Case study research design

This research examines the applicability of option contract in Australia in the perishable food supply chains. The structure of supply chains and, as noted above, the relationships between the supply chain players, varies from product to product.

This section provides the required parameters in designing a case study research. The choice of single case study or multiple case studies is important to the design of the research.

4.4.1 Single or multiple case study

Case study research design starts with the choice of whether a single or multiple case study approach should be adopted (Gerring 2007). Yin (2009) suggests three rationales for single case study design. First is whether the case study represents the critical case in testing a well-formulated theory. The second rationale for single case study is when the case represents an extreme or unique case. The third rationale is the revelatory case, when the investigator has an opportunity to observe and analyse an inaccessible phenomenon.

Multiple case study design should not be applied when the study under investigation is critical, revelatory or unique case. However, it is appropriate when replication logic is valid and each case study predicts either similar results (a literal replication) or produces contrasting results for predictable reasons (a theoretical replication)(Yin 2009).

The importance of selection of case studies and designing the research is acknowledged by scholars (Creswell 2013, 2014; Gerring 2007; Yin 2009, 2012). The decision between single and multiple case studies is bounded with the nature of research and research

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The replication logic is important to the research outcomes. The perishable food supply chains involve a variety of products with the common characteristic of perishability. There are other product characteristics, however, and the multiple-case study approach has been selected in conducting this research.

The next step is to choose the case studies among the perishable food supply chains. The selection is based on the option contract requirements discovered from the literature. The requirements are a retailer-led supply chain, seasonal products, long lead time of production, and high demand uncertainty. The first three requirements must be considered in the selection of case studies. However, demand uncertainty is a variable that requires investigation through the research.

Retailer-led supply chain- The field of research undertaken is confined to Australian perishable food supply chains. There are different chains in Australia involved with retailing food products. However, this study focuses on retailer-led supply chains, where supermarkets have a dominant position. As explained in Chapter Three, supermarket refers to a retail chain that has most of these features:

 Very much larger in size than the small grocery store;

 Wide variety of goods for sale, with foodstuffs as the most significant commodity;  Self-serving from goods displayed on open shelves;

 Customers pay at the designated location (the checkouts);

 Part of a chain of similar outlets, which may be owned or franchised by one company.

According to this definition, Coles, Woolworths, IGA, ALDI and Food Works are classified as supermarkets and are the target of this study. Coles and Woolworths with almost eighty percent of market share are recognised as the giant retail chains in grocery products. Adding IGA to these two, the market share increases to ninety five percent (The Challenge to Feed a Growing Nation 2010).

However, investigation of all the above supermarket chains within the timeframe of the research is almost impossible. Therefore, one of the giant supermarkets in Australia has

Chapter Four

been selected to participate in the research. Multiple case studies are selected among the supply chains involved in the supermarket chain of the study.

Perishable food supply chains include variety of chains such as fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV), meat, poultry, frozen food, dairy products and bread. All of these products are sold at the supermarket shelves in Australia.

Long production lead time- Not all of the perishable products require long production lead times. For instance, bread and dairy products are produced using continuous production mode which does not need a long production time. Therefore, frozen foods, meat and poultry and fresh fruit and vegetables still remain as potential choices.

Seasonal products- Seasonality is an effective parameter in application of option contracts. This parameter also impacts on demand uncertainty. Seasonality in perishable foods refers to period of availability times of products in one year. Fresh meat and poultry products and frozen foods are also not seasonal as they are available all year around for the consumers. The choices of case studies, which are compatible with the option contract requirements, are fresh fruits and vegetables. However, not all of the fresh fruits and vegetables are categorised as seasonal produce. Some are available in all times of the year such as potatoes, carrots, and apples. Figure 4-2 shows these requirements and potential relevant products leading to choose FFVs as the group of study.

Thus, the multiple cases must be chosen among seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables produces. The cases are chosen by applying Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach. The selection of case studies involves various criteria among various alternatives which leads the researcher to apply MCDM approach. The details of MCDM approach and also description of criteria and alternatives are provided in the next chapter. The results of MCDM technique was four fruit supply chains as the case studies, which are strawberries, grapes, mangoes and peaches supply chains. All these four produce are seasonal, have long lead time of production and are sold at the supermarket shelves. The next section provides the methods applied in the research to collect and analyse the data.

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