Food System Dynamics (E-Journals)
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Sustainability as Sales Argument in the Fruit Juice Industry? An Analysis of On-Product Communication
Get PDFPurpose/Value – The objective of this paper is to determine (1) the extent to which sustainability serves as a sales argument and (2) which areas of sustainability are communicated in the fruit juice industry. This seems promising against the background that there are several ethical challenges the fruit juice chain is increasingly confronted with and consumers demand for sustainable products is also rising. Design/Methodology – A market investigation at the Point-of Sale (POS) was conducted in July 2013. On-product communication of all fruit juice products (‘not from concentrate (NFC)’ fruit juices, ’reconstituted (RECON)’ fruit juices, fruit nectars and smoothies) from five retailers (two full-range retailers, two discounters, one organic supermarket) was analyzed. The data was evaluated using content analysis. Results/Findings – Overall, 562 fruit juices were examined. Results reveal that nearly one quarter of the products has labels signaling sustainable aspects. However, most of those products were found in the organic food retailer and are organic juices. Only a small number of products consider other areas of sustainability, such as social concerns or regional production. Discussion/Conclusion – Communicating sustainability aspects of fruit juice production via on-package labels is scarce in conventional retail stores. In view of the ethical challenges present in the fruit juice chain and discussed in the paper, the increasing demand of consumers for sustainable products and the high competition in the sector, communicating different sustainability aspects can be an opportunity for fruit juice producers and retailers to differentiate their products on the highly saturated fruit juice market.
Factors Underlying Farmers’ Decisions to Participate in Networks
Get PDFThe objective of this elicitation study is to provide insights into farmers’ beliefs which influence their participation in knowledge exchange and innovation networks to enable the enhancement of network participation. A set of facilitating and impeding factors was obtained. Participants identified (a) 13 categories of behavioural beliefs (e.g. ‘You learn something’ and ‘Low perceived return on investment’), (b) 4 groups of normative beliefs (influence of colleagues, spouses, network coordinators and chain partners) and (c) 11 control beliefs (facilitators or barriers related to, for example, ‘Network skills’, ‘No time’ and ‘Perceived restraint by farmers in communicating openly and honestly’)
Does Consumer Time Preference Affect Label Use?
Get PDFDiet-related chronic diseases, such as overweight and obesity, are worrisome not only from a medical point of view, but also in terms of monetary expenditures, these health problems are strictly linked to sizeable sanitary costs (Chou et al., 2004; Yaniv et al., 2009; Cawley and Meyerhoefer, 2012; Ruhm, 2012). These costs are mainly due to the purchase of medical care (direct costs), and to the loss of productivity caused by hill-health (indirect costs) (Rosin, 2008). To challenge these problems and improve public health it is of particular importance to study the determinants of food consumption, and understand the best way to effectively address consumers toward healthy eating.To this purpose, one of the most investigated topics in the last decades has been the role of food-related information. Economists have found evidences that food information can exert a positive effect in increasing consumer nutrition knowledge and in promoting healthier consumption. Hence, policy makers have proposed different policy interventions to provide consumers with more, and more detailed, information. These information measures have included the diffusion of dietary guidelines, the promotion of nutritional education programs in the schools, and also specific campaigns to increase public awareness concerning fruit and vegetables consumption or the negative effects of some unhealthy food and drinks.In this context, another and maybe more direct way to provide consumers with food-related information is represented by on-package food labels, which currently constitute the principal tool through which consumers can easily acquire information about food products. The key role of food labels in making individuals able to do more conscious diet choices has been well established by the main findings of the economic literature (Drichoutis et al., 2006; Drichoutis et al., 2008a; Drichoutis et al., 2009; Norgaard and Brunso 2009; Barreiro-Hurlè et al., 2010). Therefore, given the importance of on-packaging information, the EU has recently introduced the EU Regulation No. 1169/2011, published in October 2011, in order to make labels even more effective and boost their utility for consumers. This new low has established some rules concerning mandatory information, nutritional facts and also the graphical standards allowed on food labels in all the EU. Nonetheless, consumers are not always willing to make use of the information reported on labels, and this makes of crucial importance to investigate and understand which factors can be able to discourage consumers in using labels
The Effect of Terroir on Wine Business Model in Burgundy: To Make Wine or to Sell Harvest?
