Supply chain organization and management for maintaining
quality homogeneity seem to be still mainly a technological
process. Major emphasis is laid on the provision
of production standards and processing practices, whereas
the required incentives for enhancing their adoption and
adaptation to local conditions receive far less attention.
Linking quality attributes to selective management practices
and dovetailing supply chain organization with business
relations still appears to be a major challenge. This
is likely to become even more important when changing
and more stringent consumer demands (regarding food safety and taste) require new incentives to enable further
supply chain upgrading. In a more dynamic market setting,
quality management is strongly related to the timely
provision of information and knowledge to upstream
partners.