concerning RQ2.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of the research generally relate to the use of a small sample. Future research should strive to obtain larger samples, develop a set of relevant finer‐grained hypotheses and test those using appropriate statistical techniquesPractical implicationsIdentifying the impact that the three dimensions might have on internationalization patterns and vice versa may help to focus on these specific elements when companies make their internationalization decisions. On the same line, public policy agencies could benefit from these first results for better clustering companies targeting their internationalization supporting initiatives.Originality/valueThe findings add to the limited body of knowledge on the key influences on internationalization patterns within the food sector.

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