The supply chain improvement through primary collaboration. An action research experience

Abstract

Collaboration among companies arises as one of the key factors that could increase the supply chain performance. This collaboration is more difficult if these companies have the same status in the supply chain and they are small and medium sized companies. In this context, the aim of this paper is to propose and validate a methodology for achieving confidence for primary collaboration throughout the food supply chain and as a previous step for developing “collaboration networks”. In the paper, the authors have adopted the “Action research” approach, leading and coordinating a Collaboration Project among 10 food companies and 5 agricultural cooperatives.