While interest in developing strategic alliances within the food system continues to increase, there remains considerable risk when firms adopt such a cooperative strategy. The risk is due in part to the lack of concrete guidelines that illustrate the steps or stages of alliance development and...

We use a case study approach to determine the primary factors affecting food manufacturers' commodity procurement decisions, as well as to examine the strategic nature of commodity procurement departments. The research fills a gap in both the commodity and procurement literature. A large...

The interorganizational structures necessary to implement and achieve the logistical performance improvements identified in the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) initiative and related supply chain management concepts are difficult to develop. Firms continue to struggle to implement integrated...

Given today's increasingly competitive environment, firms in every industry are searching for new ways to increase their competitive advantage. Many firms have realized that, due to a variety of different reasons (e.g., fast-paced technological advances), significant performance improvements...

This research evaluates the main characteristics considered in commodity-procurement decisions made by food manufacturers. Procurement characteristics are examined and a framework is developed which classifies procurement characteristics into three categories: product constraints, company...

Given today's increasingly competitive environment, firms in every industry are searching for new ways to increase their competitive advantage. Many firms have realized that, due to a variety of different reasons (e.g., fast-paced technological advances), significant performance improvements...