Strategies in international agricultural marketing: public vs. private sector
McCalla, A.F.
Giannini Foundation Paper, University of California 466: 49
1977
Document Number: 549565
This paper attempts to look at international marketing within a modified market structure, conduct and performance analysis. This approach is followed as an alternative to the use of competitive, spatial equilibrium free trade models. The approach taken is first to define a strategy as a set of actions taken by a participant to accomplish his objectives within a set of structural constraints. These structural elements are defined to include the volume, direction and participants in trade, the character of private traders and the set of government policies impinging on trade. These structural elements are then combined to present a framework of bilateral relationships which allow for the analysis of the type of pricing outcome (equilibrium or disequilibrium) and some comments on welfare implications. The framework is then applied to three dominant markets, wheat, coarse grains, and soybeans. Using the framework, bilateral and multilateral strategies are discussed in the context of hypothesized objectives of participants. These discussions try to identify the dominant forces in international market outcomes, particularly those relating to price determination. The paper concludes with some thoughts on what major private and public participants in the market would desire in terms of structural change. The paper therefore is an attempt to develop some working hypotheses which should be subjected to further theoretical and empirical testing. Its key point is to define market strategy as a macro-concept of trading units, both private and public.