UNDERSTANDING SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION ADOPTION IN THE FOOD SECTOR. THE PERSPECTIVES OF ENTREPRENEURS AND CONSUMERS

In economic theory, innovation is a key tool for the growth of a company, allowing access to new markets and long-term sustainable development. Companies, driven by increased competition from global markets and unprecedented levels of interest in sustainable development practices, are seeking to implement more advanced sustainability practices and, at the same time, to maintain high-value products and services through innovation. Literature recognizes that companies adopting and developing innovations are more likely to thrive in highly competitive environments and that entrepreneurial figure, collaboration channels, and adopted marketing strategies play a fundamental role in these mechanisms. Among the most competitive environments, the agri-food sector is certainly receiving a significant attention, stressing the ability of agri-food companies to move from a traditional production sector focused on raw materials to an innovative and consumer-oriented approach. On the other hand, nowadays consumers are increasingly aware that their choices strongly influence both their health and sustainability in a broad sense. Food is no longer seen only as a source of livelihood, but there are also other reasons behind a purchase, such as health concerns, help to local economies, attention to animal welfare and interest for environmental protection. This has contributed to the development of important trends in food consumption, shedding light on the growing interest of consumers towards organic products. However, it is not clear which type of sustainable innovations are preferred by consumers in the food sector, and which entrepreneurs’ psychological antecedents are mainly responsible for adopting innovation in food enterprises. According to recent studies, it emerges that consumers are more attentive to their food choices, but the drivers of such choices are various; at the same time, there are several factors that can influence the successful adoption of innovation within food companies. This Ph.D. thesis addresses the above issues and provides a multi-level research framework consisting of six complementary research articles. These papers provide a broad perspective on open innovation, analyzing different types of innovation in sufficient depth to enrich the literature on sustainable innovation adoption. In particular, six case studies are analyzed, three concerning the antecedents to the innovation of producers and three focusing on consumers. These researches are based on archival information, experiments and investigations and take into account Italian, Hungarian and Chinese markets. In this thesis, the study of open innovation at different levels, the multiple theoretical perspectives, the use of qualitative and quantitative data, and different methods of analysis ease future research opportunities. For this reason, this thesis concludes with recommendations for further academic researches on open innovation, for links to established literature and new methods and insights for managers interested in adopting open innovation in their companies

Search Strategies in Innovation Networks: The Case of the Hungarian Food Industry

In the food sector, open innovation has become of particular interest. This paper considers open innovation search strategies in the food and beverages industry and examines the probability of using different innovation sources with respect to the type of innovation. Although the information search for new ideas, tools and solutions in the innovation process regarding the scope and depth is well explored and interpreted in the literature, the probability of using the different sources with respect to type of innovation is rarely investigated. To answer these questions, first a probit, then OLS regression model is adopted, in order to understand the chance of a specific source of information being chosen, and then, to verify how much of these sources are selected in different types of innovation. Findings show that food companies use several kinds of information sources during their product, process, organization and market innovation development processes and apply different sourcing strategies based on innovation type. The study concludes that managers have to take into consideration the type of innovation when they formulate their innovation search strategies. Moreover, if they would like to strive on the European, or even more on the world market, they necessarily have to cooperate with universities and research institutes. Our recommendation for policymakers is that they should encourage the food companies in creation of a viable information network with their business, scientific and professional partners. It is also important that they help the food producers in their continuous innovation activities as well as in expanding their business to European, or even more, to world level

Sprawl dynamics in rural-urban territories highly suited for wine production. Mapping urban growth and changing territorial shapes in North-East Italy

In Italy, large-scale changes in the structure of land use can be observed. These are caused primarily by socio-economic pressures, generally determining the conversion of agricultural land into artificial surfaces. Our aim was to investigate if and how sprawl dynamics influence viticultural landscapes (that is, if they result in scattered, intermediate, or compact urban developments). We focused on selected territories in North-East Italy, where vine-growing provides almost uninterrupted land cover, as case study areas. Using GIS-based techniques, we documented the processes of land use, analyzing the resulting changes of urban-rural forms and in territorial shapes. Results at the Provincial level showed decreasing dispersed artificial surfaces and increasing clustered urban developments. This trend is also detected in areas under vine, but in general is more modest. Our research indicates that typical agricultural productions can determine resistance to the alienation of land, maintaining a sufficient consistency for areas to develop in a more varied and articulated (for example touristic) manner

