The Adaptability of Marketing Systems to Interventions in Developing Countries: Evidence from the Pineapple System in Benin

Abstract

In general marketing theory, marketing systems are assumed to adapt to facilitate further economic development. However, such adaptability may be less obvious in the context of developing countries due to features in the social matrix of these countries. The present study explores adaptation in the Beninese pineapple marketing system in the first ten years after the introduction of the pasteurization process as a development intervention. Qualitative and quantitative insights across a broad spectrum of actors in the pineapple system reveal that adaptability to the intervention has been very slow and virtually absent at an aggregate level. These findings suggest that to make optimal use of the economic development effects of interventions, effects must be considered beyond the primary actor on which they are targeted. This may require complementary marketing interventions at different actors in the system. The marketing systems approach this study adopts seems useful to identify these key actors for complementary interventions.