Food System Dynamics (E-Journals)
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Chocolate Brands’ Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility in Germany
Get PDFSignalling CSR activities by firms have gained considerable relevance over the last decade with enterprises having a large variety of instruments to design their CSR communication. Different communication means can complement one another as the information distributed refers to different elements of the overall CSR concept. Some information provided by firms relates more to a single (selected) product(s) of the firm (e.g. product labels) while other presents the firm’s overall involvement regarding CSR (e.g. websites, CSR reports). Among the many potential communication channels that allow disseminating information about a (food) company’s CSR involvement to consumers (certified) labels on product packages are the ones most easily visible and accessible for consumers while information on websites addresses, in addition, and in many cases primarily, other key stakeholders such as employees and NGOs. Chocolate is one of the most favoured luxury foods in Germany. Cacao, the main ingredient of chocolate is largely produced in the Ivory Coast. There, child labour, non-sustainable producer wages etc. are serious deficits in the field of cacao production. Chocolate manufacturers are seen to have responsibility for these issues as their business practices influence producers’ livelihood. Given this background, the form and extent of CSR communication of chocolate brands is addressed in this paper.CSR related communication was investigated by two means. In December 2011 a market study was conducted regarding CSR related information on chocolate products in several food stores and content analyses of the websites of chocolate manufacturers were carried out. Results indicate that all retail stores but Aldi offer some chocolate bars with CSR related information. The relevance of chocolate bars with CSR labels in the overall chocolate assortment, however, considerably differs between the stores under investigation. The findings also reveal that most companies in the chocolate sector do communicate their CSR involvement in the internet, often to a considerable extent, though in many cases only in foreign languages such as English
Technological Innovation – A Route Towards Sustainability
Get PDFThe sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is constantly challenged on today’s dynamic operating environment. Evolving regulatory trends, difficult economic conditions, and diminishing natural resources, pose serious questions for all players across the food system. Technological innovation, as a means of ensuring future sustainability in the same in the face of such challenges, has been the focus of significant government investment in Ireland. This paper, aims to facilitate a greater understanding of the motivations and barriers influencing the decision by food SMEs to invest in technological innovation emanating from research conducted in publicly‐funded research institutes
Lifting the Veil of Social Unrest about Food The Dynamics behind Transitions in Food Chains
Get PDFThis paper presents a novel approach to gain a deeper understanding of the forces driving sustainability transitions in food production and consumption. It follows a complex adaptive systems approach to study processes leading to sociotechnical innovations on a timescale of typically a decade. Dramaturgical analysis and agent-based simulation are combined to analyse how systems of institutional arrangements and production technology adapt to changes in public opinion and disrupting events like the outbreak of animal diseases or public health hazards. A dramaturgical analysis on the basis of newspaper articles and parliamentary records is performed for two cases. The resulting patterns of behaviour of key actors in these processes are modelled in an agent-based simulation. The purpose of the agent-based simulation is to validate that the assumed behaviours lead to the observed innovations, and to study how the system could have developed under different behaviours or a different course of external events
Conceptual Framework for Extended Life Cycle Assessment of Soy and Beef Chains
Get PDFdebate on appropriate framework, tools and methods to evaluate food and feed along the chains. This paper presents literature review for evaluation of triple bottom line impacts of soy and beef chains in particular, and food chains in general. We reviewed literature on the sustainability of soy and beef chains and concluded that synchronous quantitative assessment of triple bottom line impacts along the soy and beef chains is currently lacking. We proposed to define a framework to bridge the gap between concepts of sustainability and carry out economic, environmental and social evaluation of food business cases especially for soy and beef chains. The framework includes defining relevant triple bottom line indicators, stakeholder preferences and defining quantitative methods for assessment of these impacts simultaneously. However, this paper is still under development and defining framework has been partly done. Moreover, stakeholders’ preferences have not been finished yet
How to Measure Food Safety? A Review of Relevant Literature
Get PDFApproaches for prospective estimation of economic consequences until the last stage of the agri-food chain can rarely be found. Hence, we see the necessity of working out a conceptual assessment model for cost-benefit evaluation of food safety measures along the supply chain. Based on the findings of a thorough literature study a preliminary conceptual framework was developed. The purpose of the framework is to combine most relevant aspects of agri-food production, quality management, risk-analysis and regulatory impact assessment that have to be considered during in the course of an economic assessment of food safety
Organizational Innovation and Institutional Change: The Case of Valio in Finland
Get PDFFirms in the agri-food industry are embedded in a system of institutions, regulations and policies that shape their economic environment and affect their conduct and performance. Changes in this system can propose new challenges for the firms that need to adequately and efficiently change and adapt to the emerging environment. The following article examines how deep structural changes in the institutional and regulatory setting can be effectively addressed by organizational innovation and what can be the catalysts behind a successful innovation effort. In doing so the analysis examines the case of Valio, the largest Finnish dairy company and its reconstruction effort due to Finland’s EU accession in 1995. After years of restructuring and changing its business model the company remains a major player in Finland and one of the most well-known brands in the region
Towards a Supply-Chain Instrument to Monitor an Information Technology Implementation
