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Agrifood platforms are now part of consumption habits. They have emerged in various forms, and we need to describe this diversity to understand better how platforms manage their relationships with farmers. We aim to understand the governance forms of agrifood platforms and consider whether they comply with the principles of transaction cost economics (TCE).

Based on a survey of 103 French platform managers, a two-step cluster analysis and ordered logit regressions were applied to test hypotheses derived from the theory.

The results enable us to propose a refined typology of eight governance forms for the farmer-platform relationship. These different forms can be classified according to a continuum ranging from “market to hierarchy”, conforming to TCE principles. We define a gradient describing how the platforms manage their relations with the farmers through contractual and relational control. We show that specific assets, behavioural uncertainty, and membership in a platform network are associated with more integrated governance forms.

The article describes the different forms of platform governance and their relevance to market conditions. This clarification is necessary for farmers to elect the more suitable platform and for platform managers to create a new business or improve its efficiency.

This article is the first to offer a detailed typology of agrifood platform governance. It highlights these governance characteristics and their relationship with transaction attributes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the manifestations and interactions at work between the ecological, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development and the development of short food supply chains (SFSCs) in French fruit production.

The methodology is based on the theoretical framework associated with SFSCs and each pillar of sustainability. The authors use an original database of 176 surveys of peach and apricot producers from the major French production regions. Three composite indicators, one for each traditional pillar of sustainability, are calculated to evaluate a degree of sustainability at farm level. A simultaneous equations model is estimated on the basis of the calculated indicators.

The results show that in the choice of a supply chain design in the agricultural sector, the search for economic sustainability is opposed to a rationale of environmental and social sustainability, the latter appearing to be independent of one another.

This paper complements the previous studies on the issue of sustainability in agriculture and more specifically the relationship between the adoption of SFSCs and the pillars of sustainable development. The model reveals significant interdependencies, thus emphasizing an issue in reconciling economic imperatives with social or environmental requirements.

While organization theories acknowledge the influence of specific assets on dependence and increasingly represent the latter as a structure of mutual dependence (dependence of A on B and dependence of B on A), there is, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical test concerning the impact of specific assets on a structure of dependence. Our chapter aims to fill this gap. It is all the more original in that it considers a case study where dependence changes sides according to the characteristics of the transaction. We examine the dependence between Chilean exporters and European importers when trading fresh produce. Such dependence originates with the need for just-in-time coordination and compliance with a compelling demand in a context of high price uncertainty.

Using a unique dataset from international trade in fresh produce between Chile and the rest of the world, we justify the use of a concentration sales ratio as a proxy for dependence and test the influence of a variety of specific assets on the side of dependence by using both categorical and dimensional approaches. Original findings show that certain transaction attributes have a strong influence on the side of dependence. In particular, the higher the frequency and the level of specific assets such as volume, niche varieties, and joint sales with other products, in the transaction, the greater the likelihood of a higher ratio of dependence for the importer rather than the exporter. Conversely, in the event of low levels of specific assets and less frequent operations, dependence tends to be greater on the side of the exporter.