Abstract

This study examined the impact of collaboration in agri-food supply chains on firm performance and the moderating role of scale constraints and firm strategy. Collaboration was measured by three constructs: horizontal collaboration, vertical collaboration, and customer engagement and SME performance with three variables: growth, value for money and innovativeness. Two strategies were evaluated: price strategy and quality strategy. Three types of scale constraints were assessed: financial, efficiency, and innovation. A survey of 504 agri-SMEs was conducted to test the research hypotheses developed according to the resource based view. Data analysis included a moderated hierarchical analysis. The results show that supply chain collaboration impacts positively on agri-SME performance, whilst it is partially accepted that scale constraints moderate the supply chain collaboration-SME performance relationship. The findings show that SME strategy moderates the supply chain collaboration-SME performance relationship. This study provides evidence that agri-SMEs can strategize their supply chain collaborations by removing scale constraints. When supply chain collaborations help SMEs to overcome financial, efficiency or innovation constraints, then SMEs’ performance improves. Second, this study contributes to the understanding of dynamic capabilities in SMEs using the extended resource based view, which has been overlooked by prior studies.

摘要

本研究考察了农业食品供应链中的合作对企业绩效的影响以及规模限制和企业战略的调节作用。协作通过三个结构来衡量：横向协作、纵向协作、客户参与和中小企业绩效，其中包含三个变量：增长、物有所值和创新。评估了两种策略：价格策略和质量策略。评估了三种类型的规模限制：财务、效率和创新。对 504 家农业中小企业进行了调查，以检验根据基于资源的观点制定的研究假设。数据分析包括适度的层次分析。结果表明，供应链协作对农业中小企业绩效产生积极影响，虽然部分接受规模限制缓和了供应链协作-中小企业绩效关系。研究结果表明，中小企业战略调节了供应链协作-中小企业绩效关系。本研究提供的证据表明，农业中小企业可以通过消除规模限制来制定供应链合作战略。当供应链合作帮助中小企业克服财务、效率或创新限制时，中小企业的绩效就会提高。其次，本研究有助于使用基于扩展资源的观点来理解中小企业的动态能力，这在先前的研究中被忽视了。本研究提供的证据表明，农业中小企业可以通过消除规模限制来制定供应链合作战略。当供应链合作帮助中小企业克服财务、效率或创新限制时，中小企业的绩效就会提高。其次，本研究有助于使用基于扩展资源的观点来理解中小企业的动态能力，这在先前的研究中被忽视了。本研究提供的证据表明，农业中小企业可以通过消除规模限制来制定供应链合作战略。当供应链合作帮助中小企业克服财务、效率或创新限制时，中小企业的绩效就会提高。其次，本研究有助于使用基于扩展资源的观点来理解中小企业的动态能力，这在先前的研究中被忽视了。