Governance in the Italian Processed Tomato Value Chain: The Case for an Interbranch Organisation

Antonella Samoggia, Francesca Monticone and Gianandrea Esposito
Additional contact information
Antonella Samoggia: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Technologies, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 50, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Francesca Monticone: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Technologies, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 50, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Gianandrea Esposito: ART-ER, c/o CNR—Area della Ricerca di Bologna, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: Collective action among producers is a corrective measure for power imbalance, which affects primary producers in agro-food supply chains. As associations of producers and processors, Interbranch Organisations (IBOs) promote dialogue, best practice, and market transparency. However, interbranch cooperation is still a less explored subject in agro-food governance studies. Therefore, the present paper aims to analyse the role of IBO North Italy for Processing Tomato (IBO NIPT) in the governance of the processed tomato value chain. The IBO for Processing Tomatoes of Northern Italy was chosen as a case study as it is one of the eight recognized IBOs in the country and Italy is the third biggest producer of tomatoes for processing worldwide. Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in the processed tomato value chain were carried out to reach this aim. Abridged transcripts were analysed through thematic analysis by two or three researchers. The present study has three research steps: first, to explore the history of the IBO NIPT; second, to explore its current role as collective institution acting towards power imbalances; third, the IBO’s role in reference price streamlining. A multi-theoretical approach based on the following three theoretical frameworks was used to analyse the interviews: New Institutional Economics (NIE); Devaux’s framework for collective action; and Transaction Cost Economics. The paper highlights the role of local institutions in bringing innovations in the food supply chain and suggests that the future of IBOs in Italy has to be expanded beyond reference price streamlining and could benefit from the cooperation of retailers.

Keywords: interbranch organisation; processed tomato; governance; agro-food value chain; IBO; North Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2749/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2749/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:5:p:2749-:d:759257

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().