원예농산물 통합마케팅조직 운영 실태와 활성화 방안

Abstract

정부는 산지 규모화를 통해 거래교섭력을 높이고 농산물을 안정적으로 공급하여 농가 소득을 증대시키고 경영의 안정을 도모하기 위해 소규모 농가들을 조직화하는 정책을 시행해 왔다. 그 중심에 원예농산물 통합마케팅조직이 있다.

2012년에 통합마케팅조직이 본격적으로 설립되기 시작하였고, 이후 통합마케팅조직 수는 감소한 반면, 전체 취급액은 늘어 통합마케팅조직은 지속적으로 대형화와 규모화가 이루어지고 있다. 또한 통합마케팅조직의 규모의 경제를 실현하기 위해서는 규모를 지금보다 더 늘려야 하는 것으로 나타났다.

이 연구는 원예농산물 통합마케팅조직의 운영 실태를 조사 및 분석하여 활성화 요인을 도출하였다. 이를 기반으로 경영의 안정성을 높이는 방안과 운영의 효율성을 증대시키는 방안을 제시하였으며, 산지유통정책의 방향과 과제를 제시하였다.

Background of Research ○The purpose of the government's agricultural shipping-point marketing policies is to increase the income of farm households and induce stable agricultural management by increasing the bargaining power through standardization and specialization and securing a stable supply system. For this purpose, the government's policies for shipping-point marketing since the 1990s have been to organize small-scale farmers, to scale up agricultural products of organized farmers, and to uniformize the quality. ○The government had implemented the policies to support the agricultural product processing centers (APCs) and expand the joint shipment function so as to scale up the agricultural processing organizations until the early 2000s with the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) as its center. However, as the performance of organization did not stand out much, the government introduced the concept of integrated marketing in 2011 and has established and operated integrated marketing organizations (hereinafter referred to as “IMOs”) in earnest. ○The IMOs developed by the government contributed to creating added values and improving the producers’ income by increasing the competitiveness of the production and sales business. However, the agricultural distribution and sales business showed a severe polarization as there were more IMOs without expertise in the sales business than those with expertise depending on product items and regional characteristics. ○The purpose of this research is to identify the current status of APC policies and the operation status of the IMO, look into problems by analyzing the actual condition of the IMO, and suggest future policy directions and tasks for the IMO.

Methods of Research ○Related literature and policy data were reviewed and a survey of policy-makers and experts was conducted. The present status and operational status of the IMO was analyzed on the basis of the aT data that evaluates the shipping-point marketing promotion project every year. Since it was the evaluation data, the source data was acquired and reconstructed to obtain necessary results for the research. ○Changes in the market structure and price impact before and after introduction of the IMO were analyzed using daily prices in the wholesale market. In addition, the cost function was used to derive an optimum scale of the IMO, and a commissioned research was conducted to obtain specific results. ○A conference of experts and policy-makers was held to evaluate the actual status of the IMO; factors in activating the IMO were surveyed through visits, phone calls and internet search; and questionnaire surveys were conducted to identify problems and solutions.

TransitionProcessandPolicyProjectsoftheAgriculturalProduct Processing Center (APC) ○The APCs in Korea were significantly influenced as Seoul Garak-dong market, the largest wholesale market in Korea, was opened in 1985 and large-scale distribution companies were established along with the opening of the distribution service market in 1996. ○As the distribution organizations had become bigger for farmers to ship individually, it was necessary to organize and scale up farmers in order to increase the bargaining power for the farmers, which resulted in introduction of the concept of integrated marketing to professionally sell agricultural products and establishment of integrated marketing organizations in earnest in 2012. ○The representative of the policy projects for the IMO is the shipping-point marketing promotion project, which provides supports differently through evaluation every year. It was attempted in 2016 to unify and integrate the policy projects for shipping-point marketing, which had been implemented dispersedly, into a comprehensive horticultural industry plan, but it only ended up causing confusion with the existing fruit industry development plan and comprehensive shipping-point marketing plan. Furthermore, no feasible comprehensive horticultural industry plan has been established, as it is recognized as a temporary plan to get government funding.

