Innover dans des productions patrimoniales. Génération d'objets techniques et émergence de règles dans les processus d'organisation

Résumé En Fr

Innovation in "patrimonial" products. Generating technical objects and emerging rules in organization process. Innovation processes are subject to recent theoretical developments. These developments are in fields such as evolutionary analysis of a firm, "technological paradigms" and "creation of technology". Economists have rarely paid attention so far to technical objects which however constitute the base of product as well as processes. Although some of these approaches give to interaction processes between the firm and its environment a central position in the dynamics of innovation, the teleological dimension is not yet taken into consideration. The issue of the generation of technical objects is still open. These objects do not precede the innovation process itself but are created in the course of action. One can also question the domain of validity of those theories of technical change for traditional and local products, which are already based on specific resources. We designate them as "patrimonial" products. Therefore, when we leave the universe of highly artificial production systems that the above mentioned theories deal with, innovation consists mainly in formalizing unwritten knowledge. Our paper illustrates this point of view with the help of an empirical study which refers to organization dynamics. These dynamics associate a group of farmers and researchers (including the authors ). It aims at converting a domestic farm product — the Corsican cured sausage — into a "gourmet" food. This process of making it explicit concerns the emerging objects as well as the decision processes which are related to it. It is a team effort which involves all team members in building a shared result. This process relies upon cooperative relations and implies a conscious desire to achieve an agreement with the rules that support it. As a conclusion, we think that these innovation dynamics stem from both testing the technical objects and continuously involving the team members. This dual aspect gives desired stability to the emerging objects.

Une réflexion pluridisciplinaire est conduite sur les processus d'innovation, à travers un aspect peu pris en compte par l'analyse économique : la constitution de l'objet technique. L'étude empirique porte sur une situation éloignée de l'industrialisation accomplie : des producteurs corses de saucisson sec cherchent à allonger la durée d'affinage pour passer d'un produit fermier à un produit gastronomique. L'innovation procède de l'explicitation des savoirs et de l'édiction de règles collectives. La dynamique innovante repose sur la répétition des épreuves et sur la succession des engagements. L'émergence de l'objet technique, puis la stabilisation de ses formes, permettent de traiter des relations entre science et technique et de proposer une définition de la technologie dans les sciences sociales.