Strategic responses to food safety standards – The case of the Indian cashew industry

Jannes Tessmann

World Development Perspectives, 2021, vol. 23, issue C

Abstract: This article investigates the determinants that connect food safety standards to trade performance in exporting economies. Focusing on the strategic responses of economic actors to food safety demands, I introduce ‘compromise strategies’ as a middle course between passive adaptation and active resistance. Such strategies attempt to balance external requirements and internal interests, which may be achieved by conforming to a minimum level while resisting to fully adapt. This is exemplified by the Indian cashew industry, where public legislation in Northern end markets has extended the dissemination of private standards to food businesses which previously faced few safety-related concerns. A focus on the strategic responses to food safety demands prioritizes local, context-specific conditions over the universal logic of global standards in shaping firm performance. It thereby enhances our understanding of the heterogeneous trade effects of standards and the circumstances under which standards act as barriers or catalysts to trade.

Keywords: Global value chains; Standards; Food safety; India; Global production networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:23:y:2021:i:c:s2452292921000266

DOI: 10.1016/j.wdp.2021.100312

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