Factors Associated to Purchase of Quality-Labelled Beef

The aim of the present study is to identify the factors associated to purchase of quality-labelled beef. For this purpose a total of 364 surveys were carried out on buyers of beef in three Spanish cities. The sample was divided into three groups of buyers according to the beef purchasing habits with a quality label. A logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the differences between groups. The results show the importance of the production region as a quality aspect. Income level, association of quality-labelled beef with “guarantee and tradition” aspects, purchasing frequency, place of purchase, production systems and lifestyles are all variables that enabled us to establish differences between groups.beef quality, quality label, consumer perception, Demand and Price Analysis,

Consumer perceptions of a lamb meat communication campaign: A qualitative study

This article provides early insight into the effectiveness of advertising posters designed to promote new cuts of lamb meat with a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and investigate consumers’ perceptions of them; focus group techniques were utilized as part of the research. Lamb meat is associated with festive consumption and tradition. Regarding the advertising poster and its effectiveness, the majority of participants stated that they were unaware of the new lamb cuts and did not remember the advertising posters. Samples of the new cuts were presented to participants, and they perceived the new cuts to be innovative

Consumers' valuation of two packaging aspects for fresh lamb meat: Vacuum and information labels

The use of vacuum packaging for fresh meat with low rate of turnover in the supermarket shelves, as it is the case of lamb meat in Spain, is recommended. Because the amount of mandatory information on fresh-meat labels has increased, there is a need to design new labels to enhance the support for this information. Therefore, to anticipate the consumer''s acceptance of vacuum packaging and the preferences for newly designed labels is of vital importance. This is the objective of the paper; in particular, it measures the consumers'' relative importance of the vacuum packaging and different labels in relation to other important lamb-meat characteristics (type of cut, price, and regional indication). To do that, a choice experiment was used and an error-component random-parameter model with correlated errors was estimated. Results suggest that consumers positively value all of the attributes except for the new designed labels. In particular, consumers positively value the vacuum packaging but to lesser extent than other lamb-meat attributes such as the type of cut, the protected geographical indication certification, and the price. However, consumers only value the vacuum packaging in the case of fresh lamb meat with a protected geographical indication certification. Moreover, this valuation is higher for older consumers who use, to a higher extent, their own direct appraisal of the meat and the information on the label when shopping and give less importance to the presence of liquid around the meat

Farmers’ perceptions towards production of Ojinegra lamb meat, an autochthonous sheep breed

Over the last two decades, in Spain there has been a growing interest in recovering and maintaining autochthonous livestock breeds. This has partly occurred because these breeds are considered essential to coping with changing socio-economic and environmental conditions. The aim of the present work is to analyze the perceptions of the farmers toward the production lamb meat from an autochthonous livestock breed in Spain. In addition, were explored the interrelationships between these perceptions and characteristics of farms as well as the farmers’ objectives. The information used was obtained from a sample of 34 lamb meat producers of an autochthone sheep breed originally from northeastern Spain. The statistical analysis performed was descriptive analysis, factor analysis and cluster analysis. The results show that breeders greatly value the positive effects of sheep breeding on rural development, which generate employment in disadvantaged areas. The cluster analysis reveals the existence of two groups of farmers with different perceptions. Moreover, results indicate that the positive perceptions of producers toward autochthonous breeds are closely related to the farmers’ objectives. Hence, public and private organization initiatives that seek to promote the development of a particular breed should account for livestock farm heterogeneity. En las dos últimas décadas se ha producido en España un creciente interés por recuperar y mantener razas de ganado autóctonas, en parte por considerarse esenciales en la adaptación a condiciones socio-económicas y ambientales cambiantes. El objetivo del trabajo es analizar las percepciones de un grupo de productores hacia la carne de cordero de una raza autóctona, relacionándolas con diferentes objetivos de los ganaderos y con características de sus explotaciones. La información empleada en el estudio se obtuvo a partir de entrevistas personales dirigidas a una muestra de 34 productores de ovino de la raza autóctona originaria del noreste de España. El análisis estadístico consistió en análisis descriptivo, factorial y cluster. Los resultados indican que los ganaderos valoran mucho el efecto positivo de la explotación de la raza sobre el desarrollo rural y la generación de empleo en zonas desfavorecidas. La segmentación realizada muestra la existencia de dos grupos de productores con percepciones diferentes hacia la raza. Además las percepciones positivas de los ganaderos hacia la raza autóctona, están muy relacionadas con los objetivos perseguidos por los ganaderos en su explotación. Es por ello que cualquier medida tomada por organizaciones públicas ó privadas que pretenda la promoción y fomento de una raza, debería tener en cuenta la heterogeneidad de las explotaciones

