k-SCAS: A Knowledge-Driven Framework for the Specialty Coffee Agribusiness System

The coffee sector constitutes one of the most important sectors of the world economy, with market figures in excess of US$ 430 billion. Despite being an apparently simple product for consumers, the transformation from seed to cup involves knowledge-intensive processes in several interconnected stages and the involvement of countless agents. There are several quality standards for the final product, one of which is the so-called specialty coffees that seek to preserve the best properties of coffee. Many activities are developed in isolation by agents in the sector who lack in-depth knowledge of how the product of each stage will be transformed and consumed in subsequent stages. In this context, arise the issues that underlie this thesis: 1) complexity and particularities of the Specialty Coffee Agribusiness System (SCAS); 2) relevance of identifying and representing essential knowledge for SCAS agents; and 3) the need to maintain maximum coffee quality in the SCAS. Therefore, the objective of the thesis is: To propose a conceptual framework to represent the Specialty Coffee Agribusiness System, focused on knowledge-driven at the best quality of the final product. For the development of this research, we opted to use Design Science Research (DSR), characterizing this thesis as technological research according to Design Science. During the six stages specified in DSR, different methods and techniques were used, including: bibliographic research, systematic integrative review, surveys, semi-structured interviews, thematic analyses, text mining techniques, knowledge representation and visualization of information and knowledge. The survey with SCAS agents obtained 369 valid responses from agents in 41 countries. This enabled identification and representation, through domain ontologies and knowledge graphs, of the sources of knowledge and the knowledge considered essential by agents to obtain specialty coffee. In this part of the research, it was necessary for agents to interact and learn about other stages of SCAS as well as to demonstrate an interest in the traceability of coffee from the seed to the final consumer. In addition, the survey generated proposals for the enrichment of the k-SCAS Framework (Knowledge-Driven – Specialty Coffee Agribusiness System), making it more robust for the verification phase with specialists. Verification of the proposed framework with specialists, showed that it has theoretical elements and a logic of representation consistent with those of the specialists. In this phase, the need for agents to know the other stages and have an integrated view of SCAS to plot their actions emerged. Furthermore, in the verification with specialists, a practical application of the framework was suggested, related to its potential to allow a holistic view of Knowledge-Driven SCAS. The practical application refers to the construction of Knowledge-Driven Proto-Personas by SCAS agents and their journey maps to facilitate strategic decisions by both internal and external agents of the system. Finally, we conclude that the k-SCAS Framework presents a useful contribution to guide researchers and agents of SCAS in decisions that aim to achieve excellence in coffee quality. This contribution, in turn, is unique, as it encourages the integration of previously disciplinary knowledge in the agribusiness sector of specialty coffees, showing the importance of integrating agents (internal and external) and stages of this system that can be adapted to other sectors of agribusiness. The k-SCAS Framework may serve as a foundation for the development of a Meta-Framework for a Knowledge-Driven Agribusiness System.

Keywords: Knowledge-Driven. Specialty Coffee. Agribusiness. Knowledge Representation. Quality. Essential Knowledge.