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Phone: +33 (0)02 40 67 51 74
kossi-messanh.agbekponou@inrae.fr

PhD topic

An analysis of retailer-driven value chains and global value chains in the French agrifood industry

Kossi-Messanh Agbekponou’s thesis, started on October 1^st, 2020, aims to bring new insights on the global supply chains driven by retailers and firms from the agricultural and food sector involved in these chains. The thesis will analyse how domestic suppliers of French retailers (identified through their certification with the private International Featured Standard - IFS Food) differ from other firms regarding their imports of inputs and intermediary goods, their strategies in terms of vertical ownership (acquisition or not of upstream firms), and their export strategies. Retailers’ very efficient logistics and use of private standards to guarantee product quality may enable firms involved in retailer-driven global value chains to become more competitive and engage into more profitable high value-added activities. The acquisition of upstream suppliers would permit firms in retailer-driven value chains to resist the dominant position of retailers, reduce their vulnerability to hold-ups, strengthen their bargaining power and increase their share of profits within the chain. Detailed and original firm-level data permit to thoroughly analyse these mechanisms.
This work is carried out as part of the European research project BATModel. It is co-financed at 50% by the BATModel project and at 50% by the metraprogram GLOFOODS “Transitions to global food security”.

Supervisors:

• Karine Latouche, INRAE, UMR SMART, 44000 Nantes, France
• Angela Cheptea, INRAE, UMR SMART, 35000 Rennes, France

Research topics

• Organization, structure and performance
• Food: coordination of the sectors
• International Trade

Selected recent publications

Work in progress