Human resource practices and performance in small Spanish wineries, and their evolution with age and size

This research aims to cover the existing gap in knowledge regarding human resource management practices in winery businesses. Three of the most important practices in this field - recruitment and selection, training and development, and remuneration - and their relationship with performance in small family and non-family wineries as well as the differences in those businesses' behaviours according to their age and size were analysed. The analysis was based on a 2016 database containing 339 Spanish wine sector SMEs, and a multivariate Bayesian regression methodology was applied. The results demonstrate a lower level of human resource management practices in small family businesses and a stronger relationship with performance than in non-family businesses. The results also show that human resource management varies according to the age and size of the company, indicating an inverted U-shaped relationship with size. On the one hand, these results highlight the importance of human resource practices in the environment of a small winery. These practices have not usually been considered as drivers of performance in small family firms. On the other hand, the results can be useful for the managers of such firms, both in the wine industry and in general, as they highlight the human resource practices that could improve the performance of those entities. The paper contributes to filling the existing gap in the literature related to small family businesses. Esta pesquisa visa cobrir a lacuna existente no conhecimento sobre práticas de gestão de recursos humanos em empresas vinícolas. Foram analisadas três das práticas mais importantes neste campo - recrutamento e seleção, treino e desenvolvimento, e remuneração - e sua relação com o desempenho em pequenas adegas, familiares e não familiares, bem como as diferenças no comportamento dessas empresas de acordo com a sua idade e a sua dimensão. A análise foi baseada num banco de dados de 2016 contendo 339 PME do setor vinícola espanhol, tendo sido aplicada a metodologia de regressão bayesiana multivariada. Os resultados demonstram um nível mais baixo de práticas de gestão de recursos humanos em pequenas empresas familiares e uma relação mais forte com o desempenho do que em empresas não familiares. Relatam também que a gestão de recursos humanos varia de acordo com a idade e a dimensão da empresa, encontrando uma relação em U invertido com a dimensão. Por um lado, estes resultados destacam a importância das práticas de recursos humanos no ambiente de uma pequena adega. Estas práticas não têm sido geralmente consideradas como motores de desempenho em pequenas empresas familiares. Por outro lado, os resultados podem ser úteis para os gerentes de tais empresas, tanto na indústria do vinho como na indústria em geral, pois destacam as práticas de recursos humanos que podem melhorar o desempenho dessas entidades. O artigo contribui para preencher a lacuna existente na literatura relativamente às pequenas empresas familiares

The competitive advantage in business, capabilities and strategy. What general performance factors are found in the Spanish wine industry?

The wine sector in Europe has undergone a major change of trend in recent years, especially in Spain. On the one hand, the surface area has been reduced, but the production has been maintained by restructurings and improvements made in exploitation techniques. On the other hand, consumption has diminished causing a significant increase in competition. The Spanish wine sector is formed mainly by small and medium-sized firm, which is representative of the size of existing companies in Europe. This article aims to analyze the relationships between the competitive strategy, resources and capabilities of the firms, analyzing their technological and managerial capabilities, with business performance. 339 companies of the wine sector in Spain have been studied, differentiating between individual firms, cooperatives and mercantile companies. The results reveal that resources and capabilities along with strategies define competitive advantage, but their relationship and importance is different for each type of company

Tipificación estructural y rentabilidad de explotaciones ovinas de carne.

