scholarly journals A Competitive Market Analysis of the United States Shiitake Mushroom Marketplace

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gold ◽  
Mihaela M. Cernusca ◽  
Larry D. Godsey
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Nationwide Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Farmers Markets ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Shiitake Mushroom ◽  
Shiitake Mushrooms

Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes) have many nutritional and medicinal benefits. The cultivation of log-grown shiitake mushrooms encourages forest farming and can be an opportunity for farmers interested in developing an additional enterprise. In 2006, the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry conducted a nationwide survey of shiitake mushroom producers to analyze the U.S. shiitake mushroom industry by taking into consideration the forces that influence competition based on Porter's five forces model. Shiitake mushrooms are grown primarily as a side business, especially those produced exclusively outdoors. Indoor production on sawdust generates higher income than outdoor production on logs, but log production is more suitable for a small-scale operation in an agroforestry setting. Barriers to entry are created by relationships in the market, economies of scale, and the learning curve effect. Although there are a limited number of spawn suppliers in the market, they produce quality inoculum and maintain good relationships with shiitake mushroom producers. The majority of respondents sell their shiitake mushrooms locally. Gourmet restaurants, farmers markets, and on-farm outlets are the main markets for shiitake mushrooms. Trends in demand are increasing and prices are high. Shiitake mushrooms can be replaced with other common or gourmet mushroom types, but also have their own identity for numerous nutritional and medicinal properties. Competition for log-grown shiitake mushrooms arises from shiitake mushrooms produced on sawdust and from imports. To successfully survive in the market, firms create competitive advantages through quality, customer service, and consistent supply. Barriers to success in the shiitake mushroom business include demanding work requirements, the need for a serious commitment to produce and market shiitake mushrooms, a 1-year time lag between investment and a return on investment, and insufficient production and marketing information. Grower associations, universities, and state and federal agencies must join their efforts to fund and support shiitake mushroom research and industry development.

scholarly journals MODELS OF STRATEGIC ALLIANCES IN CONTEXT LOGISTICS PARTNERSHIP

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liubov Lipych
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Logistics System ◽  
Competitive Position ◽  
Production Models ◽  
Logistics Process

From the point of view of the logistical approach, the value expected by the consumer is to provide the highest utility in terms of time and place. Installed that the source of creating a competitive position is the differentiation of customer service quality, reducing the cost of logistics processes by optimizing the logistics flows of products, information, capital and their processing in the logistics system of the enterprise or corporate network. The purpose of the study is to present the benefits of models of strategic alliances of logistics partnerships to increase the competitive position of enterprises whose development is based on the internationalization of activities. It is substantiated that using the synergy of the alliance, enterprises develop rapidly due to the effective merger of knowledge, skills, financial resources, technologies, infrastructure, means of production. Models of strategic alliances of logistics partnership are identified. An alliance of close integration is the cooperation of competitors in the field of production of a certain product or the implementation of a certain stage of the production process. It is a partnership of competitors who want to gain at the expense of the alliance: access to joint assets of partners, pooling of investments for innovative projects, achieving benefits through economies of scale, the ability to control the logistics process of competitors with expanded sales channels. An additive alliance is a union of partners who jointly produce and sell the final product C. Through this form of cooperation, allies increase their competitive position, which is reflected in increased sales, reduced costs, increased market share and increased barriers to entry into the sector. A complementary alliance brings together competitors who offer complementary services. Most often, one of the partners is involved in the production of product A, the other – in its distribution. Partners strengthen each other's competitive position by improving the quality of customer service, taking into account the increase in the usefulness of time and place in the well-known partner B – the local market. The article presents the logic of creating utility in the models of strategic alliances of logistics partnership.

scholarly journals Strain of Shiitake Mushroom [Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler] and Wood Species Affect the Yield of Shiitake Mushrooms

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Sabota
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Lentinula Edodes ◽  
Wholesale Price ◽  
Biological Efficiency ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Red Oak ◽  
Shiitake Mushroom ◽  
White Oak ◽  
Shiitake Mushrooms ◽  
The Cost

