A Study: Technology's Impact on Local Indian Food Businesses

This report provides a comprehensive literature review analyzing the impact of technological changes on the local food businesses in India. It begins with an introduction outlining the significance of the study, including research questions focused on the effects of technology on sales, policy changes, a...Read More

Running head: TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
A STUDY TO ANALYZE THE IMPACT OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES ON
THE LOCAL FOOD BUSINESS IN INDIA
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................2
2.0 Literature Search Process..........................................................................................................3
2.1 Systematic Literature Review................................................................................................3
2.2 Search Terms.........................................................................................................................3
2.3 Inclusion and Exclusion or Selection Criteria.......................................................................4
3.0 Literature Review......................................................................................................................5
3.1 Local Food Businesses and their Services.............................................................................5
3.2 Technology and its usage by the Local Food Businesses......................................................6
3.3 Technological Changes in the Food Industry........................................................................7
3.4 Factors influencing the usage of technological changes by the Local Food Businesses.......9
3.5 Benefits offered by the technological changes to the Local Food Businesses....................11
3.6 Literature Gap......................................................................................................................12
4.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................13
5.0 References................................................................................................................................14

2TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
1.0 Introduction
As opined by Anguelovski (2015), the local food business in the present times had gained
a substantial amount of prominence because of the hectic life that the people lead and is
primarily concerned with catering to the food demands of the common people. Fraser et al.
(2016) are of the viewpoint that unlike the earlier times when the people were mainly concerned
with quenching their hunger, the people in the present times because of the large number of food
options which are available to them are increasingly taking into account the entity of taste as
well. Adding to this, MacRae et al. (2016) have noted that an important factor which had
facilitated the desired revolution within the food industry can be attributed to the aspect of
technological changes attained in the present times.
More importantly, it had been seen that the impact of the technological changes in the
particular context of the food industry is not only perceptible in the information regarding the
different cuisines or the food items among the customers but also in terms of the food waste
management system used by the business corporations related to the local food business, the
manner in which food is manufactured by them, the business model used by them, the marketing
strategies or practices used by them and others (Cadieux & Slocum, 2015). It is in this particular
backdrop that the researcher had decided to conduct the literature review so as to analyze the
impact of the technological changes on the local food business.
The research questions on the basis of which this particular literature review would be
conducted are listed below-
I. How has the recent technological changes affected the local food business in the nation
of India?

3TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
II. How the recent technological changes affected the sale of the food products offered by
the local food businesses in the nation of India?
III. What are the different changes in policies of food industry due to change in technology
in the nation of India?
2.0 Literature Search Process
2.1 Systematic Literature Review
Booth, Sutton and Papaioannou (2016) are of the viewpoint that an important benefit of
the usage of systematic review is the fact that it offers the opportunity to the researchers to
undertake a critique of the scholarly articles related to the topic that they have selected. Adding
to this, Liao et al. (2017) have noted that the traditional approach to literature review mainly
requires the researchers to undertake a discussion of the arguments in the past scholarly however
with the usage of the systematic literature review the researchers have the option to objectively
critique not only the arguments presented by the scholars in their articles but also the research
methodologies used by the, sample size and other aspects. It is because of this aspect that the
researcher had decided to undertake a systematic literature rather than follow the traditional
approach to literature review for analyzing the impact of the technological changes on the local
food businesses.
2.2 Search Terms
The researcher for the purpose of finding the peer-reviewed articles on the basis of which
this systematic literature review was conducted took the help of different search terms. The
different search terms which were used on Google Scholar for the same are listed below-
 Local food business

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 Technological changes
 Impact of technological changes on local food businesses
 Sustainability in local food businesses
 Changes in policies of food industry
 Technologies used in local food businesses
2.3 Inclusion and Exclusion or Selection Criteria
The selection criteria or for that matter the inclusion and exclusion criteria which was
followed by the researcher for the selection of the peer-reviewed articles on the basis of which
this systematic literature review had been conducted are represented by the below given table-
Inclusion criteria Exclusion criteria
Articles which were published in the
English language
Articles which were published in the foreign
languages
Articles which were published after 2014 Articles which were published before 2014
Articles focusing on the impact of
technological changes on the local food
businesses
Articles focusing on the impact of factors like
governmental policies, food policies,
customer demand and others on the local food
businesses
Articles which contain information
regarding the manner in which the local
food business corporations are using the
recent technological changes
Manuscripts, abstracts, unpublished articles
Secondary and primary research articles Case series, policy papers others

