Food Product Traceability and Customer Value

Abstract

A customer value-oriented approach is applied to analyze a case study of an ongoing project in rural Thailand to trace quality produce supplied to upmarket retail in the same country. Traceability, an organizational competence, is seldom in business practice as well as in the literature associated with value. It has been stressed through this study that traceability systems involve more than technical and cost-related challenges. Aspects of traceability as a value-related knowledge resource are evoked through viewing traceability as embedded in a ‘value network’ construct. This view is applied to a food network in a developing economy. In addition, the case study reveals the impact of new technology, how traceability is organized and costs of this organization in a value network. Food product traceability is described as an organized supply chain resource, not limited to IT-related costs driven by needs to succumb to government requirements, which is also applicable in developing economies due to market development and lower IT costs. This customer value-based understanding is of importance when considering investing in traceability and in the design of food product traceability systems, as well as lowering hindrances associated with developing electronic food product traceability using new information technology.