World Perspectives

Short Supply Chain Fallacy; Border Tax Mayhem

Short Supply Chain Fallacy Buy local is tribal but has quaint, emotive appeal. The EU is giving policy support to short supply chains, provided they do not harm intra-EU trade. But do they work in practice? The consultancy Agriculture Stratégies examined the economics and found the following: Middlemen serve the functions of processing, transporting, marketing and other tasks. Reducing the number of middlemen either reduces the value-added (e.g., no processing), or increases the workload of the farmer. The farmer must become butcher, the baker, and the candlestick-maker all at the same time.  Investment is required by the producer to execute tasks previously accomplished by the middlemen. Contrary to the subjecti...

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From WPI Consulting

Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming

WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.

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