The determinants of electronic traceability adoption: a firm-level analysis of French agribusiness

International audienceThis paper aims to understand what factors influence firms to adopt electronic traceability systems (ETS) and notably the respective effects of the firm's internal characteristics, its vertical relations and its external environment. Traceability systems based on information and communication technologies (ICT) allow firms to collect, track, stock and transfer information on a range of product attributes. This study contributes to further understand traceability adoption by applying ICT adoption models to the case of ETS, and by using an original dataset, the 2002 ICT Survey, representative of all French agribusiness. The results suggest that a firm's degree of complexity (growing size, belonging to a group) and the development of its information system play a significant role in its adoption behavior. Moreover, they show that ETS adoption is more driven by a firm's narrow relations with specialized suppliers and downstream processors than by retailers

A state of emergency in crisis communication: An intercultural crisis communication research agenda

This article seeks to provide an evidence-based set of recommendations for the development of an intercultural crisis communication research agenda with three goals. First, to provide an advancement in our understanding of the state of crisis communication research in general. Second, to offer a grounded introduction to crisis communication for intercultural scholars who may not be as familiar with the field. Finally to identify three broad evidence-based areas for developing intercultural crisis communication research -- (1) representing different cultural perspectives in crisis communication research, (2) placing American crisis research in a global context, and (3) developing cross-cultural comparisons

Improving online food safety communication: The role of media

Food safety is important as foodborne illness outbreaks cause great economic and societal losses. Efforts to protect public health and reduce foodborne illness outbreaks will not be fully effective unless the resulting information is communicated to consumers. However, food safety communications have not been particularly satisfactory (Worsfold, 2006). If food safety information were more accessible, consumers would be more likely to use it (Worsfold, 2006). In this regard, the Internet presents great possibilities for communicating food safety information to the public. But media’s role has been largely overlooked in existing literature. When the lack of research is combined with consumers’ increasing interest in food safety (Food Safety News, 2016), the need to understand media’s effect is pressing. To further the understanding of media’s role in influencing food safety communication outcome, three progressive studies were conducted. The first study explored consumers’ preferences, motivations, information needs, and information usage. The second study examined consumers’ experience interacting with websites used for food safety communication and mapped website characteristics to users’ perceptions. The third study investigated the relationships among website characteristics, perceptions, efficacies, and behavioral intention, and tested the impact of media on communication outcomes. Results of Study 1 revealed that the Internet was consumers’ preferred media choice for food safety communication. Among Internet-based platforms, websites were most preferred. Media, information, and source characteristics interact in influencing consumers’ experience with the websites and later communication outcome. Thus, it is important to maintain or improve information quality while offering media functionalities that reduces users’ efforts in information seeking. Study 2 showed that consumers go through a two-stage process in food safety communication. First, consumers are informed (usually passively) about an outbreak. Then, after the risks and threat are evaluated, consumers become motivated and actively seek out additional information to make decisions and protect themselves. Additionally, in Study 2, the link between website characteristics and consumers’ efficacy perceptions was established. It was also discovered that the relationships among efficacy components were complex and probably nonlinear. In Study 3, relationships among website characteristics, perceptions towards such characteristics, efficacy perceptions, and behavioral intention were evaluated and tested statistically. It was discovered that website characteristics, through efficacy perceptions, influence consumers’ intention to use the communicated information. The results offered support that media is indeed important and influential and that it works together with information quality to shape consumers’ behavioral intention. More specifically, features on websites that directly related to searchability (e.g. search box and site map) and saliency (specific information about foods and locations involved) were perceived to be most influential and should be specially considered in website design and maintenance

International Rules, Food Safety and the Poor Developing Country Livestock Producer