Sustainable Value Creation in the Food Chain: A Consumer Perspective

The growth of diet-related diseases is becoming an important societal concern and a challenge for a more sustainable society. This has developed important trends in food consumption, including the increasing demand for food with a natural attribute and with health claims (e.g., enriched food). Consumers tend to evaluate these two attributes as superior ones and tend to pay a premium price for them. Accordingly, the value added by producers also will upturn if they take into consideration the consumers’ preferences. However, to the best of our knowledge, consumer preference over the two types of products (natural and enriched) is not yet completely clear. The present study tries to contribute to reducing this gap by analyzing Hungarian consumer preferences for natural fruit juices over enriched ones and exploring the drivers which guide consumer choices for the two attributes. For this purpose, we analyze young consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for natural and enriched fruit juices using a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) to derive the two value-added activities. Our results show that the fruit juice with the natural attribute is preferred over the enriched one, and that there is a common feature behind the perception of the two attributes, namely the healthiness. Based on the natural fruit juice characteristic, these results open space for local production in gardens or in small-medium sized farms. This could have beneficial effects, both for sustainable development of rural areas and for the promotion of healthy food systems towards sustainability in food consumption

Exploring Innovation Adoption Behavior for Sustainable Development: The Case of Hungarian Food Sector

Innovation plays a key role in the success and sustainable development of businesses. The innovation process derives from the combination of personal skills and company resources that influence food company managers in their choices on innovation (the decision-making process). This study is an attempt to try to understand which psychological constructs affect innovation decision-making in the Hungarian food sector, using the empirical data from a 2017 survey conducted in Hungary among the largest food processing companies. Planned behavior theory (TPB) was applied to the study of factors affecting innovation decision-making. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis. The results show that the positive attitude of Hungarian food business leaders towards innovation, evaluation of innovation and the strategic intention of placing innovative products and processes on the market have a positive relationship with innovation performance; however, the lack of adequate research skills, plus specific knowledge and skills is hindering the development of the hoped for process

Association between interleukin-10 polymorphisms and Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

It has been hypothesized that polymorphisms of interleukin (IL)-10 genes affect the risk of developing late onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, results of different studies are often inconsistent. Our aim was to investigate by meta-analysis the association of the common polymorphisms comprehensively defining the genetic variability of the IL-10 gene with AD risk. Fifteen studies investigating the association between IL-10 polymorphisms (-1082,-819,-592) and AD were found and analyzed. The model-free approach was applied to meta-analyze these case-control genetic association studies. Available data suggested an association between-1082 polymorphism and AD risk with a marginal statistical significance (GG versus AG/AA: pooled odds ratio [OR]: 0.82, 95% confidence interval CI: 0.65-1.02) and evidence of a moderate degree of between-study heterogeneity (χ 2 = 27.13, d.f. = 13, p = 0.01, I 2 = 52%). For the-819 and-592 polymorphisms, we did not find an association with AD, but significant between-study heterogeneity made genotype data pooling unacceptable. Analysis by IL-10 haplotype showed that the-1082G/-819C/-592C haplotype is associated with a lower risk of AD, although with a marginal statistical significance, probably due to the low number of studies included (GCC versus other genotypes: OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.32-1.15; I 2: 85%). Current findings suggest a possible association between-1082 A > G polymorphism and the risk of developing AD; this effect is more evident in the oldest patients. The high degree of between-study heterogeneity, due to several underpowered studies and to other methodological problems of individual studies underlies the need for further methodologically adequate studies. © 2012-IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved

Transition to organic farming: A Case from Hungary

Sustainable agricultural solutions have emerged as feasible options for mitigating the negative environmental impacts created by agricultural production or adapting to inevitable climate change. Organic food production has become one of the most popular sustainable solutions among these. There is also a clear scientific consensus that transformative changes in agricultural systems and practice are needed as a response to the effects of climate change. A great variety of factors that influence the transition to organic farming have been found and identified over time. To understand the dynamics that lead farmers to move to organic farming, it is necessary to examine the relationship between these factors. In this study, we investigated the impacts of certain factors on the possibility of Hungarian farmers’ conversion to organic production in the context of climate change adaptation. This dynamic was studied using descriptive and exploratory techniques on a cross-sectional sample. While the study supported certain well-established facts, it also yielded some surprising findings. One of our findings is that the transition to organic farming does not seem to be motivated by the perception of bad weather events, which is somewhat surprising. This outcome contradicts the frequently claimed idea that organic farming may be a successful adaptation strategy

Health Pedagogy and Narrative-based Strategies to Promote Healthy Eating Behaviours and Prevent Obesity in Schoolchildren: an Experimental Protocol Designed in Salento

