CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY OPTIONS
The GCC approach provides useful tools for
the analysis of commodity markets. It examines
how key agents build, co-ordinate and control
the linkages and flow of produce between producers
and consumers, and the roles played
in this process by contractual forms, the coordination
of finance and business services,
and––increasingly––the wider regulatory framework.
It pays attention to the organizational
aspects of the chain, to the whole range of activities
from primary production to final consumption,
and to the linkages binding them.
GCC analysis also pursues the implications of
economic power––in the form of strategic behavior
affecting up- and down-stream activities
and agents. These aspects are almost entirely
ignored in other approaches to the study of commodity
trade. 31
GCC studies have been able to indicate
trends in commodity markets that were previously
unknown. They have shown that ‘‘buyers’’
of various kinds (supermarket chains,
processors and international traders) are increasingly
dominating several commodity chains.
GCC studies have also highlighted that these
buyers use a variety of mechanisms of chain
coordination––such as determination or control
of standards and quality conventions, control
of market and consumer information, vertical
integration, and branding. Furthermore, they