The Interorganizational Dynamics of Brand Alliances.

The objective of the research is to put in evidence the interorganizational dynamics of brand alliances. More specifically the aim of the paper is to identify the business-to-business interactions within brand alliances through the governance adaptations that occur during a period of time. We show that these governance adaptations result from external (competitive pressure, value perception by consumers and customers) as well as internal forces (objectives and expectations of the partners, network positions, resources of the partners). Consequently the level of stability in the long run of brand alliances can be linked to organizational factors. To do our demonstration we propose an analytical framework that combines IMP concepts with theoretical works on dynamics of strategic alliances. The methodology follows the case study approach, with an empirical application to two examples of brand alliances: a certification brand with a banana brand on the Fair Trade market, and an association brand with a processed pork brand on the health food market.Relations interorganisationnelles; Gouvernance d'entreprise; Marque; Value; Brand Alliances;

Building the legitimacy of business networks through certification: The development of differentiated relationships.

In this paper we analyze how legitimacy allows us to develop differentiated relationships in business networks. Our central argument is that the building of legitimacy in business networks through certification needs the development of what we call differentiated relationships, based on the use of governance mechanisms. Mainly theoretical, our communication develops the argument through a critical review of literature. We use the organizational legitimacy (Elsbach, 1994) and institutional theories (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) approach to explain how business networks can adopt and manage legitimacy. We exploit also the economic theory (Brousseau and Raynaud, 2006) and social theory of agency (Westphal and Zajac, 1998) to explain the adoption of specific governance mechanisms (Provan and Kenis, 2007) that legitimate business networks. We apply our question to a specific third party certification market: the fair trade market. We show that to build legitimacy in business networks it is necessary to use and manage governance mechanisms in the best way. These actions lead to establish differentiated relationships in business networks between all of the partners involving third party certifiers.relationships; Legitimacy; networks; certification;

Value creation in brand alliances : a network approach.

Alliance; Brand; Governance; Network; Value;

The Implementation of a Quality Management Standard in a Food SME: A Network Learning Perspective

In the modern agrifood economies, the development of quality management standards is crucial, and food small and medium enterprises (SMEs) usually face difficulties in implementing them. In this context, the aim of the article is two‐fold. Firstly it is to craft an original analytical framework in line with the literature on innovation networks and related learning effects specifically devoted to the study of quality management standards implementation. Secondly the objective of the article is to apply this framework to a specific food SME case in order to test it and to identify the key network learningeffects that occur during the implementation of a quality management standard, namely the ISO 22000 standard for food safety. From this research, the practical output will be to propose tools to enhance food SMEs’ innovative capacity, through an improvement of their insertion in active formal and/or informal innovation networks. These specific tools will be especially targeted towards the strengthening of learning processes between the SME and the partners involved in the implementation

The Adoption of Quality Standards in Food SMEs: A Network Approach

 The contemporary agrifood sectors have witnessed a rapid increase in the use of intangibles, i.e. inputs built upon information, knowledge and communication assets. Consequently firms, in their move towards competitiveness, try to innovate in line with these trends. Innovations in agrifood sectors were traditionally focused around new products and new technologies, and often seen as incremental. Innovations based upon intangibles need a broader view of what is innovation, especially in the context of food SMEs. Indeed food SMEs, which roles in the structuration and dynamism of the food economy in Europe is crucial, have at the same time difficulties and limitations in their innovativeness capacity for intangibles. The main objective of the communication is to better understand the conditions and processes of such innovations from a micro analytical point of view, centered on small and medium enterprises. The research is focused on one type of organizational innovation, the adoption of food quality standards. The communication is structured as follows. In a first part (1) we characterize such innovations in food sectors around two core features: the identification of what is at stake, in terms of resources, competences and structures, when a company adopts such an innovation; and the identification of consequences such an adoption will have in terms of behavior of this company towards its environment. In a second part (2) we suggest addressing this question of innovation adoption through a methodology called social network analysis (hereafter SNA), or structural analysis of networks. This methodology is well appropriated to cope with the complexity and the micro/meso interactions that are essential features for the understanding of quality standard adoption. Then a syncretic analytical framework (3) is proposed, applied to a specific case study of a French food SME adopting an ISO 22000 standard (4). Discussion and concluding comments follow (5)

Un cadre d'analyse structurationniste des relations partenariales.

