Supermarkets And Agri-Food Supply Chains

‘The book is a welcome supplement to the existing literature on the topic and it is written by authors from a range of disciplines including political economics, sociology, geography, political sciences, bio-sciences, health sciences and food policy. The book is of interest to a wide audience of students and practitioners both in business, industry and government.’
– Aad van Tilburg, Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture

This book analyses the gradual shift in the distribution of power in agri-food supply chains, away from the manufacturers of branded food products to the global supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart and Tesco. This transformation has had a profound effect on the food we eat, together with the ways in which food is produced, processed and marketed. The authors assess the causes and consequences of this transformation, and evaluate the impacts along the whole supply chain.

The book considers a variety of theoretical and cultural approaches to the analysis of change in the organization and management of the agri-food supply chain, and presents a series of studies focusing upon the effects of changes in Europe, North America and less developed countries. The impacts on farmers and workers, and implications for the environment, are also considered. The contested nature of these changes suggests a number of possible future scenarios for the global agri-food system, which are also analysed and evaluated.

This book will be of great interest to postgraduate and undergraduate students in business studies, sociology, politics, geography, and cultural studies. Academic researchers and teachers, and policy makers and researchers in business, government and industry will also find much of interest.

Contents:

1. Understanding Supermarkets and Agri-food Supply Chains
Geoffrey Lawrence and David Burch

PART I: THE CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF AGRI-FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS
2. Supermarkets as New Food Authorities
Jane Dixon

3. The Rise of Supermarkets and Asymmetries of Economic Power
Mark Harvey

4. Are Win-wins Feasible? Power Relationships in Agri-food Supply Chains and Markets
Andrew Cox and Dan Chicksand

5. Supermarket Own Brands, New Foods and the Reconfiguration of Agri-food Supply Chains
David Burch and Geoffrey Lawrence

PART II: REGULATION AND STANDARDS IN AGRI-FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS
6. Supermarkets, Producers and Audit Technologies: The Constitutive Micro-politics of Food, Legitimacy and Governance
Hugh Campbell and Richard Le Heron

7. Supermarkets as Organic Retailers: Impacts for the Australian Organic Sector
Kristen Lyons

8. Supermarkets and the Ethical Trade/Fairtrade Movement: Making Spaces for Alternatives in Mainstream Economies?
Alex Hughes

9. The Environmental Impact of Supermarkets: Mapping the Terrain and the Policy Problems in the UK
Tim Lang and David Barling

PART III: COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN AGRI-FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS
10. The Final Frontier? The Global Roll-out of the Retail Revolution in India
Jeffrey Neilson and Bill Pritchard

11. Supermarkets and Agri-food Supply Chains in Europe: Partnership and Protest
Bill Vorley

12. Supermarkets and Supply Chains in North America
Jason Konefal, Carmen Bain, Michael Mascarenhas and Lawrence Busch

Conclusion

13. Situating the ‘Retailing Revolution’
Philip McMichael and Harriet Friedmann

Index