Corporate Concentration of Power in the Global Food System: Dynamics, Strategies and Implications

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-297-2_99How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Food companies; Concentration of power; Vertical integration; Horizontal integration; Instrumental power

Abstract

This paper aims to explore how large food companies have achieved concentration of power and control over the food system through strategies such as vertical integration, horizontal integration, and instrumental power in the dynamics of globalisation and trade liberalisation. The trend towards trade liberalisation and deregulation from the 1980s onwards has facilitated the rise of large food companies, which now dominate every aspect of the food system from production to distribution. By analysing the strategies of large food companies and the impacts they have had, this study aims to help understand the high levels of concentration and potential risks in the current food system and to provide suggestions for governments to improve the food system. Based on the combing and analysing of existing studies, this paper searches the relevant literature of the last ten years in Google Scholar through keyword search, from which studies related to the concentration of corporate power are filtered out to reveal the corporate strategies of food companies and their effects by using the research methodology of literature study. It is found that food companies achieve complete stage control from production to sales through vertical integration, which improves productivity and product quality; the horizontal integration approach helps large food companies to expand their market share and technological complementarity; and instrumental power influences governmental decision-making. In addition, food companies actively responded to market demands and flexibly adjusted their products and services to meet consumer needs and preferences. The above strategies have strengthened the market dominance of food companies, but they have also oppressed farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) upstream in the supply chain, to the detriment of consumers, and have increased public health risks.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xianxiang Zhu
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/10/31
TI  - Corporate Concentration of Power in the Global Food System: Dynamics, Strategies and Implications
BT  - Proceedings of the 2024 8th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 815
EP  - 822
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-297-2_99
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-297-2_99
ID  - Zhu2024
ER  -