Norwegian Agro-Food AttractingPrivateEquity Capital; Varieties of Capitalism - Varieties of Financialisation

Bibliographic Data

ID4446124
AuthorsBjørn Klimek (0000-0001-5114-1098, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research Postboks 8024 Dep. NO‐0030 Oslo Norway, corresponding author), Hilde Bjorkhaug (0000-0002-3933-2788, Center for Rural Research NO‐7491 Trondheim Norway, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume57
Issue2
Pages171-190
Publication date2017-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociologia Ruralis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0199 • E-ISSN: 1467-9523
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/soru.12112
OpenAlexW1856654696
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited29

Due to the (relatively) small scale of theNorwegian food industry,PrivateEquity capital is deeply involved in the structural development of the sector through acquisitions and takeovers. TheNorwegian social-democratic model of agriculture, with its attempts to maintain farming all over the country, struggles with comparative disadvantages in productivity andPrivateEquity capital is investing in direct competition with farmer co-operatives. An outline of the socioeconomic characteristics of theNorwegian model as well as those ofPrivateEquity illuminates why they both fit well together. Thus, we argue in this article that it is theNorwegian model of agriculture, with its non-market based elements, that today attracts finance capital and discuss whether this involvement of finance capital can be considered as a process of financialisation. Findings based on analysis of case-studies ofPrivateEquity buyout in the agro-food industry suggest that the economic motives ofPrivateEquity takeovers are based on a combination of typical industry capitalism with investments in productivity and efficiency, rather than merely financialisation. Findings are interpreted in a variety of capitalism framework combining social theory on financialisation with business school theories onPrivateEquity transactions

Agriculture · Capital (architecture) · Capitalism · Competition (biology) · Economic growth · Economic system · Economics · Market economy · Political science · Productivity · Variety (cybernetics) · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political Economy and Marxism

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