Can we explain variations in winery ratings in Victoria?

The scoring of wines and the ratings of wineries is the source of much debate. In this paper we attempt to explain variations in winery ratings in Victoria by examining two winery rating systems, the winery 5-star ratings system of Halliday and the WineBoss version that modifies the Halliday system, to obtain a consensus industry rating from a variety of sources; in conjunction with a limited number of other data about the wineries that are rated. We use ordered logit models and odds ratios on a sample of rated Victorian wineries (291 in the Halliday sample and 331 in the WineBoss sample) to see which predictor variables increase the odds of a winery being in a higher-rated category. Wineries that are older, use a consultant winemaker and/or produce predominantly red wines are more likely to be in a higher-rated category than those wineries that do not; conversely, wineries that use a contract winemaker and/or are located in a number of particular regions of Victoria are more likely to be in a lower-rated category than those wineries that do not. All of these results are as expected and confirm previous research. However, neither the size of the winery in terms of output nor whether the winery has other revenue sources, such as a restaurant, has any significant correlation with winery rating. The paper concludes with some suggestions for further research

Industry Clusters and Food Value Chains: Can the Literature on Local Collective Failure be used as a Guide for Assessing and Overcoming Value Chain Failure?

In this paper the literature on industry clusters as a response to local collective failure is reviewed as a way of enhancing knowledge about how failure of food value chains to perform efficiently can be analysed and overcome. The conclusion is that there is much in the local collective failure literature that assists in an understanding of, and is consistent with, the concepts of value chain failure, value chain externalities and value chain goods. Four potential areas for enhancing the analysis of value chains by accessing this literature are noted: defining the boundary between chain failure and local collective failure; improving joint action among parties interested in overcoming chain failure; augmenting the processes of knowledge creation and application in value chains; and improving the governance of value chains. The key point is that the ability of local collective or value chain partners to produce chain goods and internalise positive chain externalities depends directly on the nature and intent of the joint action by the partners: will they cooperate or not, and, if they do cooperate, how and to what extent will they do so? These issues of coordination of economic activity and the nature of the relationships between partners go to the heart of governance within both local communities and value chains

Combining amenity with experience: exploring the hidden capital of a winescape experience

© The Author(s) 2016. Industry and government bodies have recommended augmentation of traditional production and marketing techniques as ways of increasing an industry’s profitability. This article values the amenity of the wine industry, a sensory experience that provides an array of opportunities both culturally to the tourist and economically to many regions across the world. Using the wine industry in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, we use input–output analysis to assess the economic impacts of this industry and the amenity hidden within. The industry not only provides jobs and commerce supporting local prosperity but also supplies a mixed production and consumption amenity from an agricultural product that meets the tourist’s leisure desire – an amenity that transcends from its origin in the vineyard to its destination at the table

The New World challenge : Performance trends in wine production in major wine-exporting countries in the 2000s and their implications for the Australian wine industry

© 2014 UniCeSV, University of Florence. Anderson, K., Nelgen, S., 2011. Global Wine Markets, 1961 to 2009: A Statistical Compendium. University of Adelaide Press, Adelaide publication of an index of revealed comparative advantage suggests that the Australian wine industry had come under increased competition from other "New World" producers in the first decade of this century. We examine this influence by comparing the transformation of wine grapes into wine volume and value in the 11 largest wine-exporting countries during the years, 2000-2009. Our focus is on the challenge issued by other New World producers from the Southern Hemisphere to Australian producers, and the continuing challenge to Old World global supremacy by New World producers and its response. Four performance measures are used this study. Two key trends are evident. First, all countries migrated to higher price points, albeit with differing degrees of success: slightly declining productivity in transforming wine grapes into wine output was over whelmed by price/quality effects, leading to substantial gains in transforming wine grapes in to wine value. Second, New World producers plus Portugal and Spain were much more successful in achieving gains in their export value proposition than they were in extracting value in their domestic markets. Results show that Australian wine producers had lost some of their competitive advantage during the 2000s as their pre- existing strategy dominated by the export of high-volume wines by large companies at low to medium price points, and their reliance on a reputation for reliable good quality for the price point was beginning to fail in the face of competition from both New World and Old World producers. Acknowledgement of this outcome has led to a good deal of introspection, and recognition of the need to promote the wine regions of Australia, based on higher-quality wines,and to select and promote quality indicators

Designing surgical clothing and drapes according to the new technical standards

Hospitals will continue to be the largest consumers of disposables, because of the diverse range of procedures they provide. Favourable growth is forecast for nonwovens. Increasing concern over contamination and nosocomial infections will boost the demand for consumables and disposables surgical gowns and drapes. But, until now neither the manufacturers nor the end users of surgical gowns and drapes could agree on standards. So, a mandatory European standard is being developed to establish basic requirements and test methods for disposable and reusable materials used for surgical gowns and drapes. Once this standard has been adopted, the continued use of cotton textiles and conventional cotton-polyester mixed textiles will become questionable.(undefined

Chain failure and chain goods: re-thinking value chain upgrading and promotion in developing countries

The concept of value chain upgrading and promotion has been proposed as a vehicle for small-holder farmers in developing countries to gain access to higher value markets and thus generate greater income for their families and communities. However, there are many instances where investments in upgrading have not generated the expected outcomes. One of the contributing factors has been that existing approaches focus more on who does what rather than the real problem to be addressed. A chain failure framework on the other hand focuses attention on the core problem and the appropriate response, rather than on who does what. It takes a system view rather than a function or component view, and it starts from the supposition that the only reason for intervening in a value chain is to increase chain surplus, where chain surplus is properly measured to include any chain or social externalities. In this paper we review some of the existing literature on value chain upgrading and promotion as proposed for developing country situations, outline the essential elements of the chain failure/chain good theory and its relationship to the club goods literature, and then assess whether the chain upgrading and promotion literature can be reconfigured as a chain failure/chain good problem, using a number of published case studies. Finally, we discuss various types of governance models used in agricultural value chains in developing countries and suggest how well they might align with the chain failure/chain good approach.Garry Griffith, Derek Baker, Euan Fleming, Stuart Mounter, Bill Malcolm, Wendy Umberge

Ebola and Health Partnerships, Action in a Time of Crisis

The chapter explores the role of health partnerships in delivering services throughout the West African Ebola Virus Disease epidemic, including the creation of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone, Ebola Holding Unit models, command and control structures, research into diagnostics and care pathways, and general medical care. It will highlight how this provided resilience during the Ebola response, and how this will aid health systems strengthening going forward

The value of muscle score in beef cattle auction markets

There is an increasing emphasis in Australia on finding ways to improve retail beef yield, but no current way to commercially measure retail yield. However there is a strong link between muscle score of the live animal as assessed in live cattle markets and subsequent meat yield measurements. Is there a credible value for muscle score in live cattle markets, and does it reflect the implied value of increased retail yield? In this paper these questions are investigated using price data from some 550 lots of male cattle sold at Wagga Wagga saleyard during the period July 2010 to June 2011. Two different types of hedonic models are applied and tested against each other. The premium for muscle score seems to have stayed at around 12-14 per cent of the base price after the initial jump from 7.5 per cent in 1990, although for particular categories of animals, interactions between muscle score, fat score and age are important, and premiums and discounts are more like 5-6 per cent of the base price.Premiums and discounts for muscle score evident in cattle saleyard prices are over-estimates of the eventual increase in retail value, according to the assumptions made in this paper. Acknowledgement