Abstract
The structural changes in the food system have brought about changes in the vertical relationship between economic entities, and required new analytic viewpoints and approaches. First of all, I discuss new roles of the economic entities and significance of cooperation between them, as well as the basic analytic viewpoints surrounding the supply chain and retailing industry-driven distribution system.
The supply chain was primarily adopted with the objective of streamlining of distribution and inventory control, but its goals and concepts have shifted to the optimization of the entire supply system and equal partnerships between the economic entities involved in it. Bypassing trading barriers between the economic entities and sharing managerial resources have enabled the entire supply chain to function efficiently, and their win-win relationship has further deepened by incorporating the value system into the supply chain. Secondly, I discuss PB (Private Brand) and analyze peculiarities of the distribution system of fruits and vegetables. Moreover, regarding the intermediate distribution, I take up representative economic entities in both wholesale market and off-market distribution as a case study in order to determine the possibilities of the supply chain. Finally, I discuss the marketing strategies which the production regions have adopted to take on the retailing industry-driven distribution system.
