Fruit and Vegetables in Australian Market - Essay Example

Introduction: Australia is a country so huge that it is considered a continent. In terms of size, it is the sixth largest country in the world, but with a population of only 20 million. The country is very vast and diverse with sparse population density within its interiors. The climate also varies enabling a diverse variety of agricultural products. It would be worthwhile to study how the fresh produce of the country is being made available to its widely spaced markets. The purpose of the proposal is to understand the availability of fruits and vegetables in different parts of the country especially in its major towns and cities. Background to the marketing problem: Agriculture does not play a dominant role in the economy of the country and its share of Gross Domestic Product is only three percent. "Gross farm product (GFP), which is a measure of the value added in production contributed by businesses classified to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) Subdivision 01 (Agriculture). In 1999-2000 GFP was calculated to be $17.6 billion, or just under 3% of gross domestic product." (7113.0- Agriculture, Australia, 1999-2000 2006). Still the country produces a wide variety of crops including fruits and vegetables. Even though Australia is self sufficient in agriculture, the country also imports fruits vegetables and other agricultural commodities mainly due to rising process of domestic produce and increased demand. "The report says that the rising population and demand, low productivity growth and increasing Australian horticultural prices relative to world prices, will place considerable pressure on imports." (Australia: Imports Threaten Fruits and Veges 2008). It would be pertinent to find out how the producers from different parts of this vast country are able to market their produce to the local population. The backbone of the fruit and vegetable market in the country is handled by what is known as the Australian Central Markets. There are six central markets in the country and it is responsible for handling a majority of the fresh produce in the country. "The majority of Australia's fresh produce is either traded or transhipped through Australia's central markets." (About the Market). The concept was a recent one that started operations in 2001 with the purpose of streamlining the wholesale market of fruits, vegetables and flowers in the country. According the above mentioned website, the Central Market Association of Australia is the coordinating agency of the six central markets who are members of this nodal agency. The six member association spread representing nearly all of the fruit and vegetable market in the country are The Adelaide Produce Markets Limited, Brisbane Markets Limited, Melbourne Market Authority, Newcastle Market Pty Ltd., Perth Market Authority and Sydney Markets Ltd. The market is not open for business by individuals for domestic use. This study will focus only on the Melbourne Market Authority since it is representative of the whole country. This market comprises of nearly 600 producer and wholesaler outlets and 140 wholesale trading units. The website says that "Over 1800 individual fruit and vegetable buyers representing independent greengrocers, supermarkets, restaurants and food processors source their produce direct from the Market. Many more receive deliveries and consignments from the Markets." Hence this figure also represents the retail market of the country. A wide variety of fruits and vegetables are available for purchase and resale. About 86 varieties of fruits and nearly eighty five varieties of vegetables are available here which is ultimately made available to the individual consumers. It includes apples to bananas, beetroot, breadfruit, Changko Manis, Chive (Onion Chives), Currant (Red Currant), Fig, Gooseberry, Hogg Plum, lemon, Loganberry, Mango, Olive, Pea Shelling, Potato, Strawberry, Turnip, Winged Bean etc. (Market Fresh News 2008). This list is just to show the wide variety of common and exotic fruits and vegetables that is available in an Australian market. The site is extremely exhaustive and no other source needs to be checked as to the variety and availability (including seasonal) of fruits and vegetables. The facility also has a large warehousing facility which was seen on a visit to the area. The fruit and vegetable section of the market is situated at the centre of the complex with many warehouses surrounding it. The flower market was located to the left of this place and is much smaller in size. A visit to the site (with visitor pass) confirms what has been said above about the facility. Even though no purchases could be made the layout, the number of stores and the variety on display were plainly visible. Problem Statement: Review of published literature has thrown a lot of light on how the fruit and vegetable growers of the country are able to market their produce to wholesalers, retailers and other organizations like restaurants. They in turn will make the produce available to the individual consumer either as fresh produce or processed food or as meals in restaurants. But there is not enough material to understand how the producers transport the produce to such central markets. A physical visit to one of the markets also confirmed what was obtained from published literature. Study of how the produce sold from the central markets was made available at retail outlets was also not available. Unless both these issues are also studied, the whole picture of the market in the country will not be available. It appears that a clear picture of the above issues can be made available through primary research. Research Questions: The above information has so far been made available regarding fruits and vegetables in the Australian markets. To complete the study, a primary research has to be conduct. To guide the study, the following research questions are developed. a. How is the fruit and vegetable market in Australia structured (Already resolved to a large extent through secondary research). b. How do the producers make their good available at areas like the Central Markets of Australia c. How do the products from the secondary markets reach retailers d. How do the central