The findings of this study should be evaluated in light of the following limitations. Directions for further research are also given.
First, although the sample of producers used in Chapters 3 and 4, and the sample of packers used in Chapter 5 were large enough to evaluate the different hypotheses and get significant results, we faced limitations in terms of the representativeness are the data. The samples of producers and packers included respondents from different farm and firm sizes and from the different production areas in Mexico. Thus, the variation in the samples was relatively large compared to the sizes of the sample (122 for the producers and 44 for the packers). In other to increase the external validity of the findings, we should have selected a larger number of respondents.
Second, our sample only contained cross sectional data. Therefore, our results only provide a ‘snapshot’ of the situation in the Mexican avocado industry. In order to get an idea of the dynamics of the relationships, and to go beyond statistical inferences about causality, a longitudinal study design would be needed.
Third, our empirical analyses have focused on adoption of quality standards, supplier partnership, coordination and performance. No distinction regarding national and international marketing channels has been made. A larger sample representing these two marketing channels would give more insight in the potential differences in the supply chain relationships in these two channels.
Four, in explaining the relationship between coordination and performance (Chapter 4 we focused our analysis on those packers that have not formally integrated their packaging activities with trading activities. Although our exploratory case study showed that forward integration between packers and trading companies is present in a limited number of cases in the Mexican avocado industry, future analysis could go deeper into this integration to analyze what factors are most important for successful forward integration. In addition future research should consider analysing of the relationship between traders and national and international retailers.
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