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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Quality and Innovation in the Organic Agro-Food Sector: Threats and Opportunities of Social and Managerial Innovation

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This study seeks to understand how innovation in the organic agro-food sector has evolved, studying the main challenges facing the sector as a consequence of its growth. Through the study and analysis of literature we reflect on the threats and opportunities facing the sector. We also used two expert panels to help us cross-reference and complete the information available from previous studies. The organic agro-food sector was born as a social and radical innovation based on specific values ​​and principles, which include respect for nature and sustainability, ecology, no pollution, equity and a close relationship with consumers. In this chapter, we explain how regulations and the interplay of different actors have sustained the sharp growth and development of the sector, mainly in the USA and Europe. However, the sector is currently facing major challenges, due precisely to this sharp growth. We identify the main challenges as the need to develop an ambidextrous capability, balancing exploration and exploitation, together with a second group of challenges, related to integrating formal and informal rules as well as new actors in the sector. There is a need to maintain the core values of the organic agro-food sector and its genuine social differentiation as well as to develop the standards and regulations required to maintain the high levels of food safety and quality of organic agro-food, given that nowadays it is distributed in supermarkets and major chains, and is consumed by a new type of customer. New actors in the organic agro-food sector (conventional distribution, mass consumers, and international traders) have been attracted by the sector’s growth. This means rules and requirements are needed to create certainty in economic activity and international trade. Institutional change constitutes a crucial component to secure the future development of the sector. We have seen that although these challenges arise from the social and economic trends that the sector is facing, there are also opportunities linked to all of them. Looking at the sector as a whole, the innovation trend has changed from paradigmatic, value-based, social and radical innovation to one of incremental managerial innovation aimed at overcoming the challenges associated with growth.