markets assure the availability of fresh produce throughout the year e. What are its pricing policies (The prices in central markets along with what is paid to the producers will determine the retail price). Method of data collection and measurement: Method of data collection and its subsequent measurement is an important element of market research. Unless the data collected is accurate, no amount of analysis will give the desired results. Market research can be classified into three namely exploratory, descriptive and causal. Exploratory means the research is about a matter which the researcher is not familiar with. Causal research is to prove or disprove a cause and effect like for example, the effect of advertising on sales. Descriptive research attempts to describe the relationship between two variables. "Research can be divided into three main categories: exploratory, descriptive and causal." (Ali). The nature of this study makes this attempt an exploratory one since the subject is not familiar to the researcher. There are many methods of obtaining data like face-to-face and telephone interviews, discussion groups, focus groups, using questionnaires, direct observation, one line surveys etc. The method to be used here is through questionnaires as it would suit the research problem. Research ethics should also be taken into consideration and approval of the University Ethics Committee should be obtained through an ethics consent form. Ethics mean that the research should be done honestly; confidentiality of participants should be ensured and should be transparent. Research methods can also be classified as quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative method as the name indicates is usually used when the sample size is very large. The questions will be similar to each category of participant and the answers can be quantified. In other words no explanations are required from the participant. Participants usually select predetermined answers which they feel are most relevant to them. "Data is in the form of numbers and statistics." (Neill 2007). Qualitative methods usually require more detailed explanations and are not easily quantified. It also involves human emotions, attitudes, perceptions etc which would need explanations for clarity. Data is usually in the form of words which has to be analyzed for obtaining results. It could also be more time consuming. Qualitative methodology will be used for data collection in this study since detailed answers are not required. The study involves both primary and secondary research. Secondary research has been completed earlier. The primary research has to be conducted to obtain information that has not been made available through secondary research. The design of the study is as follows. Since this is a straightforward study data collection will be though the use of questionnaires only. The respondents would include producers, outlet owners and officials in the Australian Central Markets (in this case, The Melbourne Market Authority), the retailers who purchase produce from such outlets and finally the end users or consumers of the produce. Prior permission will be obtained from all of the above categories except for consumers. Consumers can be subject to on the spot interviews with their permission. It is assumed that answering of questionnaires will not take more than five to ten minutes and hence there will be no objection among intended participants. Fifty outlet owners and fifty producers are to be used in answering the questionnaires. Hundred consumers are also targeted. Five officials and twenty five retailers are also included. The survey is expected to take two weeks with the ten part-time assistants. It would take a further five days to analyze and interpret the data and two more days to present a report. The total cost of the survey is expected to be $5000 dollars. Design of Questionnaire: Design and content of a questionnaire is very important in obtaining accurate data for analysis. It should be clear and unambiguous because participants may not have the patience to understand unclear questions. But questionnaires have an advantage that it is the most inexpensive method of collecting data when compared to other methods. It is also one of the least time consuming methods. Questionnaires also have an inherent disadvantage. The accuracy of the answers will depend on the honesty of the respondents and the researcher will not be in a position to verify the same. It could also be that the use of questionnaires will bring out answers that are subjective. "For example, if a group of participants are asked on a questionnaire how long it took them to learn a particular function on a piece of software, it is likely that they will be biased towards themselves and answer, on average, with a lower than actual time." (Questionnaire design). The following steps should be undertaken when designing the questionnaire. The objectives of the survey should be clearly laid out, determining the sample group to be surveyed, the actual preparation of the questionnaire, asking the questions to selected respondents and analyzing the results. In the present study all the steps up to preparation of the questionnaire has been completed. Questionnaires can be prepared to produce qualitative or quantitative answers. In this case the questionnaires for all categories of respondents will be quantitative in nature. As mentioned earlier a relatively large sample group is intended to be interviewed and a qualitative questionnaire will be time consuming. Moreover there is another for selecting a quantitative method. It is intended that the study be conducted with least amount of resources and time for the organization that needs the research data. Moreover, the intended response can be answered quantitatively and hence the choice of a quantitative questionnaire. For example, the questions will not require answers like 'difficult' or 'easy', 'good' or 'excellent' etc. A questionnaire can have open or closed questions or even both. The open format will have questions that can be answered as freely as the participant feels. There would be no predetermined answers. The advantage is that the variety of answers will be more. It may also result in new ideas and insights which