Logs of white and red oak (Quercus spp.), black cherry [Prunus serotina (Ehrh.)], sassafras (Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees), and eastern sycamore [Platanus occidentalis (L.)] were inoculated with eight strains of shiitake mushroom in 12-mm holes drilled 25 mm deep and spaced 15 cm apart down the log and 5 cm apart around the log in a staggered pattern. Logs then were placed in quonset houses covered with 80% shadecloth in Mar. 1991. The environment within these shaded houses was not modified otherwise. Harvested mushrooms were counted and weighed and biological efficiency (BE) was determined. White and red oaks produced significantly higher yields of shiitake mushrooms over the lifetime of the log than the other types of wood. Only one strain, CW25, produced significantly lower yields than the best four strains. Interactions among strains and seasons of harvest and the species and seasons of harvest were significant. The most productive mushroom strains and tree species yielded more mushrooms later in the life of the logs than the least productive strains and tree species did earlier in the life of the logs. BE attained from strain × species interactions ranged from 0% (WW70, CW25, and WR85 on sycamore) to 8.8% (WW44 on red oak) in an outdoor noncontrolled environment. The gross per cord value (at wholesale price) of shiitake harvested from white oak was $2475.00. The cost of producing one cord of shiitake is about $6.44 per log in a small-scale operation. A net return of $1509.00 per cord is realistic and includes the cost of labor.

Indigenous Food Systems: Battling Whiteness through Decolonization

1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie King
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Farmers Markets ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Alternative Food Systems ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The North

Shaw (2006) argues that “the rubrics of difference against which Whiteness is commonly juxtaposed rarely includes Indigeneity, or the experiences of Indigenous peoples regardless of the North American domination of the field, and its settler context” (853). Viewing Canada and the United States as post-colonial nations, this paper seeks to broaden understandings of Indigenous food production, distribution, and consumption practices and/or projects and how they work to resist colonial histories of oppression. hooks (1992) defines decolonization as “a process of cultural and historical liberation; an act of confrontation with a dominant system of thought” (1). Using the concept of “Whiteness”, this research attempts to prove how small-scale Indigenous food systems located in North America decolonize dominant ways of seeing alternative food systems as white food spaces. To present this research to an interdisciplinary audience I will first attend to defining key concepts informing this research including: post-colonial nation, decolonization, Whiteness, and Indigeneity. I will then spend some time exploring what Sarah Whatmore describes as “Alternative Food Networks” (AFNs) and claims as “white food spaces”. Finally, in an attempt to decolonize alternative food systems as white spaces, I will share various forms of present-day, small-scale Indigenous food systems such as Wild Rice production by The White Earth Anishinaabe, the ‘Food from the Land’ program in the O-pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, and various Indigenous farmers markets and community gardens.  

scholarly journals Competitive Market Analysis: Chestnut Producers

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gold ◽  
Mihaela M. Cernusca ◽  
Larry D. Godsey
Keyword(s):  
Return On Investment ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Nationwide Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Market Analysis ◽  
Barriers To Success ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Nursery Stock ◽  
The U.S

In 2004, a nationwide survey of chestnut (Castanea spp.) producers in the United States was conducted. Results show that the U.S. chestnut industry is in its infancy. The majority of chestnut producers have been in business less than 10 years and are just beginning to produce commercially. Volume of production is low (<1.5 million lb). U.S. chestnut producers are mainly part-timers or hobbyists with small, manually harvested operations. The majority of respondents sell fresh chestnuts. Demand exceeds supply, and prices often exceed $3.50/lb. Barriers to success in the chestnut business include the lack of information for producers, retailers, and consumers, 5- to 10-year time lag to get a return on investment, and shortage of available chestnut nursery stock of commercial cultivars. There are also concerns related to pest and disease control and market uncertainties. Lengthy quarantines for cultivars from other countries and lack of chemicals registered for use with chestnuts can also be considered barriers to success. Chestnut grower associations, universities, and state and federal agencies must join their efforts to fund and support chestnut research and industry development.

