Relationship Dynamics in the Pineapple Supply Chain: Empirical Evidence from the Garo Hills of Meghalaya

Abstract

Though early research in supply chain management focused mostly on transactional exchange, recent studies have shown a shift in focus from transactional to relational exchange. The research studies in traditional agricultural supply chains also followed a similar pattern. As a result, very little empirical information is available on the factors that affect the quality of the relationship between the supply chain players (partners) in the traditional agriculture supply chains. The focus of early research was mainly on the economics of channels and the structure of social relations within the chain members was somewhat ignored. This research study aims at studying the relationship dynamics in supply chain of pineapple in Garo hills of Meghalaya (India) from a smallholder’s perspective. Although the study began with 270 small growers to identify pineapple supply chains of the study area, the final study (relationship analysis) was limited to 167 small growers who sell to wholesalers. Factor analysis followed by regression analysis was conducted to identify and analyze the principal factors expressing relationships in pineapple supply chain. The study finds that cooperation, trust and a caring attitude from wholesaler influence the satisfaction of smallholder pineapple growers in a positive way. However, power dependence and the opportunistic behaviour of the wholesaler affects the satisfaction of smallholder pineapple farmers in a negative way.