Understanding the Coordination Mechanisms in a Fair Trade Fruit Supply Chain

• Autor(a) principal: Vieira, Luciana Marques
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Aguiar, Luís Kluwe, de Barcellos, Marcia Dutra
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: JOSCM. Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/joscm/article/view/11172
• topic: fair trade; export; international supply chain; fruit supply chain management; coordination

Globalization of food supply chains requires from companies located in developing countries to comply with strict production standards. Hence, there is an increasing need for socio-economic environmental certification worldwide. A way to meet food standards is to create a supply chain management that deals with sequential processes coordinated by the chain leader. In the particular case of agri-food markets, it is common for food retailers to perform the role of chain leaders. This paper describes the configuration and coordination of a certified fair trade fruit supply chain in Brazil servicing the United Kingdom (UK) market. The methods used are interviews with key informants working at different stages of the supply chain in both countries and secondary data analysis. Our findings suggest that retailers in the UK transfer the responsibility of supply chains coordination to their partnering traders in Brazil, who, in turn, are responsible for monitoring information flow and tracking processes. Theoretical contributions are related to the understanding of a complex supply chain because it involves members that have different technologies, skills, language and knowledge about the market. This heterogeneity makes the co-coordinating role even more important.