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June 2, 2012

37:575:401:H6 Research Methods in Labor Studies: Strategic Research

Professor: Jeffrey Keefe

Office Hours: by appointment.

Contact Information:

e-mail: jkeefe3@cs.com

July 9, 2012 - August 15, 2012

Class Time: Monday and Wednesday 6:00 to 9:40PM Location: Room 130/131LEC

Syllabus

Please bring your laptop or tablet to class

Please Order Books online from Amazon or Publishers. Try Reading an ebook or Kindle.

Required Books

Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy

Joan Magretta. Harvard Business Review Press (December 6, 2011) ISBN-10: 1422160599

Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. Robert Paarlberg. Oxford University Press, USA

(April 7, 2010) ISBN-10: 019538959X

Free Book will be put on Sakai.

How to Read a Financial Report Merrill Lynch 2000, (free download pdf) Sakai and

Required Software: Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, (Microsoft Bundle Student

Edition available from Rutgers Online Computer Software at substantial discount use 2010, 2007

or 2003), Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0 or later (free download), 7-Zip (free download), RADs

Office Scan (free from Rutgers Computing Services),

Grades are based on

Weekly Assignments 50%

Class Participation and Attendance 10%

Take Home Final Exam 40%

Learn Excel -- Self-Development Exercises

Abacus Training College http://www.abacustraining.biz/ExcelExercises.htm

Basic Spreadsheet Concepts,

Intermediate Spreadsheet Concepts, and

Basic Chart Creation

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June 2, 2012

Strategic Research: What Is It and What Are We Doing?

We are studying the food industry, in particular, the Meat and Poultry Processing Industry, an

industry mainly comprised of large publicly traded companies. We can assume that each firm

seeks competitive advantage to generate sustainable above normal profits. To make long term

profits a firm must produce products that it can sell to consumers, whether those consumers be

other firms that are either final users or intermediate producers or distributors, or they be

individual consumers at a unit cost below its price. Competition works to eliminate above

normal profits as firms seek new consumers by reducing costs and cutting prices, improving

quality, or offering unique features. All firms exist in a supply chain where they purchase

various inputs from suppliers of materials, transportation, utilities, or finance and they deliver

outputs to intermediaries or final consumers. The value chain perspective, developed by Michael

Porter, reconceptualizes the supply chain from merely a flow of inputs and outputs to another

vantage point where creating unique value to downstream customers is the key to sustainable

competitive advantage and profitability. The structure of an industry and a firm's position within

its value chain will determine its profit potential. Whether a firm realizes its potential, according

to Porter, depends on its competitive strategy.

We will initially explore several questions:

Where does Meat and Poultry fit into the American food industry?

What is the Meat and Poultry Industry? Is it globalizing?

What is the Value Chain for the Meat and Poultry Industry?

Who and What Are the Most Profitable Firms and Segments in the Value Chain?

Where Are the Highest Profits Earned in this Value Chain?

What Influences Profitability and Sustainable Competitive Advantage in the Meat and Poultry

Value Chain?

In the second part of the course we will examine several additional questions:

How does the value chain shape employment, earnings, unionization, health and safety, and

conditions of employment in this industry?

Are low wages a necessary condition for sustainable competitive advantage?

Are there leverage points in the value chain for stakeholders to exercise influence over firms'

behavior or practices?

Is the obesity epidemic an inevitable byproduct of the successful operation of this industry's

value chain?

Focus Food Companies:

Tyson Foods, JBS Swift, Pilgrims Pride, Sanderson Farms, Smithfield Foods, and Hormel

I. Introduction to Strategic Research

July 9

II. Industrial Organization and Oligopoly Market Structure:

July 11

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June 2, 2012

IBISWorld Industry Report 31161 Meat, Beef & Poultry Processing in the US November 2011 Josh McBee

Slaughterhouse Blues The Meat and Poultry Industry in North America Donald D. Stull

and Michael J. Broadway, Setting the Table

Abacus Training College http://www.abacustraining.biz/ExcelExercises.htm

Basic Spreadsheet Concepts

III. Competitive Strategy

July 16

Understanding Michael Porter Chapters 1 and 2

Michael Porter. 1998 . Competitive Advantage Chapter 1

The Economic Organization of U.S. Broiler Production. James M. MacDonald. USDA

Economic Research Service Economic Information Bulletin Number 38 June 2008.

