Fair Trade Wines in Germany

131 p. Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Germany.It was conducted a research in order to estimate the willingness to pay for Fair Trade wines in Germany. The study was carried out completing 93 surveys of wine drinkers in Göttingen and around Germany. It was also an aim of the study, to collect which are some driving ideas of the consumers about Fair Trade and the attitude of them over the Fair Traded wines. The consumers provide diverse information about frequency and amount of bottles for each wine purchase. Regarding to the preferences of the wines, red and conventional production is the preferred by the consumers, with a strong choice over fruity and dry wines with intense colors and in preference in the classical 0,75 L bottle. About the wine brands recalling, in general terms there is a high no response rate and confusion between brands, varieties and DOCs. In the scheme of the certifications, the Bio production Logo (German norm) was recognized by the 92,5 % of the sample, against a 49,5% who knows about the Fair Trade Logo (TransFair). About this, in general terms, the acceptance of the idea of Fair Trade is important and trustful for the consumers, and for the core of them, this means the 63% of the sample, the wine preferences are focused on small producers suppliers, more than wineries with social projects, not caring about the origin country and where the political engagement is more important than the religious one. In general terms are able to pay 0,5 € more than another similar option, value which was taken as an estimation for the Fair Trade premium price. In the targeting pricing and costing of this niche market, there was found three segments: the basic one, who is able to pay up to 3 € per bottle; followed by the standard-medium, between 3,5 € and 4,29 €, and a high one over the 6,49 € up to 10 €. As well as the ranges from 3,5 € to 6,49 € are covered by the current offer, but there is space to growth with the 3 € wines and 10 € wines. For the first case is proposed avoid some costs exporting bulk wine and bottling in Germany, and for the other a delicate work with farmers in order to achieve the necessary quality for the market

Reabilite of the organic certification standard: an empirical study at the producer level in Costa Rica

118 p.The extraordinary growth experienced by the organic market around the globe has created new opportunities and challenges for the organic sector. Among them, one of the most important challenges is to guarantee the reliability of the organic products. The mechanisms of control implemented for that proposed so far have shown not to be a ‘panacea’ and actually ‘feeble’ in the achievement of its ambitions. Therefore, new and more suitable mechanisms should be developed, along with a deeper knowledge of the factors that influence the reliability of the organic certification standard. This work seeks to shed some light on the matter of reliability, with the main objective of identifying the factors that influence the reliability of the organic standard at the farmer level. To that end, a theoretical model was purposed and proved through a survey carried out at the producer level in Costa Rica (n=63). The original theoretical model pursued to measure the influence of seven independent variables (‘perceived usefulness’, ‘perceived costs’, ‘motivations’, ‘sources of control’ attitudes towards risk, the certification body and the auditor) influencing the determination of the reliability, and three target variables (satisfaction, credibility and good reputation) linked with the reliability. From them, the variables ‘managerial and economic motivation’, perceived usefulness’, ‘perceived costs’ and ‘auditor’s expertise’ were found to be significant, explaining 61.3 percent of the variance in the ‘perceived reliability’ of the organic certification standard among organic farmers. Besides, the results indicate the existence of a significant correlation between the reliability and farmers’ satisfaction with the organic standard. Instead of the introduction of stricter controls or higher sanctions, as suggested often in the literature, the findings of this work propose working on the cost/benefit ratio of the producer, his/her motivations and the performance of the auditor during the inspections in order to improve the reliability of the organic certification standard. Besides, that will be way to contribute to farmers’ satisfaction with the use of organic certification standard

Evaluation of motivation and satisfaction of guatemalan firms under the implementation of quality systems: the case of Cleaner Production, ISO 14000 and ISO 9000

