ABSTRACT
In the agri-business arena, many products have descended to commodity status. The challenges in rising above commoditisation are accentuated in emerging markets such as India, which face the dual responsibilities of serving customers while enhancing the welfare of growers, who are typically small-scale farmers. Indian consumers, with their rising aspirations and incomes, present additional opportunities and challenges. In this chapter, we bring together these diverse considerations and their interplay and describe recent efforts by several Indian agri-business firms to become more market oriented. We then present an in-depth case study of a cold storage firm that is attempting to break out of the commodity trap. In closing, we discuss public policy initiatives underway in India to facilitate an economy-wide transition to market-driven orientation.
