Authors: Olga Kusraeva
” In August 2014, in response to sanctions by Western countries, Russia has adopted food embargo on several products from the EU, the USA, Canada, Norway and Australia. The restrictions have been set on meat and poultry, fish and seafood, milk and dairy products, vegetables, fruits and nuts. This resolution has influenced significantly on the functioning of the agroindustrial complex of the Russian Federation. The process of creating agricultural products involves many participants, and as a rule each of them operates on the basis of the short-term dual relationships with the following member of the production process. However, the introduction of the food embargo changed the established patterns of functioning of agribusiness in Russia, so the full functioning became impossible. Companies were forced to build their activities according to the changes. In order to determine the main directions of changes in Russian agroindustrial complex caused by the introduction of the food embargo, we conducted the qualitative research – focus group. The focus group consisted of 9 participants, representatives of the top management of the Russian agribusiness companies. Three of them were employees of international retail chains operating in Russia, and six respondents were producers of consumer goods, with production facilities in Russia. In the result of the study we highlighted the following features. Retailers are changing their approach to finding and interacting with providers toward building sustainable value chains. They have to seek partners among Russian companies or among companies that did not fall under the food embargo. At that, it was noted the use of marketing tools in order to build long-term relationships with partners. That is why, the criteria imposed by retailers to their suppliers are gradually changing. A significant role is played by the possibility of changing the conditions of supply and the ability to operate in a turbulent environment. Also important criteria remain the reputational characteristics of the supplier. To compensate the assortment of goods with the desired quality, some retailers actively developing their own production, showing a new for the Russian agricultural sector business models. Backward integration of retailers is a rare phenomenon for the Russian economy. One of the few examples is the company, named “”Magnit”” – the leading food retailer in Russia, which began to apply this strategy before the introduction of the food embargo. Manufacturers are also forced to seek new partners for the sale of their products and for its creation, for example suppliers of raw materials. In addition, many companies work with equipment that is imported from Western countries. And due to the political disagreements, the negotiations on the continuation of cooperation become complicated. It is obvious that one of the significant difficulties faced by the Russian companies is the problem of building long-term partnerships. Thus, we can conclude that for the Russian agribusiness, one of the most important areas is the application of approaches of relationship marketing. ”
Journal: n.a. (n.a. – n.a.)
Web Address: n.a.
Publish Year: 2016
Conference: Poznan, Poland (2016)