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Convergence processes are based on the activity of distinct industry sectors showing crossindustrycollaborations. The aim of this paper is to analyze cross-industry collaborations betweenthe food and pharmaceutical sectors in the convergence area of functional foods. Selectedcompanies from food (Nestlé/Danone) and pharmaceutical (Martek/Bayer HealthCare) sectorsare analyzed using the determinants of motivation and industrial scope. The analysis shows thatfood companies are more active in cross-industry collaborations than pharmaceutical companies.The latter are more active at the front-end of the value chain focusing on research anddevelopment, and delivering their ingredients to food companies that due to their higherexpertise in consumer marketing launch the products. While the first cross-industrycollaborations were based on an exploration motivation, those that follow focus on exploitation.Acquisitions and licensing agreements are dominant in inside-out and outside-in processes,whereas strategic alliances and joint ventures are based on a coupled process between the foodand pharmaceutical sectors.

Food and Agribusiness Multinational Enterprises (F&A MNEs) increasingly wish to source from smallholders to secure and stabilize the supply of agricultural commodities in high value-adding supply chains, while contributing positively to smallholder livelihood. In the literature we found that many F&A MNEs have been involved in supporting smallholder farming systems in developing countries for a long time. However, these projects have principally been driven by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies. Moreover, despite many pilots to include smallholders in high value-adding supply chains, scaling or scaling up successful pilots has so far proven elusive. The aim of the present article is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) that can help F&A MNEs to design and implement sourcing strategies for sustainable smallholder supply from a business perspective, and to scale up successful pilot projects from a business perspective.

The aim of this study is to examine Supplier-Retailer Collaboration (SRC) in food networks. Based on an extensive literature on the structural characteristics of trade collaborations, we develop a three dimensional construct of SRC which includes trade marketing, supply chain coordination, and relationship quality. We surveyed a large sample of Greek food retailers and their supplier and found that all three variables are positively related to collaboration efficiency. The findings were verified by a qualitative follow-up study. The differences between retailers and suppliers regarding collaboration factors are also discussed.