This study examines the influence of founding conditions and decisions on new companies' performance, analysing how both environmental context and organisational dynamics interact to determine their success. It distinguishes between two different success indicators: survival and profitable growth. An empirical study conducted using a sample of 3,722 new agri-food companies in two different periods, one of economic stability and the other of recession, showed that founding conditions had long-lasting effects on post-entry performance. The economic context acted as a moderator of the relationship between individual factors and success. Adverse environmental conditions were also a determinant of success, making surviving firms more competitive and resilient. The results reflect the survival of the fitter principle by showing that early profitability reduced the risk of failure and made firms more likely to become profitable in the medium term. Internationalisation strategies developed organisational capabilities that created an imprint for adaptability and growth.

Scientific literature in social sciences that deals with nitrate embraces two centuries, whereas very little socio-economic work has addressed other forms of reactive nitrogen. Nitrogen has always had an ambivalent role as both a raw material indispensable for the development of agricultural and a source of negative impacts. This ambivalence has accompanied the social history of livestock production and can explain the conflicting nature of the subject and the moderate environmental efficiency of environmental policies. The legal system is particularly complex. The main cause of territorial pollutions is linked to the industrialisation and spatial concentration of livestock production in France, as in numerous countries in Europe and North America. This conglomeration movement is translated by a concentration of animal manure, which drives to nitrogen balance surplus and associated serious environmental consequences.