0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

This thesis examines innovation structures and processes in rural poultry industry in Tanzania. In 2005, FAO categorised the rural poultry production system in Tanzania under the lowest sector IV with very minimal biosecurity measures and with no commercial orientation. By 2012, a DFID-funded Research into Use (RIU) programme transformed the industry to Sector III which represents a significant commercial orientation and relatively higher bio-security measures. This thesis explains how RIU achieved that. This analysis is presented from three perspectives. First, the path dependence framework is used to present the observed dominance of the traditional poultry production system as a 'lock-in'. The study makes it clear that before RIU, mental frames, resource allocations and how dominant powers behaved reinforced low innovation tendencies. Second, using the agricultural innovation system (AIS) framework and the concepts of 'organisational thinness' and 'fragmentation' (also from path dependency theory), it explains that by making rural producers feel self-sufficient in inputs and knowledge, practices in the traditional system disconnect producers from engaging with other actors. Third, the concepts of 'innovation broker' and of 'exogenous shock' are used to present RIU as an external force or facilitator which instigated a transformation process. RIU facilitated a large number of rural producers to produce for the market, and which was sufficient enough to create a significant demand for inputs and services. This demand triggered new investment and re-organisation in the supply chains. Then, RIU supported actors to solve capacity problems that emerged from the shock. RIU is therefore presented as a flexible 'innovation broker' who played different roles and allocated resources based on circumstances on the ground. The thesis makes several contributions. It presents a case of how a public action can promote innovation in industries dominated by subsistence producers by playing the role of an innovation broker to support a significant number of producers to change routines and interact with other actors. It also shows that rural growth can be achieved through linking rural enterprises with those in the urban instead of supporting rural actors in isolation. It basically makes it clear that African agriculture needs re-organization, so that technological changes can follow as a consequence.

The overall purpose of this study was to provide information concerning the comparative and competitive abilities of industries and regions within the State and to aid in understanding the changing levels and location of economic activity. Ninety-six counties of Virginia were clustered into eight homogeneous sub-regions by use of clustering analysis and stepwise multiple discriminant analysis. Growth rate differential analysis was performed for each of the eight study sub-regions. Industrial location patterns of the sub-regions of Virginia were examined in terms of location quotients and coefficients of specialization. It was found that the natural resources oriented industries such as agriculture, mining, food production, lumber production, and stone and clay production were highly represented in the rural sub-regions. Manufacturing as a whole was highly represented in the rural industrialized sub-regions; however, the weighted shares of the state total manufacturing employment in these sub-regions were not as great as that of the urban sub-region delineated in the study which showed relatively low representation of manufacturing. There was strong evidence that the manufacturing in the rural sub-regions was in general the rural-oriented manufacturing industries such as food, textile, apparel, stone and clay products, and furniture products. Urban oriented industries such as trade, transportation, contracted construction, services, finance and insurance and government were highly represented in the urbanized subregion. The opposite was true of the rural sub-regions. In the State of Virginia, most of the urban oriented industries were growing faster than the natural resources oriented industries such as agriculture, mining, lumber products, and food products. Unemployment was also declining in terms of percentage change during the 1960-1970 decade. At the sub-regional level, only the urbanized sub-region showed higher than State average growth in both employment and earnings. The other regions showed relative declines in both employment and earnings when compared to the State. Seven of the eight sub-regions of Virginia suffered comparative disadvantages in terms of industrial mixes showing declines in both employment and earnings. The urbanized region benefited from increases in employment and earnings due to both favorable industrial mix and wage structure. Urban oriented industries in general showed comparative abilities in urban areas, while the rural-oriented industries suffered comparative disadvantage in both urban and rural areas. Manufacturing, in general, enjoyed greater comparative abilities in rural areas than in urban areas. Performances of the sub-regions also showed similar trends as the comparative abilities of the regions. All of the sub-regions except the urban sub-region suffered relative declines in their shares of total state employment and earnings. Both rural and urban oriented industries in the urban sub-region showed successful performances, while most of the rural oriented industries suffered competitive disabilities in the rural regions expressed in terms of growth of employment and earnings. The employment projection for the year of 1980 showed that unless the present regional industrial mix for each of the regions is altered, the regional variation in employment growth would be greater during the 1970-1980 decade than in the 1960-1970 decade. / Ph. D.

