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Abstract

Recent strategy debates have emphasised the importance of skilled management to build core competencies within the firm and thus nurture competitive advantage. For some, the competency of management is so crucial that market maturity is simply just a state of mind. This paper critically reviews this claim through an investigation of the structure and dynamics of the organic food sector.

This paper argues that “resource-based” arguments are less strategy discourses and more histories of successful or failed companies. As such they are difficult to apply to ex ante situations such as agriculture, where the market is mature yet there are no obvious solutions. The organic sector offers one way out for farmers, but it too is constrained or governed by its sectoral environment and operating ratios. In conclusion this paper argues that market maturity is therefore not a stale of mind because sectoral pressures create real economic and financial problems which individual managers alone cannot solve.

Keywords

strategy discourse organic farming organic food business analysis environment sectoral maturity management resource-based theory

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Organic Farming: Ex Post Strategy or Ex Ante Business Analysis?

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