Understanding local agri-food systems through advice network analysis

Agri-food clusters have generated great interest in recent years and prompted a new wave of research dedicated to ‘Localized Agri-Food Systems’ (SYALs in French). However, the specific nature of relations between firms who belong to SYALs has rarely been studied. Our purpose is to show how the analysis of company directors’ advice networks helps to better understand the specificity and innovative dynamics of SYALs. Our research was based on a case study in the Biterrois wine growing region of southern France. We conducted a survey to collect information on advice relations between wine cooperative managers, who play a key role in the innovation process toward quality wine. Sociometric analysis of the advice relations, coupled with interviews, led to three main results: the first was that managers simultaneously cooperate on technical projects and compete for business ends. The second was a correlation between the innovations implemented by the cooperatives and the degree of centrality of the managers in the networks, revealing the relational and local conditions of innovations in SYALs. The third was that managers can modify their own network to improve the competitiveness of both their own cooperative and of the SYAL as a whole. In conclusion, we show that advice network analysis is an appropriate tool to describe the relational dimension of SYALs, to better understand their process of innovation, and to help managers improve the collective strategies they apply within the SYAL.