Empresa y territorio en la industria de transformación del cerdo ibérico

Abstract

Sierra de Huelva is a depopulated and aged region, dominated by traditional agricultural activities in the pasture, among which the breeding of Iberian pigs stands out. Its transformation generated an industrial specialization since the last third of the 19th century, which has become a local production system with a territorial base, not relocatable. Since the end of the 20th century, there have been important changes in the meat industry of the area. In the context of agrarian post-productivism, rural spaces acquire new functions or reinforce existing ones. Therefore, the production of quality food and tourism appears as activities in rural development strategies. Gastronomic tourism and the creation of routes are of special interest as a creative expression of the integration and structuring of the territories. Iberian ham is a unique product, worldwide known, produced exclusively in the SW quadrant of the Iberian peninsula, and linked to a unique environment (the pasture land) and extensive ranching (Iberian pig), which have given rise to traditional culture, in addition to industry, in many municipalities, protected by Protected Designations of Origin. Through a mixed methodology based on both quantitative (primary and secondary sources) and qualitative (primary sources) analysis and through the use of instruments specific to the Economy and Business (public databases - REAII and RGSEAA - and private - SABI -) to obtain secondary information (with subsequent own elaboration) and selective questionnaires and interviews, this study aims to analyze the changes that have occurred in the meat sector industries in the Sierra de Huelva with special attention in the municipality of Jabugo. In this regard, we have managed to achieve the main objective, to analyze both business and territorial evolution between 2002 and 2020. As a result of the analysis, it is concluded that various business processes befall (concentration, modernization, transformation, cessation and creation of companies, dual activities) and also territorial (industrial relocation, name change and expansion of the Protected Designation of Origin). These processes are mainly concentrated in the two municipalities with the highest industrial concentration, Jabugo and Cumbres Mayores, although with substantial differences between the two. Secondly, we have tried to study the communication strategies developed by companies in the Iberian pig transformation sector through the analysis, as a methodology, of their websites, concluding that a strategy has not been developed of digitalization in the 21st century, given that the digital profile of the companies analyzed is considerably low, thus missing the strategic opportunities of having an adequate digital infrastructure for insertion in globalized markets. In this regard, it is striking that almost half of the companies analyzed do not sell through the Internet when it is something simple and that it does not require a large investment. It had been demonstrated in these times of pandemic by the COVID-19 we are experiencing, that companies using online sales have been least affected. On the other hand, starting from territorial recognition, scientific literature, and different databases, an analysis of resources and location of the activities related to Iberian ham has been carried out. After that, tourism potential in the Sierra de Huelva and its reality has been analyzed through primary sources (surveys and interviews with intervening actors). Results os such analysis evidence the existence of potential gastronomic tourism based on the world of the Iberian pig; the complementarity with other tourist activities, the challenges in structuring the existing attractions, the multiplication of disconnected and sometimes coincident tourism initiatives and the low participation of private actors (accommodation, industries) in present initiatives.