IV. Value Chains in Meat and Poultry

July 18

Understanding Michael Porter Chapters 3

Michael Porter. 1998 . Competitive Advantage Chapter 2

V. Governance Structures of the U.S. Meat and Poultry Industry July 23

Gary Gereffi, Joonkoo Lee, Michelle Christian. 2008. The Governance Structures of

U.S.-Based Food and Agriculture. Value Chains and their Relevance to Healthy Diets. Duke University.

Marcy Lowe and Gary Gereffi. 2009. A Value Chain Analysis of the U.S. Beef and

Dairy Industries. Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness Duke

University February 16, 2009

Marcy Lowe and Gary Gereffi 2009. A Value Chain Analysis of the U.S. Pork Industry

Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness Duke University October 3,

2008.

V Making a Value and Supply Chain Analysis

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June 2, 2012

July 25

IBIS World Value Chain Analysis

VI. Financial Performance of the Firms

July 30

Merrill Lynch 2000, How to Read a Financial Report

Mergent Online 10K and 10Q Reports

VII. Profitability of the Meat and Poultry Industry and Its Value Chain

Aug 1

Mergent Online 10K and 10Q Reports

VIII. Food Distribution, Sales Channels and the Fattening of America

Aug 6

Martinez, Steve W. The U.S. Food Marketing System: Recent Developments, 1997-

2006, ERR-42. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Econ. Res. Serv. May 2007.

Patty Cantrell, 2010. Sysco’s journey from supply chain to value chain: 2008-2009

Final report. Michigan Land Use Institute. April 2010. Wallace Center at Winrock

International

Barbara Young. 2005. "The Power of Beef McDonald's Corporation dominates the OSR

hamburger category, thanks to its successful raw material partnerships with grinding and

patty processors at home and abroad." The National Provisioner October 2005.

Food Politics Chapter 8 "The Politics of Obesity

Chapter 11. Agribusiness, Supermarkets, and Fast Food

"The Weight of America" Part I

IX. Labor Management Relations Meat and Poultry Plants

Summary of Craypo “Meatpacking: Industry Restructuring and Union Decline.” Charles

Craypo. Contemporary Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector Edited by Paula B.

Voos 1994.

Case of Smithfield in Tar Heel North Carolina

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June 2, 2012

RICO: A New Tool for Employers Facing Union Corporate Campaigns? Gregory B.

Robertson and Kurt G. Larkin. May 2009

The American Dream

X. Industrial Reorganization, Lean Production Structure, and Immigration April 2

Stephanie E. Tanger "Enforcing Corporate Responsibility for Violations of Workplace

Immigration Laws: The Case of Meatpacking." Harvard Latino Law Review

"The 2006 Swift Raids Assessing the Impact of Immigration Enforcement Actions at Six

Facilities." Jerry Kammer. 2009 Center for Immigration Studies.

"Immigration as Industrial Strategy in American Meatpacking." Dell Champlin and Eric

Hake. Review of Political Economy, Volume 18, Number 1, 49–69, January 2006.

Kathleen C. Schwartzman. The Role of Labor Struggle in the Shifting Ethnic

Composition of Labor Markets. Labor Studies Journal Volume 34 Number 2 June 2009.

XI. USDA, OSHA, and EPA and the Political Economy of the Meat and Poultry Industries:

Regulation for Competitive Advantage?

April 9

Food Politics: What Eveyone Should Know

Chapter 1 An Overview of Food Politics

Chapter 9 The Politics of Farm Subsidies and Trade

Chapter 13 Food Safety and Genetically Engineered Food

Is Our Food Safe?

Should We Subsidize Corn?

Should We Privatize Meat Inspections?

XII Industry Stakeholders:

April 16

Charles Eesley and Michael Lenox Lenox. Firm Responses to Secondary Stakeholder

Action. Strategic Management Journal. 27: 765–781 (2006).

Brayden G King and Sarah A. Soule. "Social Movements as Extra-institutional

Entrepreneurs: The Effect of Protests on Stock Price Returns." Administrative Science

Quarterly, 52 (2007): 413–442

Take Home Final Exam