Standards as a platform for innovation and learning in the global economy: a case study of Chilean salmon farming industry
Michiko Iizuka
#2009-004
Conventionally, standards are considered as a governance tool in the
production system in a one-directional and hierarchical relationship
between foreign trans-national corporations (TNCs) or global buyers on
one hand and subsidiaries and producers on the other. They were
considered as transmitting necessary specifications of goods – codified
knowledge – to the producers. Despite the fact that this process begins
with a one-way power relationship and associated flow of knowledge and
standards, such one-way flows may become consolidated into two-way
interlinkages when power balances themselves reverse with the
development of collective capability in catching-up countries. In such a
context, standards increasingly act as a catalyst for creating
collective interfaces where diverse knowledge from horizontal and
vertical relationships – local and global, tacit and codified, and buyer
and producer – intercept and converge to promote interactions and
learning for those involved. The Chilean salmon farming industry is
examined to understand how standards compliance enhanced collective
capability.
Key words: Standards, Capability, Governance, Catching up
JEL code: L15, L 66 O 13
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
ISSN 1871-9872