Determinants of investment decisions in dairy farms. An approach using the governance theory[Déterminants des décisions d’investissement dans les exploitations laitières. Une approche par la théorie de la gouvernance élargie]

This article proposes a theoretical renewal by mobilizing the governance theories to investigate the decision-making process of farmers. Although these theories are used since several years in researches of large-scale enterprises, its presence agricultural studies can be considered as a theoretical innovation. This paper has as objective to propose a framework of analysis of governance suitable for farms and then to identify actors, mechanisms and levers of action constituting the systems of governance of the French dairy farms. The results show that the management of these farms, as in large-scale enterprises, evolves in a system where actors establish mechanisms whose goal is i) to discipline manager, ii) to increase the skills of the manager, or iii) to facilitate the operation of the business. This game of actors delineating the decision-making latitude within which the leader made his strategic choice.