This is a case study on which an in-depth analysis needs to be done for better understanding.

International Nut and Food & Company (Innutco), a small Brazilian food sector company, has shown significant growth rates in the volume of its operations, obtained through consistent and committed performance aligned with the needs of its customers. Their activities are based on business-to-business (B2B) relationships, supplying food ingredients to a few large customers.

Innutco's business is concentrated in the processing and delivery of ingredients made from peanuts (mainly) and other nuts (secondarily). In this sense, the company has two strategic focuses:

First, as a manufacturer of ingredients for the food industry, which includes the processing (selection, roasting, granulation, finishing, and preparation) of nuts purchased directly from producers. The outputs (roasted peanuts in parts, peanut fudge, crispy peanuts, and flour, among others) are provided as inputs for food manufacturers. This activity is responsible for 65% of their total U.S. $12 million annual revenue. Second, as a service provider, which includes the preparation of food items for large companies in the sector, such as fruit fillings, coated nuts, marshmallow syrup, dry mixes, and other components, using inputs provided by various food manufacturers. Such activity requires the purchase of packaging, labels, and other supplementary materials from third parties, as well as the management of the suppliers' quality and the logistics flow.

Innutco's Supply Chain

Innutco`s supply chain presents several challenges, both upstream and downstream. These are related to the concentration and size of Innutco's trading partners. Figure 1 below represents Innutco's supply chain of Innutco`s providers. In Brazil, the peanut is characterized by a highly concentrated culture, both in terms of geography and, in particular, regarding production ownership. Thus, about 90% of Brazilian peanuts are produced by a single cooperative of producers. Despite being an advantage in terms of logistics, for its geographical proximity, such concentration allows this cooperative to have a high bargaining power over its customers, which hinders the development of a more collaborative relationship with Innutco. Negotiations occur in accordance with market prices, comparing the prices negotiated to those charged in the commodities spot market.

The peanut culture in Brazil has attracted few new farmers because, after distinctive growth in the '60s and '70s, there was a sharp decline in peanut planting and, consequently, peanut production. The levels of production only started to grow again after 2004 (see Figure 2), and are still comparatively low. Such behavior is due, mainly, to three factors:

• The replacement of eatable peanut oil by soybean oil, since new production technologies had eliminated the bad smell and toxins of soybeans;
• The episode of aflatoxin poisoning of cattle in English farms because of infected cattle peanut foods imported from Brazil. This caused exports to dramatically decrease in Brazil;
• Greater competition from other countries such as China, India, the U.S., and Argentina (see Figure 3)

The Innutco supply chain also has only a few customers. The customers are composed of big food manufacturers, some of which are multinationals. Some of these customers also provide Innutco raw materials for further processing as described earlier. In short, Innutco has little bargaining power with either suppliers or customers, which severely limits its actions and influence over supply chain activities and value-added, posing a potential threat to Innutco's operations.

Other Issues

• The Innutco organizational structure is essentially functional, being grouped into 4 departments: Research & Development, Production, Logistics, and Management. The following Figure 4 summarizes the allocation of the activities undertaken by the organization.

Innutco is recognized as a successful nut product processor in the food sector (sweets, especially "nuts"), including its knowledge in the development of equipment for this type of operation. The company's production lines are very simple and only marginally automated. Their busiest production line is the Roasting and Peanut Preparation line, which operates 12 hours per day, 6 days per week.

Decision-making at Innutco is very centralized. All operational decisions must be approved by Mr. Carmelo, director-president, who is essentially responsible for every final decision at Innutco. Many staff complains that their responsibilities are not proportional to their efforts. Moreover, they all complain of not knowing the direction and goals of Innutco.

The production supervisor complains a lot that Innutco's production plans are frequently not met, since, in trying to meet the urgent demands of their customers (sometimes the testing and production of food item prototypes), production is redirected by Mr. Carmelo, damaging the effectiveness of the lines.

The management and control of the costs and the supply chain operations are vital for maintaining the profitability of the products processed and supplied by Innutco. The operations conducted by the company are somewhat complex because they include eventual imports and draw-back operations, processing of material from third parties, supply of seasonal raw materials (which must be protected and kept free from diseases and pests) with strategic repercussions in product availability, delivery fulfillment, and processing costs. Despite this, the company does not have an integrated vision of its supply chain; that is, decisions are typically made only in response to emerging problems.

The development and processing of new products to meet customer requirements (engineering to order) are directly under Mr. Carmelo's responsibility. With a degree in Food Engineering, he has accumulated great experience in the area after working over twenty years professionally for several multinationals of the industry with headquarters in Brazil.

Mr. Carmelo is assisted by a young food engineer named Mr. Martin, who graduated three years ago, and since then, has been working at Innutco. Despite being very interested, Mr. Martin cannot contribute to most of Mr. Carmelo's decisions, since he still does not have enough information and knowledge to properly interpret the needs and opportunities generated by customers. Mr. Carmelo believes that Mr. Martin is still very inexperienced, and thus is afraid to share with him any confidential information about new products and services.

The Production Department is led by an experienced manager- Mr. Bob, who came from a competitor three years ago. The leadership of the Management Department is an accountant - Mr. Vince, who has been with Mr. Carmelo for ten years.

The Department of Logistics is managed by a young production engineer - Mr. Chase, who is responsible for conducting the transportation and storage of raw material imports and finished goods exports. He also takes care of internal transport and the flow of materials (i.e., packaging, labels, and others) purchased for the services provided to third parties.

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