Review of Current ICT Developments

2009 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
S.C. Lenny Koh ◽  
Stuart Maguire
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Value Added ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Environments ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Development Spending ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Roll Out

The issues that are currently affecting all managers are similar to those facing managers of ICT. The following is a list, though not exhaustive, of the issues confronting organizations in changing business environments as shown in Figure 1.1. Most organizations are conducting their business in global situations that place extra pressure on their effective usage of ICT. They may have to think in terms of worldwide purchasing of parts and raw materials. Many organizations view their products as being global. Firms will have to ensure that they can provide efficient supply chain management. This may require an integrated customer service where geographical boundaries should not cause loss of business effectiveness. Companies may need to provide rationalised manufacturing as they roll-out products worldwide. All organizations will strive to gain global economies of scale. However, as one can imagine developing an ICT strategy that is able to stand the test of time is well nigh impossible. In 2008 large firms in the ICT sector, such as Google, I.B.M., H.P. and Sun are rolling out major green initiatives to reflect current environmental concerns. It is not too long ago that the ICT sector was monopolised by the United States and the United Kingdom. Increasingly sector pundits are talking of the Chindia phenomenon. ICT research and development spending in China is still behind the U.S. but ahead of Japan. Firms in India, such as Infosys, are increasingly moving into the high value-added part of the sector.

Organic Futures

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Connor J Fitzmaurice ◽  
Brian J. Gareau
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Food System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Farmers Markets ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Difficult Terrain

Walking through nearly any grocery store, contemporary American consumers are bound to encounter organic food. At any of the myriad of farmers’ markets that have sprung up in cities and small communities across the United States, shoppers can expect to see claims about the provenance and farming practices employed to grow everything from prized heirloom tomatoes to seemingly mundane heads of garlic. But behind the scenes, critical scholarship has shown that organic farming increasingly resembles the industrial food system organic pioneers set out to challenge. Faced with the pressures of the modern agricultural economy many farmers have conventionalized, intensifying how they farm in the face of tremendous competition and cost. Beyond the organic labels, emblazoned on products at the supermarket and the glistening bushel baskets arrayed in market stalls, are farmers, many of whom are trying to do their best to achieve sustainability in today’s food system. This book offers a glimpse into this world, through an ethnography of a small New England farm and the people who work in its fields. It sheds light on how small-scale farmers navigate the difficult terrain between ideals of sustainability and the economic realities of contemporary farming. Using new theories of economic sociology, this book moves beyond the current debates about the conventionalization of organic agriculture. Instead, it takes a relational approach to organic practices—investigating the complex ways market pressures, moral and emotional attachments, privilege, and personal relationships intersect to shape the everyday experiences of agriculture for today’s organic farmers and their consumers.

scholarly journals Taking It With You: Platform Barriers to Entry and the Limits of Data Portability

2021 ◽  
pp. 263
Author(s):  
Gabriel Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Network Effects ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Switching Costs ◽  
Data Access ◽  
The United States ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Private Data ◽  
Data Portability

Policymakers are faced with a vexing problem: how to increase competition in a tech sector dominated by a few giants. One answer proposed and adopted by regulators in the United States and abroad is to require large platforms to allow consumers to move their data from one platform to another, an approach known as data portability. Facebook, Google, Apple, and other major tech companies have enthusiastically supported data portability through their own technical and political initiatives. Today, data portability has taken hold as one of the go-to solutions to address the tech industry’s competition concerns. This Article argues that despite the regulatory and industry alliance around data portability, today’s public and private data portability efforts are unlikely to meaningfully improve competition. This is because current portability efforts focus solely on mitigating switching costs, ignoring other barriers to entry that may preclude new platforms from entering the market. The technical implementations of data portability encouraged by existing regulation—namely one-off exports and API interoperability—address switching costs but not the barriers of network effects, unique data access, and economies of scale. This Article proposes a new approach to better alleviate these other barriers called collective portability, which would allow groups of users to coordinate to transfer data they share to a new platform, all at once. Although not a panacea, collective portability would provide a meaningful alternative to existing approaches while avoiding both the privacy/competitive utility trade off of one-off exports and the hard-to regulate power dynamics of APIs.

