The "net-system model" in NWFP marketing: the case of mushrooms (Italy).

In some countries Non Wood Forest Products and Services (NWFP&S) represent an important source of income for small and medium-scale forest-based enterprises in rural areas. Two different organisational models in mushrooms marketing are developed to analyse the supply-chain structure and its effects on rural development networks: i) a “traditional approach” and ii) a “net-system approach”. The first one is usually based on single (or few) large-scale enterprises producing large quantities of standard products mass-market oriented: the main commercial goal is the improvement of the value-chain from producer to end-users, with no special links or integrations between the production area and the producer(s). The second, quite new approach is based on several, integrated small- and medium-scale rural-based enterprises supplying relatively limited quantities of high quality products, oriented to niche markets. In this case, product’s specialty identification, complementary actions, integration and clustering among enterprises within the same production area are the most important goals. In other words, the net-system model’s aim is not limited to getting income from selling of NWFPs: above all, it is intended at stimulating the local economy as a whole, integrated system based on such forest products and related environmental services. After a brief introduction about the conceptual framework developed for the analysis of the two organisational models, two case studies based on mushrooms’ production and marketing are analysed and compared: the first one in Finland, with the mass market-oriented traditional model adopted by the large-scale DallaValle company; and the second one in Italy, with the specialty-oriented innovative net model adopted by Borgotaro Consortium, which is promoting a rural area and its numerous small-scale components by means of Boletus sp. marketing.