Time Spent for Food Information Search and Obesity: North-South Dualism in Italy

In industrialized countries, the last 40 years has seen a marked change in the average level of per capita calorie intake, which has led to increased growth in overweight and obesity rates. There are many reasons to encourage public intervention aimed at facing the problems associated with excess body weight, and to promote healthy dietary habits. Among the public policies set out to reduce obesity rates, an important role is played by information measures. The purpose of this work is to analyse for the consumers the importance of food information in the allocation of free time, and to investigate the variables that affect the search for information. Following Drichoutis et al. (2008) we developed a conceptual framework through variables that affect the time spent searching for information. The study was conducted through an empirical analysis, and the sample consisted of 300 Italian consumers, 150 resident in Lombardy (northern Italy), and 150 in Apulia (southern Italy). The interviews were conducted in small shops, supermarkets and hypermarkets. For small shops we selected greengrocers, butcher's shops and shops selling dairy products. The data were analysed through OLS regression and ordinal regression models. The study, for the south sample, showed a relationship between the consumer willingness to devote time to information search and work flexibility, information stock, nutritional knowledge. In the case of northern sample, another variable that affects the time allocated for information search is BMI.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Economic factors affecting obesity: an application in Italy

The World Health Organization has stated that obesity is spreading around the world like a “global epidemic”. In 2004 the percentage of obese people in the Italian population was 9%, but the trend s increasing in recent years. Focusing on this country, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the socio-economic variables affecting obesity by means of a survey conducted in a consumer sample. Our analysis is based on a survey conducted in Italy, and the sample was composed of 999 consumers. We used a binary logit model and the dependent variable is body mass index (BMI), expressed in a dichotomic way (seriously overweight and obese, value 1, and normal weight, value 0). The results show that the condition of the seriously overweight and obese increases with age, especially in people over 65 of age. Also gender is correlated with the pathology: being seriously overweight and obese is far more likely for men than for women. An inverse relation was shown between obesity and education, and between obesity and the level of food knowledge. The results highlight that disadvantaged social categories are more susceptible to the problem of overweight and obesity. A policy implication of the analysis, to limit the spread of obesity, could lie in programs aimed at improving health and food awareness and focused on these minority groups.economics of obesity, BMI and consumer, logit model, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Marketing management capabilities and price setting: An empirical analysis in the EU traditional food sector

In the EU, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which constitute the majority of firms in the food industry, are fighting for survival as they face growing market competition from large firms (Knight, 2000). On the other hand, market opportunities for SMEs are connected to the evolution of consumer preferences toward food quality, especially for traditional food products (O’Reilly and Haines, 2004). To profit from such opportunities SMEs need to adapt their strategies, focussing on consumer requirements and improving their marketing activities. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the marketing capabilities of SMEs producing traditional food products. Following the theoretical approach of Market Orientation (Kara et al., 2005; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993), our analysis is based on an assessment of the marketing management process (Kotler, 2004). The methodology refers to a survey made by a questionnaire published on the web, and a sample of 371 firms coming from Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Cluster analysis was applied to find different levels of the firms’ market orientation. Moreover we used an ordinal regression model to explain the relationships between the ability of firms to influence the price and the variables affecting marketing management capability. The results revealed a certain lack of appropriate skills in the analysed firms’ marketing management, confirming literature evidence concerning SMEs. Nevertheless, cluster analysis outlined a group of firms that represent 40% of the sample, and these have good marketing capabilities and are market oriented. In addition, the firms show poor ability to influence price.traditional food products, marketing capabilities, ordinal regression model., Marketing,

Price Setting in Food SMEs: Which Role for Marketing Capability? An Empirical Analysis in Italy

 Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fighting for survival due to globalization, growing competition with big retailers, and strategies adopted by large industrial companies. Difficulties in pricing are also revealed in the literature. Therefore, appropriate activity is needed to be more a price maker than a taker, and to reach a better market power. On the other hand, market opportunities for SMEs are related to demand evolution toward food quality and traditional food products. To profit by such opportunities, SMEs need to focus on consumer requirements, by differentiating their products. In this way, firms could apply a premium price that justifies the peculiar value of the product, and that the consumer should be willing to pay. Nonetheless, the ability to influence the price is different among firms, and often depends on firm bargaining power. Indeed, horizontal and vertical competition highly affects the ability of price setting, especially for SMEs, due to their small dimension. In order to enhance their capability to decide the price, SMEs should focus mostly on marketing, as price setting is a significant component of the marketing mix. This paper aims to evaluate the relationship between marketing capability and price setting ability in traditional food SMEs, to outline the role to have well developed marketing activities. A survey was carried out, through an interactive questionnaire aimed at assessing SME marketing capabilities. The sample was composed by 130 Italian firms producing traditional food products. An ordinal regression model explained the relationship between the ability of firms to influence the price and the marketing capability. The analysis showed a good capability to affect the price setting for the Italian traditional SMEs. Moreover, we found that good marketing capabilities enhance the ability to be price maker, especially in relation to product differentiation and market research

Food labelled Information: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Preferences

This paper aims at analysing which kinds of currently labelled information are of interest and actually used by consumers, and which additional kinds could improve consumer choices. We investigate the attitude of consumers with respect to innovative strategies for the diffusion of product information, as smart-labels for mobile-phones. The empirical analysis was organised in focus groups followed by a survey on 240 consumers. Results show that the most important nutritional claims are vitamins, energy and fat content. Consumers show a high interest in the origin of the products, GMOs, environmental impact, animal welfare and type of breeding

Does Consumer Time Preference Affect Label Use?

