Creating a Competitive Strategy to Improve the Performance of an Agricultural Chain – A Case Study of Potatoes in Egypt

Egypt like many developing countries is shifting towards a free market oriented economy. Egypt’s economic strategy strives to expand and develop exports, especially agricultural exports, and at the same time provide food to Egyptian consumers However, the improvement, on the macro-economic level, was not reflected, as expected, on the agricultural sector. The potato sector has variability in production quantities and qualities, high costs of inputs and high cost of marketing services that are hindering its development. The key issue is how to improve the performance and efficiency of the potato sector through a competitive strategy oriented towards inter-organizational relationships and networks. A case study approach is developed using a quantitative empirical measure for the assessment of agents in the potato sector position in a chain and distinguishes between the different types of interdependencies involved in the system. The research argues that the performance of the potato sector can greatly be improved by a strategic alliance between agents.