Developing food selection towards sustainability – the role of consumer co-operatives

Mikkola, Minna and Hingley, Martin (2011) Developing food selection towards sustainability – the role of consumer co-operatives. In: ICA Global Research Conference 2011. New opportunities for co-operatives, 24-27 August, 2011, Mikkeli, Finland.

Full content URL: http://ica.coop/en

Full text not available from this repository.

Item Type:Conference or Workshop contribution (Paper)
Item Status:Live Archive

Abstract

The position of retail industry has strengthened over the years to the extent that it may be suggested to dominate the supply chain in the market interface between producers and consumers (Atkins & Bowler, 2001). Within the supply chain, continuous concentration has decreased the number of farms, processors and independent grocers, such that often large or very large firms remain to compete intensively for their market shares and respond to demand of food in the market (Atkins & Bowler, 2001; Grocery Manufacturers Association and Pwc, 2011). The large food retailers also compete on an international scale, as they make acquisitions, and merge and establish their retail outlets abroad; reflecting the financial power of their capital investment (Atkins & Bowler, 2001). Furthermore, they enter into buying alliances to form groups, thereby reinforcing their global reach for the quality and quantity demanded by their consumers (Atkins & Bowler, 2001; Grocery Manufacturers Association and Pwc, 2011; Hollingsworth, 2004). Simultaneously product ranges are balanced to ensure maximum consumer choice against highest sales potential, whereby return on invested capital is a hallmark of successful business (Atkins & Bowler, 2001; Grocery Manufacturers Association and Pwc, 2011). These developments, however should be understood in terms of local market conditions, which have recently exhibited growing interest in local or domestically sourced food (Atkins & Bowler, 2001; Grocery Manufacturers Association and Pwc, 2011; Jones et al., 2004) and this is a clearly visible tendency in Finnish retailing as well (Vihma, 2005).

Additional Information:Content available on request
Keywords:Food, Sustainability, co-operative
Subjects:L Social studies > L174 Collectivism
N Business and Administrative studies > N120 International Business studies
Divisions:Lincoln International Business School
Related URLs:
ID Code:10610
Deposited On:28 Jun 2013 09:05

Repository Staff Only: item control page