Chain governance structures: the European traditional food sector

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to identify chain‐level, product‐, and country‐specific characteristics of chain governance structures in the traditional food sector in the European Union (EU). Design/methodology/approach The approach combined taxonomy compilation: selecting chain governance structures, Selecting determining variables and assigning values to them; and pilot testing: individual interviews with 54 companies across Belgium, Italy and Hungary representing cheese, beer, white pepper and meat chains. The number of participants is 54. Findings It was found that the chains varied largely in terms of their complexity. Besides chain‐level, product‐, and country‐specific differences, the retailers' size is a determining factor of the applied governance structure. Research limitations/implications The research only considers traditional food chains. Practical implications The paper provides guidance for selecting an appropriate governance structure given the characteristics of the chain, the products or the country. Originality/value The paper compiles a taxonomy providing important insights to determining variables of the application of governance structures. Further, it analyzes chain‐level, product‐, and country‐specific differences.