Standards as a platform for innovation and learning in the global economy: a case study of Chilean salmon farming industry

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.