Le capital social des filières: Une dimension essentielle de leurs capacités d'adaptation. Illustration avec la filière comté

Abstract

In the current period of milk crisis, the "comté" cheese value-chain is described as an example of economic success. Considering this value-chain as an illustration, this paper explores the importance of social capital to enhance adaptive capacities. After defining these concepts, we present the social capital of the "comté" value-chain, combining different types of social links between its actors, with its specific small cooperative units ("fruitières") and inter-professional organization. On the basis of the internal journal of the value-chain and the literature, we show how these social links enable to adapt cheese production to the demand, in order to maintain high milk price. Furthermore, we show that social capital can also be used as a source of innovation for other issues, with practical examples in the social domain (evolutions of cheese markers' working conditions) and in the technical domain (improvement of cheese quality and farm self-sufficiency). The social capital of the value chain is exposed to a risk of erosion, but at the same time it enables to cope with this risk of its own erosion. These dynamic perspectives are discussed in the conclusion, as well as perspectives and general lessons.