EvaluationoftheCurrentConditionoftheIntegratedMarketing Organization (IMO) ○Since 2012, the number of IMOs was reduced to 116 from 165, of which the larger ones increased from 42 to 69 and the medium/small ones decreased from 123 to 47. On the other hand, the amount handled by the IMOs increased from 3,738 billion won in 2012 to 3,923.3 billion won in 2017, implying that the IMOs have been scaled up. ○The number of participating organizations in the IMO is 3.5 per IMO, while that of the agricultural cooperatives is 3.9 and that of the agricultural corporations 2.2, which is less. The overall unit price traded by the IMO is 1,921 won per 1kg, while that of the agricultural cooperatives is 1,874 won and that of the agricultural corporation 2,129 won. It is shown that, of all corporations in the IMOs, the unit price traded by cooperative joint business corporations is the highest. ○The organization handling rate of the IMO had steadily increased since 2012 but recently it has been stagnating. As of 2017, there are 3.4 professional workers per IMO, and the amount handled by a professional worker is 13.43 billion won for regional commodity organizations, which is the highest and the one handled by cooperative joint business corporations is 11.37 billion won. On average, the number of professional workers in a regional commodity organization and a cooperative joint business corporation is relatively small. ○Shipment by the IMOs has been decreasing since 2012 in the wholesale market but the number of large retailers has been increasing, which works as a positive factor. However, as the percentage of fixed and negotiated price sale in the wholesale markets is very low, it is necessary to take measures to increase the percentage of fixed and negotiated price sale in order to increase the bargaining power in trading. ○With respect to the actual condition of cooperative joint business corporations, which are municipal organizations, and that of municipal united business groups, the former appears to be more competitive than the latter in all areas such as the amount and quantity of trading per organization, the organized amount and quantity of trading, the number of professional workers per organization, and the per capita trading amount.

Current Operating Condition of the Integrated Marketing Organization and Its Participating Organizations ○Since the IMO was introduced in earnest, changes in the price structure have appeared mostly in major items. The more distinctive the major producing areas are, the more quantities the IMO handles, the higher the seasonality is, and the higher the brand awareness is, the higher the transaction volume shipped from the IMO than general shipment. ○The economic index of the average scale of the IMO is smaller than 1, so it is necessary to expand its business in order to achieve an optimal scale, 1.66 times the average volume traded by a cooperative joint business corporation and 1.80 times the municipal united business group. The average transaction volume of the cooperative joint business corporation should be expanded 1.34 times and that of the municipal united business group 1.35 times. ○The result of the questionnaire survey for IMOs shows that: the satisfaction level was the highest for shipment to large distributors; the shipment to the wholesale market was high in the auction transaction but the need for fixed and negotiated price sale was also high at 71.4%; and the participating organizations had a high level of satisfaction for shipment to the IMO and wanted to expand the percentage of shipment, which is expected to work as a positive factor in improving the bargaining power and scale-up of the IMO. - The percentage of the participating organizations’ shipment to the IMO was 39.8∼44.7%, in which the percentage of the commissioned sales (simple book-keeping) was 33.6∼44.6%, so the actual percentage of the shipment to the IMO accounted for 22.1∼29.7% only. - In order to invigorate the IMO, the shipment ratio of the participating organizations should be increased at least to 59.4%, and the minimum commission should be around 2.3% and the minimum sales 33.65 billion won to enhance its competitiveness. In other words, it is important to increase the shipment ratio of participating organizations, increase the sales commissions to a realistic level, and to continue scaling up, and thereby to increase the competitiveness of the IMO. - Factors in invigorating the IMO are “active participation of participating organizations” and “support of local governments”, whereas factors of competitiveness actually held by the IMO are “securing of local producers’ organizations” and “active participation of participating organizations”. This implies that the support of the local governments is at the bottom in real competitiveness, so the effective support of the local governments is needed. - The result of the evaluation of IMOs shows that the growth rate indicator of large organizations was highly contradictory. They tended to have high organization scores, but it was difficult to apply in reality. Therefore, it is necessary for the IMO to focus on training a professional workforce to increase its competitiveness. - The optimal unit of the integrated marketing organization is the municipality, because the municipal unit has more advantages in terms of quality control and operation management for the participating organizations than the metropolitan or national units, and the brand image and consumer awareness are also much higher in the municipal unit.

