Benchmarking external product variety in the Austrian agricultural industry

High external variety is one of the main challenges to be faced within value networks. However, in practice there is a notable failure to manage this increasingly high variety and to embed variety management approaches in company structures. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to present a benchmarking study of external product variety in the Austrian agricultural sector. In addition, a longitudinal case study showing the development of external variety in proportion to financial parameters in a specific company over the last ten years is executed. Finally the paper gives an overview of existing and planned variety management approaches in the company studied.