Overweight and obesity in paediatric population are becoming serious public health problems, reaching epidemic proportions in the world and being recognized as the "new pandemic of the twenty first century". Food choices and nutritional habits are strictly linked to the cultural dimension of communities and symbolic representations of food. Even in Italy, young generations are moving away from the culture of Mediterranean Diet (MD) – recognized as Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO – being at risk of losing both their identity and the health benefits associated with MD. In this frame, health pedagogy (i.e. nutritional education) can play a fundamental role in promoting the adoption of healthy eating behaviours since childhood, addressing at the same time such crucial binomials as food-health and environment-sustainability. In the last decades, a huge variety of school-based obesity prevention programs have been introduced. Among those, according to scientific evidence, narrative-based strategies may be helpful in promoting healthy nutritional habits among schoolchildren. Actually, narration is a useful tool in didactic practice, impacting on the emotional and motivational dimension of learning, thus represent-ing a valuable vehicle of health contents. On these bases, as DREAM Laboratory of Health Pedagogy, we have proposed to the Department of Prevention of the Local Health Authority ASL Lecce – specifically involving the Food Hygiene and Nutrition Service (SIAN) – to implement a research protocol aimed at assessing if narrative-based strategies could be more effective than other educational approaches in promoting the adoption of healthy eating behaviours among schoolchildren

High plasma levels of endothelin-1 enhance the predictive value of preclinical atherosclerosis for future cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events: a 20-year prospective study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Clinical and experimental evidence suggests that endothelin-1 (Et-1) plays a role in cardiac and vascular disease. In the present study, we investigated the prognostic significance of Et-1 for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular outcome, in a 20-year follow-up. METHODS: We studied 82 originally healthy individuals, referred to our Unit of Cardiovascular Prevention, to evaluate the presence of asymptomatic carotid lesions. We subdivided these individuals into two groups, according to the plasma values of Et-1 (respectively ≤ or >2.7 pg/ml). Traditional cardiovascular risk factors were investigated, and by carotid ultrasound examination, we distinguished between normal individuals and those with intima-media thickening or asymptomatic carotid plaque. RESULTS: Major cardiac and cerebral events (all-cause death, myocardial infarction, revascularization procedures, fatal and nonfatal stroke) were registered in 41 individuals and significantly more in those with high vs. low Et-1 levels (95 vs. 5%; P < 0.0001). Furthermore, by logistic multivariate regression analysis, we found that among all evaluated baseline clinical and laboratory variables, hypertension [odds ratio (OR): 20.4 (3.3-127), P = 0.001], high Et-1 concentrations [OR: 1.4 (1.0-1.8), P = 0.02] and the presence of intima-media thickness or asymptomatic carotid plaque [OR: 3.7 (1.14-12.1), P = 0.02] were independent predictors of future events. Finally, integrating technical and laboratory data, high levels of Et-1 have defined a high risk of major cardiac and cerebral event and stroke at follow-up, which increased in relation to the progression of carotid atherosclerosis (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Et-1 plasmatic levels significantly influence the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk profile, beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors and preclinical carotid atherosclerosis

Sarcoglycan sub-complex in the adipose organ: a molecular and immunofluorescence study

The sarcoglycan sub-complex (SGC) is made up of six glycoproteins which connect the cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix in skeletal muscle. Recent data show that this complex is also expressed in epithelial tissue such as gingival, breast and prostatic ones [1]. The adipose organ is organized in multiple fat depots consisting of white and brown adipose cells. White adipocytes can store energy in triglycerides; brown adipocytes can dissipate energy for thermogenesis. It has been demonstrated that white adipocytes transdifferentiate to brown adipocytes after cold exposure [3]. In this study we examined the expression of sarcoglycans (SGs) in the adipose organ from two groups of mice: the first group was exposed at 25 C°, as control, and the second one was exposed at low temperature (4 C°) for 24 hours and 4 days. Fat depots from the visceral and interscapular region, but also from the mammary gland, have been examined by histological, immunofluorescence and molecular techniques. Results have shown that SGC is expressed in the adipose organ, both in brown and white adipocytes of mice exposed at 25 C°. The main results is that the expression level of all sarcoglycans increase in cold exposure experiment. For the first time the expression of all SGs in the adipose organ has been demonstrated, both at mRNA and protein levels. Since we found an increase in SGs expression after transdifferentiation from white to brown adipocytes cold exposure induced, we hypothesize that sarcoglycans could be associated with β3 adrenergic receptor; sarcoglycans associations with other receptors, as GABAr, has been already demonstrated in central nervous system. Although that, the function of these glycoproteins in the adipose organ remain still unclear and further investigation are required