213 p. Georg-August-University of Göttingen, GermanyThe implementation of ISO standards in Guatemalan agribusiness is a recent phenomenon, the number of companies which are adopting this quality assurance system is rapidly growing. Besides the very popular ISO standard, several firms have adopted a concept driven by the United Nation, the so-called “Cleaner Production” (CP). This phenomenon is mainly due to two reasons: a) the companies have felt the necessity to implement the quality systems in order to be competitive; b) though there are discussions about the importance of the quality systems due to the overwhelming bureaucracy that its implementation involves, they have proved to be an important tool to improve the efficiency of the enterprises. However the employees’ attitude may have a great influence in the effectiveness of these systems. The study was carried out in Guatemala, in order to assess the Motivation and Satisfaction of employees in Agribusiness firms. It aimed at gaining insight into the subjective evaluation of the implementation of ISO 9.000, ISO14.000 and CP. A survey was conducted by means of a written questionnaire and the respondents were asked to state their attitude towards the quality system implemented within their firm. The sample consisted of more than 500 workers, managers and supervisors from 19 firms within the food, manufacture and service sectors of Guatemala. The firms were classified into small, medium, medium-big and big scale. The data was analyzed using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), from which different factors were obtained and consequently used to carry out a regression analysis. With this approach it was possible to determine which factors have the largest influence on the Motivation and Satisfaction of employees. Additionally, ANOVA was performed in order to compare the differences in attitude. The results show that the majority of the respondents are satisfied and motivated regarding the implementation of the respective quality system within their company. The promotional opportunities and working condition components are the most relevant factors to raise Motivation and Satisfaction in the case of the worker’s model. Of further relevance is that the use of a coercive management style will have a negative impact. The useful and involvement and Process Efficiency factors are the most relevant in increasing the Motivation and Satisfaction in the manager’s and supervisor’s model. In the case where Investment Efficiency can not be achieved, a negative impact could be observed in their Motivation and Satisfaction level. In addition, the level of Motivation and Satisfaction differs between the three quality systems considered in this study. Surprisingly, Satisfaction and Motivation among implementers of CP is lower than among the ISO adopters. Furthermore, the employees of small-size companies have less Satisfaction and Motivation with CP than employees from big ones. This indicates the need for strategic actions of all stakeholders involved in CP, which is articularly suitable for small-scale firms because they do not afford an expensive ISO certificate. Additionally,the lack of Motivation and Satisfaction could affect the effective adoption of the quality system

Assessments of the effectiveness of unannounced certification inspections in the organic food sector

77 p.The globalization of the organic food makes difficult to control for the quality of the products. In this context, the certification approach arises as mechanism that can give certain guarantees. However, the existence of different incentives to enter the organic market still encourages opportunistic behaviour. To reduce the risk of frauds, unannounced inspections have been introduced by several organic standards in the last years. Although a number of studies have analysed the effectiveness and reliability of different quality assurance systems in the food industry, it seems to be that the effectiveness of unannounced inspections to control for frauds and their effect on the reliability of the system remain unclear. This study analyses data reported by 23 certification companies in Germany during 2007, 2008 and 2009, in order to shed light onto the effectiveness of unannounced inspections. The findings reveal that although the importance of unannounced inspections has increased in the last years, they are not completely effective for imposing graver sanctions and, thus, they would be exerting a limited role in improving the reliability of the organic certification system. However, data constraints did not allow to test in more detail the hypothesis addressed in this study. Further research should focus on analysing, in a more disaggregated level, the relationship between reported non-conformities and unannounced inspections. In this way, the results presented here could be validate

Long-term business relationships in international supply chain: The case of peruvian mango exporters and their german customers

158 p. Georg-August-University GöttingenDespite the fact that many Peruvian mango exporters are trying to take advantage of opportunities offered by the increasing mango international trade, only few firms have managed to supply it permanently. Between 1997 and 2007, 166 firms have participated exporting Peruvian mangoes to the European market, but only 42 have done it continuously. On average, every year 15 firms entered to this market and 10 went out of it. One of the possible reasons why these firms have not continued exporting could be their failure in achieving long-term business relationships with their customers. The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze those critical relational variables that characterize a successful long-term business relationship between Peruvian mango exporters and their German customers. For the empirical research it was used a multiple case study approach, being identified 7 case studies. As a result, it was found that communication, reliance, trust, commitment, cooperation, dependence and satisfaction are the critical relational variables of the successful long-term business relationship. These variables emerge during the establishment, development and maintenance stages of the relationship, influencing the evolution of the transactional process into relational one. Some reasons why Peruvian mango exporters fail in achieving long-term business relationships are: during negotiation phase, they are not clear and honest in what they want and in what they are able to fulfill; they are not well informed about the mango international market; and they have a short-term orientation for doing business. Key words: Relationship marketing, buyer-seller relationships, relational variables, discrete transactions, relational exchange, international supply chain, mangoes, case stud