might not be in the minds of the researchers. The disadvantage is that it would be more expensive and time consuming in analyzing data from open format questionnaires. Closed format questionnaires will be usually in the form of multiple choice questions with respondents having options to choose from the given choice. In a simple survey like the present one it is sufficient to include closed question only to all categories of respondents. The following factors should also be considered when designing the questionnaires. In the closed format questionnaire there would be possibility of including leading questions (by giving wrong or irrelevant multiple choice answers). Questions should be as clear as possible and correct use of language and phrases should be ensured. Embarrassing questions should be avoided. So also hypothetical questions like ones that are based on an imaginary scenario. Questions that could cause prestige bias should be avoided. "Prestige bias is the tendency for respondents to answer in a way that make them feel better. People may not lie directly, but may try to put a better light on themselves." (Questionnaire design). Sampling Design and techniques: Sample accuracy is important in obtaining correct data that is representative of the population being sampled. In case of a census where nearly the whole of the intended population is taken into account accuracy will be there, but when sampling, if the correct sample is not selected accuracy and the whole purpose of the study will be lost. The first step is to determine the sampling frame. Understand the population that needs to be sampled. In our case the population for each category is the producers or growers, the outlet owners, the customers. All the three above will be from the Melbourne Market Authority. The fourth category is the final consumer who will be selected from the retail markets in Melbourne. The next step is to select the sampling frame. "It can be defined as a list or means of representing the sampling units containing the elements of a population. Frequently, this is a telephone directory or membership listing." (Banes & Chansarkar 2002, p. 151). According to the authors five criteria need be fulfilled in selecting the sampling frame namely accuracy, adequacy, completeness, convenience and duplication. Adequacy indicates that all people who fit the characteristics relevant to the survey should be included. In our case the four categories included are representative of the required characteristics. Completeness is also covered by the selection. Convenience indicates the ease that the sample should be available or not too expensive to study. That too has been taken into consideration here. Duplication is a problem that will have to be tackled at the time of actual survey. There are different methods or techniques for sampling. They include simple random sampling, cluster sampling, convenience sampling, judgment sampling, multi-stage sampling, quota sampling, stratified sampling and systematic sampling. Here elements of more than one sampling methods appear. Sample size will is selected on the base of the population. Simple random sampling may happen because every member of the consumer group will have a chance of being interviewed. Finally the data from the sampling has to be analyzed. Analysis can be done manually or for more ease and convenience can use automated sampling software using Excel of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). All qualitative data can be analyzed using the above mentioned software packages. Limitations: Even though every effort has been made to make the survey perfect certain limitation exist. The sample size could have been increased since the study is one covering the whole country of Australia. Sampling techniques used here might result in the wrong population in the case of consumers. It is difficult to select the right sample from the consumers whose population will be very large and the results may end up being skewed. More than one central market could have been covered. Since the country has a large spread out grown area, fruits and vegetable grown in each place may be different. The availability of certain categories might be different in different central markets. The study here assumes that the Melbourne Market Authority is representative for the whole country. Bibliography About the Market: Australian Central Markets. [Online]. Melbourne Wholesale Fruit Vegetable & Flower Market: Melbourne Market Authority. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://www.melbournemarkets.com.au/about_about.asp ALI, Prof Shaukat. Research Methodology: Back to Basics: Research Design. [Online]. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://www.journal.au.edu/abac_journal/jan98/article5.html Australia: Imports Threaten Fruits and Veges. (2008). [Online]. Fresh Plaza: Global Fresh Produce and Banana News. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.aspid=17877 BANES, Paul., & Chansarkar, Bal (2002). Introducing Marketing Research: Stage 2 - Search for Sampling Frame. p. 151. New York: Wiley. [Online]. Questia. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://www.questia.com/read/111960832title=Introducing%20Marketing%20Research Market Fresh News. (2008). [Online]. Market Fresh. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://www.marketfresh.com.au/produce_guide/fruit_veg_all.aspID=0&CategoryID=0 NEILL, James (2007). Qualitative versus Quantitative Research: Key Points in a Classic Debate: Features of Qualitative and Quantitative research. [Online]. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://wilderdom.com/research/QualitativeVersusQuantitativeResearch.html Questionnaire Design: What can Questionnaires Measure [Online]. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_winter/Topics/quest-design/ Questionnaire Design: Prestige Bias. [Online]. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_winter/Topics/quest-design/ 7113.0- Agriculture, Australia, 1999-2000: Chapter 1: Agriculture and Australian Economy. (2006). [Online]. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Last accessed 27 June 2008 at: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/productsbytitle/A89F51DCB5E2E31BCA2568A900139429OpenDocument Read More