Value chain innovations for technology transfer in developing and emerging economies: Conceptual issues,typology, and policy implications

The adoption of modern technologies in agriculture is crucial for improving productivity of poor farmers and poverty reduction. However, the adoption of modern technology has been disappointing. The role of value chains in technology adoption has been largely ignored so far, despite the dramatic transformation and spread of modern agri-food value chains. We argue that value chain organization and innovations can have an important impact on modern technology adoption, not just by downstream companies, but also by farmers. We discuss conceptual issues and provide an empirical typology of institutional innovations through which value chains can contribute to technology transfer to agriculture in developing and emerging countries.     

Technology Adoption,Vertical Coordination in Value Chains,and FDI in Developing Countries: Panel Evidence from the Dairy Sector in India (Punjab)

Review of Industrial Organization - (Global) value chains have contributed to agricultural technology adoption in transition countries and food export commodities in developing countries through...     

The role of Guanxi in green supply chain management in Asia's emerging economies: A conceptual framework

In recent decades, rapid industrial modernization and economic growth have brought substantial environmental problems such as air pollution, hazardous waste, and water pollution for the Asian emerging economies (AEE), in particular China, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and South Korea. These countries have started to adopt green supply chain management (GSCM) as a strategy to reduce the environmental impact. There are anecdotal evidences that the adoption of GSCM in this region is partly influenced by Guanxi – a cultural norm, which plays a significant role in relationship governance within supply chain activities among the AEE. Based on a systematic literature review, we develop a conceptual framework that characterizes the drivers and barriers for the adoption of GSCM practices, incorporating Guanxi as a moderator in the manufacturing sector of the AEE. The conceptual framework addresses the roles of two types of Guanxi in the adoption of GSCM: the relational Guanxi at individual level based on social exchange theory and the aggregated Guanxi at firm level derived from social capital theory. This recognition of Guanxi at two separate decision levels help companies better manage their relationships while they green their supply chains. Directions for future research and managerial implications are discussed accordingly.     

Impact of traditional versus modern dairy value chains on food security: Evidence from India’s dairy sector

The Indian government has made significant efforts to promote dairy cooperatives to link the milk producers with consumers. Despite this, milk marketing is still dominated by traditional outlets. This paper examines the impact of modern dairy value chains on food security indicators such as net returns from dairying and consumption expenditures. Using a large, national, farm-level dataset from India and a multinomial endogenous switching regression model, results reveal that Indian dairy farmers’ integration with the modern dairy value chain has a positive and significant impact on their food security (measured by net returns and household consumption expenditures). Participation in modern milk-marketing outlets significantly increases net returns per year, regardless of whether farmers choose one outlet or a combination.     

Integrated Value Chain Development: Evidence from Bangladesh

Agricultural productivity and farmer welfare in developing countries is constrained by a multitude of market imperfections. Value chain development (VCD) is receiving much attention as a market-based policy instrument that can potentially address multiple of these constraints simultaneously. This paper provides a conceptualization of VCD and discusses how VCD can be used as a policy instrument. As an illustration, the paper describes the VCD project “SAFAL,” which uses an integrated approach to directly intervene in aquaculture, horticulture, and dairy value chains in South-West Bangladesh. The strategy is to first identify a demand downstream in the value chain and then to identify and reduce the constraints experienced by value chain actors upstream to meet this demand. Using a matched difference-in-difference methodology, this paper estimates farm household participation in SAFAL increases farm income and shortens the hungry season.     

The outlook for Asian dairy markets: The role of demographics,income, and prices

The paper first presents a 10-year outlook for major Asian dairy markets (China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) based on a world dairy model. Then, using Heien and Wessells’s (1988) [Heien, D.M., Wessells, C., 1988. The demand for dairy products: structure, prediction, and decomposition. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 70, 219-28] technique, dairy product consumption growth is decomposed into contributions generated by income growth, population growth, price change, and urbanization and these contributions are quantified. Using the world dairy model, the paper also analyzes the impacts of alternative assumptions of higher income levels and technology development in Asia on Asian dairy consumptions and world dairy prices. The outlook projects that Asian dairy consumption will continue to grow strongly in the next decade. The consumption decomposition suggests that the growth would be mostly driven by income and population growth and, as a result, would raise world dairy prices. The simulation results show that technology improvement in Asian countries would dampen world dairy prices and meanwhile boost domestic dairy consumption.     

Linking small farmers to modern retail through producer organizations – Experiences with producer companies in India

Since the early 2000s, India’s agro-food sector has undergone rapid transformations towards greater market share of modern food retail. This has impacted Indian agriculture and farmers as supermarkets re-organize supply chains towards more explicit forms of coordination. Compared to other developing countries, little has been said in the Indian context about what role farmer organizations can play to help smallholder farmers specifically, improve their position in those emerging value chains. In this paper, I address this gap and demonstrate that producer companies are a promising tool to strengthen famers’ position in their relationship with supermarket chains in India, but one which needs further improvement.     

