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Title: Quality consortia: Parma and San Daniele - food processing- [World Wide Web]

Notes: Increased reliance upon origin certification is a phenomenon which has characterised the Italian foodstuff industry for much of the post-war period. A growing number of products (wine, cheese, ham, oil, vinegar, etc.) is being sold at a significant price premium with a guarantee concerning its origin, characteristics, and quality. Three elements militate in favour of an increase in the number of such a trend: a) certification is in the interest of the consumer because it guarantees that a price premium is really associated with a product of higher than average quality, b) it is in the interest of the producer because it reduces the scope for free-riding in the industry, and c) it is in the interest of the state because it ensures greater transparency in the foodstuff market and it enhances control upon food quality. The Italian food market is very rich in origin-guaranteed products because of the high propensity to consume foodstuff products of its inhabitants but also because of a very long tradition of its highly diversified and largely SME-based food industry. Earning the trademark of certified origin is generally not a simple task, nor one within the horizon of individual food producers. Such a status is only gained through an explicit endorsement within the national legislation and it therefore requires a significant long-term investment a) to clearly define the peculiarities of a given product, b) to lobby for a legislative initiative, c) to monitor its implementation, d) to signal its breaches, and e) to publicise the status among the consumers. Unless a single firm acquires a monopoly over the entire production of a certified origin product, this long-term endeavour necessarily turns out to be a collective task which requires the continued endorsement of a number of often small-scale producers. As such, it appears immediately as the domain for consortile effort. This paper is an attempt to enquire into the establishment of two such consortia. To facilitate the analysis a single industry (ham-manufacturing) has been enquired upon. Two features of this industry needs to be initially stressed to frame the following institutional analysis. First of all, the supply of æraw inputsÆ to the ham-manufacturers is inelastic as the Italian pig-breeding industry is based almost exclusively on small-scale farms unable to rapidly respond to changes in ham demand. Secondly, ham seasoning is a relatively long process which requires a considerable amount of sunk investment. The consequence of these two conditions is that the ham-manufacturer is potentially at the mercy of the clients, unless it succeeds in gaining some control upon the market, either through a policy of minimum prices or through a control of aggregate supply. Details about the present status and about the history of the consortium of San Daniele and that of Parma are spelt out in sections 2 and 3. An attempt is made not only to reflect upon the chronological evolution of the two institutions but also to highlight the path which led them to acquire a central role in the definition of cluster-wide strategies, as emphasised in section 4. Section 5 reflects upon the profound similarities between the two initiatives and extracts some general lessons for SME clusters intending to re-position towards high-quality market niches.

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