Enablers and inhibitors of collaborative network development in organic food industry : a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA)

The study presents findings from thirty cases of organic product European retailers and identifies the potential enablers of collaborative network development on this food industry niche market and the barriers that currently restrict its adoption at a large scale. In the present paper, using fsQCA, we examine how competitors’ perceive the usefulness of a collaborative network on the organic market niche, how their perceived compatibility of a retailers’ business model and how their perceived risks connected to commitment to the collaborative network affect the wider adoption of collective networks, using empirical data from a sample of 30 European retailers of organic food products. The findings reveal that a combination of high usefulness, low compatibility of the business models and low perceived risk is a sufficient condition for the development of a collaborative network on the food industry organic market niche.