(Which performance of the logistics schemes of short food supply chains : an analysis of the key drivers and means of improvement ; La performance des organisations logistiques des circuits courts de distribution : une analyse des déterminants et leviers d'amélioration

Abstract

Many studies have shown the need for improvement of the global performance of short food supply chains. Logistics appears to be one of the solutions to reach this goal. We thus try to understand which are the key drivers of performance of these supply chains and what could be done to improve it, considering these key drivers. Considering that standard theory, based on neo-classical principals, can't properly answer these questions, we use a framework based on Economics of Conventions and Economics of Proximity. This PhD demonstrates that the logics behind logistics schemes of short food supply chains – including those bases on a strong reduction of geographical and relational distances – aren't always different from the logics of other types of chains. They actually are embedded in different worlds of production whose characteristics and convention of performance determine the logistic scheme and its performance. Moreover, as other supply chains, they have to face an important need for fast and efficient circulation of flows. To reach their goals, they will thus employ tools that aren't necessarily different from those used in other kinds of supply chains. But these means of improvement don't always fit the actual stakes because of the size of the firms and the characteristics of the territories in which they are embedded. Coordination between firms – horizontal or vertical – is rarely used to improve performance and is even often considered as impossible to build. But it is, as a matter of fact, one the most relevant means of improvement that could be used. To do so, a real effort has to be done to promote this kind of solution, for example through public policies. ; Cette thèse s'intéresse aux circuits courts et notamment à ceux dits « de proximité ». Ils présentent en effet une performance économique, sociale et environnementale contrastée qu'il semble par conséquent possible d'améliorer, en particulier grâce à la fonction logistique. Nous cherchons donc à comprendre dans quelle mesure et de quelle manière la ...