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Forest farmers' organizations (FFOs) have recently gained scholarly attention as a collective action instrument to upgrade value chains. However, insights into possible business models and organizational forms of FFOs remain fragmented. This study thus aimed to co‐create FFO business models in order to assess the business models in the context of the regulatory framework and the value chain upgrading theory. The Input–Output scheme and the Business Model Canvas (BMC) were merged to create an analytical lens. Participatory workshops with two farmers' organizations, each in Ethiopia and Tanzania, were conducted and triangulated with ten focus group discussions and 25 key informant interviews. The co‐created business models reflected the grassroots entrepreneurial potential of smallholders to envision FFOs. The gaps requiring external support, namely the know‐how in accessing microfinance, silvicultural practices, and entrepreneurship, were revealed. We argue that the transformation from a farmers' organization to an FFO enables wood value chain upgrading. Diversifying wood with non‐wood products is key for FFOs. Regardless of how the regulatory framework shapes external support, the local government plays a pivotal role in facilitating the connection between FFOs and (non‐)governmental support actors. Through this research, we develop suggestions for further empirical studies and offer several recommendations for decision‐makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper analyzes how intelligent transformation affects manufacturing firms' value chain upgrading. • This study reveals a significant enhancement of the intelligent transformation in manufacturing firms' value chain upgrading. • This impact operates mainly through optimizing human resources and improving total factor productivity effects. Intellectualization of manufacturing firms is crucial for facilitating the seamless integration of China's digital and real economies while achieving high-quality growth in the manufacturing industry. This study found that smart transformation significantly improved manufacturing firms' value chain upgrades based on a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2022. This impact operates primarily by optimizing human resources and improving total factor productivity effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value chain refers to the entire set of activities carried out by different actors in the agriculture sector to move a product from conception to end use and beyond. Design, production, marketing, distribution, and consumption are all included in the value chain. Currently, different researches were conducted by using value chain concept as a current issue in Ethiopia. This paper critically reviewed that the existing gap in vegetable and root crop value chain studies regarding the scope and approach of the studies. It indicated that the value chain studies conducted in Ethiopia geographically focused on local value chains. It also lacks criteria for selection of specific commodity or entry point for value chain studies. Most of the vegetable and root crop value chain studies highly addressed identification of value chain actors and mapping of flow of commodities without incorporating the most important component of value chain which is value chain upgrading, Governance and gender issues. Therefore, for future researches it is recommended that value chain studies goes beyond simple depiction of value chain map by integrating value chain governance, upgrading, gender issues in a value chain and conducting global value chain analysis.

This paper identifies, characterises and analyses six evolving regenerative business (RM) models in the UK based on 10 cases we studied. Our conceptual framework extracts four key elements from contemporary business model and value chain literature; architecture/structure, value creation and extraction, networks and linkages, and governance. Using the case study method, we identified the following business models: materials and service provision; early exit: Phase I/II; manufacturing and scale up; translational services; virtual; and integrated. All the business models are still pre-revenue, except for manufacturing and scale up which generates revenue from contract manufacturing therapies for clinical trials. The RM sector is still evolving and consequently the business models are still in flux. Two key challenges for the sector are scalability and sustainability, which creates challenges for pre-emptive policy and practice interventions. We conclude that pre-emptive policy design should support value chain upgrading, paying particular attention to short, medium and long-term sustainability of the RM innovation eco-system, especially evolution of a broad base of SMEs that can take over when public funding is withdrawn. A proportionate and adaptive regulatory environment will be critical to supporting evolving business models even as value chain upgrading occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global value chain framework has gained increasing prominence as a policy tool for resource-based industrialization. Focusing on synergies between the commodity-producing and related manufacturing and service sectors, value chain interventions assume that buyer-supplier linkages facilitate the upgrading of local industries. This study investigates these synergistic assumptions in the context of the Ivorian cashew industry. The Ivorian case exemplifies how the value chain concept, with its associated focus on local-global linkages, has placed collaboration with foreign lead firms at the heart of the industrial policy agenda. While these collective arrangements are crucial for negotiating inter-firm relationships along global value chains, this study finds little evidence that they have initiated upgrading for local industries. Instead, the emergence of foreign buyers as strategic partners for policy-makers has created opportunities for these lead actors to reinforce their dominant position, stemming from access to finance and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality is a powerful engine in rice value chain upgrading. However, there is no consensus on how "rice quality" should be defined and measured in the rice sector. We adopt a Lancasterian definition of rice quality as a bundle of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes. We then review how rice quality is (i) perceived and defined by consumers and industry stakeholders in rice value chains in Southeast and South Asia; (ii) measured and defined by food technologists; and (iii) predicted through genetics. Consumers are heterogeneous with respect to their perceived differentiation of rice quality among regions, countries, cities, and urbanization