Citation
Needham, R. (2001), "Foreword", British Food Journal, Vol. 103 No. 10. https://doi.org/10.1108/bfj.2001.070103jaa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Foreword
This special issue of British Food Journal explores the wave of consolidation in food production, processing and retailing that has occurred over recent years. Consolidation is taking place through vertical and horizontal integration. Vertical integration can be seen through the close partnering of the large food retailers and producers. Typically, this would have occurred in successive stages in the past, for example between growers and processors or manufacturers and retailers. However, we are now witnessing even closer links throughout the supply chain. For instance, as Hendrickson et al. comment in their paper "Consolidation in food retailing and dairy", the US supermarket chain Kroger is developing an association with the Monsanto/Cargill food chain cluster through selling case-ready meat products that are processed by Excel, a subsidiary of Cargill. Horizontal integration has also been occurring. This has been particularly noticeable in the retailing sector. A wave of mergers and acquisitions has been experienced at an international level. Luc Vandevelde, the managing director of Promodès, recently commented about the globalization of grocery retailing, "I doubt that anyone today who is not on the map is going to get there". The moves to concentrate business have largely been in response to the activities of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart's highly efficient logistics system poses a real threat to other food retailing chains in the industry.
The papers in this special issue have been selected for their contribution to the debate on consolidation in the food production and retailing sector. The first paper by Ronald Cotterill, "Dynamic explanations of industry structures and performance", explores in great depth the changes in food systems. The second paper assesses the ways in which consolidation is taking place and pays particular attention to the dairy sector. In the third article, Paul Whysall reviews the reactions Wal-Mart's takeover of Asda in the UK. The final two papers look at the grocery sector in Europe and report current trends. As this topic has been chosen for its timeliness, the papers have not been subject to a double-blind review process.
Rebecca Needham