D18. Do market prices reveal consumers' preferences ? Evidences from the retail market of fonio in Mali (West Africa) : projet n°. 015403 FONIO. Upgrading quality and competitiveness of fonio for improved livelihoods in West Africa

Using data from market survey in Africa, we show that, according to the degree of processing of the cereal, market prices reveal (i) consumer preferences concerning quality attributes of the cereal, (ii) the characteristics of the suppliers (place of sales) and (iii) the abilities of the consumers to assess the quality attributes. We used a PLS (Partial least Square) procedure to estimate the role of each modality of the chosen attributes in the determination of the price. (Résumé d'auteur

Integrating Kano’s Model and SERVQUAL to Improve Healthcare Service Quality

The purpose of this research is focus on customer relationship management (CRM) strategies and relationship between service attributes and customer satisfaction through Kano’s model especially on healthcare service at the private hospital. The paper specifically investigates the applicability of the model and the key factors in the hospital service business. The hospital service quality much depends on the performance of the attributes that define a service. The aim of this paper is first to investigate the attribute of service quality using Servqual perspective, thus the management is able to adjust the relationship between performance of service attributes and customer satisfaction, and second, through a case study in the private hospital to prove that the importance of a service attribute is a function of the performance of that attribute. An empirical study using questionnaires with a focus on service enquiring about the performance of service key attributes and overall customer satisfaction was conducted using Servqual perspective including 5 parameters i.e. Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy. The data were fed into the Kano customer satisfaction model which used Five-level Kano questionnaire for analysis and comparison between one attribute to the others. This research found that there are three of the total 26 service quality attributes have been categorized as “attractive”. Four service quality attributes have been categorized as “must be”, and sixteen of them as “one-dimensional”. However, there is no service quality attribute can be categorized as “reverse” and “questionable”. It can be predicted that offering customers “must be” or expected quality attributes will not be enough for customer satisfaction in few next days cause of the contemporary world and the environment changing. Hence, companies should focus on “attractive” quality attributes instead of “must be” or “one-dimensional” attributes in order to satisfy customers and to achieve competitive advantage. The research limitations is the Kano model of customer satisfaction needs to be extended to other customer behavior variables and also management strategic response to increase customer loyalty; which not include in this paper. The implication is the methodology employed here can be easily applied by hospital management to evaluate customer behaviors and service quality performance

Correlating wine quality indicators to chemical and sensory measurements.

Twenty-seven commercial Californian Cabernet Sauvignon wines of different quality categories were analyzed with sensory and chemical methods. Correlations between five quality proxies-points awarded during a wine competition, wine expert scores, retail price, vintage, and wine region-were correlated to sensory attributes, volatile compounds, and elemental composition. Wine quality is a multi-faceted construct, incorporating many different layers. Depending on the quality proxy studied, significant correlations between quality and attributes, volatiles and elements were found, some of them previously reported in the literature

Consumer Perception of Bread Quality

Bread contains a wide range of important nutritional components which provide a positive effect on human health. However, the consumption of bread in Belgium is declining during the last decades. This is due to factors such as changing eating patterns and a increasing choice of substitutes like breakfast cereals and fast foods. The aim of this study is to investigate consumer’s quality perception of bread towards sensory, health and nutrition attributes. Consumer’s quality perception of bread seams to be determined by sensory and health attributes. Three clusters of consumers are identified based on these attributes. In the first cluster, consumers’ quality perception of bread is not dependent on the health attributes it embraces, but to some extent on sensory attributes. For the second cluster, both health and sensory attributes appear to influence quality perception. In the third cluster only sensory attributes appear to be important in determining quality perception, though in a negative direction. The results of this study will possibly help health professionals and policy makers to systematically inform the consumers about the positive effects of bread and its components. Furthermore, firms can use the result to build up a tailor-made marketing strategy.Consumer, Quality perception, Bread, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Meat consumption: Trends and quality matters

peer-reviewedThis paper uses quality theory to identify opportunities for the meat sector that are consistent with trends in meat consumption. Meat consumption has increased and is likely to continue into the future. Growth is largely driven by white meats, with poultry in particular of increasing importance globally. The influence of factors such as income and price is likely decline over time so that other factors, such as quality, will become more important. Quality is complex and consumers' quality expectations may not align with experienced quality due to misconception of certain intrinsic cues. Establishing relevant and effective cues, based on extrinsic and credence attributes, could offer advantage on the marketplace. The use of extrinsic cues can help convey quality characteristics for eating quality, but also for more abstract attributes that reflect individual consumer concerns e.g. health/nutrition, and collective concerns, e.g. sustainability. However, attributes are not of equal value to all consumers. Thus consumer segmentation and production differentiation is needed.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Irish Department of Agriculture Food and Marine for funding through their Stimulus Fund for the project entitled “Genetic selection for improved milk and meat product quality in dairy, beef and sheep”: project reference no: 11/SF/311

Male chicken thigh meat quality from fast and slow growing breeds from an organic free-range system

Significant effects of Genotype and Age on several of the technological meat quality attributes measured were found. In general, the meat from fast growing birds (JA) was darker, more tender, had a higher water-binding but a higher cooking loss. Birds with a higher age at slaughter was more red, less tender and had a higher cooking loss. Regarding the protein concentration of the feed, no significant effects could be found on meat quality attributes, however a high protein concentration in the feed showed a tendency towards more tender meat

Sensory quality of scab-resistant apple cultivars

Twenty-two scab-resistant apple cultivars were harvested in autumn 1999 and evaluated for sensory quality the following October, November and December. Multivariate analysis was effective in describing the comblex relationships and variabillity among the numerous attributes used to characterise apple quality. Crispness, mealiness, skin toughness, apple flavour, sweetness, unripe flavour and overripe flavour were informative attributes describing the variation in the sensory quality. Texture attributes, apple flavour and overripe flavour were affected by storage. Extended storage resulted in an increase in mealiness and overripe flavour and a decrease in crispness, juiciness and apple flavour. Many potential scab-resistant cultivars were suitable for consumption in October: 'Dayton', 'Primicia', 'Retina' and 'Realka'; in November: 'Merlijn', 'Saturn', 'Initial', 'Realka', 'Rajka' and 'Rubinola'; and in December: 'Otava', 'Ecolette', 'Rejka', 'Rubinola', 'Delorina', 'Initial' and 'Resista' and 'Topaz'. This study gives a sensory sharacterisation of scab-resistant cultivars as an indicator of suitability for commercial growing and marketing of low-input apple cultivars