Measuring the Efficiency of Iran’s Red Meat Value Chain (BSC-AHP Model Approach)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Seyed Mohammad Fahimifard 1
Mahdi Roshan 2
fateme sakhi 3
1 Agricultural and Food Policy Research Department, Agricultural Planning, Economics and Rural Development Research Institute (APERDRI), Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran.
3 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Economics and Agricultural Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Abstract
Inefficiencies in Iran's red meat value chain have led to skyrocketing prices, the exclusion from the food basket of vulnerable groups, and systemic bottlenecks in production and distribution. To address this issue, this study measures the efficiency of the red meat value chain in Iran. For this purpose, value chain performance indicators were first identified using the Delphi technique by a panel of 23 experts (selected through snowball sampling) familiar with Iran's national red meat supply chain. Subsequently, these indicators were weighted by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) within the four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework. This study contributes by providing a comprehensive, nation-level efficiency measurement using an integrated BSC-AHP-Delphi framework, which has not been previously applied to Iran's red meat value chain. The results showed that the criteria for measuring the efficiency of Iran’s red meat value chain include 79 secondary sub-indicators, 15 sub-indicators and 3 main indicators. Also, among the BSC dimensions, executive processes, growth dimension, financial dimension and consumer dimension are important, respectively. Furthermore, the value chain efficiency in "planning processes" and "enabling processes" was evaluated as low, and in "executive processes" as medium. In addition, the main sub-indices of "design and planning of the entire chain" and "distribution and sales process" had the lowest and highest efficiency, respectively, and efficiency of entire Iran’s red meat value chain was evaluated as low. Finally, in order to increase the value chain efficiency of the examined product, it was suggested to form a "policy council for Iran’s red meat value chain".

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Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 16 May 2026