The interplay of structural and relational governance in innovation alliances

The present paper aims to extend the discussion in the governance literature about whether structural and relational governance mechanisms complement or substitute each other in innovation alliances. Where structural governance mechanisms refer to the division of tasks within the alliance and to upfront contractual and non-contractual input, output and risk-related agreements, relational governance mechanisms refer to trust, using informal norms and rules for coordination purposes. In innovation literature much attention has been paid to relational governance, which is expected to offer more of the flexibility needed for innovation than the regulations in structural governance that are perceived as rigid. However, the authors argue that the essential role of structural governance as a solid basis for creating trust, especially in alliances in which the partners do not know each other, is clearly underexposed in management literature. To fill this gap, a model conceptualizing the innovation alliance from inception to performance was tested using Partial Least Squares, employing a cross-sectional dataset of 94 innovation alliances in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria. The results do indeed show the essential role of structural agreements in creating a platform for trust on which relational governance can strive, while a clear task division can help to reduce the complexity of the inter-organizational innovation process, by reducing the interdependency of the partners. Both structural mechanisms ease communication among the alliance partners, leading to a higher level of knowledge exchange, and ultimately leading to better alliance performance.

Governance structures and trust: a study of real estate networks

The present study aimed at verifying how different modes of governance structure are linked to different levels of interorganisational trust. Its theoretical grounding involves Transaction Cost Theory, which studies governance of interorganisational arrangements and research on trust in the business field. A descriptive and quantitative approach has been adopted to describe the relation between trust amongst business network participants and the mode of governance adopted by the surveyed networks. Hence, a detailed questionnaire has been employed, which was answered by 35 real estate agency managers, whose participation was directly linked to 11 business networks. By using Spearman methods of identification of non-parametric correlation and correspondence analysis, it was possible to verify that certain modes of governance structure associate with different levels of trust. Considering the scarcity of quantitative research on the theme, this paper contributes to the field by presenting results which point out that collectively-managed governance of regional cooperation networks is linked to high levels of trust; whereas governance of dispersed networks with the presence of a lead company are linked to low levels of trust. Medium levels of trust were observed in networks governed by an administrative organisation. Considering the practical aspect of administration in networks, one can conclude that the process of governance structure in such interorganisational arrangements should include deliberations about the influence of the adopted mode of governance on trust amongst participants. The paper does not allow generalizations of its conclusions beyond its chosen sample.

Determinants of participation and intensity of participation in collective action: evidence from smallholder avocado farmers in Kenya

Access to markets is one important strategy which can assist smallholder farmers to move out of poverty. Collective action through farmers' groups has been identified as a strategy to improve the participation of farmers in markets. This study analyzes the determinants of participation and intensity of participation of collective action in production and marketing of avocado in Kenya. Group participation and the intensity were modelled as a binary choice decision and analyzed using logit models. Interviews were conducted with 301 farmers in avocado production zones in Kenya. The result showed that age, education, gender and perceptions on knowledge and improved technology influence farmers' decision to participate in group activities. Occupation, area of residence and farmers' perception on knowledge and improved technology use, and economic benefits had a significant influence on the intensity of participation. We conclude that it is crucial to educate farmers through trainings, workshops and seminars before group formation in order to ensure that they understand the importance and impacts of collective action. Finally, development practitioners and government organizations which intend to intervene through farmers' groups should understand farmers' perceptions and hence expectations from the groups.

Organizing vegetable supply chains: results of a survey of farmers

German horticulture earns 21.2% of the total production value of German agriculture – on merely 1.3% of the total production area. Despite this important economic standing, agricultural economic research focuses more on other agricultural sectors like meat or milk supply chains. The present study aims to analyze the organization of the horticulture supply chain. In order to fill this gap in research, the impact of various management instruments on performance at an individual farm level as well as in the whole horticultural supply chain get analyzed by using the partial least square method. For this, German vegetable farmers participated in an online survey in 2013. The innovative empirical analysis thereby is based on existing literature and the contingency theory. The results show that the individual farm performance is positively influenced by factor endowment of the farms as well as by trust and business climate between the different levels of the supply chain. In contrast, the external situation of the farms does not exert any meaningful influence on farm performance but on organizational farm parameters of the supply chain.

