Successful Organizational Learning In The Management Of Agricultural Research And Innovation: The Mexican Produce Foundations (research Report 162 - Ifpri)

Dynamic agricultural innovation systems are essential for reducing poverty. The Mexican Produce Foundations (PFs) are among the most flexible and adaptive institutions that support research, extension, and innovation activities in the developing world, and they have had major and diverse impacts on the Mexican agricultural innovation and research systems. Why have the PFs been so successful, relative to other, similar organizations? This report investigates their path to success. Drawing on a diverse literature on innovation systems, complexity theories, and organizational cultures and governance, the authors explore how these institutions have sustained organizational innovation over time and affected the Mexican agricultural innovation system. This study will be valuable for researchers, policymakers, and others interested in improving the design and implementation of research and innovation systems in developing countries. Successful Organizational Learning in the Management of Agricultural Research and Innovation 1 Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Tables 7 Figures 8 Boxes 9 Foreword 10 Acknowledgments 11 Financial Contributors and Partners 11 Acronyms and Abbreviations 12 Summary 14 What Are the PFs? 14 Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of Institutional Innovation 15 Main Lessons Derived from the Study of the PFs 16 Introduction 18 1.1 Why Study the PFs? 19 1.2 Motivation for This Study and Its Intended Audience 21 1.3 Outline of This Report 21 Innovation and Research Systems in Developing Countries 23 2.1 Operating in a Complex World 23 2.2 Innovation Processes 30 2.3 STI Policies 32 Innovative Capabilities, Organizational Learning, and Poverty Alleviation 46 3.1 Organizational Innovation Capabilities: The Role of Learning 46 3.2 Organizational Culture 52 3.3 Governance 55 3.4 Innovative Capabilities and Poverty Alleviation 61 Concepts and Methods 65 4.1 Conceptual Framework 65 4.2 Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches in the Study of Complex Processes 68 4.3 Study Methodology 70 History of the PFs and COFUPRO 72 5.1 Mexican Agriculture in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century 73 5.2 Creation of the PFs 77 5.3 Creation of COFUPRO 79 5.4 Consolidation of COFUPRO 86 5.5 The Present Stage 90 Institutional Assessment of the PFs 93 6.1 Institutional Culture 93 6.2 Governance of COFUPRO and the PFs 97 6.3 Characterizing the Learning Mechanisms of the PFs and COFUPRO 103 6.4 Impact of the PFs 114 6.5 Role of PFs in Poverty Alleviation 118 Conclusions 120 Epilogue 124 Organizations Discussed in This Report 126 Alliance for the Countryside 128 Recommendations for Strengthening the Innovative Capabilities of the PFs 129 C.1 Governance 129 C.2 Learning Mechanisms 134 C.3 Relationship with Research and Extension Institutions 138 Topics Covered in the Interviews 142 D.1 History of the PFs and COFUPRO 142 D.2 Organizational Culture and Governance 142 D.3 Learning Activities 142 D.4 Impact on the Research and Innovation Systems 143 References 144 Successful Organizational Learning in the Management of Agricultural Research,Innovation (2009) 152p 9780896291713 0896291715 "To be an effective poverty alleviation instrument, agricultural policies (including research, extension, and innovation) must be based on an evolutionary approach that emphasizes experimentation, learning, and active interactions among diverse partners However, most agricultural research and extension policies and institutions in developing countries lack the necessary flexibility to implement such an approach. Instead, they apply uniform recipes and struggle with organizational rigidities and other problems. Notable exceptions to this trend have been the Mexican Produce Foundations (PFs). While most organizations eventually lose their creativity and seldom regain it, the PFs have learned, adapted, and contributed to major and diverse impacts on the Mexican agricultural innovation and research systems. Such impacts came from activities that were peripheral to the PFs' original purpose of managing funds for a national institute devoted to agricultural research. This research report investigates the success of the PFs, exploring how they have sustained organizational innovation over extended periods and adapted to maximize their impact on the agricultural innovation system. Using a theoretical framework that draws on the literature on innovation systems, complexity theories, and organizational cultures and governance, this study analyzes the factors that allowed the PFs to develop strong innovative capabilities and how these capabilities were affected by changes in the interactions among regulatory frameworks, the federal and state governments and organizational structures, creative individuals, and the history of the processes. Understanding the factors that enabled such unusual behavior will help to improve the design and implementation of innovation and research programs in developing countries. Studying the PFs also offers new insights into the dynamics of innovative organizations and how they relate to innovative capabilities."--Text Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Tables......Page 7 Figures......Page 8 Boxes......Page 9 Foreword......Page 10 Financial Contributors and Partners......Page 11 Acronyms and Abbreviations......Page 12 What Are the PFs?......Page 14 Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of Institutional Innovation......Page 15 Main Lessons Derived from the Study of the PFs......Page 16 Introduction......Page 18 1.1 Why Study the PFs?......Page 19 1.3 Outline of This Report......Page 21 2.1 Operating in a Complex World......Page 23 2.2 Innovation Processes......Page 30 2.3 STI Policies......Page 32 3.1 Organizational Innovation Capabilities: The Role of Learning......Page 46 3.2 Organizational Culture......Page 52 3.3 Governance......Page 55 3.4 Innovative Capabilities and Poverty Alleviation......Page 61 4.1 Conceptual Framework......Page 65 4.2 Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches in the Study of Complex Processes......Page 68 4.3 Study Methodology......Page 70 History of the PFs and COFUPRO......Page 72 5.1 Mexican Agriculture in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century......Page 73 5.2 Creation of the PFs......Page 77 5.3 Creation of COFUPRO......Page 79 5.4 Consolidation of COFUPRO......Page 86 5.5 The Present Stage......Page 90 6.1 Institutional Culture......Page 93 6.2 Governance of COFUPRO and the PFs......Page 97 6.3 Characterizing the Learning Mechanisms of the PFs and COFUPRO......Page 103 6.4 Impact of the PFs......Page 114 6.5 Role of PFs in Poverty Alleviation......Page 118 Conclusions......Page 120 Epilogue......Page 124 Organizations Discussed in This Report......Page 126 Alliance for the Countryside......Page 128 C.1 Governance......Page 129 C.2 Learning Mechanisms......Page 134 C.3 Relationship with Research and Extension Institutions......Page 138 D.3 Learning Activities......Page 142 D.4 Impact on the Research and Innovation Systems......Page 143 References......Page 144