The fresh fruit consumer behaviour in Germany: An empirical study with non-seasonal strawberries

124 p.The imported fresh fruit in Germany is the major quota in the market, consumers have many choices from different origins. However, some fruits like Berries are considered as seasonal fruits and also part of the domestic production. Strawberries is the most important fruit of the berries group, this special fruit is considered healthy, convenience and easy to eat, but domestic supply is only in few months during the year (May, June and July). The non-seasonal strawberries are also being introduced from different provenance, the major supplier is Spain. A previous analysis about seasonality was made using the twelve months of the year grouped in 3 factors (Seasonal, non-seasonal and intermediate or late seasonal) to find the seasonality of strawberries according to the consumers opinion. Further, the study use a new methodology to measure the non-seasonal consumer behaviour using as a base the Food-Related Lifestyle methodology and adding new dimensions such as : expected quality of the fruits , environmental issues, emotional aspects and country of origin. The new theory involves 9 dimensions. The sample was taken from a panel data with N=558 in all Germany, finally the main Factor Analysis is run and new model proposed to explain the non-seasonal behaviour of the German strawberry consumer. The opinion’s consumer says that quality of the strawberries is mainly defined by taste and sweet. The proposed model to explain the non-seasonal buying behaviour used the “Expected quality of the non-seasonal strawberries”, “Origin of the nonseasonal strawberries”, “Emotional aspects”, “Food preparation scripts” (FRL-Dimension 3) and “Usage situations” (FRL-Dimension 4) that were found significant variables (Factors). The German consumer consider that non-seasonal strawberries have to be similar in quality to the seasonal ones, origin is consider important, but the preference of a country is still neutral. Special emotional aspects are very linked to the strawberries such as summer time and memories of the childhood that influences in the buying behaviour Consumers are able to buy non-seasonal strawberries due to fast, easy and avoiding to use knife and fork to eat them. The last significant factor is referred to processed strawberries (jelly, marmalades or compote) which also are part of the preference during the non-seasonal period in Germany. Frozen strawberries and environmental issues showed not significant variables for the analysis. The study shows that consumers with income over 2501 Euros per month and living in cities above 500 000 inhabitants are more likely to buy non-seasonal strawberries

Consumer acceptance of the beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis). A conjoint analysis and sensory test

119 p.The general objective of this research is to analyze consumer acceptance in Santiago of the beach strawberry produced by the farmers in Contulmo, Eighth Region, Chile, in order to determine if there is a potential market for this type of fruit. A survey was carried out with the target population of social strata ABC1, C2 and C3 living in the Metropolitan Region of Chile. The sample unit was housewives, homeowners, and people over 18 years of age. The sample was selected randomly at fruit and vegetable store, using the mall intercept technique and therefore it cannot be considered a probabilistic sample. A total of 224 questionnaires were considered valid and used in the analysis. The main procedures used were conjoint analysis and a sensory test, where the interviewees tasted the beach strawberry and were asked about its organoleptic properties. On the other hand, the attributes selected for conjoint analysis were price, type of strawberry and origin denomination. Results reveal a potential market for beach strawberries with origin denomination produced by small farmers in Contulmo. Furthermore, the sensory test demonstrates that the sample selected prefers the fresh beach strawberry to the red one, highlighting mainly its flavour and sweetness. Conjoint analysis also reveals that the sample selected prefers the beach strawberry to the red one. Moreover the main attribute pointed out by importance was the price, followed by type of strawberry and the attribute with the least importance was origin denomination. This research offers quantitative and qualitative information that could enable interested parties to determine the existence of business opportunities and thus to achieve both a phytogenetic and productive improvement of this species since, up to this moment, nobody knows how to improve its production

The credibility of the organic certification standards in Brazil

86 p

Long - term relationships between colombian cut flowers exporters and european importers: a case study from the exporters’ point of view

110 p. Georg-August University Göttingen, German