Territoire supposé « sans histoire », le canton de Villard-de-Lans (Isère), fait partie des points aveugles de l’historiographie. Situé en montagne, donc supposé enclavé, il semble en marge du développement rural tel que le modèle anglais le conçoit. L’approche longitudinale sur deux siècles, et en particulier au cours de la période vers 1830-vers 1930, montre que cet espace est un cas pertinent de construction commune entre des acteurs de nature diverse, situés à des échelles différentes et qui forment un système traversé par des complémentarités et des rivalités. Pour démontrer ceci, l’approche prosopographique questionne la notion de développement rural. Celui-ci, en premier lieu, n’est pas déterminé par les étapes de l’âge industriel. Les Quatre montagnes sont dès la première moitié du 19e siècle un espace intégré aux transformations globales et plusieurs indices révèlent des circulations régulières avec Grenoble, le chef-lieu du département. Si les notables jouent un rôle important, de nombreuses autres familles tissent des liens avec les sociétés et les activités de la plaine. De la recherche des moyens pour demeurer au village au développement qui s’exprime dans un cadre collectif, et qui prend notamment forme dans les conseils municipaux, les familles sont des acteurs décisifs du développement rural. Celui-ci s’appuie, en deuxième lieu, sur l’essor précoce de l’élevage bovin mais également sur le commerce du bois. Progressivement, les bois du délit s’effacent devant l’arbre autour duquel les acteurs se réconcilient. La politique bovine constitue un angle privilégié car elle concerne le plus grand nombre d’individus à l’échelle locale et elle est un cadre pour des jeux d’échelles. L’élaboration d’une construction commune entre les cultivateurs et les acteurs dépêchés par l’Etat, notamment à l’occasion de la reconnaissance par l’Etat de la race bovine de Villard-de-Lans (1864), puis lors de la création d’un concours spécial départemental (1893-1914) met au jour les logiques communes mais également rivales entre les uns et les autres. La notion de spécialisation s’efface devant une orientation renforcée et la pluriactivité reste vivace. Elle démontre la volonté de faire feu de tout bois. Dans le même temps, une filière se construit à travers la station d’élevage (1875) et une segmentation des activités liées à l’élevage. La recherche du développement rural s’exprime, pour finir, à travers la construction d’un système touristique entre le dernier quart du 19e siècle et l’entre-deux-guerres. Celui-ci est, à nouveau, une élaboration commune entre des acteurs qui cherchent à promouvoir cette nouvelle branche industrielle et des sociétés locales qui se servent de leurs atouts (un milieu serti de reliefs élevés mais avec une amélioration de l’accessibilité, l’essor du commerce et de belles forêts) pour investir cette opportunité. La comparaison avec l’élevage évite de parler de spécialisation car plusieurs activités font la renommée du canton de Villard-de-Lans au début du 20e siècle ; elles proposent donc une autre possibilité de développement qui ne soit ni industrielle ni fondée sur une monoactivité et qui ne s’appuie que sur quelques individus. Ainsi, la dimension communautaire reste prégnante, le rapport entre la ville et l’espace rural n’est pas seulement hiérarchisé et les combinaisons des activités permettent de passer, pour une partie des habitants, du maintien à l’essor. La période du dernier quart du 19e siècle à l’entre-deux-guerres est féconde et elle suggère une relecture des évolutions de la seconde moitié du 20e siècle jusqu’à nos jours. / The Villard-de-Lans canton may be deeemed a historiographic “point aveugle”. As a mountainous area, supposedly isolated, it does seem alien to the English model of rural growth.However a diachronic study over two centuries, concentrating upon 1830 to 1930, illustrates the interplay of a variety of actors. A prosopographic method will challenge the very concept of rural growth.To begin with, rural growth is undetermined by the successive steps of the industrial revolution. Ever since the beginning of the XIX C., the “Quatre Montagnes” are involved with the main transformations ; many signs point to regular exchanges with Grenoble, the “chef-lieu” of Isère. Assuredly, the upper classes play an important role but many other families are linked with various types of activities on the plain. Sometimes, they will find the means to stay at home, sometimes they will favour collective growth, thanks for instance to the municipal council. These are major actors of rural growth.Secondly, growth here depends on the early boom of bovine-breeding (“élevage”) as well as on the timber trade.We have concentrated upon the policy of cattle-breeding for it involves the largest number of local actors as well as being the scene of a scale-game. The recognition by the State of the Villard-de-Lans breed (1864) followed by the creation of a “Concours départemental spécial” (1893-1914) enable to discover the interplay, sometimes antagonistic, of farmers and State agents. Pluriactivity remain strong despite the launching of a new industry (breeding facility (1875)) and a segmentation of its various departments.Finally, rural growth delivers itself through the expansion of tourism between 1875 and the interwar period. Here also a common construction is detailed between the active promoters of a new industry and the local societies determined to make the most of this opportunity via enhanced access, commercial development and their beautiful woodland. The category of specialization is irrelevant for many activities, apart from “élevage”, caracterize the “canton” at the start of the XXth C. : growth here is neither industrial nor mono-occupational nor dependent upon a small number of individuals. The community is decisive. There is more than a mere hierarchy between town and country - thanks to the multiplicity of occupations, a section of the population can go from preservation to growth. The rich period from 1875 to the interwar years invites to a reassessment of the contemporary evolution from 1950 to the present.