Borderless ideas - Open Innovation in the Hungarian Food Chain

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the innovation performance in the Hungarian food chain using the concept of open innovation. Design/methodology/approach - Empirical analysis is based on the data from a 2014 survey of more than 300 small-and medium-sized agricultural producers, food processors and food retailers. The authors analyse innovation performance taking into account not only the direct impacts of external knowledge inflows and absorptive capacity, but also the indirect effect of external knowledge inflows mediated by the existence of potentially complementary internal resources (absorptive capacity). The authors determine the impact of open innovation and a company's absorptive capacity on innovation performance employing two stage approaches. First, the authors apply a semi-non parametric probit model. Second, the authors run cluster analysis to categorize companies based on their open innovation, absorptive capacity, firm and managerial characteristics. Findings - Results imply the openness along the food chain may decrease the introduction time of innovation in all areas of innovation, as well the innovation propensity. The openness towards competitors may decrease the introduction time of innovation with regard to technological innovation, but it may increase with regard to product innovation, as well the innovation propensity. The absorptive capacity decreases the introduction time of technological product, organizational and market innovation. There is a positive relationship between the use of external knowledge (when it is defined as openness with competitors) and own innovation capacity with regard to innovation propensity, but not when it is defined as openness along the food chain. The enterprises of the sample are dividing into two groups: innovative (dominated by processors) and not innovative ones (dominated by producers and retailers). Research limitations/implications - Some limitations of the paper are worth mentioning. The study is limited in its scope with regard to the research setting and the unit of analysis (Hungarian food chain). With regard to the former, our sample consists of 302 SMEs along the food chain, almost equally distributed as producers, processors and retailers. At the end of 2014 in Hungary there were 7,766 producers, 2,681 processors and 6,420 retailers in this category, which means 1.3 - 3.7 per cent coverage (Agrargazdasagi Kutatointezet, 2014). Regarding the latter, the paper defines food chain in a narrow sense (three levels); therefore, the results represent the perspectives of a limited number of food chain partners (producers, processors, retailers). Were the definition to be widened, input from additional members would be necessary (such as suppliers of suppliers, customers of customers, third parties or competitors). Nevertheless, although the scope may be narrow, it is appropriate for our objective. Future research is recommended to overcome the paper's limitations (i.e. extend its scope to other countries, sectors and levels of chain). Practical implications - The analysis provides valuable inputs for policy makers and SMEs along the food chain that wish to build and improve (open) innovation system. Policy makers would need more targeted innovation development programmes in order to solve the tight innovation bottlenecks. These programmes should target first of all at expanding the absorptive capacities of the food chain's enterprises. The authors also need further research in order to investigate how much the restricted use of open innovation systems in the Hungarian food enterprises is linked to the cost and benefits of creation such systems. Originality/value - The authors analyse innovation performance taking into account not only the direct impacts of external knowledge inflows and absorptive capacity, but also the indirect effect of external knowledge inflows mediated by the existence of potentially complementary internal resources (absorptive capacity)

Off to market: but which one? Understanding the participation of small-scale farmers in short food supply chains—a Hungarian case study

The research described in this paper was designed to identify the factors that influence the importance small-scale farmers place on different marketing channels of short food supply chains. The focus concerns two entirely different types of market that are present in the bigger cities in Hungary: 'conventional' markets where there are no restrictions on locality but the farmer-market relationship is based on binding contracts, and newly-emergent farmers' markets at which only local growers can sell ad hoc, using their own portable facilities. Results are based on a survey that was conducted in 2013 among 156 Hungarian market oriented farmer-vendors at different types of market and confirm that different markets are visited by different types of farmers. Farmers who favour conventional markets are typically less educated, operate on smaller scales and are more committed to their chosen markets via long-term contracts (which reduce the probability of their trying other outlets). The preference for farmers' markets is stronger with farmers who are more open to cooperation, have specific investment plans for developing their farms and among those who are specifically looking to directly interact with their customers to avoid middlemen. The relevance of the findings is highlighted by the ongoing Short Food Supply Chain Thematic Sub-programme in the present European Union financing period; farmers' profiles in any given marketing channel must be understood if short food supply chains are to be effectively promoted. Different types of small-scale farmers will benefit from different supporting frameworks, interventions, and initiatives

