Abstract:
One of the really important challenges facing agric
ultural producers is the choice of
their product distribution channels. The present st
udy is aimed at investigating the citrus
marketing channel strategy and its determinants amo
ng citrus orchardists of
Mazandaran using a Nested Logit model. Some two hun
dred and fifty two orchardists
from 15 cities of Mazandaran were taken as the stud
y samples. Four distribution channels
and three nests were considered in determining
the factors influencing the choice of
marketing channel. Since the estimated structural p
arameter did satisfy the condition of
lying between 0 and 1, the nested
logit model was proved as appropriate for the inten
ded
application. The results indicated that the orchard
distance from the nearest city,
orchardist’s experience, sale time, marketing costs
, the kind of product and the dominant
marketing channel constitute the most important fac
tors of distribution channel selection
as regards the citrus producers in Mazandaran. Acco
rding to the obtained results, by
increase in the orchards’
distance from the nearest city, the producers' tend
ency to sell
their products through channels of shorter distance
s from buyers also
increases. Also,
results revealed that the older the orchardist, the
higher his/her degree of risk aversion.
An estimation of binomial
Logit Model for the second and third nests had cons
istent
results regarding the marketing costs. As the marke
ting costs increases, the orchardist’s
tendency to sell his/her products through other cha
nnels of a lower marketing cost will
increase. Furthermore, results revealed that as the
citrus price rises, the producers get
further intended to sell their products in the mark
et rather than selecting either the pre-
sale method or selling their produce to the local d
ealers.
Keywords:
Citrus, Iran, Marketing channel strategy, Mazandara
n, Nested logit model.
