THE INTERNATIONALIZATION DETERMINANTS OF THE SMALL AGRO-FOOD FIRMS: HYPOTHESES AND STATISTICAL TESTS

The purpose of this paper is to establish a link between competition perceived by the small firm manager and the decision to export. Using a sample of 335 small agro-food firms as a basis to our study, the statistical model presented shows a negative connection between the high perceived quality competitiveness and the fact that a firm exports.Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

Exploring wine list design strategy in French restaurants

The aim of this study is to better understand restaurant owners’ strategies when selecting wines to be offered on a wine list. The study is based on a survey with 68 restaurant owners in France, using the Best‐Worst approach. Results show that restaurateurs have in mind a set of strategies underlying wine list design, including: ‘Preference for local wine product’, ‘Tastes good’, ‘Matching wine with food menu’, and ‘Competitive price fit for the price range of food’. More market‐driven strategies such as choosing ‘Popular wines’ or ‘Highly reputed brand’ are not considered to be as important. Further investigations reveal minor differences in the wine menu strategies for different types of restaurant.

Consumer perceptions of eco-friendly vs. conventional wines in Australia

Previous research has extensively studied consumer perceptions of organic food, but little is known about consumer perceptions of organic wine. Moreover, most studies focus on organic products, without any comparison with other eco‐friendly products. This paper proposes to partially fill this gap by comparing consumer perceptions of conventional and different eco‐friendly wines in Australia.

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION DETERMINANTS OF THE SMALL AGRO-FOOD FIRMS: HYPOTHESES AND STATISTICAL TESTS

The purpose of this paper is to establish a link between competition perceived by the small firm manager and the decision to export. Using a sample of 335 small agro-food firms as a basis to our study, the statistical model presented shows a negative connection between the high perceived quality competitiveness and the fact that a firm exports

Are Australian wine consumers becoming more environmentally conscious? Robustness of latent preference segments over time

Environmental concerns have gained increasing general media attention and a number of producers seized this opportunity by marketing their products with environmental claims. It is still unknown to which degree consumers reacted to the intensified environmental debate by changing their preferences towards eco-friendly products. In this study, we replicate a choice experiment by Remaud et al. (2008) in order to assess the extent to which Australian wine consumers’ preferences for organic and environmentally friendly claims have changed between 2007 and 2009. The replication of the same experiment also allows us to test the stability of latent preference segments over time. Between 2007 and 2009 we found Australian wine consumers generally increased their attention to region of origin and became less price sensitive when purchasing wine for a special occasion. This finding is also supported by AC Nielsen scanner data. While the environmental claim has the same importance (5%) for choice over all consumers, its influence strongly increased for one environmental sensitive segment. Surprisingly, we can also identify a segment where consumers seem to be ‘eco-allergic’, with a considerable negative utility from environmental claims. The replication of the choice experiment drawing a sample from the same wine consumer population, generated a remarkable stable market segmentation that is derived from differences in consumer choices. The robustness of this choice segmentation is an indication of stable underlying preference segments that can be uncovered with scale extended latent class choice models.

Do consumers value sustainable wine claims? An international comparison

In the last few months, there hasn't been a single week without an article appearing in one of the various wine magazines and wine news telling the story of a winery or a wine region being engaged in a sustainable programme. At the same time, very little is known about consumers' preferences and acceptance of such claims. We aim to fill this gap by presenting preliminary findings of a cross-cultural research project conducted for the French wine association IGP Pays d'Oc. A quantitative survey was conducted in five countries (France, UK, Germany, Canada, US) in December 2009 with a total of 11,312 regular wine consumers. Using a discrete choice experiment with visual shelf simulations, we substantiate the relative importance and monetary value of various sustainable wine claims for all consumers on the different markets. Such an approach provides the opportunity to estimate utilities and willingness to pay for each attribute tested and for each market segment. Preliminary findings at the aggregated level indicate that for two countries sustainable claims are valued as highly as French regions of origin and for one country their importance was even higher. Our findings provide wine producers, marketers and policy makers with valuable insights and present the capabilities of a sophisticated and highly valid research method.

Where to shop? The influence of store choice characteristics on retail market segmentation

Consumers have a choice of a range of different types of wine stores where they can buy wine. Previous segmentation has looked at demographics or store location as the drivers of segmentation. In this study, we use Best Worst Scaling (BWS) to identify the reasons consumers choose different stores to shop for wine. An analysis of the reasons for choice result in three distinct segments, which can be broadly correlated to the different positioning of the three store types in the market. These attributes of store choice are better able to identify useful segments than demographics or location alone.

Australian market survey: are health or environmental claims important to prawn consumers?

In Australia, unpackaged prawns sold in retail outlets are offered mostly as commodity items with little qualitative differentiation. In a 2008 survey of consumer preferences for prawns, results indicated region of origin and price were the most important choice drivers. To a much lesser degree, the traits of “low in fat” and “rich in omega-3” were also valued. Only a small market segment would pay a premium for prawns with health and environmental claims.