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To Make or to Buy: Is this the Question?

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  • Pascucci, Stefano
  • Royer, Annie
  • Bijman, Jos

Abstract

This paper analyses the decision of food companies to realize innovations through in-house ac-tivities, outsourcing and suing collaborations. The paper uses information from a dataset of 389 Italian food companies collected by Unicredit group in 2007. We develop a set of hypotheses from three theoretical perspectives: transaction cost economics, strategic management and resource-based view. This paper aims at highlighting what firm’s features are related to the make, buy and mixed innovation-sourcing decisions. We found that these strategies are positively interlinked which is challenging current theories. We conclude the paper by discussing these results and bringing some interesting outcomes to discuss managerial implications and/or policy interventions in this highly strategic domain.

Suggested Citation

  • Pascucci, Stefano & Royer, Annie & Bijman, Jos, 2012. "To Make or to Buy: Is this the Question?," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ifaamr:132792
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.132792
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hao, Jinghui & Bijman, Jos & Gardebroek, Cornelis & Heerink, Nico & Heijman, Wim & Huo, Xuexi, 2018. "Cooperative membership and farmers’ choice of marketing channels – Evidence from apple farmers in Shaanxi and Shandong Provinces, China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 53-64.
    3. Materia, Valentina & Pascucci, Stefano & Dries, Liesbeth, 2015. "Are in-house and outsourcing innovation strategies interlinked? Evidence from the European agri-food sector," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212449, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Huma Neupane & Krishna P. Paudel & Qinying He, 2023. "Impact of cooperative membership on market performance of Nepali goat farmers," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 805-830, September.
    5. Valentina C. Materia & Stefano Pascucci & Liesbeth Dries, 2017. "Are In-House and Outsourcing Innovation Strategies Correlated? Evidence from the European Agri-Food Sector," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(1), pages 249-268, February.

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