A commodity chain is a process used by firms to gather resources, transform them into goods or commodities and, finally, distribute them to consumers. It is a series of links connecting the many places of production and distribution and resulting in a commodity that is then exchanged on the world market. In short, it is the connected path from which a good travels from producers to consumers. Commodity chains can be unique depending on the product types or the types of markets. Different stages of a commodity chain can also involve different economic sectors or be handled by the same business.
A number of commentators have remarked that in the Internet age commodity chains are becoming increasingly more transparent. The Wikichains.com project has adopted the same wiki technology used by Wikipedia in order to help make commodity chains more transparent. "They are a network of labour and production processes whose end result is a finished commodity". William Jones Esq.
Famous quotes containing the words commodity and/or chain:
“A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“The name of the town isn’t important. It’s the one that’s just twenty-eight minutes from the big city. Twenty-three if you catch the morning express. It’s on a river and it’s got houses and stores and churches. And a main street. Nothing fancy like Broadway or Market, just plain Broadway. Drug, dry good, shoes. Those horrible little chain stores that breed like rabbits.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)