Get PDFBased on improved information performance, agro-food companies and supply chains want to enhance their production processes. It creates the necessity to implement additional information technologies. The implementation of information technologies is, however, a complex task because of the interaction between technology, organization, and processes. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present the development of a prototype of an “Implementation-monitoring Instrument” for project managers to help monitoring and managing an information-technology implementation towards required information performance. A design approach has been used to build the Instrument. The Instrument development is based on a literature review of a variety of theories explaining the mutual interaction between organization and technology. Keeping in mind the goal of the Instrument, the “information-quality literature” and “cost-benefit literature” is consulted as well. We aim to deliver a useful management Instrument, which is a step plan that helps chain actors to find the bottleneck of an information-performance failure. The Instrument allows for in-depth analysis of organizational and technical elements within processes that could be responsible for the information-performance failure. It is expected, in first instance, to be useful for the Dutch organic pork supply chain and other meat supply chains implementing new information technologies. In the future, the usage of this instrument will be prospectively tested and evaluated in a Dutch organic pork meat supply chain and retrospectively in two other agro-food supply chains
Social Responsibility and Competitiveness Strategies of Agri-food Enterprises: A Theoretical and Methodological Approach
Get PDFone hand, to the emergence of intricate competitive scenarios, and, on the other, to a more extensive role of the food industry in modern society. Two fundamental issues – the question of the environment and that of food safety – have prevailed upon the political and institutional scene, setting the conditions which have successively brought about significant changes in consumer demands and expectations, in policies, and in the strategies of enterprises and food processing systems.Initially, in order to confront the environmental and social issues, steps were taken mainly in the institutional ambit. Norms and standards were introduced which the industries internalised as a added cost or bind that served to weaken their competitive potential. This took place in a scenario characterized by the emergence of new competitors who based their competitive edge on those very costs. Subsequently, in part due to the driving force of the European Union, a new phase began. The European Commission’s Green Paper for corporate social responsibility (2001), gave rise to an interesting political and scientific debate, which then led to the growth of a new collective conscience regarding the need for all the stakeholders in the economic system to adopt behaviour which was both socially aware and responsible. A new ethos of doing business has now been established. By introducing models of technological innovation which partake of the green economy, the food industries have voluntarily integrated concerns for the environment and food safety within their economic and productive activities, from the viewpoint of new, high-value methods of production.Along these lines, in this paper, the food industry is (re)interpreted as a network of value-producing governance structures (multi-value enterprise) introducing ethical market opportunities, which represent a strategic competitive factor in advanced economies.This paper aims to contribute to the theoretical debate agricultural economics by focusing the attention on the theme of corporate social responsibility. Although traditionally this was the object of business studies, the present-day evolution of society and of the markets places it at the very centre of the analysis of competitive re-positioning strategies, even in modern farms and food industries. This objective has allowed us to define new interpretive models for the food industry and to extend the paradigm of ‘value portfolio’ (Marotta, Nazzaro, 2010, 2011) to this sector.The paradigm proposed represent a significant advancement of theoretical and application knowledge in the analysis of models of value production in the food system
Consumers‘ Perception of Feed Origin in Organic Food Products Declared as Local
Get PDFaccompanied by an increasing demand for organic animal feed which could not be satisfied by the supply of German organic farmers only, especially with regard to protein feed. To fill this gap between demand and supply, a high amount of protein feed is imported. Due to the new EU Regulation 889/2008, which from 2015 on requires the use of 100% organic feed in organic farming, even more organic animal feed will be needed. However, the high amount of imported organic feed is opposed to a growing consumer demand for local food products. Consumers have become increasingly aware of production processes and are concerned about their food choices. But so far, it is unknown if consumers include feed origin in their understanding of local supply chains. The aim of the research project was to analyse organic consumers’ understanding and perception of feed origin. If consumers prefer local feed, this would open up a new market opportunity for German organic farmers: A new market segment of local organic animal products from animals which have been raised with local feed could be established. Three focus group discussions with 8 to 12 participants were conducted in three towns in Germany. The results show that organic consumers have little knowledge about organic food production and feeding. Information about the import of organic feed is likely to unsettle organic consumers and undermine their trust in organic production. However, the results of our study indicate a high consumer preference for products from animals raised with local feed
Governance Mechanisms in Food Community Networks
Get PDFHow do consumers and farmers organize credence food transactions? This paper discusses this issue through the concept of Food Community Network (FCN). A FCN is defined as an organization where consumers and farmers integrate their goals organizing a network. FCN is based on pooling specific resources and using membership-based contracts, to assign decision and property rights. It implies an organization based on a combination of several democratic and communitarian elements, with few market-like and bureaucratic ones. Based on those concepts this paper proposes a research to analyse the FCN governance mechanisms. Real case studies collected through an internet-based investigation on Community Supported Agriculture in North America have been found. Applying (i) new institutional economics and (ii) organizational science arguments, the case studies were used to determine features that are useful to describe how FCN governance works. On one hand we used (i) new institutional economics based features such as pooling resources and contracting; (ii) on the other hand market-like, bureaucratic, communitarian and democratic elements represent the organizational science approach. The results indicate a great variety of FCN organizational forms emerging in North America