The present study is a part of the PPLPI effort to identify significant political and institutional factors and processes that currently hinder or prevent the poor in developing countries from taking greater advantage of opportunities to benefit from their livestock resources. The rapid development of international sanitary and phytosanitary standards have been identified as an important factor and further research is needed in this area. This study focuses on what can be done to make international rule-making friendlier to poor livestock producer interests. To identify strategic entry points for those wishing to make international rule-making friendlier to poor livestock producers this study: (a) describes and analyzes the international environment that states and other actors face when seeking to influence international food safety rules; (b) discusses the roles played by states and other actors in creating and enforcing those rules; and (c) analyzes a series of cases involving international rule-making for livestock food products. Recommendations for making international rule-making friendlier to poor producers consider two perspectives: that of the producer and that of the national delegates participating in the international rule-making process. From the perspective of poor producers and their advocates the primary route to influencing international rule-making is by influencing their own country's position in international organizations. However, developing country governments are not yet taking full advantage of the options for representing their own interests in international rule-making. Important activities they should engage in include: greater coordination at the national level among ministries and individuals responsible for developing policy positions in all international food safety organizations; improving the quality and quantity of delegations to international organizations; forming alliances with other similarly-situated countries on issues of particular concern; and lobbying for technical assistance to comply with international standards and with a goal of complying with private international standards as well. In general, the study concludes that developing countries can do much more to address the interests of their poor producers.Livestock Production/Industries,

Agent-based modelling for investigating consumer behaviour in risky markets : the case of food scares

Consumer behaviour in risky markets is a research field which was investigated and which is still investigated from different perspectives. Agent-based modelling is a relatively new research method which offers rich possibilities for consumer research. In this thesis a multi agent simulation was implemented for investigating consumer behaviour in case of food scares. The influence of information regarding the safety of food released by the media is in the centre of the investigations. An artificial consumer population receives this information and discusses about it within their networks. Based on internal learning mechanisms in the sense of Bayesian updating each consumer agent revises its trust with respect to the safety of the food item under investigation. Different information scenarios are tested where the outcomes served as measures of effectiveness. In this way it was possible to test the influence of different information strategies regarding the trust recovery concerning the safety of the food item under investigation.Konsumenten befinden sich in Märkten, die durch Unsicherheit gekennzeichnet sind. In den meisten Fällen herrscht keine vollkommene Information und viele Produkte weisen Vertrauenseigenschaften auf, die nicht im Vorwege geprüft werden können. Informationen über Lebensmittelskandale die von den Medien veröffentlicht und verbreitet werden sind von besonderer Bedeutung für das Vertrauen in die Lebensmittelproduktion und in den Lebensmittelhandel. Die Medien beeinflussen die Konsumenten bei ihrer Meinungsbildung, in ihrem Verhalten und bei ihren Entscheidungen. Die Meinungsbildung entsteht dezentral auf der Ebene des Individuums welches Teil der gesamten Gesellschaft ist. Erst im Aggregat entsteht die öffentliche Meinung, die wiederum auf die individuelle Meinungsbildung zurückwirkt und so ein reziprokes dynamisches System bildet. Die Meinungsbildung findet aber nicht nur über die exogenen Medien statt, sondern auch über soziale Kontakte und Netzwerke. Der entscheidende Aspekt dieser endogenen Form der Informationsverarbeitung ist die Kommunikation. Durch Kommunikation werden Informationen aufgenommen und Entscheidungssituationen neu bewertet. Dadurch findet eine Beeinflussung der Meinungsbildung statt, entweder wird die vorherrschende Meinung bestätigt und verfestigt oder es kommt zu einer Revidierung der Meinung. Agentenbasierte Modellierung ist eine Simulationsmethode, um Abläufe, die in der Realität beobachtet werden, nachzubilden und zu untersuchen. Soziale Prozesse können auf diese Weise in einem dynamischen sich über die Zeit entwickelnden System von einzelnen Agenten, die als Platzhalter für reale Objekte angesehen werden und in Netzwerkstrukturen miteinander verbunden sind, analysiert werden. Die Arbeit gliedert sich in sieben Teile. Nach der allgemeinen Einführung in das Thema wird im zweiten Teil eine Einordnung der agentenbasierten Modellierung in den allgemeinen wissenschaftlichen Kontext vorgenommen. Der dritte Teil widmet sich der Simulationstheorie, die der agentenbasierten Modellierung in dieser Arbeit zugrunde liegt. Im vierten Teil werden die allgemeinen Zusammenhänge der Informationsverarbeitung der Individuen und Konsumenten unter besonderer Betrachtung des Medieneinflusses analysiert. Dieser Teil schafft die Voraussetzungen für die Modellierung einer Multiagentensimulation zur Analyse von Konsumentenverhalten bei Lebensmittelskandalen im fünften Teil. Mit Hilfe dieser Multiagentensimulation werden im sechsten Teil verschiedene Informationsstrategien, die als Risikokommunikationsstrategien definiert sind, auf ihre Effizienz hinsichtlich der Rückgewinnung des Vertrauens in das unter Verdacht geratene Lebensmittel untersucht. Daraus ergeben sich Implikationen für die Ausgestaltung der Risikokommunikation auf Unternehmensebene und gesamtwirtschaftlicher Ebene. Die Arbeit schließt mit einer Zusammenfassung

