Inter-organizational relational mechanism on firm performance : The case of Australian agri-food industry supply chain

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how structural and economic issues of organising inter-firm relationships influence a supply chain (SC) performance, by using the insight of organisational theories and institutional economics. Design/methodology/approach The study is an exploratory field study in the Australian agri-food industries. Using a conceptual model and a set of semi-structured interview questions, data collection was done through in-depth interviews with eight agri-food firms from the agri-food SCs in Western Australia (WA). Findings The findings demonstrated the requirement of higher coordination and integration from the downstream industries to include upstream producers as the integral part of the SC. Research limitations/implications The study is based on eight in-depth interviews on cross-sectional food SCs in WA and generalises the result for the overall food industry in WA. Originality/value The study provides valuable information to the existing literature on industrial management and has important value to the users of agri-food SCs. It provides empirical evidence of the factors of SC performance for agri-food producers, processors and retailers, other stakeholders and government agencies for their planning and benchmarking.