Comparative analysis of corporate strategies in agriculture : the internationalisation of agribusinesses in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Between 75% and 90% of the world market for agricultural commodities is controlled by four major agribusiness multinationals (MNCs), namely Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Company (the ‘ABCD’ firms). The activities of the ABCD firms typically involve extensive cross-border trade and investment, which define internationalisation at a grand scale. The similarities in strategy and approaches of ABCD firms from an internationalisation perspective can be interpreted as a “convergence in practice” in the global agro-food system. However, the virtual absence of the ABCD firms in sub-Saharan Africa means that the continent remains the last frontier of global agro-food system convergence. In this sense, emerging agribusiness MNCs in sub-Saharan Africa represent a harbinger of global convergence in the continent’s agro-food sector. Yet there is limited understanding of the activities, strategies and approaches of these agribusiness MNCs. The objective of the study is to unpack agro-food system convergence within the context of agribusiness internationalization in sub-Saharan Africa. This task is achieved in four ways. First, the study shows evidence of convergence in sub-Saharan Africa through a trend analysis of four agribusiness MNCs within the continent. The analysis identifies similarities in strategy and approach between agribusiness MNCs in sub-Saharan Africa and ABCD firms. Second, the study assesses the cross-border market entry behavior of 67 agribusiness firms in the continent, including the four aforementioned firms that were used to illustrate evidence of convergence. Third, the study assesses the transboundary alliance behavior of 10 firms drawn from the same sample to show evidence of “corporate clustering” or cluster convergence. Fourth, the study takes a closer look into firm-level behavior through a specific case study of an internationalising agribusiness MNC in Zambia to show evidence of supplier convergence. Several research methods were used to analyse the various dimensions of convergence, all of which were examined within the framework agribusiness internationalisation. These methods include trend analyses to identify strategies and approaches, a multinomial logit model to assess cross-border entry strategies, game theory to assess the likelihood of transboundary strategic alliances and cluster convergence, and system dynamics modelling to analyse value chain integration and supplier convergence. The respective research methods were applied to a variable number of agribusiness firms which were drawn from the same sample. The study found evidence of convergence – defined by a gravitation of the agro-food system towards fewer large-sized agribusiness MNCs – which is being driven by two growth phenomena, namely, growth through value chain integration and growth through strategic alliances. The study identified these two types of convergence as follows: a) Supplier (?) convergence, which occurs when firms seek to gain competitive advantage in new markets by internalising critical but non-core value chain functions; and b) Cluster (?) convergence, which occurs when agribusiness MNCs leverage complementary assets of other competing firms and use collaborative advantage as a means to gain competitive advantage in new markets. The analysis predicts that there will be “a collapse of the middle”, which is defined by a gradual disappearance of agribusiness firms with an annual turnover ranging between US$160 million and US$996 million per annum, most of whom will enter into strategic alliances. Such strategic alliances are leading to a formation of large clusters that will likely morph into multi-billion-dollar agribusiness firms. It is entirely possible that these mega-agribusiness MNCs can ultimately be acquired by the powerful quartet of ABCD firms once the sub-Saharan African market matures, a phenomenon that will complete the final phase of global agro-food convergence.