Factors in Activating the Integrated Marketing Organization through a Study of Domestic/Overseas Cases ○Through a study of domestic/overseas cases, factors in activating the IMO were derived. Seventy-nine (79) cases of IMOs in Korea were studied, to derive 13 factors in activating the IMOs, based on which the following three tasks were identified as most urgent. ○First, marketing capability should be enhanced to increase the management stability of the IMO. This task involves the factors like “securing of diverse markets”, “differentiation of marketing and brands”, “efforts to expand exports” and “differentiation of marketing strategies”. When markets become more diverse, including not only the existing wholesale markets but also large retailers, food companies, restaurants, and export and processing companies, it will be possible to sell bigger volumes, to increase the bargaining power, and thereby to enable organization of farmers for shipping-point marketing. ○Second, it is important to systematically manage the organizations participating in the IMO to increase the efficiency of its operation. In order to increase the competitiveness and stability of the IMO, it is necessary to give accurate incentives and penalties to participating organizations and local producer organizations. The biggest advantage of integration is to establish a sales strategy to sell planned quantities of the same quality. To this end, differentiated cultivation technology should be provided for systematic organization management, continued quality management should be ensured, and communication should be based on mutual trust. ○Third, the IMOs should actively participate in the government policies and government-funded projects. As the revenue of the IMO is fees, which are often returned at the year-end, it is important to make the most of the government funding. ○Italy is directly involved in producer members' production, shipment, and adjustment of supply and demand, and organizes the IMOs through consultation with union members, management of yields, strict quality inspection, and joint accounting. Japan has secured a stable supply system from the producing districts through the contracted cultivation and restricted the main agent of the government policy businesses to a shipping organization rather than individuals, thereby ensuring the unification of policy businesses.

Improvement of Management to Activate the Integrated Marketing Organization ○Improvement of management is required to activate the IMO, which can be achieved through strengthening of the management stability and enhancement of the operation efficiency. ○In order to strengthen the management stability of the IMO, a system to scale up the organization should be prepared, its commissions should be made realistic, and a revenue structure should be created. ○Participating organizations that ship to the IMO get funding for joint screening fees and packing expenses. Therefore, it is necessary to consider differentiated funding support for participating organizations that are contracted to ship more than 50% of the trading amount. When they submit their accounting data by simple bookkeeping method, they get 3 points deducted, which is small and thus rarely effective. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the points deducted and lower the standard performance, to improve the growth rate realistically. ○The revenue of the IMO consists only of the commissions from the shipments and sales by the participating organizations. However, ordinary farmers and participating organizations are very repulsive against the commissions they have to pay to the IMO, causing to lower the revenue of the IMO and thus making it difficult to find new markets or attract investments. So, it is necessary to stipulate and mandate in the standard articles of association that the average commission of the IMOs across the nation should be the minimum commission, when a cooperative joint business corporation is established. ○With respect to the creation of revenue structure for the IMO, it is necessary to strengthen management stability through collaboration with the local food producers and implementation of the integrated marketing businesses such as agricultural manpower supply projects, joint purchase of production materials and bulk rental projects for agricultural pallets. ○It is necessary to enhance the bargaining power using various trading systems to improve operational efficiency, establish a cooperation system with participating organizations, secure professional manpower, and improve human resource recruitment. ○In order to increase the bargaining power of the IMO, various trading systems should be utilized. Especially when the percentage of the agricultural organizations’ shipment to the wholesale market is more than 50%, it is necessary to reduce the ratio of auction trading but increase fixed and negotiated price sale. To this end, it is necessary to introduce not only an incentive scheme, which gives incentives based on the ratio of transaction volume of fixed and negotiated price sale in the evaluation indexes for the shipping-point marketing promotion business, but a penalty scheme as well. ○In order to develop a smooth cooperative relationship among participating farmers, participating organizations, and the IMO, an efficient decision-making system is required to ensure information exchange through active communications, provide services to the participating farmers, and prevent conflicts among them. ○In order to enhance the operational efficiency of the IMO, it is important to secure professional manpower. To this end, it is necessary to increase the score allocated for securing professional manpower to reflect the expertise of the organizations participating in the IMO (such as obtaining the qualification for agricultural product quality control and the license for crop cultivation technology), acknowledge the expertise for various training programs for marketing, and secure and maintain the IMO’s expertise by including the hours of training in the evaluation indexes. ○At the time of recruitment, it is necessary for the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) to manage and support the recruitment of cooperative joint business corporations as well, so that the corporations may secure good manpower through the announcement at the NACF level only. This will also give pride to the recruited manpower that they are hired through open recruitment, which will help them maintain a smooth relationship with participating agricultural cooperatives and be free of pressure from the outside.

