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1. Introduction
Information integration has emerged as one of the key dimensions of supply chain integration (SCI) and plays a significant role in the effectiveness and efficiency of overall supply chain (SC) practices of various industries, in particular with agri-food SCs involving a large number of stakeholders that includes logistics partners and regulatory bodies. At the same time, there is a growing need for information integration in agri-food SC practices in direct proportion to the increasing demand for agri-food products and the increasingly global nature of agri-food SC practices. Major reasons for rising world demand for agri-food products include the increasing growth of population and expanding middle classes in emerging economies as well as the global trend towards healthy eating habits. Projected forecasts suggest the average annual increase in world demand for agri-food will be 1.3 per cent during 2007-2050 (Linehan et al., 2012). Many governments are responsive to the need to position food security as a major item in their agendas. For example, the Australian Government has made extensive efforts as spelled out in its “National Food Plan”, an initiative to develop an overarching framework to identify the role of government in the food SC (Australian Government, 2013), and plans to make Australia a sustainable and productive supplier of nutritious and affordable food for its people and the world (Australian Government, 2012). There is general consensus on the need for an emphasis on the importance of improving food SC management; challenges are compounded by the short shelf life and time sensitive prices of agri-food products, presence of decentralized small to medium producers in the upstream and major retailers in the downstream and potential vulnerability from natural disasters on longer SCs of fresh food supplies including the concerns about the food safety, security and quality (Delforce et al., 2005).
The role of information integration and its strategic importance for competitiveness have been identified in the context of SC management. The core of SC management is integration that involves the dimensions of supplier, customer and internal integration (Schoenherr and Swink, 2012). From a broad perspective, a SC consists of firms that are directly involved in flows of products, services, finances and information to customers (Mentzer et al., 2001); the SC is therefore considered...