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Organization and Performance of Cotton Sectors in Africa ... - infoDev

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Figure 4.1 Decision Tree for <strong>Cotton</strong> Sector TypologyIs competition allowed for thepurchase <strong>of</strong> seed cotton?YesNoMarket-basedRegulatedAre there many buy<strong>in</strong>gfirms or few?Is there more than onecotton buyer?Many Few No YesCompetitivesystemConcentratedsystemNationalmonopolyIs each firm assigned anexclusive geographical area<strong>in</strong> which to buy seed cotton?YesNoLocalmonopolyHybridsystemSource: Authors.For market-based systems, two further dist<strong>in</strong>ctions can be made: those with“many” buyers <strong>of</strong> seed cotton (competitive systems) <strong>and</strong> those with “few” suchbuyers (concentrated systems). Necessarily subjective, this dist<strong>in</strong>ction is neverthelessmean<strong>in</strong>gful when one compares a country such as Tanzania (more than30 buyers) with Zambia before 2006 (one dom<strong>in</strong>ant buyer, one large competitor,<strong>and</strong> two or three other very small buyers).COMPETITION AND COORDINATIONPoulton et al. (2004: 521) def<strong>in</strong>ed coord<strong>in</strong>ation as “effort or measures designedto make players with<strong>in</strong> a market system act <strong>in</strong> a common or complementaryway or towards a common goal.” They noted that the pursuit <strong>of</strong> effective coord<strong>in</strong>ation“may . . . require effort or measures designed to prevent players frompursu<strong>in</strong>g contrary paths or goals.” In the neoclassical ideal <strong>of</strong> perfect competition,the only coord<strong>in</strong>ation required is vertical coord<strong>in</strong>ation between players atdifferent levels <strong>of</strong> the system, <strong>and</strong> this coord<strong>in</strong>ation is fully achieved through46 POULTON AND TSCHIRLEY

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