Retail sector in India is at the crossroads today. A shift between organized and unorganized retail sector is apparent, especially in the vegetable, fruits and groceries retailing zone. The channel conflict arises when the channel partners such as manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, etc compete against each other for the common sale with the same brand. The small retailers are affected by this conflict. The study was undertaken in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu with aim to assess channel conflicts from various interactions with the small store retailers. The Factor analysis is used to analyze interrelationship among a large number of variable and to variables regarding their common underlying dimensions. The result showed that, six variables under factor coercive source of power explained 67.17 per cent of total variance. Therefore six factors, using factor analysis were identified as main reasons for conflict between small retailers-vendors and small retailers-customers.

The study was conducted to identify the different market channels of coconut farmers and usage of e-business tools by them. Sixty coconut farmers of Erode, Tamil Nadu at regulated market were randomly selected for survey. The five-point Likert scale was used to find out their attitude to adopt e-business tools. The coconut farmers generally marketed their produce in the form of matured coconut or tender coconut and copra. Majority (53.30%) of the respondents used mobile phones for daily market information. It was found that 63.33 per cent used the information provided by government departments. The farmers sold their produce when the prices were high in the market. The study showed that mobile phone was most useful to the farmers for getting market information. The overall acceptance and opinion of the coconut farmers about e-business tools were positive.

The diverse agro-climatic conditions in India offer huge potential for production of a wide variety of crops from cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables all round the year. The proliferation of organized retailing in India is also altering food consumption patterns, promoting imported foods, branded foods, processed foods and a wider assortment. The study was performed with the main objective that to analyze the trend of fruits and vegetable production export, import and consumption pattern in India. In these four organized retailer formats were contacted and collected data through interview method to analyze the supply of fruits and vegetable through organized retail formats in Coimbatore.

Entrepreneurship is a key factor for the survival of small scale farming in an ever-changing and increasingly complex global economy. Business incubation catalyzes the process of starting and growing startup companies. Hence, the study was undertaken to identify the impact of technology business incubators in the promotion of entrepreneurial development of agribusiness startups. The study focused on agro startups registered under technology business incubators in located under western zone of Tamil Nadu. The sample size consists of fifty50 agro startups. Both primary and secondary information were collected for the study. Percentage analysis and paired t-test was utilized for the analysis of the study. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between mean values of before and after joining technology business incubators which signifies the effective role of technology business incubators in entrepreneurial development of startups. This paper revealed that services offered by Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) would promote startups.

Among the different organic products, organic tea is one of the major consumer food products. This study focused on identifying various factors influencing food choice motives of organic tea consumed by the consumers in Coimbatore city. The sample size consisted of 300 consumers selected randomly who had purchased organic tea from the five selected organic stores. The results of the study indicated that among the various motives, health and health benefits like safety and natural content were the major factor influencing the consumption of organic tea. Concern for environmental protection, familiarity and interest, sensory appeal, political and religious values, price, frame of mind and convenience had been also other influencing factors on organic tea purchase decision. Key words: Organic tea, food choice motives, structural equation model, purchase decision