Designing a Distribution Business Model for Agricultural Products; Examining: Fruits, Vegetables and Seafood Based on the DSRM Framework

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Imam Sadiq University

Abstract

The supply chain of agricultural products consists of three main parts: supply, production and distribution. The active agents in this chain include producers (farmers), retailers, distributors and consumers. In Iran, the distribution chain of agricultural products, especially fruits, vegetables and summer crops are facing problems that can be attributed to the lack of proper structure, the presence of high and expensive intermediaries. Therefore, the main problem is the lack of a comprehensive distribution business model of agricultural products. The purpose of this research is to design a distribution business model using the methods approach of exploratory sequential mixed strategy. In the first step, there has been used mixed strategy with thematic analysis and semi-structured interviews from 16 agricultural experts. Then, in the second step, in order to make the optimal decision using the importance-performance analysis approach in the software operation research, 45 themes were prioritized, designed finally placed the final model based on design science research methodology (DSRM). The results of this research are designing the distribution business model for agricultural products that evaluates and prioritizes each of six priority themes in six steps including the problem, the motivation, the purpose and the solution, the design and development of the application of the products in the desired context, and then evaluations and communications were set up in addition to identify the themes to prioritize them in each of the research steps.

Keywords