Jean-Marie Codron

Estimating the Impact of Small-Scale Farmer Collective Action on Food Safety: The Case of Vegetables in Vietnam

Abstract This paper is an original empirical attempt to explain the outcome of collective action in the domain of food safety. We examine conditions and institutions that influence pesticide residue levels in vegetables using econometric analysis on data gathered from 60 farmer organisations in Vietnam. Findings suggest that collective action affects safety in that it provides members with technical assistance and monitoring for pest management at the farming level. They confirm the U-shape hypothesis of the effect of group size on safety performance which derives from the trade-off that exists between economies of scale and free-riding. The contribution of public authorities and ecological conditions to food safety remains controversial, while market forces do not yet seem able to drive the production of safer vegetables.

How to integrate the specificities of some food departments into a retail store organization

Purpose – To understand the impact of product specificity on organizational practices of retailers at the store level.Design/methodology/approach – An Aokian framework is used that enables one to discriminate between food products according to their informational properties, and to connect these properties with organizational choices of centralization/decentralization.Findings – Emphasizes the existing tension between the dominant “assimilation” organization pattern and the “encapsulation” pattern which fits better in with some specific product departments.Research limitations/implications – Proposals are confronted with empirical data coming from professional press and experts interviews. Further empirical research is needed to consolidate the findings.Practical implications – The paper points out the need to differentiate the management of departments according to their product specificity.Originality/value – The paper stresses the impact of product specificity on department organization. It can be usef...

Industry note the Southern Hemisphere and the expansion of world trade in temperate fruits

The sharp increase of Southern Hemisphere exports over the past 10 years is definitely considered one of the major events of the fresh fruit and vegetables industry in the 1980s. About two million metric tons of apples, pears, grapes, kiwis, and stone fruits are presently exported. This is twice what was exported 10 years ago. In this paper, the author tells why the temperate fruits are the most concerned by this evolution, gives some statistics on the principal flows of products and analyses three elements which have been, according to him, very influent: the improvements in handling, storage and transportation, the break in of multinational trading companuies in this industry and the exceptional dynamism of Chili. He finally draws some prospects of development for the principal commodities, focusing, for the less perishable of them, on the possibility of direct competition with Northern Hemisphere production.

Food Safety Management Through the Lens of Hybrids: The Case of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Shippers

Managing the pesticide safety risk to provide end markets with safe fruit and vegetables raises complex issues due to the diversity and stringent nature of public and private safety requirements and the high cost of controlling the product and the production process. More often than not, this leads to the development of diversified and more integrated relationships between growers and their buyers. Our paper is a case study of the hybrid forms underlying such relationships. It begins by developing the analytical framework, drawing on transaction cost, positive agency, and property rights theories with a special focus on the model proposed by Menard (The Handbook of Organizational Economics, Princeton, 1066–1108, 2013), positioning the hybrid forms along the two dimensions of decision rights and strategic resources. It then presents a selection of quantitative and qualitative findings obtained from data collected through face-to-face interviews with managers of fresh produce shipping firms in France and Chile. Both case studies confirm that the level of centralization increases with the buyer’s commercial reputation, the level of customer safety requirements (a key component in the marketing strategy of the buyer), and the level of asset specificity which is mostly embedded in the technical assistance and training provided by the buyer to the growers. Moreover, our paper establishes a clear divide between firms that only control product safety at the delivery stage and firms that also control safety throughout the production process and may take decisions on behalf of the grower before harvesting.

Effects of the transaction characteristics on the side of dependence in a context of vertical coordination: The case of fresh produce exports from Chile to Europe

Abstract While organization theories acknowledge the influence of specific assets on dependence and increasingly represent the latter as a structure of mutual dependence (dependence of A on B and dependence of B on A), there is, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical test concerning the impact of specific assets on a structure of dependence. Our chapter aims to fill this gap. It is all the more original in that it considers a case study where dependence changes sides according to the characteristics of the transaction. We examine the dependence between Chilean exporters and European importers when trading fresh produce. Such dependence originates with the need for just-in-time coordination and compliance with a compelling demand in a context of high price uncertainty. Using a unique dataset from international trade in fresh produce between Chile and the rest of the world, we justify the use of a concentration sales ratio as a proxy for dependence and test the influence of a variety of specific assets on the side of dependence by using both categorical and dimensional approaches. Original findings show that certain transaction attributes have a strong influence on the side of dependence. In particular, the higher the frequency and the level of specific assets such as volume, niche varieties, and joint sales with other products, in the transaction, the greater the likelihood of a higher ratio of dependence for the importer rather than the exporter. Conversely, in the event of low levels of specific assets and less frequent operations, dependence tends to be greater on the side of the exporter.