The purpose of this article was to investigate the implementation of the postponement strategy of in Brazilian companies in the food industry and to identify approaches (steps) for implementing this strategy in these companies. In addition to the broader discussion on this topic, the main motivation for conducting this research is the study of this strategy in a sector where this topic has still been under-addressed. Six case studies were conducted in and fruit and vegetable canning companies, such as tomato and orange processing companies. This study has two major contributions: the first is to present, based on the literature, a theoretical framework for implementation of postponement, which can and should be suitable for different industry sectors. The second is the adequacy of this framework for use in food companies, especially orange juice and tomato processing companies. One of the main conclusions of this study is that postponement implementation has been increasingly used in the segment investigated, and it has been changing the relationships between companies. Additionally, it was found that none of the companies studied had a formal structure for implementing the postponement strategy, and therefore its implementation has been based only on the experience of its decision makers.
Postponement; Operations strategy; Food industry