Got milk? The rapid rise of China’s dairy sector and its future prospects

This paper synthesizes recent research and new empirical findings to build a more comprehensive understanding of developments in China’s dairy sector. China’s tremendous rise in dairy demand has been driven by several mutually reinforcing factors: including rapid income growth, promotion by the government and dairy industry, changes in urban lifestyles, and the development of new, more sophisticated marketing channels. Domestic milk output has grown to satisfy rising demand largely by increasing the dairy herd. Substantial increases in productivity have been achieved through technology adoption, but there is evidence that the torrid growth has created inefficiencies because adaptations to marketing rules, infrastructure, and institutions have not kept pace with the changing environment. These results suggest there is ample room for future growth in both domestic milk production and dairy demand, but multinational firms and imported products will likely play and increasing role as China’s dairy market continues to develop.     

Evolution and challenges of dairy supply chains: Evidence from supermarkets,industries and consumers in Ethiopia

In developing countries the demand for products of animal origin is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Using data collected from 200 urban households this study examines the evolution of the dairy market in Ethiopia. In particular, this study suggests that although the Ethiopian dairy market remains extremely thin and volatile, the commercialization of processed dairy products through supermarkets is expanding and is expected to keep doing so in the foreseeable future. Increasing urbanization and corresponding changes in consumer preferences, behaviour and purchasing power are the identified causes for the rise of supermarket-processor dairy chains. This study shows also that emerging dairy chains provide new market opportunities to Ethiopian farmers, but the existence of retail-industrial monopolies and monopsonies jeopardize farmers’ economic benefits to a great extent. The study concludes with some implications for policy and further research.     

Dynamic Use Diffusion Model in a Cross‐National Context: A Comparative Study of the United States,Sweden, and India

This study proposes a model of dynamic use diffusion that serves as a basis for investigating post‐adoption technology‐usage behavior. Dynamic use diffusion measures the extent to which technology usage has evolved since the time of adoption. Herein, antecedents and consequences of dynamic use diffusion are investigated. A large‐scale, random sample survey was conducted in the United States, Sweden, and India on the use of Internet and computing technology. The survey results suggest that while the antecedents of dynamic use diffusion are similar across the three countries, the consequences are somewhat different for India. These differences can be attributed to the national cultural differences of India compared with the United States and Sweden with regard to power distance beliefs.     

Realized and potential global production effects from genetic engineering

Realized production impacts of genetic engineering (GE) are bounded by (i) restrictions on cultivation in many countries and (ii) economic constraints to adoption in regions where the technology is approved. In this paper, we use econometric modeling to gauge the long-run production impacts to date attributable to currently commercialized GE crops and traits. We then assess the achievable production impacts from relaxing regulatory constraints and increasing farm-level adoption. We estimate that global production of commercialized GE crops has generated approximately $57 billion in farm-gate revenues in 2016. The technology has increased the global supply of soybeans and maize by 13% and 11%, respectively, in addition to smaller impacts for several other important staple crops. However, the current value of genetic engineering is less than half that which could be achieved by science-based regulation of the technology. Holding constant current farm-level GE adoption rates, the increased production achievable through widespread approval could generate an additional $65 billion, the majority of which would accrue to the developing world.     

Information and communication technologies and employment in developing countries: Effects and transmission channels

This study analyzes the effect of ICT adoption on employment in developing countries. The empirical analysis covers 70 developing countries over the 1996–2017 period. To better characterize the labor market framework in developing countries, the empirical analysis incorporates the impact of ICT adoption on underemployment and labor underutilization. Using panel data techniques, the results show that ICT adoption increases employment, underemployment, and labor underutilization in developing countries. The main transmission channels identified are FDI inflows, human capital, and economic openness. As the main policy implication, policymakers in developing countries should intensify investments in the ICT sector and develop policies conducive to FDI inflows, human capital development, and economic openness to address employment issues.     

