The Influence of Formal Institution Agents on Coopetition in the Organic Food Industry

Abstract Recent academic research presents a large volume of studies on the organic market from the perspective of consumers’ motivation and purchasing preferences. However, these studies adopt a competitive or cooperative approach, but overlook the institutional complexity of emerging markets. This study aims to investigate the organic food production chain of emerging countries from the perspective of coopetition, taking into account the influence of formal institution agents. We focused our analysis on the chain of the organic food products, with the organic ice-cream producer as the key node of the chain. It is a single-case study conducted through in loco interviews with participants in the organic food products’ chain, along with secondary data. The results show the influence of formal institution agents and non-financial incentives as primary drivers of entrepreneurial strategic decisions. We contributed to the coopetition literature by demonstrating the influence of formal institution agents on value creation and value capture in the organic chain.