Entrepreneurship and prior experience as antecedents of absorptive capacity of high-tech academic spin-offs

We investigate the influence of entrepreneurial orientation and team efficacy, in addition to the impact of domain-specific industry and research experience of spin-off management teams, on absorptive capacity, both potential and realised. A multiple regression analysis in 95 Dutch high-tech academic spin-offs indicates that entrepreneurial orientation and domain-specific research experience are positively related to potential absorptive capacity while entrepreneurial orientation, team efficacy and domain-specific industry experience are positively related to realised absorptive capacity. Analyses of the explained variance show that entrepreneurial orientation and team efficacy provide a higher contribution to absorptive capacity than domain-specific experience, which contributes to recent debates on antecedents of absorptive capacity for academic spin-offs.

Third-party facilitation of supply chain linkages: evidence from the Armenian vegetable industry

This paper presents an empirical examination of investment responses to external facilitation of supply chain linkages between agricultural producers and processors. Specifically, it analyzes the impact of participation in the USDA Marketing Assistance Program (MAP) facilitated formal marketing channel on farm-level investments in tomato production. The analysis involves mixed method approach utilizing a case of the USDA MAP in the Armenian vegetable industry and the survey data from 427 Armenian tomato growers. The main results indicate that the tomato growers linked to USDA MAP facilitated formal marketing channel (i.e. processors) invested significantly more in expanding tomato planting area compared to growers in informal channel (i.e. direct-to-consumer markets, middleman, and barter). The lessons from the USDA MAP’s supply chain facilitation strategy and the results of quantitative analysis provide insights on incentive structures and enforcement mechanisms for designing more effective supply chain linkages.

Agricultural cooperatives in netchains

This special issue of the Journal on Chain and Network Science on ‘Agricultural cooperatives in netchains’ includes new research on three research themes: (1) explanation of why are cooperatives particularly important in certain food netchains; (2) willingness of farmers to invest in their cooperative’s netchain; and (3) the role of ambidexterity in the emergence of multi-stakeholder cooperatives. The issue is organized into six papers; one editorial and five research papers. The findings reported in this issue inform scholarly work on agricultural cooperatives through multiple theoretical lenses and empirical approaches. They also have important managerial and public policy implications.

Organisational health and performance: an empirical assessment of smallholder producer organisations in Africa

We use recent data from 253 smallholder producer organisations (SPOs) in Ethiopia, Malawi and Senegal, factor and regression analysis to define organisational health, understand its determinants and relate health to performance. We find that latent health evolves according to a life cycle and that start up incentives and design rules are important determinants of an organisation’s progression through this life cycle. Health, in turn, is found to explain SPO performance measured in terms of profits. Healthier and more profitable SPOs are those with an economic justification at establishment, those initially pursuing defensive objectives and those SPOs that have put in place a strategy for capital formation. More educated presidents contribute to the health of an SPO but it is also shown that when the president of the SPO is female, profits are lower while the organisation is not healthier.

Organisation of German livestock production from the bottom up: a new institutional economic analysis of dairy cattle breeding

Cooperatives operate in many different parts of the agri-food chain. Animal breeding, as one of these areas, has not yet been subject to intensive research. In the literature, cooperatives are often claimed to produce a lower quality product than comparable investor-owned firms. Is this the case in dairy cattle breeding as well? In order to address this question, we examine the inter- and intra-organisational coordination and structure of the supply chain for cattle breeding in Germany by means of a property rights model. In a short-term perspective, the profit maximisation of the cooperative member follows the model of perfect competition. In addition, we show the existence of a quality coordination problem in breeding associations in the long run. This problem is presumed to be counteracted by the dual system of price-setting which allows the cooperative to provide incentives to its members.