Growth in Organic Mid-scale Chains: How to Strengthen Network Identity?

In this paper, we study how growth may influence on product qualities or values of organic chains and consequences for the identity of the chain as an alternative producer. Research show that growth may challenge established product qualities, and firms or chains have to adapt qualities to accomplish growth. The aim is to study how actors in the network of a firm perceive the network identity of the firm, and how an organic firm or chain can adapt qualities and strengthen its network identity when growing. The theoretical approach is the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) perspective. We use the framework for analyzing network identity developed within this perspective. The methodical approach is case studies, where we among others have accomplished personal interviews with actors in the firm in focus, and firms and actors in the network of this actor. Results show that the framework for studying network identity is useful for our analysis. It contributes to knowledge on how firms should act when growth challenge qualities. Another result is that dependency to an important actor for growth may strengthen or weakened network identity dependent on if they have developed common values. The concept, network identity, should be further elaborated to better understand the complexity of the concept.