高技术在中国产业发展中的地位和作用

在资源和能力有限的条件下，对传统技术和高技术进行选择，是关系发展中国家产业发展前途的重大战略问题。西方产业向中国的转移和西方产业技术向中国的扩散，是现阶段中国产业发展和产业技术进步的主要内容。在中国已经经历了20多年的持续快速增长的今天，各类产业(无论是成熟产业还是新兴产业)都面临着技术进步的艰巨任务。在现行世界经济体系中，高技术的高附加值利益将得到更大的强化；传统技术和传统产业的规模竞争和利润摊薄，使得其附加价值趋向降低；而高技术产业的高增长和高附加值(垄断利润)倾向则将长期保持。在中国现阶段的工业化进程中，一方面，需要发展高技术产业以拓展产业空间；而在这一过程中，高技术产业链的分解以及各产业间的融合，使得中国在整体工业技术水平不高的条件下也能在高技术产业领域中获得很大的发展空间；另一方面，要实现高技术同传统产业的结合，将高科技注入传统产业，以提高传统产业的竞争力，使得高技术的运用成为推动传统产业发展的重要力量。因此，买技术、换技术、学技术和开发自主知识产权的技术，在中国工业化过程中以及高技术产业的发展过程中都具有重要的意义。在现阶段，中国高技术产业的发展既要力争有所突破，也要做到量力而行。尤其是要通过科技资源配置体制的改革，形成高技术产业发展有效的市场竞争秩序，以促进高技术产业的长期持续发展。     

Strategic Internet application trends in supply chain management

The Internet is evolving as a powerful force in the new marketplace where the nexus of competition has changed from individual firms to efficient supply chain networks both between firms and within industries. This study explores Internet adoption patterns and operational applications in US supply chain networks. The data reveal that the integration of the Internet into supply chain management applications has increased and has moved away from indiscriminate application of novel Internet technologies towards becoming a focused endeavor with precise expectations and measurable goals. Specifically, the study finds that Internet usage within supply chains is maturing as evidenced by enhanced and increased productivity, reduced costs and increased profit for participating firms.     

发展中国家核心产业链与核心技术链的协同发展研究

本文认为发展中国家经济追赶战略的实现,应依靠产业和技术的协同发展,尤其是核心产业链和核心技术链的协同发展。本文界定了核心产业链和核心技术链的概念;在分析发达国家和发展中国家技术与产业协同发展模式的基础上指出发展中国家技术与产业协同发展的起步模式是“产业发展拉动技术进步”,而非“技术进步推动产业发展”的一般模式;重点研究基于追赶战略的发展中国家核心产业链与核心技术链的协同发展机制,并结合案例来说明。     

Do lower yielding farmers benefit from Bt corn? Evidence from instrumental variable quantile regressions

There have been serious questions about whether lower-yielding farmers in developing countries, who are typically poor smallholders, benefit from genetically-modified crops like Bacillus thuringensis (Bt) corn. This article examines this issue by estimating the heterogeneous impacts of Bt corn adoption at different points of the yield distribution using farm-level survey data from the Philippines. A recently developed estimation technique called instrumental variable quantile regression (IVQR) is used to assess the heterogeneous yield effects of Bt corn adoption and at the same time address potential selection bias that usually plague impact assessment of agricultural technologies. We find that the positive yield impact of Bt corn in the Philippines tend to be more strongly felt by farmers at the lower end of the yield distribution. This result suggests that Bt corn could be a “pro-poor” technology since most of the lower-yielding farmers in the Philippines are poor smallholders with low incomes.     

Quantifying value chain analysis in the context of livestock systems in developing countries

The analysis of value chains has augmented our knowledge on the complexities, inter-linkages, distributional benefits, and institutional arrangements of production and marketing channels in developing countries. However, the analysis remains relatively qualitative and case-specific, with limited ability to rank or assess the impact of alternative interventions or to analyze sufficiently the complex market dynamics and feedbacks present in livestock systems. This paper offers theoretical and applied insights on ways to improve the analytical rigor of the value chain methodology that combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches.     

Branding and agricultural value chains in developing countries: Insights from Bihar (India)

Local brands are rapidly gaining agricultural market share in developing countries. However, it is not well understood how they reshape agricultural value chains. In a detailed case study of the value chain of makhana in Bihar, we see the fast emergence – a doubling over 5 years – of more expensive packed and branded products. The effect on consumers is ambiguous. While the emergence of brands leads to increasing differentiation in retail markets, the brands in these settings provide however mostly incomplete or misleading information for the consumer and quality contained in branded bags is often lower than for loose products. We further also find that there are little direct benefits to the farmers from the presence of these brands.     

An economic analysis of the impacts of trade liberalization on Asian dairy market

This paper develops an economic analysis of the impacts of further trade liberalization scenarios on Asian dairy markets, using a world dairy model incorporating both vertical and spatial characteristics of the world dairy sector. Japan and Korea’ producers will suffer much bigger losses from trade liberalization than other countries in the region; Japan and Korea’s producers get much more protection from trade distortions than from domestic subsidy. India is a potential competitive exporter if Asia is liberalized. China and India are potential competitive exporters under global free trade. South East Asia and other South Asian countries remain importers under free trade. Greater trade liberalization around the world increases exports for potential exporters and/or ease importing pressure for potential importers. The increasing order of competitiveness of Asian dairy economies sectors is found to be Japan, Korea, South East Asia, other South Asia, China and India. China and India consumers would lose from world trade liberalization, but the other countries’ consumer surplus will increase.