The Value of Information and Information Sharing in the Australian Beef and Sheep Meat Supply Chains

Abstract

<p>This thesis provides empirical evidence on the benefits and value of sharing information about product quality vertically between upstream supply chain actors in the Australian beef and sheep meat industry. The central research objective is illustrated by five separate but interrelated papers: three aimed at revealing the linkages between information quality, information quantity, and firm performance" and two aimed at estimating the value placed on information about product quality by two actors in the red meat supply chain at two levels of information quality and quantity" and at identifying the determinants of producers' willingness to provide and willingness to pay for information about product quality in these supply chains.</p> <p>A rigorous literature review is presented on the impacts of information quality and quantity on firm and supply chain performance, and past empirical work is further synthesised in a metaanalysis. From this work, a conceptual framework for provision and utilisation of meat quality information in the supply chain is developed and tested using Australian survey data contributed by stud breeders and livestock producers. Analysis of the survey data employs several techniques including structural equation modelling, binomial logit regression, and descriptive and summary statistics.</p> <p>Each of papers in this thesis use a subset of data extracted from two surveys of Australian sheep and cattle breeders and commercial producers, with a total of 139 respondents. These two surveys were conducted on-line, from November 2017 to October 2018.</p> <p>The samples drawn from these two surveys reflect the characteristics of Australian farmers as a whole, in terms of farmers' age and gender proportion. Although the limited sample size restricts the extent to which more sophisticated techniques can be used to examine the current issues in these industries, the data is presented as sufficient to address research problems and to test the conceptual framework at an initial stage.</p> <p>Results generally validated the conceptual framework. They showed that the effects at firm and supply chain levels of information quantity and quantity, and the value placed on information, varied across information types in ways projected by the conceptual framework. They identified systematic differences between beef and sheep meat supply chains, and according to expectations of farmer and farm characteristics. Information quality influences firm performance more for some types of product information than for others, and is more influential overall than is information quantity. Results also reveal upstream producers' strong interest in improving the quality and quantity of this information. A comparison between two stages of the supply chain shows that stud breeders value this information more than do cattle producers. The identified asymmetric perception of value is considered as a potential cause of chain failure, constraining the maximization of supply chain surplus through use of information in management decisions, and in the longer term through reduced incentives to adopt information technology.</p> <p>To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to assign value to different types of product quality information at separate points in the beef and sheep meat supply chains. It is also the first to assess quantitatively the role played by information quality and quantity in generating value for this industry and the first to detect empirically potential causes of chain failure in a vertically co-ordinated industry. Our results offer guidance to industry and government on improving red meat supply chain performance. Recommendations are made for future research.</p>