Title

Creating Vertical Strategic Alliances: Theory and Cases from Canada's Agri-Food Sector

Author Info

Erna van Duren, University of Guelph
Wayne H. Howard, University of GuelphFollow
Helen McKay, University of Guelph

Recommended Citation

Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Volume 42, Issue 4, December 1, 1994, pages 577-582.

NOTE: At the time of publication, the author Wayne H. Howard was not yet affiliated with Cal Poly.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7976.1994.tb00052.x.

Abstract

Participants in Canada's agri0food sector have been averse to vertical collaboration for too long. The sector's history of producer marketing boards that were concerned with obtaining bargaining power to redress the market power of buyers has created attitudes the market power of buyers has created attitudes towards buyers and sellers that increase the risk that agri-food organizations will underestimate the advantages of vertical strategic alliances and overestimate the difficulty of building such relationships. However, in spite of the prevailing attitude among participants in Canada's agri-food sector, many organizations have nurtured vertical alliances. This paper develops a framework for understanding how vertical strategic alliances can be created and illustrates it using case studies of organizations in Canada's agri-food sector that have created successful vertical strategic alliances (VSAs). Brief descriptions of the organizations involved in the case studies and the key characteristics of their VSAs are provided in Table 1.

Disciplines

Agribusiness | Agricultural and Resource Economics | Business

Copyright

1994 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society

Publisher statement

Published by Blackwell Publishing Group.