http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8402-9526
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Abstract
Firms’ strategies for turning nature into commodities are heavily oriented toward reducing the ecological indeterminacy of the production process by controlling its biophysical properties to ensure that nature commodification leads to a profitable business. However, research on global production networks (GPNs) has not focused on firms’ strategies in controlling the impacts of biophysical properties on the production network’s organization. This article aims to fill this gap by reviewing the literature on GPN and resource geographies on nature’s transformation into commodities to show how, in resource-based industries, ecological contradictions establish the territorial embeddedness and value dynamics of the production network. This article empirically examines the production of Atlantic salmon in Chile and how firms’ strategies for handling the ecological contradictions after an economic crisis (infectious salmon anemia virus crisis) changed the spatial production network’s organization and constrained the value-creation process. The results of this work aid in the understanding of firms’ strategies at the production stage as drivers of the continuities and changes in production networks. Finally, the connection between value dynamics and ecological contradictions opens a set of challenges to this research agenda.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this research was provided by Ministry of Education, Government of Chile National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) scholarships program (Becas Chile) and Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Development (Fondecyt) [1160848]. A previous version of this article was presented at RGS-IBG 2017 conference at the paper session “Advancing global production networks research: progress and prospects.” Thanks to the convenors of the session, to the people of the audience that gave us feedback, the editors of this journal, and the three anonymous reviewers, all of whom helped us to improve this article.
Notes
1 According to Marine Harvest (Citation2017a), 12.5 billion euros approx.
2 ISA is a viral disease in Atlantic salmon that causes critical mortality rates in salmon farms.
3 Here, we also consider some works that are based on global value chains (or GVCs) or global commodity chains that consider GPNs as well.
4 This term differs from territorial embeddedness (Hess Citation2004), which highlights how economic actors are anchored to the social dynamics that exist in each place. Instead, territorial configuration focuses on an analysis of the spatial scope of production networks in a general sense.
5 In this article, we follow the definition of value from the GPN in terms of economic rent. Even though some works from the GPN (Henderson et al. Citation2002; Coe et al. Citation2004) state that the approach considers both the Marxist definition of value and economic rent from Kaplinsky (Citation1998), subsequent GPN literature progresses to engage with the Kaplinsky’s definition of economic rent.
6 Although Moore (Citation2015) understands that value is created through the labor process, our interest here is to show how nature transformation shapes production networks through the concepts of GPN literature. Thus, while we consider that the ways in which this definition is related to and contradicted by GPN/GVC definitions must be discussed, as Starosta (Citation2010) and McGrath (Citation2018) do, we do not engage with this debate in this article.
7 The blue revolution refers to the new context of fish supply at the global scale.
8 Indeed, Marine Harvest is currently exploring open-sea salmon farming by absorbing the technology of oil platforms (http://www.aqua.cl/2017/09/06/videos-jaula-gigante-cultivar-salmones-mar-abierto-llega-noruega/).
9 This figure shows the pre-ISA crisis scenario.
10 Usually, salmon food is provided by external firms, such as Skretting (Netherlands), EWOS (US) or BioMar (Denmark). Marine Harvest is also a large producer.
11 Examples: AquaBounty (Canada) or Hendrix genetics (Netherlands, but located in Chile).
12 Examples: Aquagen (Norway) or Stofnfiskur (Iceland, main supplier in Chile).
13 Formerly approximately one hundred grams but currently near one kilogram to avoid time in seawater.
14 Under normal conditions (without virus), the highest mortality is within the first two months of the growth stage.
15 There was no regulation until 2009. Even though firms asked for more regulations, they struggled against the density norm that was finally approved.
16 In 2007, firms left salmon in seawater for 543 days to attain a weight of 3.14 kg, while in 2004, they waited 487 days to attain salmon weighing 3.71 kg (Katz, Iizuka, and Muñoz Citation2011).
18 Furthermore, firms needed to produce again to pay off their debts.
20 Recently, eggs from other countries were allowed again, and Stofnfiskur from Iceland is the only authorized firm for supplying those eggs.
22 http://www.aquafeed.co/no-nos-gusta-la-diferencia-de-precios-entre-el-salmon-chileno-y-el-noruego/.