Authors: Sophie Cantillon
This study is about actor interaction and it is set in the Norwegian seafood industry.
Since fish is a commodity, the idea of market complexity may not be the first thing
that springs to mind. Markets defined by commodities are usually studied by models
which are underpinned by neoclassical assumptions. Researchers from the
Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group consider interaction to be a
fundamental part of business exchange and this may explain why related studies are
usually based in empirical contexts that have a perceived technical complexity.
However, closer inspection of interaction between seafood actors reveals a
complexity that is not well described by traditional marketing models. Thus, the IMP
perspective provides an alternate view that formally captures more of the richness of
the empirical setting.
The data analysed has come from large seafood actors which are based in three
different countries (Britain, Portugal and Chile), each of which is connected to
seafood actors based in Norway. The interaction between the seafood actors in
these settings are analysed to find out whether interaction is as straightforward as
certain marketing models assume it to be. Once this has been done it is possible to
see how a generic marketing organisation, the Norwegian Seafood Export Council
(NSEC), is affected by the interaction.
This study presents a way of considering the complexity of actor interaction and how
this develops over time from the interplay between direct and indirect interaction
effects. This identification makes it possible to consider what NSEC can do in
response to the indirect effects of seafood actor interaction. The study employs a
multiple case study design and the cross sectional-like data enable interesting
insights into the development of seafood networks. The actor interaction
development model is one specific outcome of the analytical work and this, together
with other aspects of the inquiry, contributes to the existing body of IMP literature.
Keywords:
Publish Year: 2010