Abstract:
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The meat and livestock industry in Australia accounts for more than 45 per cent of Australia’s total value of agricultural production, within which beef is the largest industry in value terms (Nossal, Sheng and Zhao 2008). But the industry is experiencing a long-term decline in terms of trade, and has lagged behind other industries in rates of productivity improvement (MLA 2008). As it is critical for the economy that the beef industry maintains profitability and sustainability, it is believed that the performance, competitiveness and success of the industry depends on improving cost efficiency and productivity of the whole supply chain in the industry. The main objective of this study was to investigate how the synergies of developing and utilizing ‘supply chain knowledge’, use of ‘inter-organizational systems (IOS)’, and competent ‘inter-firm relationship’ influence ‘supply chain performance’ and ‘competitiveness’ of the Australian Beef industry.
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