Contributions of transportation to economic development and, more specifically, to the agroindustrial sector in mexico are presented. The way in which transportation considerations should be linked toagroindustrial project design and implementation to increase the probability of success of firms dealing with them is examined. The definition of agroindustry is presented along with a description of itsbasic characteristics in mexico. A description is offered of how transportation must be taken into account when preparing agroindustrial projects, as well as some initial ideas on how transportation can contribute to improving firm performance. Several case studies are presented that show different forms of linkage between transportationand agroindustry and that concentrate on exploring the ways in which transportation contributes to a project's success or failure. Somegeneral conclusions are offered together with a broad description of mexico's agroindustrial development plans along with comments on how transportation and product logistics can be managed to increase the plan's probability of success. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1274, Transportation and economic development1990: proceedings of a conference, williamsburg, virginia, november5-8, 1989.
Abstract