AGRIBUSINESS EXECUTIVE EDUCATION AND KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE: NEW MECHANISMS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INVOLVING THE UNIVERSITY, PRIVATE FIRM STAKEHOLDERS AND PUBLIC SECTOR

M. Jatib et al. / The International Food and Agribusiness Management Review Vol 5 Iss 3 2003

Argentina fell into an institutional crisis that broke with the social contract and led
to the loss of confidence in the institutions¹¹.

Another equally significant event was the end of domestic funding and
hyperdevaluation. The interruption of domestic funding affected agriculture and
industry. There was little or no capital left for the normal operation of productive
activities. Devaluation benefited the system to a certain extent, since certain costs
were “pesofied” while others were “dollarized”. The price of grain and other
exportable products grew more than the costs in pesos so that profitability of most
sectors in the agrifood system definitely improved.

However, lack of trust in the government, taxes on exports, continuous changes in
the rules of the game, poor access of agrifoods into the world markets, failure to
reimburse VAT to exporters, poor management of Argentine organisations, and
high taxation contributed to the general turmoil where training is seldom
considered a priority. Consequently, interest in training dwindled as time went by,
particularly the interest for the Executive Management Postgraduate Course in
Food and Agribusiness focusing on Quality.

The face-to-face Executive Management Postgraduate Course in Food and
Agribusiness dictated at the FAUBA venue began its activities in mid June 2000.
Participants of the course varied from agricultural engineers to veterinarians, and
from lawyers and accountants, to chemical and industrial engineers (See Table 2).
Public institutions linked to the agrifood system (e.g. the Secretariat of Agriculture,
Livestock, Fisheries and Food, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology,
and the National Animal Health and Agrifood Quality Service) have sent their own
technicians and professionals to attend the Course with a view to increasing the
knowledge and expertise of their personnel.

Table 2 shows the varied profile of participants as well as the growing number of
professionals and entrepreneurs coming from sectors outside the agrifood system
who have registered in the latter years. Their reasons for attending these
Postgraduate Courses relate to institutional changes that occurred towards the end
of 2001 and the beginning of 2002. The resulting devaluation modified the business
scenario, particularly foreign trade.

Table 1. Percent Distribution of Attendees to the EMPCFA with seat in FAUBA in Terms of Their
Professional Activity.

¹¹ Ordonez, 2002

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