The Agricultural Marketing Journal of Japan
Online ISSN : 2424-0427
Print ISSN : 1341-934X
Volume 10, Issue 2
Displaying 1-15 of 15 articles from this issue
  • H. MIKUNI, T. MURATA
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 1-2
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Hiroshi ISODA
    Article type: Paper
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 3-12
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The Reorganization of International Agricultural Markets consists of two aspects, one of which is the reorganization of institutional and policy frames of the markets, and another is the restructuring of the industries comprising the markets. The former has been embodied in the WTO regime, while the latter is examined as the industrialization and globalization of agri-food sector in this article. The essential meaning of the industrialization is recognized as the intensive expansion of the sector, which the agri-food businesses have initiated in order to overcome the over-accumulation of agri-food capital by creating new space for intensive accumulation. On the other hand, the globalization of the agri-food sector, in its essence, is recognized as the extensive expansion by spreading the commodity chains into developing countries and transition economies. In the U.S. grain industry, industrialization has led to the emergence of the limited number of diversified, oligopolistic, and vertically integrated grain marketing, trading, and processing firms, which are named grain complexes by the author. As for the globalization dimension, the U.S. agri-food businesses have been growing basically as a "multinational multi-domestic" type of global corporation which source the raw material agricultural commodities, and then process and market their products mainly in the host countries. The basic features of the U.S. 1996 Farm Bill and the WTO agreements, both of which have been leading to the reduction and even abolishment of the agricultural price and income programs linked with production and market prices in the U.S. and abroad, are well-matched to, and even driven by, the economic interests of the U.S. multinational agri-food businesses with such characteristics as mentioned above. In recent years, however, especially after the drastic fall in the agricultural exports and prices triggered by the Asian economic crisis in 1997, the contradiction immanent to the decoupling transformation of agricultural policies has emerged, and the struggle between the pursuit of decoupling and the attempt of recoupling is becoming the case.
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  • Katsuhito FUYUKI
    Article type: Paper
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 13-27
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Japanese food distribution and agricultural markets have been reorganized as a result of deregulation and globalization. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the character of this reorganization and to discuss the impacts on agricultural structure. The contents of the reorganization are as follows: 1) The existent food distributors have been divided into a few large-scale ones and a large number of small-scale ones. The former have expanded their own food distribution business, but the latter ones have been concerned with bankruptcy. 2) Major general trading companies, which have recently entered into the rice distribution business, have also expanded their own food distribution business. 3) The large-scale distributors and the general trading companies are transacting with supermarkets, food processing and service industries as main customers. 4) Such large-scale companies have taken the initiative regarding reorganization of the food distribution system and strengthened their pricing power over food and agricultural commodities. Under the reorganization, the prices of agricultural commodities have continued to be reduced. And a few large farmers have furthermore enlarged their acreage with intend to improve their income. But they have not been able to achieve their purpose, because the degree of price reduction has exceeded their efforts in cost cutting. If these conditions persist, Japanese agricultural structure will be encounter breakup and Japanese rural area will come to be dotted with only a few capital-intensive farming corporations.
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  • Makoto NAKAJIMA
    Article type: Paper
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 28-35
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The Japanese social system has been reorganized in response to globalization and a changing food-system. As a result, the reorganization of the food and agricultural market is moving ahead and serious agricultural and food-system problems have happened at the same time. It is necessary that the system converts to respond to and solve these problems. Change in the Japanese policy of food and agriculture is in need of drastic change and these changes should bring about the conversion of the food and agricultural market system. The movement of conversion is progressing already at the global and regional level. The full-scale system conversion will become possible by both developing a conversion strategy and by addressing the opposite axis, that which allows for citizen participation.
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  • M. MIYAMURA
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 36-38
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • T. TABATA
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 39-40
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Keiji TOMITA
    Article type: Working Paper
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 41-45
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Given the marketing channel diversification of recent years, how have transactions of organic foods by circulative traders changed? While it is understood in which step production control is performed, a problem on the production side, based on organic agriculture in a producing center, is considered. The special circulative trader's function is to differentiate with regard to sales and stock control, thereby aiming at a stable supply. In addition, a production control function is recognized as necessary. In wholesale market circulation, differences in the market side, customer assessment of shipment facility reliability, and realization of price negotiation and quantity regulation by virtue of plural market function become key elements. In the future, correspondence to ensure that compensation of reproduction price on the side of producers becomes the single item in a quantity control function. JAS methods represent the necessary means of product quality disclosure.
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  • Akitoshi KIMURA
    Article type: Working Paper
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 46-51
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this research is to clarify the present situation and future problems of contract-based dealings, which promote volume sellers to strengthen partnership with producing districts using a wholesale market where wholesalers/middle-wholesalers function. A hearing investigation was made for buyers of vegetables and fruits at eight supermarkets, including leading global ones, in each block. The result shows that the target items of contract-based dealings were mostly major or important products in a vegetables and fruits market. This is because this type of dealing, due to a strong relationship with producing districts, makes it possible to obtain "differentiated products" and to purchase considerable amounts of such products on a regular basis. Even if prices are set in advance, they actually go up or down depending on the market price at each delivery time. Although the contract-based dealings with producing districts can easily lead to off-the-market distribution, volume sellers have been using this kind of dealing just because they can entrust the tasks such as volume control, negotiation with producing districts,distribution-related matters, etc., to wholesalers or middle-wholesalers. On the other hand, on-the-market-type contract-based dealings still have problems in volume control, risk arisen from changing market prices, unstable volume-availability and quality, etc..
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  • Hideo IWAKURA
    Article type: Working Paper
    2001Volume 10Issue 2 Pages 52-55
    Published: December 31, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Organizations have their original cultures, which determine how the world is understood by members and which are owned jointly by organizational members. When an organization decides to innovate in order to adapt to new environments, they have to innovate their culture in ways in addition to putting into place new principals, strategies, structures and processes. The role of leaders is decisive in innovating organizational cultures. The purpose of this paper is to consider the theory and process of organizational cultural innovation for agricultural cooperative association and federation, which need innovation in the circumstances of keen global competition.
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