levels. Premium quality is defined by nutritional benefits, softness and aroma in Southeast Asia, and by the physical appearance of the grains (uniformity, whiteness, slenderness), satiety, and aroma in South Asia. These trends are found to be consistent with industry perceptions and have important implications for regional and national breeding programs in terms of tailoring germplasm to regions and rice varieties to specific local market segments. Because rice is traded internationally, there is a need to standardize definitions of rice quality. However, food technologists have not reached unanimity on quality classes and measurement; routine indicators need to be complemented by descriptive profiles elicited through sensory evaluation panels. Finally, because rice quality is controlled by multiple interacting genes expressed through environmental conditions, predicting grain quality requires associating genetic information with grain quality phenotypes in different environments. • Consumers perceive rice quality differently among regions, countries, and urbanization levels. • In Southeast Asia, nutritional benefits, softness and aroma define premium quality. • In South Asia, physical appearance of grains and satiety define premium quality. • Current rice quality protocols and classification ranges need to be standardized. • Rice quality is coded by genes whose expressions are affected by the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Summary National rice development strategies in Africa are often supply-focused and implicitly assume that consumers will readily substitute imported for domestic rice. However, due to increasing import dependency, urban consumer preferences for rice have become biased toward Asian export quality standards, against which African rice has difficulties to compete. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this import bias is higher in cities close to the port and remote from the geographical centers of cultural heritage where African rice was domesticated more than 3,000 years ago. We purposely select a sample of five West African urban markets which are supplied by both foreign and domestic rice value chains and which are located at varying distances from the nearest ports and centers of cultural heritage, and conduct framed field experiments based on auctions to analyze the drivers of urban demand for domestic rice with upgraded quality characteristics. We find that West African rice has increasing difficulties competing against imported rice on urban markets the more consumers appreciate characteristics of imported Asian rice, the closer to the port, and the further the geographical and genealogical distance from rice cultural heritage. These challenges provide crucial insights into value chain upgrading in policy makers’ struggle to achieve rice self-sufficiency in West Africa. Our findings suggest that the optimal portfolio of investment in value chain upgrading is a function of the targeted end-market and its distance from the port and rice cultural heritage. The closer the end-market is located toward the port, the more investment is needed in lifting demand of domestic rice through quality upgrading, branding, and promotion to enable it to compete against imported rice. Proximity to centers of cultural heritage, on the other hand, endows rice value chains with a “comparative advantage in demand,” requiring less investment in demand-lifting and leaving more room for supply-shifting investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slaughtered at heavy live weights, carcasses of the autochthonous Vietnamese Ban pig breed are not marketable on the highly remunerative niche markets of the urban Red River Delta. Therefore, Ban pigs are traded often at just 10 to 15 kg to avoid excessive fat accumulation. However, already, a moderate increase of slaughter weights might lead to rising profits for smallholder farmers in the uplands. Thus, this research aimed at investigating the effect of increasing live weight on the carcass composition and meat quality of indigenous Ban pigs qualifying for commerce on high-end markets. Fifty-six castrated male Ban fatteners with body weights ranging from 6.5 to 29.3 kg were collected from smallholder farmers applying a feeding system based on banana pseudostem ( Musa spp.) and slaughtered by local slaughterers according to common practice. The carcass quality of 51 animals and, additionally, meat quality parameters of the loin and ham of 56 animals were assessed. For the evaluation of increased live weights on commodity prices, two pricing systems based on actual market prices for Ban fatteners in Son La town and Hanoi were suggested. Carcass fat depots did not significantly increase when body weights were raised from 12 to approximately 20 kg, and the distribution of primal cuts and the meat quality of the loin and ham were relatively stable. Thus, the currently applied slaughter weights for purebred Ban pigs appear to be suboptimal, and a moderate increase of slaughter weights to approximately 20 kg is feasible and could result in monetary benefits. In this context, the role of small-scale slaughterers for value chain upgrading is discussed. In conclusion, increasingly formalized value chains for traditional pork products could provide the potential to not only contribute to rural development in the Southeast Asian Massif, but also to the conservation of animal genetic resources of a highly valuable eco-cultural region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing economies, well-functioning markets are known to provide the poor with avenues for wealth creation. Using a value chain approach, this paper aims at examining bottlenecks to and opportunities for different categories of women to participate in markets for high value agricultural commodities, with a view to identifying feasible upgrading strategies for the different categories. The findings are based on a case study of Kenya's avocado value chain, which depicts export and domestic market orientation. The data were collected through focus group discussions, key informant interviews, in-depth interviews and household surveys. The results suggest that in the more commercialized and well developed chains like that of export, upgrading strategies vary for the different typologies of women. While women in female headed households may require limited efforts such as tailoring financial products to their needs or providing interlinked services coupled with prompt payment for their produce to allow them to produce quality fruits and access lucrative markets, women in male headed households need institutionalization of gender-sensitive policies in the governance of producer groups to enable them to upgrade as chain integrators and chain owners. In the less commercialized domestic chain, limited