Multiple paths of development: knowledge bases and institutional characteristics of the Swedish food sector

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to explore the relation between the critical knowledge base of firms and how firms respond to incentives embedded in the institutional framework surrounding them. The analysis gives us a better understanding of the complex development of the food sector in Southern Sweden in the past decades. Theoretically, the paper combines concepts of path dependency and knowledge bases, and applies this framework to a set of development trajectories of firms in the Scanian food sector. Three development paths are identified—path extension, path renewal and new path creation. Findings illustrate that these are rooted in different knowledge base combinations of firms, which make them respond differently to similar place- and sector-specific institutional conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Food sector
• innovation
• Sweden
• institutions
• knowledge base

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Proviva is the first probiotic functional food in Sweden. This product line consists of dairy and fruit drinks to which the bacterial strain Lactobacillus plantarum is added to improve the bacterial flora in the human bowel system. It has been developed through collaborative efforts of researchers at LU and Probi AB.

Oatly is a dairy-like product line based on oats. All oats contain water-soluble dietary fibre, called beta-glucans. According to clinical studies, this fibre can contribute to lowering raised cholesterol levels. Thanks to a patented process, the beta-glucans in Oatly's products are retained intact and, therefore, those products can lower cholesterol value. This product has been developed through the collaboration of researchers at LU and industrial partners.

2. Some of the respondents doubted that additive-free products are always healthier, but they all agreed that such products are considered healthier by a majority of the consumers.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the VINNOVA under the core funding grant 2013-05115 and by the Swedish Research Council under the Linnaeus grant 349-2006-80.