AN EVALUATION OF A NEW ZEALAND MARKETING BOARD'S SUPPLY DIVERSION STRATEGIES

It appears that the agricultural economics literature lacks much evidence upon which we can judge the performance of statutory boards as marketing institutions. This paper reports the achievements of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board in two areas of supply diversion—the allocation of fruit between fresh and process markets, and the allocation of fresh fruit sales over time. Results indicate that the Board has achieved considerable gains for producers in the first of these areas, while in the second its behaviour has favoured consumers.     

Hierarchical integration in production planning: Theory and practice

This paper discusses the issue of integrating various decision levels in hierarchical production planning systems. First the theory is briefly reviewed and then two case studies are presented. It is argued that it is not sufficient to have a good decision model at every level of the decision hierarchy. The different models should be carefully integrated. The potential problems resulting from a lack of integration are discussed. These problems are then illustrated in two case studies in order to be able to focus on actual managerial issues. It is shown how different decision levels supported by decision models were integrated in these two applications. Two important features are the crucial role of crossfunctional managerial committees in the integration process and the introduction of slack to avoid disaggregation problems.We do not claim to be exhaustive in presenting the problems related to integration nor do we claim that the solutions to the cases are the best possible ones. We do, however, hope that this paper motivates production managers to take a serious look at their hierarchical planning procedures.