Get PDFThe paper explores the strategies of the wine stakeholders with respect to outsourcing versus integration of the wine-making process by analyzing original and recent data issued from the companies producing wine in Burgundy. Our research question is: Does terroir matter for wine business model between staying viticulturist or becoming winemaker? We investigate this question within the mosaic of the Burgundian vineyard. A Principal Components Analysis highlights the latent variables explaining the different strategies of stakeholders in Burgundy, and a cluster analysis tries at identifying the differences existing between the winegrowers, with a special focus on the viticulturists and the winemakers. The results show that the strategies of the Burgundian wine stakeholders with respect to outsourcing vs. integration differ according to the level of Appellation d’Origine. Consequently the terroir operates as discriminant factor between outsourcing whether integrating some, if not all, of the stages of the wine-making process, including sales. Each sub-region of the Burgundian vineyard has a specific business model strongly related to the territory nesting the wine estates
Consumer Attitudes, Knowledge and Behavior in the Russian Market of Food
Get PDFIn the last decades the market for organic food was well developed in Western European Countries and com-parable markets like the US or Canada. While these markets more or less approach market saturation, other markets still have huge potentials and are of special interest for exporting companies. In this paper we analyze demands, knowledge and expectations in the emerging market Russia. It is well documented that the Russian market for organic food has much higher growth rates compared to Western markets. According to the USDA, the market rose from about 640 million Rubel in 2004 to about 7.4 billion Rubel in 2011 (about 155 Mio €). This dramatic boost in sales might also be due to a significant change in Russians’ consumer behavior. Howev-er, some challenges have to be considered when entering the Russian market with premium products (organic food is usually sold at comparable high prices in Russia). (1) There is a huge number of low-income consumers who are not able to pay for premium products. (2) Up to now, there are no official organic labels available in Russia. Therefore, it is likely that the Russian population has a lack of knowledge on what organic food is and which requirements are connected to the organic production process. Considering these restrictions, it was interesting to analyze important factors for the food choice on the one hand and the knowledge of Russian consumers about organic food on the other. This contribution will present results for one specific product (organic potatoes) which can be considered to be a typical alternative to low priced, conventional products. A conjoint analysis was conducted in Saint Petersburg investigating the importance of buying attributes con-nected to organic potatoes (n = 300); obviously, the results are not representative for the whole Russian mar-ket. But the results impressively show how different consumers’ attitudes are compared to Western markets and how low the average knowledge about this product category still is. The findings deliver valuable infor-mation for all members within the supply chain who want to enter a market with high growth rates but also with obvious shortcomings
Consumer Attitudes, Knowledge, and Behavior in the Russian Market for Organic Food
Get PDFIn the past few decades, the market for organic food has developed well in Western European countries and comparable markets like the United States or Canada. While these markets are now approaching market saturation, other markets still have huge potential for growth and are therefore of special interest to export companies. In this paper, we analyze the demands, knowledge, and expectations of the emerging market in Russia. It is well documented that the Russian market for organic food has had a much higher growth rate than Western markets in recent years. According to the USDA, the Russian market grew significantly during the last years. The increase might also be due to changes in Russian consumers’ behavior. However, some challenges must be considered when entering the Russian market with premium products: (1) a large number of low‐income consumers are not able topay for premium products, and (2) up until now, there have been no official organic labels available in Russia, and, therefore, it is likely that the Russian population lacks knowledge of what organic food is and which requirements are connected to the organic production process. Considering these restrictions, we analyzed important factors affecting Russian consumers’ food choice on the one hand and their knowledge of organic food on the other. This paper presents results for one specific product (organic potatoes), which can be considered to be a typical alternative to low‐priced, conventional products. A conjoint analysis was conducted in Saint Petersburg (n = 300) to investigate the importance of the buying attributes of organic potatoes. While the results are not representative of the whole Russian market, they show crucial differences in consumer attitudes compared to Western markets and confirm that the average consumer knowledge about this product category remains low. These findings offer valuable information to those stakeholders of the supply chain who want to enter a market with high growth rates but obvious shortcomings
Realising Future Internet Potentials for Food Chain SMEs: A Hierarchy of Needs
Get PDFThe EC funded FI‐PPP programme is currently elaborating a large set of enabling technologies that shall help to overcome challenges towards a sustainable networked society of tomorrow. This up‐front investment can highly facilitate access to such Internet potentials by food chain SMEs. Nevertheless, SMEs require a systematic support for being able to decide on which technological enablers are relevant at which moment of their business evolution. To characterise a decision reference, a hierarchy of needs of food chain SMEs is presented that can serve asbaseline when aiming at the usage of the FI‐PPP results in an SME environment
