Information Asymmetry as a Barrier in Upgrading the Position of Local Producers in the Global Value Chain—Evidence from the Apple Sector in Poland

Michał Pietrzak, Aleksandra Chlebicka, Paweł Kraciński and Agata Malak-Rawlikowska
Additional contact information
Michał Pietrzak: Department of Economics and Organization of Enterprises, Institute of Economic Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Aleksandra Chlebicka: Department of Economics and Organization of Enterprises, Institute of Economic Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Paweł Kraciński: Department of Economics of Agricultural and Horticultural Holdings, Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics IERiGŻ-PIB, 00-002 Warsaw, Poland
Agata Malak-Rawlikowska: Department of Economics and Organization of Enterprises, Institute of Economic Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-21

Abstract: The typical approach in the business strand of literature on inter-organisational forms of cooperation is based on the Porter’s value chain model or on the body of literature related to the supply chain. However, there is extended research on value chains based on a different theoretical tradition, rooted in world-systems theory and commodity chain concepts, which recently tend to merge under the umbrella of the Global Value Chain (GVC). We use this eclectic approach as a theoretical framework to investigate the issue of informational asymmetries considered as a barrier in upgrading the position of local producers in the GVC by enhancing quality. As an empirical illustration, we use the Polish apple sector. Poland is one of the largest apple producers in the world with a strong export orientation and linkages with the global value chain. The study provides an insight into the barriers of upgrading the position in GVC and ways to overcome them. Responsibility for the final quality offered for the end-user is strongly dispersed across many actors in the chain, while interrelations between them are plagued by the information asymmetry problem. Therefore, the upstream transmission of end-user quality expectations within the chain fails due to the lack of orchestrating incentives and causes the misbehaviour in conducting different activities in the chain. Thus, attempts to upgrade the position of Polish apple growers in the GVC should be focused on overcoming information asymmetries. Mechanisms such as branding, standardisation and certification seem to be promising ways forward.

Keywords: value chain; global value chain; GVC; upgrading; information asymmetry; bargaining power; apples; world-systems theory; commodity chains; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/7857/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/7857/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:19:p:7857-:d:417879

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().