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Peer reviewed articles Book Chapters
3.0 Literature Review
3.1 Local Food Businesses and their Services
Fraser et al. (2016) have stated that the local food businesses are operational at the
regional or for that matter the regional level and mainly concerned with offering local cuisines
and other kinds of food dishes to the people of the concerned region. More importantly, Fraser et
al. (2016) conducted interview with 20 Managers related to the different local food businesses in
the nation of UK to find out the exact nature of the services offered by them and also the manner
in which they used technology to cope with the global food crisis. The results of the analysis
conducted by the authors revealed the fact that the local food businesses in order to cope up with
the food crisis had resorted to the usage of the branch of technology of biotechnology for the
production of organic food. This in turn not only enabled them to meet the food crisis but also
offer the kind of food products which are beneficial from the perspective of the health of the
consumers as well. However, at the same time it needs to be said that the major limitation of this
article is the fact that the authors Fraser et al. (2016) have mainly focused on the usage of
biotechnology and the benefits offered by it however the usage of this particular technology is
not feasible for the local food businesses in the different developing or for that matter under-
developed nations of the world because of the ineffective technological resources available to
them. Thus, it can be said that the findings of this article are fruitful only for the local food
businesses operational in the different first world nations or for that matter the ones with

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advanced technological resources. Fraser et al. (2016) conclude the article by stating the
effective usage of modern technological developments is likely to help the local food businesses
to substantially improve the prospects of their business and also the nature of the food cuisines
which are being offered by them to the consumers.
3.2 Technology and its usage by the Local Food Businesses
Berti and Mulligan (2016) are of the viewpoint that one of the most important impact of
the technological changes on the business operations of the different local food businesses can be
ascribed to the fact that they have invigorated a change in the supply chain logistics which was
used by them. For instance, Berti and Mulligan (2016) have noted that the technological changes
have made possible the effective usage of the green supply chain logistics by the local food
businesses which in turn have not only enabled them to improve the quality of the food products
offered by them or enhance their profitability but also reduce the environmental damage caused
by them as. The authors took the help of the qualitative data analysis for the analysis of the
secondary data that they collected from the different secondary sources related to the changes
which have undergone in the supply chain logistics used by the local food businesses in the face
of the recent technological developments. In this relation, it needs to be said that the reliance of
the authors solely on the secondary data for the completion of this article is the major limitation
of this article. Furthermore, the findings of this article reveal the fact that the extensive usage of
the recent technologies had not only made the supply chain logistics used by the local food
businesses more greener in nature but also promoted the effective management of waste
generated by them. More importantly, Berti and Mulligan (2016) have also suggested that the
long-term effective usage of these measures which are beneficial from the perspective of the

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environment and also the local food businesses can help them to attain sustainability and also
competitive edge in the local food industry.
Ahamed et al. (2016) have suggested that the adequate usage of the different emerging
technologies have helped the local food businesses to effectively reduce food wastage through
the usage of suitable food waste management processes. More importantly, Ahamed et al. (2016)
have suggested that this becomes especially important for the local food businesses not only
from the economic perspective but also from the environmental perspective as well. The authors
collected primary data through the usage of the research strategy of interview from 27 Managers
of the local food businesses in Singapore for the completion of this article. Ahamed et al. (2016)
found that every year the local food businesses end up wasting more than 1 tonne of food which
is not only economically but environmentally also hazardous. Furthermore, this becomes even
more detrimental when the fact that there are millions of people all over the globe who are
suffering from malnutrition is being taken into account. Thus, the emergence of different kinds
of disruptive technologies and its extensive usage by the local food businesses for the
management of food waste is likely to prove beneficial both economically and environmentally.
However, at the same time it needs to be said that the usage of the disruptive technologies for
food waste management that this article focuses on are too advanced and thus it is likely that the
local food businesses from the third world nations or the ones with inadequate technological
resources would not be able to use them.
3.3 Technological Changes in the Food Industry
Sundmaeker et al. (2016) have noted that the extensive usage of the disruptive technology
of internet have positively affected the business operations of the different local food businesses.
For instance, Sundmaeker et al. (2016) by conducting survey with 467 employees of the different

