Improving Farmers’ Income on Online Agri-Platforms: Theory and Field Implementation of a Two-Stage Auction

Self Cite

I n this paper, we honor Stanford University Professor Hau Lee, who is a great inspiration and thought leader in the supply chain and operations management (SC&OM) field. Our discussion centers around one of the most challenging SC&OM problems-food production, distribution, and consumption from dirt to table. We advocate and link our notions of emergent regenerative, organic food value chains (ROFVC) with quadruple-aim performance (QAP) that connects financial outcomes with ecological, human, and socioeconomic well-being. To do so, we first overview the systemic problems underlying the conventional food supply chains (CFSC) that render them unsustainable in the long run. In contrast, we introduce salient distinctions between CFSC and the new paradigm of ROFVC that uphold QAP. We believe the ideas generated in this paper can move the food systems' SC&OM design, implementation, and performance measurement from an efficiency-oriented industrial paradigm of large-scale, factory farming toward a more encompassing view of eco-responsible practices. In CFSC, the many hidden costs are cumulative and have broad deleterious consequences; however, in ROFVC, pollution is shunned and "taxed," and sustainability, as a public good, is rewarded by sequestering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and maintaining biodiversity, living soil, as well as clean air and water. We conclude with research, teaching, and policy agendas. We believe that the underlying principles here cut across sectors by fostering the introduction of regenerative business models that take a system's view in capturing QAP in their value chain strategy and execution.

Section: The Path Forwardmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…(2019), Levi et al. (2020b), and Zhang and Swaminathan (2020). Also, much research is needed to promote the adoption of ROFVC business models among farmers and consumers.…”

Section: The Path Forwardmentioning

confidence: 98%

A Tale of Two Food Chains: The Duality of Practices on Well‐being

Roth

Zheng

2021

Self Cite

“…Levi et al. (2020) design and implement a two‐stage auction in an online agriplatform for smallholder farmers in Karnataka, India. The authors show that the implementation results in a price increase of 3.6%.…”

Section: Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…See, for example, Levi et al. (2020) that studies the auction design for online agri‐platforms in developing countries, and implements the proposed design in an Indian farmer market.…”

Section: Future Directions Ii: Business Model/process Innovations For...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Socially relevant and inclusive operations management

Sunar¹,

Swaminathan²

2022

Many parts of the world are experiencing extreme weather events, energy poverty, food insecurity, and lack of access to basic healthcare. Moreover, concerns over socioeconomic, gender, and racial inequalities are growing. These socially relevant issues are ripe for analysis and improvement using an operations management lens. In this paper, we review some of the relevant research advancements made in the last decade, and identify future research directions on these important topics. In particular, we focus on papers related to sustainable planet (renewable energy, environmentally and socially responsible operations, regulation‐driven operations), agriculture, and public health. For future research directions, we discuss the role of innovative business models and disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, in addressing these pressing issues.

“…Relatedly, Levi et al. (2020b) develop a two‐stage auction model for a state‐run online agri‐platform in India. Empirical results from a real‐life implementation reveal that the two‐stage auction increases farmers' revenue.…”

Section: Research Streams For Sio At the Global Bopmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social impact operations at the global base of the pyramid

Jónasson¹,

Ramdas

Sungu

2022

In recent years, our field has seen an increase in research that explicitly emphasizes an objective of social impact in the most unprivileged parts of the world-the so-called global base of the pyramid (referring to the 2.7 billion people living on less than $2.50 per day, the largest but most resource-poor economic group globally). This trend seems to cut across the traditional application areas of OM and OR, and it coincides with an increased emphasis on environmental and social governance (ESG) values in industry, a greater prominence of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and increases in social impact research in other academic fields. In this paper, we pull together representative examples from our field of what we consider as social impact research aimed at improving living conditions at the base of the pyramid.We first examine the scale and scope of work published in Production and Operations Management over the last 25 years, and then provide a broader summary of the spectrum of research within OM and OR that constitute this stream of literature. We adopt the stance that OM and OR should embrace the current societal emphasis on social responsibility and positive social impact-and strive to contribute to the most pressing problems for those living at the base of the pyramid. Although our field has produced a body of work addressing such problems, individual research projects of this type are usually not viewed as falling under the broad umbrella of Social Impact Operations (SIO), but rather are classified as part of the closest application area. By providing an initial overview of this work we wish to celebrate the contribution of our field to this area, highlight common themes, catalyze a dialogue across application areas among researchers with a common perspective, and identify opportunities for future research.