efforts may be required to upgrade women along the chain, but the need to change from the less marketable local variety to exotic variety is likely to alter women's position, thereby calling for the need to institutionalize gender-sensitive policies in the governance of existing organized groups and use the groups as a platform to introduce the new variety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public rice breeding plays a crucial role in food security in Asia, but it is often supply-focused. Consumer-focused rice breeding incorporates consumer preferences in varietal development and benefits (i) consumers by fostering availability of affordable rice with characteristics that meet their food preferences, and (ii) farmers by facilitating market access and enabling them to capture consumer surplus. We review historical evidence and survey urban consumers across 24 cities in seven Asian countries to assess heterogeneity and trends of consumer preferences for intrinsic attributes of rice. We conclude that to improve food security in Asia, public rice breeding programs should incorporate widely preferred attributes such as softness in Southeast Asia and slenderness in South Asia, while considering geographic heterogeneity and specificity of preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of changing Chinese seafood value chains for producers in source countries. The paper shows how institutions mediate the relationship between luxury seafood consumption in China and the ability of producers to environmentally and socio-economically upgrade. Examples come from the live reef fish for food trade in the Philippines and different seafood products from North America. The paper traces the implications of differences in institutional context across developing and developed countries. Fisheries value chains linking China and Southeast Asia exemplify environmental and socio-economic downgrading, as a consequence of an institutional context of weak regulation and local financing capacities in the Philippines. In contrast, the massively different institutional context of North American seafood production means that growth in Chinese consumption presents opportunities to upgrade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Economic development in poor countries is often hampered by urban bias. Partly as a result of historical urban bias, African countries have become heavily dependent on food imports with concomitant risks for food security as witnessed during the 2008 food crisis. African governments now recognize that they should reverse urban bias by investing in agriculture in order to decrease food import dependency. However, they typically focus primarily on supply-shifting investments that may be insufficient to render domestically produced food competitive, particularly in import-biased food markets. We review the national rice development investment strategies of 19 African countries and argue that in order to reverse urban bias in African rice markets, more resources will need to be allocated to value-adding and demand-lifting investments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] First focused empirical investigation of fair trade governance and diversification. [•] Fair trade does not universally retard diversification and worsen local food security. [•] Fair trade governance can alleviate constraints on diversification capacity. [•] ‘Moral geographies’ can play a critical role in diversification by fair trade producers. [•] Fair trade is still limited as a tool for shaping advantage without wider transformations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Urban bias constitutes an important institutional impediment to economic development in poor countries. Some African governments now recognize that they should invest in agricultural productivity in order to reverse urban bias, but often forget the equally important objective of investing in quality tailored to consumers so as to reverse urban bias’ footprint on food markets. We conduct framed field experiments in two major urban markets in Senegal and find that the majority of urban consumers are willing to pay quality premiums for local rice suggesting that investment in post-harvest rice quality is a priority in the reversal of urban bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper identifies challenges the traditional Thai silk industry has faced during its internationalization, and the public and private responses employed to overcome challenges.Design/methodology/approach – In-depth interviews were conducted with major players along the Thai silk value chain to gain insights into the industry's transformation from a domestic, cottage industry into an international fashion producer.Findings – Thai silk has created a niche market for high-end, cultural products, thus successfully sidestepping direct competition from emerging low-cost producers. The main innovative strategies employed include introducing new products, upgrading quality, attracting new customers, and collaboration between actors all along the silk value chain.Originality/value – This study illustrates how a traditional industry can evolve and successfully adapt to changing consumer demands and competitive landscapes in a globalize economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is facing the serious problem of 'low-end locking' in the global value chain as it becomes deeply integrated into world trade. Deciphering how to upgrade Chinese enterprises' positions in the global value chain is crucial to China's economic transformation and sustainable development. This study explores the feasibility of upgrading China's global value chain from the perspective of financial constraints. Based on a theoretical framework, this study applies firm-level production data and trade data, using a documented method of measuring domestic value added at the firm level. Besides, we apply three methods to comprehensively measure the financial constraints faced by enterprises. In our study, we verify the findings of previous empirical studies that reducing financial constraints can significantly increase enterprises' domestic value added, and this conclusion remains valid after considering various robustness tests. Our heterogeneity analysis indicates that easing financial constraints can significantly contribute to Chinese private enterprises' upgrade in the global value chain, which could be related with "ownership discrimination" of Chinese banks. Finally, this study analyses the two mechanisms by which relaxing financial constraints could promote global value chain upgrading: (i) directly transfer enterprises' trade mode from processing trade to general trade and (ii) allowing enterprises to climb up in the global value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]