Consumer Preferences for Quality Foods from a South European Perspective: A Conjoint Analysis Implementation on Greek Olive Oil

The objective of the present study is to describe the preferences of younger, more educated and higher income Greek consumers for "quality" olive oil brands - quality being defined as a bundle of extrinsic quality cues such as quality assurance labels, health-related information, country-of-origin indication, bottling material and price. The aim of the research is, with the implementation of a conjoint analysis task, to describe and analyze consumer preferences using a random, stratified, sample of urban consumers. The extrinsic quality attributes of olive oil, strongly linked to a previous qualitative, Means-end Chains (MEC) analysis survey, is used as starting points for the development of conjoint profiles. Special emphasis is given to the development and evaluation of different quality marketing mixes and the analysis of the importance consumers attach to the series of extrinsic quality cues used. The identification of different consumer segments in terms of this importance and the development of their socio-demographic and behavioral profile is also mphasized. The final step of the research is the measurement of demand for quality through the calculation of potentially larger market shares across segments of different quality hypothetical) brands in comparison to the common (real).Quality extrinsic cues, Conjoint analysis, Segmentation, Market shares, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Multi-party Quantum Computation

We investigate definitions of and protocols for multi-party quantum computing in the scenario where the secret data are quantum systems. We work in the quantum information-theoretic model, where no assumptions are made on the computational power of the adversary. For the slightly weaker task of verifiable quantum secret sharing, we give a protocol which tolerates any t < n/4 cheating parties (out of n). This is shown to be optimal. We use this new tool to establish that any multi-party quantum computation can be securely performed as long as the number of dishonest players is less than n/6.Comment: Masters Thesis. Based on Joint work with Claude Crepeau and Daniel Gottesman. Full version is in preparatio

Assessing the Technical and Allocative Efficiency of Marketing Decisions by U.S. Organic Producers

We develop measures of technical and allocative efficiency of producers in marketing certified organic products. A stochastic output distance frontier and the associated revenue share equations are estimated using comprehensive U.S. data on certified organic producers. Farm-level measures of technical efficiency are calculated and factors which enhance performance are identified. Factors that systematically influence allocative efficiency are assessed. The revenue mix of organic producers is systematically inefficient as both male and female producers rely too heavily on revenue from organic markets relative to conventional outlets.organic farming, stochastic frontier, technical efficiency, allocative efficiency, Farm Management, Marketing, D21, C31, Q01,

A methodology for analysing and evaluating narratives in annual reports: a comprehensive descriptive profile and metrics for disclosure quality attributes

There is a consensus that the business reporting model needs to expand to serve the changing information needs of the market and provide the information required for enhanced corporate transparency and accountability. Worldwide, regulators view narrative disclosures as the key to achieving the desired step-change in the quality of corporate reporting. In recent years, accounting researchers have increasingly focused their efforts on investigating disclosure and it is now recognised that there is an urgent need to develop disclosure metrics to facilitate research into voluntary disclosure and quality [Core, J. E. (2001). A review of the empirical disclosure literature. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 31(3), 441–456]. This paper responds to this call and contributes in two principal ways. First, the paper introduces to the academic literature a comprehensive four-dimensional framework for the holistic content analysis of accounting narratives and presents a computer-assisted methodology for implementing this framework. This procedure provides a rich descriptive profile of a company's narrative disclosures based on the coding of topic and three type attributes. Second, the paper explores the complex concept of quality, and the problematic nature of quality measurement. It makes a preliminary attempt to identify some of the attributes of quality (such as relative amount of disclosure and topic spread), suggests observable proxies for these and offers a tentative summary measure of disclosure quality

Assessing the Technical and Allocative Efficiency of U.S. Organic Producers

We develop measures of technical and allocative efficiency of producers in marketing certified organic products. A stochastic output distance frontier and the associated revenue share equations are estimated using comprehensive U.S. data on certified organic producers. Farm-level measures of technical efficiency are calculated and factors that enhance performance are identified. Factors that systematically influence allocative efficiency are assessed. The revenue mix of organic producers is systematically inefficient as both male and female producers rely too heavily on revenue from organic markets relative to conventional outlets.organic farming, stochastic frontier, technical and allocative efficiency, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Marketing, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Public Economics, D21, C31, Q01,

CPA Management Consultant, Spring 1993

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