The decomposability of an elementary process

An elementary process is decomposable if it is possible to identify individual intermediate stages (or sub-processes) separable in time and space, and which are linked by the fact that the product of one stage is an input to (at least) one other stage. An elementary process may embody any degree of vertical integration. In a vertically integrated production process, the elementary process includes all the operations carried out along the production filière (or cluster), through the different intermediate stages leading up to the finished product. An elementary process is defined as ‘vertically integrated’ when it includes the whole chain of the filière, so that the inputs are represented by services of labour and capital goods funds, and the output is the final commodity. In the case of a ‘vertically integrated’ process, therefore, intermediate goods are not explicitly taken into consideration.

A filière consists of the total of technical and transaction operations needed to obtain a finished product from a given raw material. ‘A filière includes many types of activities which contribute to the production of a commodity, using a process that can be broken down into many phases, from the production of raw material and equipment to the marketing and services connected with this commodity’ (Montfort 1985).

The structure of a filière is rarely linear – that is, characterized by a chain of successive intermediate stages and operations, beginning with a given raw material and ending with a single final commodity.