Technical and Institutional Strategies for the Development of Algarve Citrus System - The Case of IGP "Algarve Citrus"

This research approaches some factors that have been affecting the competitiveness faced by the Algarve citrus culture since the European Single Market came into force and before a more and more global economy. As it is known in a global economy, any competitive strategy should be based on the quality seen as the ability to respond to the market, considering all the main types of actors at different levels of the Algarvian citrus system. Thus, the main objective was to identify any malfunctions (technical and institutional) for the citrus system, which have contributed directly or indirectly, for not meeting the expectations of key customers / consumers. The research took into account the general context of the Algarve citrus culture in order to identify the constraints faced by it. It focused on the industry context to understand the behavior of key customers, suppliers and competitors. The research results enabled us to make a characterization of quality attributes considered relevant when national consumers acquire citrus fruit, namely the Algarve citrus fruit, if they are introduced to the market, in an undifferentiated way or not, and through the main distribution channels. The facts identified in the empirical research indicate that limitations of technical and institutional order can make unfeasible or strongly condition the capacity of the Algarve citrus culture (production subsystem) to meet the market requirements. The conclusions reached for the development of the Algarve citrus culture, were based on Hayami and Ruttan´s “induced technical and institutional innovation” theory (1998). We think we have given a contribution towards the definition of strategies for the Algarve citrus culture development, bearing in mind both the market and the available resources.