Information
Ideally, information flows along with the money from the consumer
to the grower as indicated by the arrow. Unfortunately, desired specifi-
cations for firmness, color, size, shape, blemishes, and other quality at-
tributes often do not filter through the businesses to the packer and
grower. One reason is that different businesses place different weights
or values on each quality attribute. For the peach example, the packer
requires the grower to pick the fruit when it is less than fully ripe so that
it will not be too soft when it arrives in New York City. Thus, the con-
sumer receives a fruit that has less flavor than it would have if it re-
mained on the tree a few extra days.
Figure 14.1 also shows information as multidirectional to indicate di-
verse flows. Some information flows along the chain from the grower/
packer to the consumer such as brand labels. Other sources of informa-
tion for the businesses in the chain include the organizations shown out-
side the dotted circle (trade associations, government agencies, research
institutions, equipment manufacturers, suppliers, banks, labor unions,
and many other groups and organizations).
System Boundaries
The chain of businesses shown in Figure 14.1 is commonly referred
to as a postharvest system. Similar terms are used to describe banking
systems, educational systems, transportation systems, and other national
or international infrastructures. However, recent experience has demon-
strated the value of visualizing the businesses shown inside the dotted
circle of Figure 14.1 as links in a chain rather than as a system. The cir-
cle around the chain is dotted to indicate it is not a system boundary.
The chain in Figure 14.1 fails to satisfy properties 3, 7, and 9 of sys-
tems, as listed previously in the Literature section of this chapter. Re-
turning to our earlier example for peaches, it is clear that a mechanism
does not exist that is valid for regulating all the links (item 3). There is
no decision-making function outside the chain that has the authority to
allocate resources to all the links. Even the most vertically integrated
supply chains (such as for bananas) do not have control at the retail store
or have control over the consumer. No one person or entity owns all the
links in a chain.
A solid circle representing a boundary (item 7) cannot be drawn to