Improving the effectiveness of food chain coordinators: A conceptual model

While the area of food chain coordination has received considerable attention in the academic and managerial literature during the past years, there are many unanswered questions regarding the dynamics of managing international food supply chains, especially in horticulture. In order to achieve growth and to create value from an international food supply chain, it needs to be managed as an interconnected system which is held together by a number of complex relationships. Active food chain coordination aims to effectively manage such systems. One of the current discussions in the literature is who assumes the coordination function in these chains and with which capabilities and resources. The effectiveness of chain coordination is believed to be a function of the coordinators' innate or acquired ability, their management style, tangible resources, and the efforts they make to effectively utilize resources. Effective coordination builds trust, motivation and contributes to improved supply chain performance and competitiveness. This paper presents a two-stage conceptual supply chain coordination/performance model and posits hypotheses that will be tested in future empirical research.