In negotiated transactions the act of choosing trading partners and “who chooses” creates a bargaining culture that influences trading behavior. Results are presented from experimental markets in which paired buyers and sellers negotiate the repeated sale of units. Relative to a market...

Previous research suggests an increase in committed procurement can result in lower cash market prices for livestock. There is a paucity of research that ascertains prices received by market agents trading in a prior bargaining session via alternative marketing arrangements versus those who have...

We study beef packing margins before and after mandatory price reporting (MPR) was implemented in 2001 using a model that identifies and tests for switching between cooperative and non-cooperative regime pricing. Our results show that after MPR took effect, the duration of non-cooperative...

This paper analyzes the optimal procurement, processing, and production decisions of a meat-processing company (hereafter, a "packer") in a beef supply chain. The packer processes fed cattle to produce two beef products, program (premium) boxed beef and commodity boxed beef, in fixed...

Low and inconsistent beef quality has been blamed by some for the losses of beef's share of total meat consumption. Tighter vertical coordination through use of alternative marketing arrangements and more precise price signaling through use of different cattle valuation methods may help improve...

This work measures the impact of captive supplies, or cattle procured through alternative marketing agreements (AMAs), on meatpacker costs, gross margins, and profits. Confidential profit and loss data were examined from all the individual packing plants within the four largest packing firms for...

Marketing agreements between meatpacking and cattle feeding firms have created concerns about their effects on fed cattle prices. Profit-sharing marketing agreements were imposed onto a simulated fed cattle market. Price level and variability differences with and without agreements, between...