Performing the economy, performing science: from neoclassical to supply chain models in the agrifood sector
2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 36; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/03085140701428399
ISSN1469-5766
Autores Tópico(s)Economic and Technological Innovation
ResumoAbstract Abstract Callon and Hilgartner, respectively, have argued that the economy and technoscience are performed and that neoclassical economics (NE) and scientific reports should be interpreted as performances. Building on that theme, it is argued here that the ongoing transformations collectively known as globalization signal a new way of thinking about and performing both economics and technoscience: supply chain management (SCM). A comparison of SCM with NE models reveals shifts in both the theoretical focus of its proponents and the reactions of critics. Recent developments in the agrifood sector are used to illustrate the argument. Keywords: Supply chain managementneoclassical economicsfoodglobalizationperformancetechnoscience Acknowledgements This paper is partly based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SBE 0349988 and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. I would also like to thank William H. Friedland, Stefano Ponte, Allan Schmid, Dave Weatherspoon and the anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier draft. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or of my colleagues. Notes 1. A number of different perspectives have emerged that attempt to grapple with the movement of commodities from point of production to point of consumption. These include 'global commodity chains' (Gereffi and Korzeniewicz 1994 Gereffi , G . and Korzeniewicz , M (1994) Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism , Westport, CT : Praeger . [Google Scholar]), 'global value chains' (e.g. Gibbon and Ponte 2005 Gibbon, P. and Ponte, S. 2005. Trading Down: Africa, Value Chains, and the Global Economy, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. [Google Scholar]) and 'filière analysis' (e.g. Fontguyon et al. 2002 Fontguyon, G. de, Giraud-Héraud, E., Rouached, L. and Soler, L.-G. 2002. 'Segmentation de l'offre et relations entre producteurs et distributeurs'. Recherches en Economie et Sociologie Rurales, 2(2): 1–6. [Google Scholar]). While these are important contributions to the literature, they are largely used by scholars. The focus here is on SCM since this approach is used by both scholars and practitioners. 2. Callon and his colleagues devote most of their efforts to careful examination of particular markets, for example, for strawberries, sliced ham, automobiles. In so doing, they generalize their results, either explicitly or by implication, to the economy/society as a whole. In this paper, I examine an entire sector of the economy – agrifood – and generalize from that to the economy/society as a whole. 3. It should be noted that NGOs, like firms, can and do engage in rent-seeking behaviour (Tullock 1967 Tullock, G. 1967. 'The welfare costs of tariffs, monopoly and theft'. Western Economic Journal, 5 (June): 224–32. [Google Scholar]). Most large NGOs are well aware of their substantial political and market power. Indeed, Gereffi et al. (2001 Gereffi, G., Garcia-Johnson, R. and Sasser, E. 2001. 'The NGO-industrial complex'. Foreign Relations (July–August), 125: 56–65. [Google Scholar]) have referred to the 'NGO-industrial complex'. 4. One might contrast this with the subsumption of Newtonian mechanics into Einsteinian physics. 5. As a reviewer of this paper noted, the literatures on SCM and GVC are quite distinct although both are concerned with how goods get through the chain of firms to the final consumer. SCM is a managerial tool designed to coordinate more effectively the functioning of the chain, while GVC is a social science critique that focuses on power relations and related distributive issues. 6. A partial exception is the work of Williamson (1975 Williamson, O. E. 1975. Markets and Hierarchies, New York: The Free Press. [Google Scholar], 1994; cf. Soto 2000 de Soto, H. 2000. The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, New York: Basic Books. [Google Scholar]) and other transaction costs economists. However, they tend to see markets as foundational, with production organizations and institutions as arising only in cases of market failures (Dietrich 1994 Dietrich, M. 1994. Transaction Cost Economics and Beyond: Toward a New Economics of the Firm, London: Routledge. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 7. Bar coding and loyalty cards at supermarkets involve the collection of vast quantities of data. A small but growing data-mining industry has developed in an attempt to manage this information for corporate clients. However, this has proved to be a daunting task. Many supermarkets collect the data but do little analysis, while others use these data to order electronically from their suppliers. Radio frequency identification (RFID) devices will vastly increase the volume of data available, but only the most sophisticated supply chain managers will be able to use these data effectively (Accenture 2005 Accenture ( 2005 ) High Performance Enabled through Radio Frequency Identification: Accenture Research on Manufacturer Perspectives . Available at : < http://www.accenture.com/NR/rdonlyres/B584DDFF-F0A8-4F61-87CE-4EA7160BE6DA/0/rfid_insights_epc.pdf >. [Google Scholar]). 8. A complete typology of NGOs is beyond the scope of this paper. However, it should be remembered that NGOs form a very heterogeneous group, including membership organizations, foundations, labour unions, trade and professional associations and charities. Their goals are equally diverse. 9. For an overview of the potential of such tags from the vantage point of a supermarket chain, see Metro Group (2005 Metro Group (2005) Future Store Initiative . Rheinberg: Metro Group. Available at : < http://www.future-store.org > ( accessed 20 November, 2005 ). [Google Scholar]). For an NGO view, see CASPIAN (2005 CASPIAN (2005) Consumers against Supermarket Invasion and Numbering . Available at : < http://www.nocards.org/ > ( accessed 20 November, 2005 ). [Google Scholar]). 10. In a certain sense, SCM is economics' answer to the structure/agency debate that has raged in the social sciences (excepting economics) for several decades (e.g. Giddens 1979 Giddens, A. 1979. Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure, and Contradiction in Social Analysis, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Haraway 1997 Haraway, D. J. 1997. Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium. Femaleman©_Meets Oncomouse™, New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]; cf. Hodgson 1998 Hodgson, G. M. 1998. 'The approach of institutional economics'. Journal of Economic Literature, 36(1): 166–92. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Latour 1999 Latour, B. 1999. Pandora's Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Google Scholar]; Law 1994 Law, J. 1994. Organizing Modernity, Oxford: Blackwell. [Google Scholar]). Supply chains are at once agents that rearrange and reorder various aspects of the economy and structures that must be reckoned with by others. 11. This is not to suggest that this kind of activity is new. To the contrary, historical analysis suggests that the regulatory state has been around in one form or another for at least a century (e.g. Stanziani 2005 Stanziani, A. 2005. Histoire de la qualité alimentaire, Paris: Seuil. [Google Scholar]). However, it has been largely ignored in NE models. 12. Some may well see this as a temporary phenomenon to be resolved as more sophisticated mathematical models are developed. In contrast, others may see it as a function of the limits to mathematical reasoning.
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