Hybrids in the French Apple Industry: Opportunistic and Cognitive Differences Between a Cooperative and an Investor-Owned Group

Abstract

The rising concern of European consumers for pesticides residues left on fruit and of some far distant countries in Asia and Americas for quarantine organisms has turned compliance with SPS requirements into one of the main challenges of the French apple industry. Using transaction cost and cognitive governance theories, we investigate how differences in property rights structures, inter-firm arrangements, and mechanisms of firm governance may impact the modalities of SPS risk management. Our case study of two leading groups of the French fresh apple industry with different property rights structures (cooperative vs. private) and different marketing strategies (customers with more or less stringent SPS requirements) highlight the role of cognitive governance mechanisms (knowledge sharing) in the management of SPS risks. This paved the way for integrating governance structures, cognitive resources, and transaction attributes into a single model.