Renewable Energy on Tribal Lands: A Feasibility Study for a Biomass-to-Energy Plant on the Cocopah Reservation in Arizona

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Lauren K. D’Souza ◽  
William L. Ascher ◽  
Tanja Srebotnjak
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biomass Energy ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Energy Plant ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Alternative Investment

Native American reservations are among the most economically disadvantaged regions in the United States; lacking access to economic and educational opportunities that are exacerbated by “energy insecurity” due to insufficient connectivity to the electric grid and power outages. Local renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass offer energy alternatives but their implementation encounters barriers such as lack of financing, infrastructure, and expertise, as well as divergent attitudes among tribal leaders. Biomass, in particular, could be a source of stable base-load power that is abundant and scalable in many rural communities. This case study examines the feasibility of a biomass energy plant on the Cocopah reservation in southwestern Arizona. It considers feedstock availability, cost and energy content, technology options, nameplate capacity, discount and interest rates, construction, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and alternative investment options. This study finds that at current electricity prices and based on typical costs for fuel, O&M over 30 years, none of the tested scenarios is presently cost-effective on a net present value (NPV) basis when compared with an alternative investment yielding annual returns of 3% or higher. The technology most likely to be economically viable and suitable for remote, rural contexts—a combustion stoker—resulted in a levelized costs of energy (LCOE) ranging from US$0.056 to 0.147/kWh. The most favorable scenario is a combustion stoker with an estimated NPV of US$4,791,243. The NPV of the corresponding alternative investment is US$7,123,380. However, if the tribes were able to secure a zero-interest loan to finance the plant’s installation cost, the project would be on par with the alternative investment. Even if this were the case, the scenario still relies on some of the most optimistic assumptions for the biomass-to-power plant and excludes abatement costs for air emissions. The study thus concludes that at present small-scale, biomass-to-energy projects require a mix of favorable market and local conditions as well as appropriate policy support to make biomass energy projects a cost-competitive source of stable, alternative energy for remote rural tribal communities that can provide greater tribal sovereignty and economic opportunities.

Craft Beer's Unlikely Alchemist

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 78-90
Author(s):  
Theresa McCulla
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
The United States ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Intellectual Curiosity ◽  
Brewing Industry ◽  
Washing Machine ◽  
Craft Beer ◽  
History Of

In 1965, Frederick (Fritz) Maytag III began a decades-long revitalization of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California. This was an unexpected venture from an unlikely brewer; for generations, Maytag's family had run the Maytag Washing Machine Company in Iowa and he had no training in brewing. Yet Maytag's career at Anchor initiated a phenomenal wave of growth in the American brewing industry that came to be known as the microbrewing—now “craft beer”—revolution. To understand Maytag's path, this article draws on original oral histories and artifacts that Maytag donated to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History via the American Brewing History Initiative, a project to document the history of brewing in the United States. The objects and reflections that Maytag shared with the museum revealed a surprising link between the birth of microbrewing and the strategies and culture of mass manufacturing. Even if the hallmarks of microbrewing—a small-scale, artisan approach to making beer—began as a backlash against the mass-produced system of large breweries, they relied on Maytag's early, intimate connections to the assembly-line world of the Maytag Company and the alchemy of intellectual curiosity, socioeconomic privilege, and risk tolerance with which his history equipped him.

Planning Replicable Small Flow Wastewater Treatment Facilities in Developing Nations

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gaber ◽  
M. Antill ◽  
W. Kimball ◽  
R. Abdel Wahab
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Development Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Funding Agency ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Technology Choice

The implementation of urban village wastewater treatment plants in developing countries has historically been primarily a function of appropriate technology choice and deciding which of the many needy communities should receive the available funding and priority attention. Usually this process is driven by an outside funding agency who views the planning, design, and construction steps as relatively insignificant milestones in the overall effort required to quickly better a community's sanitary drainage problems. With the exception of very small scale type sanitation projects which have relatively simple replication steps, the development emphasis tends to be on the final treatment plant product with little or no attention specifically focused on community participation and institutionalizing national and local policies and procedures needed for future locally sponsored facilities replication. In contrast to this, the Government of Egypt (GOE) enacted a fresh approach through a Local Development Program with the United States AID program. An overview is presented of the guiding principals of the program which produced the first 24 working wastewater systems including gravity sewers, sewage pumping stations and wastewater treatment plants which were designed and constructed by local entities in Egypt. The wastewater projects cover five different treatment technologies implemented in both delta and desert regions.

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