The Social Dimension of Coordinative Arrangements and Work Organization in the Export Chain of Grapes and Mangoes from the São Francisco Valley, Brazil to Europe

Since 1980's the São Francisco Valley region in the Northeast of Brazil has been going through a period of accelerated shifts. The structural transformations based on public investments in large-scale irrigation infrastructure boosted with the singular results in exports. This way a semi-arid area earlier dominated by extensive live-stock ranching and small-scale river side agriculture and fishing was turned into a pocket of production of value-added agricultural commodities such as mangoes and table grapes. Phenomena related to these shifts include the migration of individuals from a variety of social backgrounds, levels of instruction and technical capabilities inserted in a complex array of productive functions from rural wage labor to sophisticated logistic systems. Drawn by their perspectives on local potentialities these social actors are since then entangled in the region's routes of development. By its turn, all such routes involve coordinates and priorities accruing simultaneously from local and global determinants. Central for reflecting this context is the conceptualization of particular institutional arrangements found in global chains of fresh fruits. These arrangements are understood to constitute coordinative mechanisms organizing what, how, how much, when and the means of transport of given products. The aim is to investigate how social actors are involved in this export chain experience and tackle dilemmas of coordination with consequences for the configuration of production and labor. The research is based on the collection of qualitative data. Furthermore, the research work followed a methodological strategy informed by Grounded Theory's core principles. Generated insights illuminate on an array of rationales of evaluation on issues such as, product quality, the legitimacy of contractual arrangements, labor relations and work routines, among others. These rationales were employed by the actors in concrete business relationships.