L’objectif de cette communication est de proposer un cadre d’analyse de l’évolution des relations partenariales. Ce cadre d’analyse est centré sur les dimensions interactives au sein de la relation modélisée comme système social complexe. Dans un premier temps nous proposons une revue de la littérature consacrée à ce sujet de la dynamique partenariale pour en dégager les principales caractéristiques. Nous distinguons ainsi deux courants majeurs. Le premier courant privilégie l’étude des facteurs explicatifs influençant la relation partenariale : son évolution apparaît ainsi conditionnée par l’existence d’éléments endogènes et/ou exogènes. Le second courant met l’accent sur la dimension systémique de la relation : celle -ci est alors vue comme ayant sa logique propre et son évolution peut être éclairée par une étude de la nature des forces à l’œuvre. Dans un second temps nous précisons les bases conceptuelles de notre cadre d’analyse, en relation avec ces travaux. Nous considérerons que la relation partenariale constitue un système social complexe, où les interactions entre individus, organisations et éléments contextuels sont à l’origine des modifications dans la structuration de la relation. Par nature non prédictive, cette évolution peut néanmoins être éclairée en considérant le processus par lequel les individus et les organisations construisent, par leurs interactions constantes, la structure et sont en retour modelés par elle. Pour ce faire, notre cadre d’analyse se compose de deux étapes complémentaires. La première étape fait référence aux éléments structurants du système partenarial : mode de coordination de la relation partenariale d’une part, relations individu/organisation d’autre part. Cette identification d’éléments structurants est à la base d’une définition de six formes archétypales de relations partenariales. Dans une seconde étape, nous proposons une grille de lecture des interactions fortes au sein du système partenarial . Ces interactions sont regroupées en familles de phénomènes liant entre eux les éléments de la structure à un triple niveau : inter-individuel, inter-organisationnel et en lien au contexte. Dans un troisième temps nous appliquons ce cadre d’analyse à une relation partenariale entre un producteur agricole et un grossiste. Cette relation se déroule sur une période de douze années. De sa mise en place jusqu’à sa dissolution, elle passe par une suite d’évènements qui en modifie la structure. Le cadre d’analyse proposé permet de mieux comprendre son évolution. Il met notamment en évidence la dimension interactive forte du phénomène partenarial, son caractère mouvant, contingent et aléatoire, ainsi que l’importance des dimensions individuelles et contextuelles dans son devenir.Système social; Structuration; Relation; Partenariat; Organisation; Interaction; Individu; Evolution;

DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DYNAMICS OF AGRICULTURAL ACTORS THE CASE OF A METHANISATION UNIT IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE

Currently, the agricultural sector is facing new challenges. In addition to meeting the population's food needs in sufficient quantity and quality, it must fulfill new energy and environmental functions as well as other non-food uses such as biomaterials and biomolecules. At the regional scale, there is an increase of non-food valorization projects of biomass, including the methanisation plants. In France, the methanisation sector is in full swing with a national target of 1,000 plants by 2020, as defined in the Energy Methanisation Nitrogen Energy plan (EMAA). The development of methanisation sector generates a regional dynamic involving different stakeholders and linking various business sectors. Then the regional methanisation becomes a collective process in which farmers, industrialists, waste managers and local communities are engaged. The objective of this communication consists on understanding the socio-economic conditions in which this kind of regional projects have emerged. For this purpose, the “Centrale de Biométhane du Vermandois”, a regional methanisation plant in the north of France was studied. This analysis contributes to identify the nature of the expectations of the actors engaged, to better understand the governance in place and the decision-making processes surrounding the project. The results show the success factors but also the difficulties of implementation and development of the project. The results also highlight the main motivations of farmers to join the biogas project

La mobilisation riveraine contre le projet de TGV-Ouest

Selon l’auteur, le phénomène Nimby (Not In My Back Yard) qui consiste pour des riverains à s’associer pour défendre leurs intérêts territoriaux proches face aux nuisances que peut créer un projet d’intérêt général met à jour un phénomène social et culturel qui dépasse de fait les particularismes locaux. À partir de huit entretiens, l’auteur analyse en profondeur les nouveaux rapports de force qui s’instaurent entre les citoyens (quels citoyens ?) et le système politique (quelles institutions ?) au travers d’un système de représentations complexe ; des phases progressives de structuration du dialogue apparaissent en même temps que la volonté consensuelle de maîtriser l’information pour les usagers/citoyens. La confrontation s’avère positive et nécessaire dans la mesure où elle agit comme révélateur des changements sociaux en cours.This paper deals with the Nimby (Not In My Back Yard) phenomenon: residents associate in order to defend their direct territorial interests against the pollution that a project of general interest can generate. According to the author, such a phenomenon throws light on a social and cultural phenomenon which goes well beyond local idiosyncrasies. Interpreting the results of eight interviews, Stéphanie Sauvée proposes an in-depth analysis of the new power struggle which builds up between citizens (which citizens?) and the political system (which institutions?) through a complex pattern of representations. She shows how a dialogue is progressively established, and evidences the citizens’ consensual will to have access to information. Such a confrontation proves to be positive and necessary inasmuch as it reveals current social changes

La mobilisation riveraine contre le projet de TGV-Ouest

Selon l’auteur, le phénomène Nimby (Not In My Back Yard) qui consiste pour des riverains à s’associer pour défendre leurs intérêts territoriaux proches face aux nuisances que peut créer un projet d’intérêt général met à jour un phénomène social et culturel qui dépasse de fait les particularismes locaux. À partir de huit entretiens, l’auteur analyse en profondeur les nouveaux rapports de force qui s’instaurent entre les citoyens (quels citoyens ?) et le système politique (quelles institutions ?) au travers d’un système de représentations complexe ; des phases progressives de structuration du dialogue apparaissent en même temps que la volonté consensuelle de maîtriser l’information pour les usagers/citoyens. La confrontation s’avère positive et nécessaire dans la mesure où elle agit comme révélateur des changements sociaux en cours.This paper deals with the Nimby (Not In My Back Yard) phenomenon: residents associate in order to defend their direct territorial interests against the pollution that a project of general interest can generate. According to the author, such a phenomenon throws light on a social and cultural phenomenon which goes well beyond local idiosyncrasies. Interpreting the results of eight interviews, Stéphanie Sauvée proposes an in-depth analysis of the new power struggle which builds up between citizens (which citizens?) and the political system (which institutions?) through a complex pattern of representations. She shows how a dialogue is progressively established, and evidences the citizens’ consensual will to have access to information. Such a confrontation proves to be positive and necessary inasmuch as it reveals current social changes