Sustainability as Sales Argument in the Fruit Juice Industry? An Analysis of On-Product Communication
Get PDFPurpose/Value – The objective of this paper is to determine (1) the extent to which sustainability serves as a sales argument and (2) which areas of sustainability are communicated in the fruit juice industry. This seems promising against the background that there are several ethical challenges the fruit juice chain is increasingly confronted with and consumers demand for sustainable products is also rising.Design/Methodology – A market investigation at the Point-of Sale (POS) was conducted in July 2013. On-product communication of all fruit juice products (direct fruit juices, fruit juices from concentrate, fruit nectars and smoothies) from five retailers (two full-range retailers, two discounters, one organic store) was analyzed. The data was evaluated using content analysis.Results/Findings – Overall, 562 fruit juices were examined. Results reveal that nearly one quarter of the prod-ucts has labels signaling sustainable aspects. However, most of those products were found in the organic food retailer and are organic juices. Only a small number of products consider other areas of sustainability, such as social concerns or regional production.Discussion/Conclusion – Communicating sustainability aspects of fruit juice production via on-package labels is scarce in conventional retail stores. In view of the ethical challenges present in the fruit juice chain and dis-cussed in the paper, the increasing demand of consumers for sustainable products and the high competition in the sector, communicating different sustainability aspects can be an opportunity for fruit juice producers and retailers to differentiate their products on the highly saturated fruit juice market
Effects of Learning from Distributors on Manufacturers’ Exploitation and Exploration Innovation Strategies in Food and Beverages Industry
Get PDFThe relevance of innovation as source of competitive advantage is clearly justified in the literature (Adner and Kapoor, 2010; Song and Thieme, 2009). In particular, knowledge, as well as all items related to organizational learning, represents a main factor contributing to the innovation success (i.e., Song and Parry, 1997). In this sense, different authors have emphasized the importance that external sources of knowledge possess for the development and success of the innovation capability (Li and Tang, 2010; Spithoven et al., 2010).The globalization of manufacturing companies is closely linked to the globalization of distribution activities (Mattsson, 2003). It can be said that globalization of retailers drives globalization of manufacturing companies. So the latter will be influenced by the supply conditions of the target markets, the possibilities to supply new markets, or the possible threat to be replaced by alternative suppliers (Ruiz, 2000, Etemad, 2004).At the same time, supply chains have progressively become more international and complex (Monczka and Trent, 2005), representing principal sources of competitive advantage in terms of availability of technological and organizational competencies and access to minor operative costs (Pagano, 2009). The international supply tends increasingly to be considered as a strategic tool chasing to take advantage of the previous advantages. Consequently, organizations should promote this critical organizational relational capability (Kotabe and Murray, 2004)
Demand Constraints and New Demands: Regulations, Markets and Institutions Efficiency (A Case Study for Cape Verde)
Get PDFEconomic efficiency is a key issue for economic research and for policy design, and certainly for food security challenges. In the food system dynamics the understanding of changes and trends is crucial to improve our capacity in dealing with sustainable development and quality of life objectives. The links with food consumption behavior, mainly in less developed countries are main drivers to understand changes in the food system. Food system efficiency evaluation is necessary, in regard to production/consumption efficiency, market and government/governance – regulations and institutional efficiency, and efforts should be made to improve our capacity to deal with those methodological needs. In many situations, in the real world, data and measurements are difficult or even impossible in numeric/quantitative terms. Frequently, qualitative evaluation is the only way to proceed, but measurements and numeric references are still important, mainly when changes over time is the focal aspect of the research about real world conditions and respective changes. The actual paper follows a structural food system model (WFSE – World Food Security Equation) to show the important role of Markets and Institutions “vis a vis” regulation practices directed to improve economic efficiency subject to demand behavior in a country case study.Cape Verde is a very challenging country in regard to “food security status,” with great success in global/macro terms in the last 10 years, where now the main problems are clearly at local level. The present research tries to highlight the global achievements and explores local assessment efforts on food consumption conditions. A specific region is studied, the island of Santo Antão, in a very important production region. Two different communities are analyzed, and three different production systems are considered to better understand the local dynamics and possible interactions among those factors and food consumption habits. The results deserve deeper discussions and further research, with evidences that food habits are very strong factors to be considered, sometimes “over passing” clearly the expectations in regard to income, and also in regard to direct influences between production systems and consumption. Several other studies were compared, providing a good overview about results obtained in several other regions, showing that food consumption at local level is also in reasonable good conditions, which means that solutions for improvements are complex and very dependent on social systems, somehow with a similar position with the problems of the industrialized economies