The pork industry: a supply chain perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to highlight and summarize the main factors found along the pork supply chain, which affect the quality of pork products, taking into consideration the product attributes demanded by consumers.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a review of the pork supply chain literature, and the main objective is to describe and analyze the complexity of the pork production industry from a holistic perspective. An extensive review of the relevant literature was done together with discussions and reflexions carried out with pork sector researchers.FindingsThe paper highlights the complexity involved in the pork supply chain in order to obtain quality products and demonstrates that, by looking at pork production as a chain instead of as individual steps made by different companies, the meat sector can more easily meet the challenge of accurately responding to changing customer demands.Research limitations/implicationsThe contribution describes the main factors and attributes found along the pork supply chain, which are relevant to the quality of the final product as perceived by the consumer. Further research could be done on the effects of the interactions between the factors on pork chain analysis and consumer satisfaction.Practical implicationsThe main lesson to be learned from this work is the opportunity supply‐chain agents get from collaboration, which allows them to become more competitive than if they stay isolated and without a global perspective of the whole chain. The findings contribute to further research on the pork sector from a supply chain perspective.Originality/valueThe paper provides a holistic perspective of the pork supply chain and can be useful for researchers and practitioners involved in the management of pork product quality and new product development.