The impact of structural factors on the performance of the Australian food‐processing industry

Abstract

Reports the findings of a study conducted to explain the recent poor performances of the Australian food‐processing industry, by historically analysing the structural determinants and intensity of competition that prevailed in the early 1980s. Covers the period 1979 to 1985 in depth using a research design that incorporates information from both published sources and empirical interviews of senior marketing executives. Using the Porter framework, an accepted approach to the structural analysis of industries, demonstrates that the food industry was one of the most competitive industries in the world in the early 1980s. Attempts to analyse the resultant implications of such competitive pressures on industry performance in the 1990s.