Policy Direction and Tasks for the Integrated Marketing Organization ○Future policy direction of the IMO should be binary (2-track). First of all, the goal of IMO policy should be set as income generation from the economy of scaled-up mass production to increase competitiveness of the local agricultural regions and as income increase for small farmers who cannot be scaled up at municipal units. ○When the goal is to raise the market bargaining power and increase the economic efficiency by focusing on the items that can be mass-produced in major producing areas, shipping-point marketing policies should be implemented with the municipal (item-wise) IMOs as the center. ○On the other hand, when the goal is to increase the income of small-scale farmers centering on the items for which there is no municipal IMO or which are not traded by the municipal IMOs, or on the items of which production cannot be scaled up at the municipal level, the integrated marketing business should be promoted by the provincial IMOs with Nonghyup Agribusiness Group Inc. at its center. ○A policy task for the IMO is to improve and develop the evaluation indexes of the IMO in accordance with the policy goal. In order to expand the scale of the IMO, it is necessary to resolve the issue of reverse discrimination of growth rate. To this end, it is necessary to allocate different scores according to the scale, raise the score for the marketing performance to increase the effectiveness, and allocate a new score to diversity. The score for organization is 55, which is very high but not realistic and thus needs to be rectified. It is necessary to raise the score for specialization to focus on securing the professional manpower, and include the manpower of the participating organizations in the professional manpower index to evaluate them as one group. ○Consistency in the IMO policies is required. When wholesale corporations in the public wholesale market are evaluated, the performance of fixed and negotiated price sale is used as an evaluation index and when the shipping-point marketing promotion project is evaluated, the performance of fixed and negotiated price sale is also evaluated as the incentive. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the wholesale corporations and the IMOs based on the same evaluation indexes. ○While the government focuses on funding the comprehensive horticulture industry development plan and the fruit-tree FTA development project in order to support shipping-point marketing promotion, the departments in charge of the plan and the project employ different funding/support systems, though both of them are supporting the same horticultural products (fruits and vegetables). This causes waste of time and expenses for the IMOs in planning their business projects. Therefore, a system is needed to enable efficient management and support at the same time, by unifying work procedures and policies for supports. ○It is necessary to improve the use of the funds for shipping-point marketing promotion. It is necessary to support the operating funds for three years after an IMO is selected for funding so as to strengthen its marketing capability, secure professional manpower, and enhance the management and operation efficiency. As those who are eligible for funding for “the agricultural products logistics facility standardization project”, a project supported by the local government, are limited to the agricultural cooperatives only, it is necessary to extend the eligibility to the IMOs under the agricultural corporations and provide comprehensive supports. Also, the support of the local governments are often for individual farmers, and therefore it is necessary to unify the targets of the support as the IMO in order to encourage farmers to voluntarily participate in the integrated marketing. ○It is necessary to build a statistic system for the IMOs, in order to ensure efficient management of the IMOs and systematically manage shipping and delivery within the legal boundary of privacy protection, by linking the NACF computer system and aT through the consultation with relevant organizations and agencies. ○It is necessary to progressively incorporate the municipal united business group. When the IMO was introduced in 2012, the municipal united business group was to be converted to the cooperative joint business corporation, but the incorporation has been delayed indefinitely due to the commencement of the NACF’s supply and marketing business and the insufficiency of participating organizations. However, in order for member agricultural unions of the municipal united business groups under the NACF Financial Holding Company to voluntarily participate in their business projects, it is inevitable for the municipal united business groups to be incorporated into the cooperative joint business corporations.

Researchers: Kim Seongwoo, Kim Byungryul, Jung Eunmee, Joo Jaechang, Ha Suan, Kim Donghoon, Jeon Changgon Research period: 2018. 1. ~ 2018. 10. E-mail address: swootamu@krei.re.kr