Trade-offs Between Consumer Concerns: An Application for Pork Production

This paper studies multiple attributes of pork production and analyses the trade-offs that consumers make between them. Results show that without considering the trade-offs, animal welfare and food safety are on average perceived as the most important attributes. However, including trade-offs, Taste and Price become major concerns. Conclusions are nuanced as for a number of segments and specific trade-offs Taste and Price are relatively less important. Results support the implementation of differentiated chain designs with distinct and innovative decisions for trade-offs to be made.Customised conjoint analysis, Segmentation, Pork production, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Consumers' Perception of Milk Safety

Several times during the last decade consumers have been warned about different incidents concerning food safety, like, salmonella in eggs, cheese and poultry, and pesticides residues in tomatoes. The problem of food safety is still to be a largely latent concern for consumers. The main research goal of this paper is to investigate consumers' risk attitudes and risk perceptions concerning milk safety and to estimate their willingness to pay for extra-safe milk. The data was collected in the Netherlands using a mail survey. 211 usable questionnaires (26%) were returned. Results show that, in general, consumers are not concerned about the safety of milk. However, the results of consumers' perceptions of the "riskiness of milk contamination" for vulnerable groups of people show that babies are considered to be more sensitive to different sources of contamination than other groups. This study supports the results of previous food safety studies showed that consumers are willing to pay a price premium to the traditional purchase price to avoid some perceived risks. 58% of respondents are willing to pay an additional price for extra-safe milk. The conjoint experiment results indicate that the most important factors for consumers' preference are risk of contamination and presence of a label. Based on a conjoint analysis four segments of respondents were distinguished: "Balanced Shoppers"; "Safety-Seekers"; "Safety-Indifferent"; and "Extreme-Safety Seekers".food safety, questionnaire survey, risk attitudes, risk perceptions, willingness to pay, willingness to buy., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Trade-offs Between Consumer Concerns: An Application for Pork Production

This paper studies multiple attributes of pork production and analyses the trade-offs that consumers make between them. Results show that without considering the trade-offs, animal welfare and food safety are on average perceived as the most important attributes. However, including trade-offs, Taste and Price become major concerns. Conclusions are nuanced as for a number of segments and specific trade-offs Taste and Price are relatively less important. Results support the implementation of differentiated chain designs with distinct and innovative decisions for trade-offs to be made

MEMBERS' PREFERENCES FOR COOPERATIVE STRUCTURES: AN EXPERIMENTAL CONJOINT STUDY

As market conditions change rapidly in the 21st century, questions arise concerning how the organizational structures of co-operatives (co-ops) can meet the challenges that these new conditions pose. This paper introduces a framework to structure marketing co-ops (MCs) based on members' preferences. Several notions from the behavioral decision theory framework are utilized, and a principal-agent approach is adopted for the design of this framework. It focuses on the subjective utility that co-op members derive from levels of the MCs' firm-behavioral attributes, such as business issue/scope, corporate governance, product-related decision-making, financial structure, member benefits, and product quality. Data was collected by means of in-depth interviews with 30 producers and 120 structured computer-assisted face-to-face interviews. The utilities that producers attached to MC's attributes were derived by means of a conjoint experiment

MEMBERS' PREFERENCES FOR COOPERATIVE STRUCTURES: AN EXPERIMENTAL CONJOINT STUDY

As market conditions change rapidly in the 21st century, questions arise concerning how the organizational structures of co-operatives (co-ops) can meet the challenges that these new conditions pose. This paper introduces a framework to structure marketing co-ops (MCs) based on members' preferences. Several notions from the behavioral decision theory framework are utilized, and a principal-agent approach is adopted for the design of this framework. It focuses on the subjective utility that co-op members derive from levels of the MCs' firm-behavioral attributes, such as business issue/scope, corporate governance, product-related decision-making, financial structure, member benefits, and product quality. Data was collected by means of in-depth interviews with 30 producers and 120 structured computer-assisted face-to-face interviews. The utilities that producers attached to MC's attributes were derived by means of a conjoint experiment.Agribusiness,

Consumers' Perception of Milk Safety

Several times during the last decade consumers have been warned about different incidents concerning food safety, like, salmonella in eggs, cheese and poultry, and pesticides residues in tomatoes. The problem of food safety is still to be a largely latent concern for consumers. The main research goal of this paper is to investigate consumers' risk attitudes and risk perceptions concerning milk safety and to estimate their willingness to pay for extra-safe milk. The data was collected in the Netherlands using a mail survey. 211 usable questionnaires (26%) were returned. Results show that, in general, consumers are not concerned about the safety of milk. However, the results of consumers' perceptions of the "riskiness of milk contamination" for vulnerable groups of people show that babies are considered to be more sensitive to different sources of contamination than other groups. This study supports the results of previous food safety studies showed that consumers are willing to pay a price premium to the traditional purchase price to avoid some perceived risks. 58% of respondents are willing to pay an additional price for extra-safe milk. The conjoint experiment results indicate that the most important factors for consumers' preference are risk of contamination and presence of a label. Based on a conjoint analysis four segments of respondents were distinguished: "Balanced Shoppers"; "Safety-Seekers"; "Safety-Indifferent"; and "Extreme-Safety Seekers"

Consumer Acceptance of GM Applications in the Pork Production Chain: A Choice Modelling Approach

This study evaluates consumer acceptance of different GM applications in the pork production chain. In general, results indicate that consumers prefer conventional pork over pork for which genetic modification was applied. However, the negative impact of the GM applications is compensated by improvements in quality, increased animal welfare, a lower impact on the environment, less residues and a price discount. Of these benefits, increased animal welfare has the most positive effect on consumer choices. With substantial monetary compensation and presence of various benefits the consumers will attach higher utility to the GM pork than to the conventional pork. The amount of monetary compensation is dependent on the type of GM application

Trust: The Importance of Distinguishing between Different Actors and Dimensions

Many consumers lack insight into today's complex food production systems. This paper investigates the relationship between consumer confidence in the safety of food in general and consumer trust in particular institutions and organisations. The first aim of the study was to develop and validate a scale to measure general consumer confidence in the safety of food. From the analysis, two distinct dimensions emerged that were labelled optimism and pessimism. The second aim of this study was to investigate to what extent general consumer confidence in the safety of food was related to consumer trust in institutions and organisations responsible for the management of food safety, taking into account three underlying dimensions of trust, namely competence, openness and care for public wellbeing. The results indicate that the degree to which trust was related to optimism and pessimism was dependent upon both the actor and the dimension of trust

Restructuring international food chains: Building sustainable and all-inclusive food chains at the primary stages

Although it is often acknowledged that effective inclusion of small-scale primary producers in international chains is crucial for alleviating poverty in developing countries, few insights exist about how to build sustainable and all-inclusive food chains especially those based on scarce natural resources. In order to address challenges that marketing and development policy and institutions as well as small-scale primary producers in the agro-ecological sector face in promoting sustainable practices, this paper focuses on the use of contracts. The paper investigates whether small-scale primary producers would engage in contracts that oblige them to implement sustainable and quality-improving practices and if so under what conditions. Results show that primary producers (fishermen in this study) are open to sustainability-quality enhancing contracts provided that such contracts also enhance their welfare and economic benefits. Implications for building sustainable and all-inclusive international marketing channels are discussed