A phenomenon-driven approach to the study of value creation and organizational design issues in agri-business value chains

Guided by a phenomenon-driven research approach (Schwarz & Stensaker 2016), this paper explores an apparent pre-occupation of the agri-business value chain literature with organizational design issues relative to a focus on value creation. The discussion of evidence from three sectors suggests that asymmetric distribution of market power, lack of trust, lack of effective use of residual claimancy, and lack of transparent and consumer-driven grading and certification institutions are key factors in the way of coordinated value creation, helping to explain why organizational design issues retain focus on efforts to drive value chain performance. Those interested in bringing back coordinated value creation into focus are likely to benefit from addressing the above key factors individually, yet the evidence also suggests that accounting for complementarities between physical infrastructure and institutions, and accounting for substitutability of institutionalized relationships and formal institutions bears additional performance potential for value chains.