Institutional Change in the Swiss Agrofood Sector: Applying a Resource Perspective to Traditional Cheese Production

How do supply chains (in French: filière) use windows of opportunities generated by institutional or policy change (e.g. food standardisation and certification, liberalisation, globalisation, geographic indication [GI] regulation) to redefine the rules related to the functioning of their production according to their own interests? The analytical framework proposes to articulate theories of institutional changes (Streeck et Thelen, 2005; Mahoney et Thelen, 2010) and resource approaches (Ostrom 1990; Bromley 1992; Knoepfel et al. 2007) to identify the evolution of : /i/ institutional rules (public policies and [intellectual] property rights, private standards [HACCP, ISO]) but also, /ii/ practices, /iii/ uses, and /iv/ benefits from traditional cheese production (analysed in terms of a local resource). Both prominent research agendas neither define the effects of institutional change, nor identify strategic choices adopted by local actors in order to mitigate changes. This contribution thus formulates two theoretical hypotheses that complement both approaches: it asserts that during periods of change (seen as windows of opportunities): 1) conflicts and rivalries will grow around the functioning and the exploitation of a filière’s production and that; 2) consequently, local actors organised around a filière actively contribute to the development of their local institutional environment within their scope of action (depending on their resource action, interests, positions, etc.) in order to secure the access to their production. I proceed to undertake the first empirical testing of the hypotheses among the major institutional changes (food process standardisation, health restrictions, liberalisation, GI regulation) occurred within the Swiss cheese agrofood sector and more specifically in analysing strategic choices of three Swiss traditional cheese filières during 30 years. The empirical results show that specific coalitions (historical actors allied with public actors) within a configuration of actors mitigate major reforms.