ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the key concepts associated with adopting 'value chain thinking' and suggests how they might be applied to developing the Australian native food industry. All native food products, whether harvested from the wild or produced on farms, must be transferred along a chain of businesses that link the harvester or producer with the final consumer, and many products are processed into different forms as they move along this chain. The concept of value was first introduced by Porter, who argued that a company's competitiveness revolves around its ability to provide superior value to its customers, and that within a company, there is a chain of activities, called a value chain, that create and deliver this value. Traders generally travel long distances to meet with Aboriginal communities to collect native food products. These usually small-scale operators play a significant role in linking harvesters with the rest of the chain.
