出版社：Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Policy Research Group
摘要：Under the communist regime, consumers in Central and Eastern Europe bought
most of their food in state-run retail shops and cooperatives as well as some fresh foods in
private shops and green-markets. During the transition period in the 1990s, the retail sector
was privatized, and some domestic-capital supermarket chains gradually emerged. In the late
1990s and 2000s massive inflows of foreign direct investment in retail and competitive
domestic investments pushed a rapid takeoff of large format modern retail sector
development. For example, in what we term “first wave” countries such as Poland, Czech
Republic, and Hungary, the supermarket sector went from a tiny “luxury” niche of around 5%
of food retail in the mid 1990s to 40-50% by 2003; in the “second wave” countries such as
Bulgaria and Croatia, the share is now 20-40%, and in the “third wave” countries such as
Russia, it is now only 5% but, as in the other countries, growing very fast. In most of the
countries there is rapid multi-nationalization and consolidation of the supermarket sector.
Moreover, the food product procurement systems of supermarkets differ substantially from
those of traditional retail, whether state or private. The changes in procurement systems
include: (1) a shift from local store-by-store procurement to nationally centralized big
distribution centers; (2) an incipient shift to regionalization of procurement over countries;
(3) a shift from the use of traditional brokers to new specialized/dedicated wholesalers; (4)
increasing local use of global multinational logistics firms; (5) a shift to preferred supplier
systems; (6) a shift to high private standards of quality and safety. These changes change the
conditions facing farmers, creating important opportunities and challenges. The paper ends
with a review of policy options and a research agenda.
