Evaluating the Role of Collaboration via Management Control Systems on Agricultural Competitiveness and Welfare

Abstract

This paper is a case study on the Collaboration between Agriculture and Welfare (CAW) in Japan. A characteristic of CAW is that an agricultural organization and a welfare organization are working in a community platform. They reap mutual benefits through their collaboration at CAW. This collaborative advantage increases the value of internal resources within the community, considering the organizations’ activities from the community’s perspective. Additionally, these organizations can increase production and expand sales channels, which would inevitably increase the power of appeal to customers and increase sales. At earlier stages of CAW, laborers worked in exchange for crops. Gradually, farmers recognized disabled laborers as important community members and created a more accommodating work environment for them; farmers created a collaborative platform where each farmer’s unique skillset could be utilized through the division of labor, which created a community of expert labor groups. By tapping individual ingenuity, they succeeded in increasing the yield by the community concept. Additionally, such management policy attracted human resources conformed to the founder’s focus on local contribution and food safety. This approach facilitated an environment suitable that accepted people with disabilities. By constructing an environment on the aforementioned values, CAW is improving the value of internal resources in the community and enabling increased production and expansion of sales channels as corporate efforts.