Abstract. The analysis of the activity of agricultural enterprises indicated its inherent high degree of risk. Unlike other industries, a significant share of integrated risk for agriculture is weather risk. It is this risk that necessitates the diversification of agricultural marketing into three forms: with a deficit of the main commodity product of the agricultural enterprise in the market; with the balance of sales and supply and with the market surplus of marketable products. It is pointed out that in order to reduce the risk, a significant number of medium-sized producers rely on multi-product production and management has to simultaneously make use of all the intended forms of marketing. It has been established that the marketing activities of agricultural enterprises for a number of reasons: established tradition, lack of financial resources, etc. are often sporadic, fragmented, not a systematic, purposeful activity with defined goals, well considered tools, adequate funding and resources. Therefore, a number of specific steps have been proposed for the implementation of effective agribusiness: changing the traditional way of thinking; formation of a holistic systematic approach to marketing policy as a single coordinated complex of management and marketing; thorough study of the market of products manufactured by the agricultural enterprise, and the formation of the forecast for the next season. To strengthen marketing activities and conduct effective agribusiness, algorithms have been developed to gain a competitive advantage. It is shown that agricultural marketing today is becoming a broader field of activity than providing pure production and marketing using the main levers — price, product, sales and communication. It must best meet the needs and requirements of consumers, in particular, by shifting the main emphasis from price and sales aspects to communication. This is one of the main ways to ensure the function of agribusiness efficiency. It is proposed to use the experience of developed countries and more widely employ modern information technologies of management and marketing, in particular, decision support systems and analysis of risks and forecasts for the next period. The following ways are proposed for the use of modern decision support systems, risk analysis and forecasts in Ukrainian agricultural management and marketing: cooperation, use of these information systems on the basis of lease or, less relevant, expert risk assessment. A mathematical method of taking into account the degree of risk in the business processes of agricultural enterprises is proposed.
Keywords: marketing, management, management, manager, agricultural management, agribusiness, information technology marketing.
JEL Classification M11, M31, Q13
Formulas: 1; fig.: 3; tabl.: 0; bibl.: 22.
Decision Support Systems for Water Resources Management in Developing Countries: Learning from Experiences in Africa