Diet-related chronic diseases, such as overweight and obesity, are worrisome not only from a medical point of view, but also in terms of monetary expenditures, these health problems are strictly linked to sizeable sanitary costs (Chou et al., 2004; Yaniv et al., 2009; Cawley and Meyerhoefer, 2012; Ruhm, 2012). These costs are mainly due to the purchase of medical care (direct costs), and to the loss of productivity caused by hill-health (indirect costs) (Rosin, 2008). To challenge these problems and improve public health it is of particular importance to study the determinants of food consumption, and understand the best way to effectively address consumers toward healthy eating.To this purpose, one of the most investigated topics in the last decades has been the role of food-related information. Economists have found evidences that food information can exert a positive effect in increasing consumer nutrition knowledge and in promoting healthier consumption. Hence, policy makers have proposed different policy interventions to provide consumers with more, and more detailed, information. These information measures have included the diffusion of dietary guidelines, the promotion of nutritional education programs in the schools, and also specific campaigns to increase public awareness concerning fruit and vegetables consumption or the negative effects of some unhealthy food and drinks.In this context, another and maybe more direct way to provide consumers with food-related information is represented by on-package food labels, which currently constitute the principal tool through which consumers can easily acquire information about food products. The key role of food labels in making individuals able to do more conscious diet choices has been well established by the main findings of the economic literature (Drichoutis et al., 2006; Drichoutis et al., 2008a; Drichoutis et al., 2009; Norgaard and Brunso 2009; Barreiro-Hurlè et al., 2010). Therefore, given the importance of on-packaging information, the EU has recently introduced the EU Regulation No. 1169/2011, published in October 2011, in order to make labels even more effective and boost their utility for consumers. This new low has established some rules concerning mandatory information, nutritional facts and also the graphical standards allowed on food labels in all the EU. Nonetheless, consumers are not always willing to make use of the information reported on labels, and this makes of crucial importance to investigate and understand which factors can be able to discourage consumers in using labels

Food labelled Information: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Preferences

features. Nevertheless, the space available on packaging is limited and some indications are not used by consumers. This paper aims at analysing which kinds of currently labelled information are of interest and actually used by consumers, and which additional kinds could improve consumer choices. Moreover, we investigate the attitude of consumers with respect to innovative strategies for the diffusion of product information, considering in particular the development of a smart label for mobile phones. The empirical analysis is organised in two phases: first, three focus groups have been carried out and, second, a survey on 240 consumers was conducted on the basis of an ad hoc questionnaire. The results showed that, among nutritional claims, those more important to consumers are vitamins, energy and fat content, whereas sodium received a low score. Moreover, consumers show a high interest in the origin of the products and GMOs. Among the types of information that are currently scarcely available on food products, the major interest was received by the environmental impact, animal welfare and type of breeding

The Relationship between Innovation and Marketing in SMEs in the EU Food Sector

In the EU market small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the greater part of the food industry, specially with regard to traditional food products (TFPs). However, the growth of competition, connected mainly to globalisation, is making it very difficult for SMEs to survive. On the other hand, market opportunities for SMEs are connected to the evolution of consumer preferences toward food quality. To profit from such opportunities and to survive on the market, SMEs need to adapt their strategies, focusing on innovation aspects in order to meet consumer requirements and to compete on the market. The literature shows that firms’ market orientation and marketing capabilities are very important for innovation in food industries to guarantee that innovation reflects market needs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the level of firm innovativeness and the different stages of marketing management process, in order to understand if good results in marketing management can affect firm innovation. An interactive questionnaire available on the web has been used for the data collection, with the aim of evaluating SME marketing management capabilities and innovation development. The survey was conducted on 468 EU country SMEs producing TFPs. Linear Regression was run to assess the link between marketing activities and the level of firm innovation. Our empirical analysis reveals that SME marketing management capabilities show significant and positive relationships with a firm’s innovation. This aspect reinforces our assumptions on the strategic role of marketing activities on a firm’s capacity to understand consumer needs, and thus its need to be innovative and market oriented

Flaring Patterns in Blazars

Blazars radiate from relativistic jets launched by a supermassive black hole along our line of sight; the subclass of FSRQs exhibits broad emission lines, a telltale sign of a gas-rich environment and high accretion rate, contrary to the other subclass of the BL Lacertae objects. We show that this dichotomy of the sources in physical properties is enhanced in their flaring activity. The BL Lac flares yielded spectral evidence of being driven by further acceleration of highly relativistic electrons in the jet. Here we discuss spectral fits of multi-lambda data concerning strong flares of the two flat spectrum radio quasars 3C 454.3 and 3C 279 recently detected in gamma rays by the AGILE and Fermi satellites. We find that optimal spectral fits are provided by external Compton radiation enhanced by increasing production of thermal seed photons by growing accretion. We find such flares to trace patterns on the jet power - electron energy plane that diverge from those followed by flaring BL Lacs, and discuss why these occur.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa