Preliminary explorative research about ethical values and organic food consumption in Apulia region, South of Italy

In the recent years there has been a growing concern and debate about ethical values linked to organic foods production and consumption. The growing interest in organic and ethical production and trade has been both consumer driven and trade driven (Browne et al., 2000). Although the debates around the ethics of organic food have typically been framed around a divide between production and consumption (Clarke et al., 2008). Therefore, the present research focus on perceptions and motives of ethical consumer. It’s aimed initially at exploring the knowledge and awareness of apulian consumers about the link between ethical values and organic production and consumption

Social Networks and Supply chain Management in Rural Areas: A Case Study Focusing on Organic Olive Oil

In recent years, due to the growing supply of organic production, the economic performances and the competitive advantages of the farms, have become more dependent on network organisations in the supply chains. This evolution requires methodological approaches able to capture all the variables involved in the generating value processes. Our aim is to show that different structure of social networks – which groves on different positions in terms of achieving common goals and sustaining and developing norms and networks for collective action - is helpful for successful uptake of socio-economic processes and then in taking market choices and in framework shaping of supply-chain in rural areas. “The importance of understanding formal and informal organizations and their contribution to the construction of social capital is necessary to perceive how people mobilize and acquire a wide range of assets and gain access to decision making processes, technologies, resources and markets, and benefit from them” (D.Parthasarathy and V.K.Chopde, 2000). So the network dimension of the supply-chain becomes a key element, and enables us to understand better the competitive performances of firms. The relationships of firms, among intangible assets, are recently considered one of the main sources of profit. So the relational capital forms the essence of the value of the firm and it is advantages on the whole coming out by occupying a specific position (role) in the network of social relationships, the social network (Costabile, 2001). The goods present in a context are not enough to explain the wealth of a firm or a supply chain or a sector, so it is necessary to understand the nature of exchanges and how do they work trough the network. For these reasons our study compares supply chains of organic olive oil in Italy and Spain using the Social Network Analysis. The data was collected by survey in two areas: the Sierra de Segura (Andalucia, Spain) and the province of Bari (Puglia, Italy). By the results of our study we can assert that the Sierra de Segura shows a simple network which allows, trough a cooperative organisation, to generate value for the farms. On the other hand, in the province of Bari the network organisation is quite disperse, denoting a luck of organisation which bring to a low level in competitiveness of the whole supply chain. At the same time, firms with a good economic results have also a central position in the network.organic agriculture; olive oil; supply chain; network; relationships; social capital;

Social Networks and Supplychain Management in Rural Areas: A Case Study Focusing on Organic Olive Oil

In recent years, due to the growing supply of organic production, the economic performances and the competitive advantages of the farms, have become more dependent on network organisations in the supply chains. This evolution equires methodological approaches able to capture all the variables involved in the generating value processes. The network dimension of the supply chain has become a key element, and enables us to understand better the competitive performances of firms. The relationships of firms, among intangible assets, are recently considered one of the main sources of profit. So the relational capital forms the essence of the value of the firm and it is advantages on the whole coming out by occupying a specific position (role) in the network of social relationships, the social network (Costabile, 2001). The goods present in a context are not enough to explain the wealth of a firm or a supply chain or a sector, so it is necessary to understand the nature of exchanges and how do they work trough the network. For these reasons our study compares supply chains of organic olive oil in Italy and in Spain using the Social Network Analysis. The data was collected by survey in two areas: the Sierra de Segura (Andalucia, Spain) and the province of Bari (Puglia, Italy). By the results of our study we can assert that the Sierra de Segura shows a simple network which allows, trough a cooperative organisation, to generate value for the farms. On the other hand, in the province of Bari the network organisation is quite disperse, denoting a luck of organisation which bring to a low level in competitiveness of the whole supply chain. At the same time, firms with a good economic results have also a central position in the network.organic olive oil supply chain, network, relationships, Industrial Organization,

THE EFFECTS OF THE CAP REFORM PROCESS ON ITALIAN OLIVE TREE FARMING

The decoupling process of direct payments is affecting the Italian olive oil sector’s economic structure and competitiveness. The implementation of the SPS regional model, as proposed by European Commission with the Health check proposals, might further affect this sector and treat the survival of the olive-growing farms in marginal areas. This work aims to analyse the effects of the ongoing CAP reform process on olive growers’ behaviour and economic performance in southern Italy. In particular, the object area is the Apulia region that is one of the most important in Italy. To analyse the economic impact of CAP reform on olive growers, we adopt a simulation scheme of the farm economic balance based on the definition and characterization of Representative Olive-growing Farms (ROFs) that are able to represent regional olive sector. The analysis shows a general income reduction for the olive-growing farms, which is higher in the so-called “complete approximation of entitlements” scenario and for the medium-size holdings.decoupling, CAP reform, olive tree farming, Representative Olive-growing Farms, economic performance., Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18,

Olive oils protected by the EU geographical indications: creation and distribution of the value-adding within supply chains

The world olive oil market is characterized by a growing price competition on the supply side. Economy of scales and low production costs from both traditional and more recent producing Countries determine an increasing pressure on European Union (EU) olive farmers that suffer lower revenues. Product differentiation, driven by higher quality and consumer expectations, is one of the most powerful competitive strategies that EU farmers may adopt to face this challenge. Geographical indications established by the EU (PDO and PGI) can be successful marketing levers to ensure olive oil differentiation based on high quality standards and geographical origin of production. These EU quality certification schemes were designed to respond to consumer demand, to ensure intellectual property protection for the most qualifying products, and to provide farmers with a fair share of the added value. There is a wide literature about the PDOs’ economic and social impacts, but only few studies analyze their benefits and costs along the supply chain. By investigating the added value generation process within an Italian PDO olive-oil supply chain (“Terra di Bari” PDO), this work aims to evaluate the effectiveness of PDO certification schemes in improving farm’s profitability. The study was performed directly interviewing a sample of the most representative farmers, manufacturers and stakeholders of the PDO olive oil supply chain localized in the Province of Bari (Puglia, Italy).olive oil, protected designation of origin, supply chain, value-chain., Agricultural and Food Policy,

Social Network Capital and Academic Careers

Social Network Capital and Academic Careers: The Case of a College of Agriculture ABSTRACT The relationship between economic performance and various forms of capital anchors a significant portion of mainstream economic theory and applied economics. Human, physical and financial capital represent important factors in the production of goods and services. The label “capital” implies characteristics such as investment, accumulation, maintenance, depreciation, and transfer. Recently, social capital or social network capital (SNC) has received increased scholarly attention in the literature of sociology, business, and economics. Limited analysis, however, has been directed at the role of SNC in the academy. We hypothesize that academic success at the professorial level is determined by the stock of human (HC) and SNC and the value flows emerging from these stocks. We view SNC as a complement to HC, increasing the productivity of HC while holding all other factors constant. An analysis of SNC’s importance to academic career success should interest the academy as well as other large organizations (i.e. research laboratories, government agencies) with similar structures and incentive systems.Social capital, academic networks, human capital, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

The International Olive Oil Trade A network analysis

Aim of this paper is to test weather or not the Network Analysis (NA) could possibly help to grasp Country level competitiveness in the International Trade Network (ITN) of a specific commodity. We focus over the positions that each Country occupies within the net of international trade exchanges assuming this could lead to competitive advantage. Starting from Ronald Burt's structural holes theory, we move forward analyzing the whole network evolution in the last years. We apply NA to the world network of valued exchange relationships of virgin olive oils building a 12 years time series of weighted directed networks (WDN)

La trasmissione del prezzo nella filiera dell’uva da tavola: il caso del bacino di produzione del Sud-Est barese

Fresh food markets are affected by asymmetric price transmission along the value chain, from retail to producers and vice versa. The following paper explores the price generation mechanisms in Fresh table grape TG local market in S-E Bari (Southern Italy) to disclose asymmetric price transmission in one of the largest markets for TG worldwide using the Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM) method. The FCM is an innovative analytical tool that helps digging expert and locally based market knowledge on price generation dynamics. Results showed as traders and farmers are both affected by ex-ogenous or endogenous shocks. Nonetheless, the distribution of the effects is unevenly distributed between these two agents

Social Networks and Supply chain Management in Rural Areas: A Case Study Focusing on Organic Olive Oil

In recent years, due to the growing supply of organic production, the economic performances and the competitive advantages of the farms, have become more dependent on network organisations in the supply chains. This evolution requires methodological approaches able to capture all the variables involved in the generating value processes. Our aim is to show that different structure of social networks – which groves on different positions in terms of achieving common goals and sustaining and developing norms and networks for collective action - is helpful for successful uptake of socio-economic processes and then in taking market choices and in framework shaping of supply-chain in rural areas. “The importance of understanding formal and informal organizations and their contribution to the construction of social capital is necessary to perceive how people mobilize and acquire a wide range of assets and gain access to decision making processes, technologies, resources and markets, and benefit from them” (D.Parthasarathy and V.K.Chopde, 2000). So the network dimension of the supply-chain becomes a key element, and enables us to understand better the competitive performances of firms. The relationships of firms, among intangible assets, are recently considered one of the main sources of profit. So the relational capital forms the essence of the value of the firm and it is advantages on the whole coming out by occupying a specific position (role) in the network of social relationships, the social network (Costabile, 2001). The goods present in a context are not enough to explain the wealth of a firm or a supply chain or a sector, so it is necessary to understand the nature of exchanges and how do they work trough the network. For these reasons our study compares supply chains of organic olive oil in Italy and Spain using the Social Network Analysis. The data was collected by survey in two areas: the Sierra de Segura (Andalucia, Spain) and the province of Bari (Puglia, Italy). By the results of our study we can assert that the Sierra de Segura shows a simple network which allows, trough a cooperative organisation, to generate value for the farms. On the other hand, in the province of Bari the network organisation is quite disperse, denoting a luck of organisation which bring to a low level in competitiveness of the whole supply chain. At the same time, firms with a good economic results have also a central position in the network