Branded Beef: What Happens Behind The Brand?

 
 
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 So, you know what a brand is, you think it might work for your beef product and you have researched consumer trends and market opportunities. Now it is time to discover what goes on behind the brand such as the business planning, financing, pricing, risk management/ mitigation, protocols & regulations, marketing plans and value chains. Set your production hat to the side for the moment and focus on business management.

General Resources

  • Starting and Growing a Business - The objective of this webpage is to assist prospective and emerging entrepreneurs with helpful business and marketing information essentials to plan and operate a successful business

Business Planning
  • Elements of a Business Plan - A business plan is a description of the business, including its products, its markets, the people involved and the financing needs. This page provides information on the key elements of a successful business plan

Financing

Pricing
  • The Essentials of Pricing - Setting a price for products is a challenging job for both start-up and established businesses. It is an important task since the success of your business relies on your ability to make a profit. This factsheet will help you determine how to set the right price for your product or service
  • Methods to Price Your Products – This factsheet provides an overview on cost-based and competition-based pricing by examining the advantages and disadvantages of both

Risk Management / Mitigation
  • FIR$T – This program is useful in projecting costs and assessing risks
  • Risk Choices - Risk management is the process of identifying, measuring, and managing these uncertain events

Sources of Financing
  • AFSC – Value Added & Agri-Business Program
  • FCC - Provides business and financial services to farms and agribusiness
  • AVAC – Offers financial support to grow agri-value in Alberta

Value Chains

A value chain is an alliance of enterprises working together to achieve a more rewarding position in the marketplace and may also be defined as a strategic collaboration of organizations for the purpose of meeting specific market objectives over the long term and for the mutual benefit of all ‘links’ of the chain.

Beef Value Chains allow participants to be ‘consumer driven’ and change their product in response to customer demand. This consumer demand indicates how much customers are willing to pay for consistent attributes of a beef product (ie.quality, tenderness, convenience, leanness, taste and safety).




Each ‘link’ of the chain receives a competitive advantage through collaboration, innovation and value added processes.
...
Value Chain Advantages & Challenges
..
Advantages
  1. Improved efficiencies
  2. Cost reduction along supply chain
  3. Improved understanding of consumer demand
  4. Each ‘link’ is responsible for quality assurance and food safety
  5. Develop or grows supply chains
  6. Ability to connect consumers to the farm and rural lifestyle to know where their food comes from and how it was raised
  7. Potential for price stability and lower financial risk levels once businesses have built a track record and working relationships have been developed
  8. Differentiation of your product in the marketplace
  9. Potential to develop and capitalize on new higher valued markets through market development and brand promotion activities
Challenges
  1. Initial cost
  2. Time investment
  3. Relationship building
Value Chain Links and Resources
  • Value Chain Development - The Value Chain Guidebook provides a process for the development of value chains. The value chain development process is broken into three stages; each stage includes worksheets, success factors and tips for facilitators
  • Value Chain Web Links – Links to information, other value chain programs, industry sites, and research
  • Value Chain Home Page - This page discusses industry value chains, sales distribution agreements, international value chains and adding value to chain opporutnities
 
 
 
 

Other Documents in the Series

 
  Branded Beef: What is Branded Beef?
Branded Beef: Why Brand?
Branded Beef: Where is the Market?
Branded Beef: What Makes a Brand?
Branded Beef: Who Is Branding Beef in Alberta?
Branded Beef: What Happens Behind The Brand? - Current Document
 
 
 
 
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For more information about the content of this document, contact Kathy Bosse.
This document is maintained by Ordella Knopf.
This information published to the web on May 20, 2008.
Last Reviewed/Revised on May 22, 2018.