Fishing for Politics?:Civil society activism and environmental politicisation in Vietnam

In Southeast Asia, a region marked with a strong legacy of authoritarian regimes, scholars have focused on struggles of environmentalism in either illiberal democracies or communist states like Vietnam. In Vietnam and China, formal NGOs as well as grassroots activists need to overcome restrictions from the central government. Such a context would hamper any confrontational tactics of civil society actors and, thus, require a more discreet modus operandi from activists, working through personal and institutionalised networks. However, recent literature has suggested moving beyond this ‘first-generation’ discreet approach to civil society under authoritarianism, advocating for understanding of the wider opportunities and difficulties posed by new methods and technologies to challenge the status quo and advocate for change.This dissertation highlights how environmental politicisation under political oppression can be unearthed in a way that is helpful for a more nuanced understanding of contemporary activism in Vietnam and beyond. I drew empirical insights from cases of environmental activism to reveal the complexity and multiple dimensions within the broad umbrella of 'civil society activism in Vietnam', where a lack of explicit and public activism is assumed to be the political norm. Overall, this dissertation provides a critical reflection on environmental politicisation in authoritarian contexts. It seeks to understand environmental politicisation at the intersection of social movements, spatial planning, and political ecology. In doing so, it investigates the complex conditions that makes (environmental) activism possible under authoritarianism

Agri-food business: Global challenges â Innovative solutions

The rise of a western-style middle class in many successful emerging economies like China currently is inducing deep structural changes on agricultural world markets and within the global agri-food business. As a result of both higher incomes and concerns over product safety and quality the global demand for high-quality and safe food products is increasing significantly. In order to meet the new required quality, globally minimum quality standards are rising and private standards emerging. All over the world these developments cause adjustments at the enterprise, chain and market levels. At the same time, the tremendously increasing demand for renewable energy has led to the emergence of a highly promising market for biomass production. This has far-reaching consequences for resource allocation in the agri-food business, for the environment, for the poor in developing countries and for agricultural policy reforms. The challenges increase with ongoing liberalisation, globalisation and standardisation, all of which change trade patterns for agricultural and food commodities, and influence production costs and commodity prices. The objective of the IAMO Forum is to show opportunities as well as risks for all participants of the food economy in the ongoing globalisation process: for small peasants in developing countries, farmers in Europe and globally active food enterprises and retailers. The success of enterprises depends on the ability to find innovative solutions with regard to the organisation of enterprises, chains, and markets, as well as future policy design. Concerning bio-energy strategies has to be identified to combat global warming most efficiently and concurrently attenuate the competition between "tank and table" on farmland. IAMO Forum 2008, as well as this book, would not have been possible without the engagement of many people and institutions. We thank the authors of the papers, as well as the referees. Furthermore we are highly indebted to MARLIES LOHR, NADINE GIEMSA and RONNY RECKE who in an outstanding way contributed to the organisation of the Forum. This is true as well for the IAMO administration, whose work we gratefully acknowledge. Many sponsors has funded the IAMO Forum 2008. We are very grateful to the German Research Foundation (DFG), The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Production in Germany, The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Federal State Saxony-Anhalt, Germany and last but not least the City of Halle. Further Conference sponsors are the BIONADE Corporation, Gaensefurther Mineral Water, The Wine Growers Association of the Region Saale-Unstrut, Germany, Obsthof am SüÃen See GmbH, Monsanto Company, KWS Saat AG, Sachsen-Anhalt-Tours, Baumkuchen Salzwedel and the Hallesches Brauhaus.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Industrial Organization, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Marketing, Political Economy,