Abstract
PurposeThe suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetable complain that their buyers in the retail segment of the market used certain undesirable and questionable business practices which are not used by buyers in other segments. These undesirable practices may have negative effects on how the exporters perceive their relationship with the retailers compared with how they will perceive the non‐retail buyers. This paper aims to compare the perceived relationship quality of the retailer group of buyers with the buyers in the other categories of the fresh fruit and vegetable business between Ghana and Europe.Design/methodology/approachUsing the literature on inter‐firm relationships as a basis, a structured questionnaire was designed and administered to 101 exporters in Ghana. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedure and post hoc test were used to determine the differences in the perceived relationship quality of the exporters classified according to their main European buyer type.FindingsThe empirical results from the study support the hypotheses that exporters have a lower perception of the quality of their relationship with retailers compared with the wholesalers and the food service firms. In addition, whereas differences in exporters' experience were observed depending on the type of European importer to whom they mainly sell, the size of the exporters does not differ. The paper concludes that, in the context of the fresh produce business, the level of perceived power exploitation may differ depending on the type of business organisation or the position of the firm in the supply chain.Originality/valueIt is recommended that export firms need to examine the category to which their main buyer belongs before they make relationship‐specific investments. The results also provide a guide for policy makers and antitrust bodies in the various European countries to be able to effectively target their policies to address unfair business practices.
Highlights
Background and justificationIn the international fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) trade, various categories of buyers can be identified
Of the 147 export firms identified in the Ghana Fresh Produce Industry Directory 2006 which is official directory compiled by the Ghana Export Promotion Council for all the FFV export firms in Ghana, 101 successful interviews representing about 69 percent response rate was obtained
The experience in the business measured by the number of years in the business indicate that firms in the FFV export business has an average of about nine years in the business with firms selling to the food service, wholesaler and retailers having a mean years of about 12, 14 and 9 years respectively
Summary
In the international fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) trade, various categories of buyers can be identified These include retailers, wholesalers, food service firms and the processing companies. Exporters of FFV often complain that the buyers in the retail categories use several questionable business practices in their dealings (Patterson and Richards, 2000; Dobson, 2005) These include collection of slotting fees from the suppliers, pay-to-stay, promotional allowances, failure fees and host of other ways in which retailers demand payment from suppliers in order to stock their products, Journal of Enterprise Information Management. 441-455 allocate certain amount of space on their shelves for the suppliers’ products and to help q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1741-0398 promote the suppliers’ products (Food Institute, 1999) The retailers, may be less dependent on their suppliers than a specialized wholesaler or the firms in the food service industry, since business with a particular supplier will constitute a smaller percentage of the retailers’ total business compared to the other group of buyers
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