Agribusiness

Agribusiness is the food and fibre business. It includes all organisations which bring food and fibre products to consumers or industrial customers. This wide variety of organisations includes both private firms and the public agencies such as food retailers, food manufacturers, fibre processors, agricultural producers, and suppliers of farm inputs. It also includes Government agencies, and service providers (finance, transport, market information and educational services.

Currently, the group is undertaking ground-breaking research on the intersection of classical intra-organisational leadership styles with the emerging leadership styles in the inter-organisational context of Australian agribusiness value chains.

To date, most research on business leadership has focused on intra-organisational leadership, mainly the relationship between the leader and followers within a single business entity. This research has produced a rich typology of leadership styles including transactional, transformational, visionary, charismatic, participative, directive and supportive leadership styles.  By contrast, the number of studies of inter-organisational leadership is limited, despite the growing evidence that collaboration between firms in integrated value chains is a powerful source of competitive advantage in globalised markets.  The work undertaken in this area will lead to three important conceptual and practical outcomes:

• A determination of the role of inter-organisational leadership in reducing transaction costs in Australian agribusiness value chains;
• Identification of the specific leadership capabilities and skills such as trust building and transparency required in Australian agribusiness chains to enhance their global competitiveness; and
• Development of a model of successful inter-organisational leadership styles for Australian agribusiness value chains