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local food businesses in the nation of Denmark found that the local food businesses are presently
taking the help of internet for the purpose of effectively promoting or marketing the food dishes
or for that matter the cuisines offered by the. In addition to these, Sundmaeker et al. (2016) also
found that a substantial number of local food businesses are also taking the help of internet for
the improvement of the supply chain system that they us. More importantly, the authors
concluded by stating that the usage of internet by the local food businesses not only improved the
marketing process used by them but also substantially improved their supply chain system in
comparison to the ones that they had been used to using in the earlier times. However, at the
same time it needs to be said that the major limitation of this article is the fact that the authors
have solely relied on the research strategy of survey and have not used either interviews or case
studies for substantiating the data that they collected through survey.
Kozinets, Patterson and Ashman (2016) have noted that one of the most important
purposes for which the different local food businesses use the recent technological changes can
be ascribed to the genre of marketing. For instance, Kozinets, Patterson and Ashman (2016)
found that the local food businesses had been used to using the traditional marketing practices
which in turn substantially narrowed down the scope of the customer base or for that matter the
target market on which they focused on. Thus, the authors took the usage of the tool of survey
(survey was conducted with 397 employees related to the local food businesses of UK) to
effectively find out the benefits that the local food businesses have been able to derive through
the usage of recent technological advancements for the purpose of marketing. In this relation, it
needs to be said that Kozinets, Patterson and Ashman (2016) found that the local food businesses
through the adequate usage of digital marketing had been able to not only substantially enhance
their target market or for that matter customer base but also effectively advertise the different

9TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
food dishes or cuisines offered by them as well. These in turn have positively affected the
business or for that matter the growth prospects of the different local food businesses. However,
despite the insightful arguments presented by the authors, the major weakness of the article is the
fact that the authors have relied solely on the research strategy of survey for the completion of
this article.
Hegarty and Che (2016) have noted that the extensive usage of internet by the different
local food businesses have facilitated the collaboration between them and the tourism
corporations. Hegarty and Che (2016) conducted interviews with 24 Managers related to the
local food businesses in the nation of USA and no surveys or for that matter case studies were
being used by the authors for validating the answers that they got from the Managers. More
importantly, Hegarty and Che (2016) found that the adequate usage of the disruptive technology
of internet and its different platforms like social media, emails, video calls and others have
greatly improved the communication process which is being presently used by the different local
food businesses. These in turn have led to the establishment of effective business relationships
between the local food businesses and the tourism corporations through which both the entities
have been able to derive substantial benefits. Hegarty and Che (2016) are of the viewpoint that
on the one hand this had helped the tourism corporations to serve in an effective manner the
different tourists and on the other hand this collaboration had substantially enhanced the number
of customers that the local food businesses get.
3.4 Factors influencing the usage of technological changes by the Local Food Businesses
Turner and Endres (2017) are of the viewpoint that an important factor which had
motivated the different local food businesses to take the help of the technological changes can be
attributed to their desire to substantially enhance their profitability. Turner and Endres (2017) by

10TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
interviewing 35 Managers related to the local food businesses in Duval County, Florida found
that the plethora of benefits offered by the recent technological changes is one of the major
motivational factors which had motivated them to resort to the usage of the same. For instance,
the local food businesses through the usage of the recent technological changes have the
opportunity to improve the business model used by the, the supply chain logistics, the marketing
process, operations process and others used by them. Needless to say, these have positively
affected the business operations or for that matter the business activities of the different local
food businesses and is also one of the major reasons for its extensive usage as well. The
insightful as well as important points raised by Turner and Endres (2017) in this article
notwithstanding its major limitation is the fact that the authors have solely relied on the research
strategy of interview for the completion of this article.
Springmann et al. (2018) are of the viewpoint that the governmental legislations are
another important factor which has motivated the local food businesses to take the help of the
recent technological advancements. In this relation, it needs to be said that the authors undertook
a qualitative analysis of the different governmental stipulations related to the management of
local food businesses and the actual practices followed by the. Furthermore, Springmann et al.
(2018) found that the different local food businesses in order to evade the penalties and others of
the national governments are presently using diverse kinds of technologies which have helped
them to effectively manage the food waste, maintain adequate hygiene standards within their
kitchens, cultivate their own organic food products and other. More importantly, Springmann et
al. (2018) have noted that these changes made by the local food businesses are not only in
conjunction with the governmental legislations but also with the customer demands as well. For
instance, the contemporary customers because of the large number of health ailments faced by

11TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
them have started to show a higher desire to consume organic food. Thus, the authors conclude
the article by stating that the governmental legislations and also the changes in customer demand
are the two major factors which have forced the local food businesses to opt for the usage of the
recent changes in the field of technology.
3.5 Benefits offered by the technological changes to the Local Food Businesses
Mourad (2016) has noted that one of the most important benefits offered by the usage of
the recent technological changes by the local food businesses can be ascribed to the fact that it
had enabled them to attain sustainability or for that matter long-term growth. Mourad (2016)
after conducting a qualitative analysis of the business reports published by the different local
food businesses in USA and France and also analyzing their actual business practices found that
if the face of the recent technological changes the local food businesses have substantially
changed their operations processes. For instance, Mourad (2016) found that the present focus of
the local food businesses is on the reduction of the food wastage and also on the process of
recycling of the wasted raw food materials and also the food products. These in turn have helped
the local food businesses to substantially lower down their operations for that matter the
manufacturing cost and thereby substantially enhance the profitability earned by them.
Thyberg and Tonjes (2016) have stated that the recent technological changes have helped
the local food businesses to effectively comply with the governmental legislations or policies
related to the management of food businesses. For instance, Thyberg and Tonjes (2016) after
conducting a qualitative analysis of the different governmental policies that the local food
businesses are required to follow found that they are required to follow various policies related to
the food wastage, food quality, hygiene and others. More importantly, Thyberg and Tonjes
(2016) found that the recent technological advancements have helped the local food businesses

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to develop effective food waste management system, hygiene system, offer organic food dishes
to the customers which are better in taste as well as quality and other. These in turn have helped
the local food businesses to not only model their business as per the dictums of the national
government but also substantially enhance their profitability as well.
Carolan (2017) has noted that perhaps the most important benefit that the local food
businesses have been able to derive because of the recent technological changes can be ascribed
to the field of marketing. The author conducted interviews with 19 regional food system
entrepreneurs in the nation of USA to find the manner in which the recent technological
advancements have improved the marketing practices used by the local food businesses. Carolan
(2017) found that unlike the earlier times, the local food businesses took the help of the process
of big data analytics for effectively finding out the customer preferences, demands and other
aspects. More importantly, Carolan (2017) also found that these data are being used by the local
food businesses not only for the designing of marketing campaigns used by them but also for the
purpose of designing of the food products offered by them to their customers as well. These in
turn have helped the local food businesses to create the kind of marketing campaigns or for that
matter the kind of food products which would be appealing to them and thereby helped them to
substantially enhance their profitability.
3.6 Literature Gap
The researcher while undertake the process of literature search found numerous articles
on the manner in which the local food businesses use technologies for the improvement of the
quality or for that matter the nature of the food products or services offered by them. However,
after going through these articles the researcher found that they were very generic or too broad in
nature. More importantly, the researcher was able to find very few articles which dealt with the

13TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
impact of the recent technological changes or for that matter the different disruptive innovations
on the local food businesses and also the manner in which they are integrating the same within
the business operations to enhance customer satisfaction. Thus, the researcher intends to make
this particular study a unique one by effectively focusing on this aspect. Furthermore, because of
this aspect of this study, the future researchers will have the opportunity to use this as a
framework for the purpose of conducting further research on the research topic under discussion
here.
4.0 Conclusion
The above systematic literature review clearly indicates the fact that the different recent
technological changes or for that matter the technological developments have positively affected
the business operations or the prospects of the local food businesses. More importantly, it is seen
that the impact of the technological changes is perceptible not only in the domain of the
marketing practices used by the local food businesses but also within the spectrum of the supply
chain logistics, the food waste management system, the operations processes and others which
are being used by them. Furthermore, the systematic review also clearly reveals the fact that the
local food businesses through the effective usage of the changes that had taken place within the
technological landscape in the present times have been able to derive various benefits, namely,
the enhancement of their profitability, attainment of competitive edge or long-term growth and
others.

14TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
5.0 References
Ahamed, A., Yin, K., Ng, B. J. H., Ren, F., Chang, V. C., & Wang, J. Y. (2016). Life cycle
assessment of the present and proposed food waste management technologies from
environmental and economic impact perspectives. Journal of cleaner production, 131,
607-614.
Anguelovski, I. (2015). Healthy food stores, greenlining and food gentrification: Contesting new
forms of privilege, displacement and locally unwanted land uses in racially mixed
neighborhoods. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39(6), 1209-
1230.
Berti, G., & Mulligan, C. (2016). Competitiveness of small farms and innovative food supply
chains: The role of food hubs in creating sustainable regional and local food
systems. Sustainability, 8(7), 616.
Booth, A., Sutton, A., & Papaioannou, D. (2016). Systematic approaches to a successful
literature review. Sage.
Cadieux, K. V., & Slocum, R. (2015). What does it mean to do food justice?. Journal of political
ecology, 22, 1.
Carolan, M. (2017). Publicising food: big data, precision agriculture, and co‐experimental
techniques of addition. Sociologia Ruralis, 57(2), 135-154.
Fraser, E., Legwegoh, A., Krishna, K. C., CoDyre, M., Dias, G., Hazen, S., & Sneyd, L. (2016).
Biotechnology or organic? Extensive or intensive? Global or local? A critical review of

15TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDIAN FOOD INDUSTRY
potential pathways to resolve the global food crisis. Trends in Food Science &
Technology, 48, 78-87.
Hegarty, C., & Che, D. (2016). 6 Local foods, rural networks and tourism development. Food
Tourism and Regional Development: Networks, products and trajectories, 117.
Kozinets, R., Patterson, A., & Ashman, R. (2016). Networks of desire: How technology
increases our passion to consume. Journal of Consumer Research, 43(5), 659-682.
Liao, Y., Deschamps, F., Loures, E. D. F. R., & Ramos, L. F. P. (2017). Past, present and future
of Industry 4.0-a systematic literature review and research agenda proposal. International
journal of production research, 55(12), 3609-3629.
MacRae, R., Siu, A., Kohn, M., Matsubuchi-Shaw, M., McCallum, D., Cervantes, T. H., &
Perreault, D. (2016). Making better use of what we have: Strategies to minimize food
waste and resource inefficiency in Canada. Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne
des études sur l'alimentation, 3(2), 145-215.
Mourad, M. (2016). Recycling, recovering and preventing “food waste”: competing solutions for
food systems sustainability in the United States and France. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 126, 461-477.
Springmann, M., Clark, M., Mason-D’Croz, D., Wiebe, K., Bodirsky, B. L., Lassaletta, L., &
Jonell, M. (2018). Options for keeping the food system within environmental
limits. Nature, 562(7728), 519.

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Sundmaeker, H., Verdouw, C., Wolfert, S., & Pérez Freire, L. (2016). Internet of food and farm
2020. Digitising the Industry-Internet of Things connecting physical, digital and virtual
worlds. Ed: Vermesan, O., & Friess, P, 129-151.
Thyberg, K. L., & Tonjes, D. J. (2016). Drivers of food waste and their implications for
sustainable policy development. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 106, 110-123.
Turner, S., & Endres, A. (2017). Strategies for enhancing small business owners' success
rates. International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, 16(1), 3.