The French food manufacturing and retail systems in the mid-1990s

Abstract

Food manufacturing and retail food systems are undergoing deep and rapid changes in all OECD countries. Are economists able to forecast the future shape of these systems? They, at least, have to identify the key factors which will determine the paths food production and retailing activities will follow. That is what this article aims at. In other words, if we cannot pretend to predict the details of the future, at least we intend to point out the driving forces which will influence the food manufacturing and retailing system. The first section describes the analytical framework that will guide our study. The second section gives data that will help understand the dynamics of food manufacturing and retailing in France. The third section gives a more qualitative analysis of the French case. We stress the very important role played by the State in the game between retailers and manufacturers. The fourth section analyses the crisis of the system which arose at the beginning of the 1990s. Finally, we make a prospect of future changes, pointing out the latest State decisions regarding the French retailing sector. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.