The economics of delivering service in agribusiness
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the elements of service quality in agribusiness input industries, specifically crop protection and fertilizer inputs. Often bundling their services with products, suppliers of agronomic inputs might inefficiently allocate resources to solve customer problems. An ideal solution tailored to the needs and desires of each agricultural production operation should improve the profits for farmer and supplier alike. To confirm the hierarchical structure of agribusiness input services and assess the value of improvements in the attributes, this study surveys 106 farmers on their perceptions of service quality. Results of the analysis suggest that service quality in agronomic inputs is composed of a hierarchical structure where three attributes (physical environment quality, interaction quality, and outcome quality) each have three subdimensions. Furthermore, farmers value improvements in outcome quality the most and physical environment quality the least. In addition, the values of these improvements are investigated for five buyer segments. This analysis suggests that input suppliers would do well to allocate resources in a way that exploits differences among these segments.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Gray, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Agricultural economics
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