La filiera: tra sistema economico ed unità di produzione organizzate

The term 'filiere' is used with several different meanings in agricultural economic studies. After a brief review of the different interpretations of the concept, attention is focused on 'monographic studies' which analyse production, markets and consumption of specific goods. Although both technological and institutional aspects are represented in these studies, only the technological ones seem to be important in the original idea of 'filiere'. From this standpoint the boundary identification problem of the 'filiere' can be dealt with in terms of an analytical-descriptive approach to production. The time-structured representation of the production process permits the definition of vertical boundaries identifying initial raw material, final commodity and the set of productive tasks which transform the former to the latter. The characteristics description of product technology, developed by Metcalfe and Saviotti, allows the identification of horizontal boundaries. Within this analytical framework, groups of commodities with similar technical characteristics can be defined. A pattern of mapping between process characteristics and good characteristics is then applied to relate a set of similar elementary production processes to a set of technologically similar goods. Finally, a possible interpretation of the concept of 'filiere' as a type of productive unit is proposed and a practical application is illustrated.