El sector ovino de carne está experimentando un fuerte retroceso en España y en la Unión Europea. Se trata de un tipo de ganadería que desempeña un importante papel en zonas desfavorecidas por su contribución a la sostenibilidad económica, social y medioambiental, siendo importante garantizar su viabilidad económica. El objetivo genérico del presente trabajo ha sido analizar las posibles relaciones entre los resultados económicos de una muestra de explotaciones de ovino de carne ubicadas en Aragón (España) y determinados indicadores estructurales. Previamente se realizó una tipificación para estudiar su variabilidad. La muestra la componen 126 ganaderías aragonesas de ovino de carne. Se utilizan las medias de las variables durante un período que oscila entre 5 y 24 años dentro del periodo 1993-2016. Se realizó un análisis factorial sobre diez variables estructurales y se identificaron cuatro factores a partir de los cuáles se obtuvieron dos grupos significativamente diferentes en cuanto a sus características estructurales. Se eligió la renta disponible por unidad de trabajo como indicador del resultado económico de las explotaciones, y se calculó teniendo en cuenta o no la retribución de la mano de obra familiar. Mediante una regresión lineal múltiple se estableció su dependencia con las variables estructurales previamente analizadas. Se puede concluir que la optimización del número de ovejas por unidad de mano de obra y por hectárea de la superficie agrícola útil, son aspectos a tener en cuenta a la hora de mejorar la rentabilidad y la viabilidad de las explotaciones ovinas de carne. The sheep meat sector is experiencing a strong recoil in Spain and in the European Union. It is a type of livestock that plays an important role in disadvantaged areas for its contribution to economic, social and environmental sustainability, being important to ensure its economic viability. The generic objective of this work has been to analyze the possible relationship between the economic results of a sample of sheep meat farms located in Aragon (Spain) and certain structural indicators. Previously a typification was done to study their variability. The sample is made up of 126 Aragonese meat sheep farms. The variables’ means are used during a period that varies between 5 and 24 years within the 1993-2016 period. A factor analysis was performed on ten structural variables and four factors were identified from which two significantly different groups of farms were obtained in terms of their structural characteristics. The gross margin per total labor unit was chosen as an indicator of the economic result of farms, and was calculated considering or not the remuneration of family labor. By means of a multiple linear regression the dependence of this economic result on structural variables previously analyzed was established. It can be concluded that the optimization of the number of ewes per total labor unit and per hectare of the used agricultural area, are aspects to be considered when improving the profitability and viability of sheep meat farms

Hybrid method to resolve the neutrino mass hierarchy by supernova (anti)neutrino induced reactions

We introduce a hybrid method to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy by simultaneous measurements of responses of at least two detectors to antineutrino and neutrino fluxes from accretion and cooling phases of core-collapse supernovae. The (anti)neutrino-nucleus cross sections for 56Fe and 208Pb are calculated in the framework of the relativistic nuclear energy density functional and weak interaction Hamiltonian, while the cross sections for inelastic scattering on free protons p(v¯e,e+)n are obtained using heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory. The modelling of (anti)neutrino fluxes emitted from a protoneutron star in a core-collapse supernova include collective and Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effects inside the exploding star. The particle emission rates from the elementary decay modes of the daughter nuclei are calculated for normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. It is shown that simultaneous use of (anti)neutrino detectors with different target material allows to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy from the ratios of ve- and v¯e-induced particle emissions. This hybrid method favors neutrinos from the supernova cooling phase and the implementation of detectors with heavier target nuclei (208Pb) for the neutrino sector, while for antineutrinos the use of free protons in mineral oil or water is the appropriate choice.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Mouse Chromosome 11

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46996/1/335_2004_Article_BF00648429.pd

La diversidad de sistemas de producción ovina en Aragón (España): caracterización y tipificación de explotaciones ovinas de carne

The general aim of the present study was to characterise and typify a group of meat sheep farms that form part of the record data network of an Aragonese co-operative using different variables: sociological, structural, technical, income and costs and economic results. The sample was formed by 56 Aragonese farms. In order to avoid inter-annual variations, data used were the mean data of a five-year period running from 2000 to 2004. A factor analysis was used to reveal the interrelations between different variables that characterise farms. The results of this analysis served as the basis for a subsequent segmentation by applying a cluster analysis. After the establishment of groups, a variance analysis was performed to identify statistical differences in a set of additional variables that were considered necessary to gain practical significance in the typology. Four groups of farms were differentiated, mainly based on structural, technical and economic variables. According to the variables that characterise the defined typologies, the different possibilities of evolution of each of them were analysed to adapt to changing contexts in terms of costs, income, labour and agricultural policy measures.El objetivo general de este trabajo fue caracterizar y tipificar un grupo de explotaciones ovinas de carne pertenecientes a una red de gestión técnico económica de una cooperativa ganadera aragonesa utilizando variables sociológicas, estructurales, técnicas y económicas. La muestra estuvo formada por 56 ganaderías aragonesas y, a fin de evitar variaciones interanuales, los datos de cada explotación correspondieron a la media del quinquenio 2000-2004. El análisis factorial demostró ser sumamente útil para revelar las interrelaciones entre las diferentes variables que caracterizan a las explotaciones, y ha servido de base para la posterior tipificación mediante análisis clúster. Una vez definidos los grupos, el análisis de varianza ha permitido observar la existencia de diferencias significativas en un conjunto de variables adicionales y con significado práctico. Se han diferenciado cuatro grupos de explotaciones en función fundamentalmente de variables de carácter estructural, técnico y económico. En función de las variables que caracterizan las tipologías definidas, se analizan sus diferentes posibilidades de evolución para adaptarse a contextos cambiantes de costes, ingresos, mano de obra y nuevas medidas de política agraria