IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i5p3775-d1075089.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimizing the Agricultural Supply Chain through E-Commerce: A Case Study of Tudouec in Inner Mongolia, China

Author

Listed:
  • Jian Li

    (College of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)

  • Xin Yan

    (College of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)

  • Yongwu Li

    (College of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)

  • Xuefan Dong

    (College of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)

Abstract

E-commerce has the potential to address problems in the agricultural supply chain and support the implementation of rural revitalization strategies. Previous research has largely focused on the business models of rural e-commerce platforms, but has not examined the mechanisms by which they can optimize and reconfigure the agricultural supply chain. This study aims to fill this gap through a case study of Tudouec, a potato e-commerce platform in Inner Mongolia, China. The study employs a single-case study method and utilizes data from interviews, fieldwork, and secondary sources. The findings show that Tudouec is a multi-functional platform offering technical support, warehousing, logistics, supply chain finance, and insurance, among other services. It not only serves as a multi-channel information management platform, but also enhances supply chain capabilities through the interaction of information flow with capital and material flows. This rural e-commerce model addresses the limitations of traditional agricultural models and promotes poverty reduction and rural revitalization. The study’s main contribution is in demonstrating the potential for the Tudouec model to be applied to other agricultural products and in other developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Jian Li & Xin Yan & Yongwu Li & Xuefan Dong, 2023. "Optimizing the Agricultural Supply Chain through E-Commerce: A Case Study of Tudouec in Inner Mongolia, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:3775-:d:1075089
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/3775/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/3775/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. MartinNeil Baily & Robert Z. Lawrence, 2001. "Do We Have a New E-conomy?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 308-312, May.
    2. Kim, Taebok & Glock, Christoph H. & Kwon, Yongjang, 2014. "A closed-loop supply chain for deteriorating products under stochastic container return times," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 30-40.
    3. Andrés Weintraub & Carlos Romero, 2006. "Operations Research Models and the Management of Agricultural and Forestry Resources: A Review and Comparison," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 36(5), pages 446-457, October.
    4. Kim, T. & Glock, C. H. & Kwon, Y., 2014. "A closed-loop supply chain for deteriorating products under stochastic container return times," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 62024, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    5. Xuemei Fan & Ziyue Nan & Yuanhang Ma & Yingdan Zhang & Fei Han, 2021. "Research on the Spatio-Temporal Impacts of Environmental Factors on the Fresh Agricultural Product Supply Chain and the Spatial Differentiation Issue—An Empirical Research on 31 Chinese Provinces," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-26, November.
    6. Zeng, Yiwu & Jia, Fu & Wan, Li & Guo, Hongdong, 2017. "E-commerce in agri-food sector: a systematic literature review," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 20(4), February.
    7. Zihan Li & Yazhen Gong & Kevin Z. Chen, 2018. "Energy use and rural poverty: empirical evidence from potato farmers in northern China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(2), pages 280-298, December.
    8. Markelova, Helen & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Hellin, Jon & Dohrn, Stephan, 2009. "Collective action for smallholder market access," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-7, February.
    9. Chunhua Tang & Huiyuan Zhang & Jiamuyan Xie, 2022. "Optimal Contract Design in Contract Farming under Asymmetric Effort Information," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    10. Leroux, Nicole & Wortman, Max S., Jr. & Mathias, Eric D., 2001. "Dominant Factors Impacting The Development Of Business-To-Business (B2b) E-Commerce In Agriculture," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 4(2), pages 1-14.
    11. Uwe Deichmann & Aparajita Goyal & Deepak Mishra, 2016. "Will digital technologies transform agriculture in developing countries?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(S1), pages 21-33, November.
    12. Montealegre, Fernando & Thompson, Sarahelen R. & Eales, James S., 2007. "An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Success of Food and Agribusiness E-Commerce Firms," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21.
    13. Timothy J. Lowe & Paul V. Preckel, 2004. "Decision Technologies for Agribusiness Problems: A Brief Review of Selected Literature and a Call for Research," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 6(3), pages 201-208.
    14. Thia Hennessy & Doris Läpple & Brian Moran, 2016. "The Digital Divide in Farming: A Problem of Access or Engagement?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 474-491.
    15. Hofmann, Erik, 2011. "Risk management in international supply chains: the case of natural hedging," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 65(2), pages 155-192.
    16. Zexian Gu & Xiaoqing Zhao & Pei Huang & Junwei Pu & Xinyu Shi & Yungang Li, 2023. "Identification of Multi-Dimensional Relative Poverty and Governance Path at the Village Scale in an Alpine-Gorge Region: A Case Study in Nujiang, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-19, January.
    17. ming, Luo & GuoHua, Zhou & Wei, Wei, 2021. "Study of the Game Model of E-Commerce Information Sharing in an Agricultural Product Supply Chain based on fuzzy big data and LSGDM," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    18. Fritz, Melanie & Hausen, Tobias & Schiefer, Gerhard, 2004. "Developments and Development Directions of Electronic Trade Platforms in US and European Agri-Food Markets: Impact on Sector Organization," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21.
    19. Borodin, Valeria & Bourtembourg, Jean & Hnaien, Faicel & Labadie, Nacima, 2016. "Handling uncertainty in agricultural supply chain management: A state of the art," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 254(2), pages 348-359.
    20. Wei-yu Kevin Chiang & Dilip Chhajed & James D. Hess, 2003. "Direct Marketing, Indirect Profits: A Strategic Analysis of Dual-Channel Supply-Chain Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(1), pages 1-20, January.
    21. Lingjingyuan Xu & Jianming Yao, 2022. "Supply Chain Scheduling Optimization in an Agricultural Socialized Service Platform Based on the Coordination Degree," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-20, December.
    22. Yuehua Xia & Honggen Long & Zhi Li & Jiasen Wang, 2022. "Farmers’ Credit Risk Assessment Based on Sustainable Supply Chain Finance for Green Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, October.
    23. Yiwu Zeng & Hongdong Guo & Yanfei Yao & Lu Huang, 2019. "The formation of agricultural e‐commerce clusters: A case from China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 1356-1374, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Behzadi, Golnar & O’Sullivan, Michael Justin & Olsen, Tava Lennon & Zhang, Abraham, 2018. "Agribusiness supply chain risk management: A review of quantitative decision models," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 21-42.
    2. Zeng, Yiwu & Jia, Fu & Wan, Li & Guo, Hongdong, 2017. "E-commerce in agri-food sector: a systematic literature review," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 20(4), February.
    3. Xiaolu Wei & Junhu Ruan, 2022. "Influences of Government Policies and Farmers’ Cognition on Farmers’ Participation Willingness and Behaviors in E-Commerce Interest Linkage Mechanisms during Farmer–Enterprise Games," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Li, Xiaokang & Guo, Hongdong & Jin, Songqing & Ma, Wanglin & Zeng, Yiwu, 2021. "Do farmers gain internet dividends from E-commerce adoption? Evidence from China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    5. H. Holly Wang & Yu Jiang & Shaosheng Jin & Qiujie Zheng, 2022. "New online market connecting Chinese consumers and small farms to improve food safety and environment," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 70(4), pages 305-324, December.
    6. Biswajit Sarkar & Mehran Ullah & Seok-Beom Choi, 2019. "Joint Inventory and Pricing Policy for an Online to Offline Closed-Loop Supply Chain Model with Random Defective Rate and Returnable Transport Items," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-20, June.
    7. Chandra S. R. Nuthalapati & Chaitanya Nuthalapati, 2021. "Has Open Innovation Taken Root in India? Evidence from Startups Working in Food Value Chains," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 1207-1230, December.
    8. Alamri, Adel A. & Syntetos, Aris A., 2018. "Beyond LIFO and FIFO: Exploring an Allocation-In-Fraction-Out (AIFO) policy in a two-warehouse inventory model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 33-45.
    9. Maiti, T. & Giri, B.C., 2017. "Two-way product recovery in a closed-loop supply chain with variable markup under price and quality dependent demand," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(PA), pages 259-272.
    10. Fahimnia, Behnam & Sarkis, Joseph & Eshragh, Ali, 2015. "A tradeoff model for green supply chain planning:A leanness-versus-greenness analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 173-190.
    11. Tanksale, Ajinkya N. & Das, Debabrata & Verma, Priyanka & Tiwari, Manoj Kumar, 2021. "Unpacking the role of primary packaging material in designing green supply chains: An integrated approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    12. Jianxin Guo & Songqing Jin & Lei Chen & Jichun Zhao, 2018. "Impacts of Distance Education on Agricultural Performance and Household Income: Micro-Evidence from Peri-Urban Districts in Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, October.
    13. Meherishi, Lavanya & Narayana, Sushmita A. & Ranjani, K.S., 2021. "Integrated product and packaging decisions with secondary packaging returns and protective packaging management," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(3), pages 930-952.
    14. Gao, Jing & Zeng, Yiwu & Liu, Min, 2024. "Policy interventions and market innovation in rural China: Empirical evidence from Taobao villages," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1411-1429.
    15. Behzadi, Golnar & O'Sullivan, Michael Justin & Olsen, Tava Lennon & Scrimgeour, Frank & Zhang, Abraham, 2017. "Robust and resilient strategies for managing supply disruptions in an agribusiness supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 207-220.
    16. Rui Zhao & Yiyun Liu & Zhenyan Zhang & Sidai Guo & Ming-Lang Tseng & Kuo-Jui Wu, 2018. "Enhancing Eco-Efficiency of Agro-Products’ Closed-Loop Supply Chain under the Belt and Road Initiatives: A System Dynamics Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    17. Zhang, Qinhong & Segerstedt, Anders & Tsao, Yu-Chung & Liu, Biyu, 2015. "Returnable packaging management in automotive parts logistics: Dedicated mode and shared mode," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 234-244.
    18. Julio C. Londoño & Rafael D. Tordecilla & Leandro do C. Martins & Angel A. Juan, 2021. "A biased-randomized iterated local search for the vehicle routing problem with optional backhauls," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 29(2), pages 387-416, July.
    19. Wenbo Zhang & Wilbert Wilhelm, 2011. "OR/MS decision support models for the specialty crops industry: a literature review," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 190(1), pages 131-148, October.
    20. Liao, Haolan & Zhang, Qingyu & Shen, Neng & Nie, Yongyou & Li, Lu, 2021. "Coordination between forward and reverse production streams for maximum profitability," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:3775-:d:1075089. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.