Karaktererősségek az iskolában

The concept of character strengths and the VIA system of strengths (Peterson, Seligman, 2004) are central ideas of positive psychology. These personal attributes and strengths are in the focus of numerous research and interventions, with a robust knowledge about their function and impact (Peterson, Park, Seligman, 2006; Vela et al., 2016). In spite of this robust knowledge, the development of character strengths is not widespread and systematic at schools. In this article we aim to introduce the concept and the functions of character strengths, the general attributes of psychological processes in connection with strengths and interventions for their development.Furthermore a detailed account is given of school-based interventions for improving strengths in light of positive psychology, which can provide scientific foundations for strength-oriented institutional culture and teaching and learning. Finally some strength-focused short practices are introduced (eg. strength spotting, 360 degree evaluation, strength observation), which help to learn about and encourage to try simple and short, easily manageable strength-focused school-interventions.A pozitív pszichológia egyik központi eleme a karaktererősségek fogalma, illetve a 2004-ben kialakított VIA karaktererősségek rendszere (Peterson és Seligman, 2004). Az ebben leírt erősségek és személyes jellemzők a pozitív pszichológiai kutatások és intervenciók egyik fókuszpontját jelentik, melyek működéséről és hatásmechanizmusáról már elég sokat tudunk (Peterson, Park és Seligman, 2006; Vela és mtsai, 2016). Ugyanakkor az erősségek iskolai megjelenése, illetve az azok fejlesztésére irányuló iskolai gyakorlatok még kevésbé ismertek, alkalmazásuk nem gyakori. Cikkünkben ezért bemutatjuk a karaktererősségek fogalmát és működését, az erősségekkel kapcsolatos pszichológiai munka általános jellemzőit, valamint az ennek fejlesztésére irányuló intervenciókat. Ezen túl részletesebben ismertetjük a pozitív pszichológiai irányú, különösen az erősségek fejlesztésére irányuló beavatkozások iskolai lehetőségeit, melyek megteremtik az erősségorientált iskolai szervezeti kultúra és tanítási-tanulási folyamat tudományos alapjait. A tanulmány végén olyan rövid gyakorlatokat mutatunk be (pl. erősségek azonosítása, 360 fokos értékelés, erősség-megfigyelés), melyek lehetőséget teremtenek a rövid és egyszerűen kivitelezhető erősségfókuszú intervenciók iskolai kipróbálására, megismerésére

Rural development: how to measure performance imbalances in agribusiness chains

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Network Competence and Open Innovation Behaviour in the Food Sector: An Empirical Investigation

In today business world where knowledge and resources are increasingly spread among organizations, enterprises often develop a wide variety of relationships with other organizations in order to access new technologies, know-how and resources. Increasingly, the use of external resources for innovation – also referred as inbound open innovation in literature – is seen as a key factor to remain innovative and hence competitive. While the impact of open innovation on the firm’s innovativeness and performance has received quite some attention by scholars, the mechanisms that push firm to open up their innovation process remain under investigated. The aim of this paper is to contribute to fill in this gap by developing and testing empirically a research framework on the firm specific factors impacting the firm’s degree of openness. In order to reach the research objective, an extensive literature review was performed based on which several research hypotheses were developed. A web-questionnaire was then designed and distributed to the CEOs of food SMEs in Europe. A major result of this study is that network competence – defined as the firm’s ability to establish and use relationships with other organization – drives the firm’s openness in terms of ambidexterity (i.e. new versus existing relationships) and breadth (number of external sources or search channels that the firm relies upon in its innovative activities)

The European Food Prices Monitoring Tool as a Prerequisite for more Price Transparency in the Food Chain

During the last decades, the variable agricultural commodity prices and the increasing producer and consumer prices illustrated the need for more transparency about the pricing of food products in the European food system. Therefore, the European Commission launched in 2009 a public tool, the European Food Prices Monitoring Tool (EFPMT), to compare prices to increase transparency for price transmission in the food chain and to facilitate comparisons across the European member states. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how the EFPMT can contribute to a fair competition and increase the price transparency and competitiveness in the European food system

A serdülők iskolai énhatékonyságának, aspirációinak és az iskola teljesítményének vizsgálata a célorientációs elmélet tükrében

Napjainkban a célorientációs elmélet a tanulási motiváció vizsgálatának egyik népszerű területe(pl.:D’Lima, Winsler és Kitsantas, 2014; Meissel és Rubie-Davies, 2016),bár hazánkban nem tartozik a motiváció kutatásának vezető irányvonalába. A célorientációs megközelítés szerint a személy saját maga definiálja a sikeressége kritériumait, a siker vagy sikertelenség okait egyéni magyarázattal látja el, így nagy egyéni különbségek lehetnek abban, hogy ki mit próbál elérni, milyen (tanulási) célokat fogalmaz meg maga számára. Kutatásunkbana célorientációkat, illetve ezek iskolai énhatékonysággal és aspirációkkalvaló kapcsolatát vizsgáltuk 10–11. osztályos tanulók körében (N =187), valamint a különböző célorientációk hatá-sát a tanulmányi eredményekrea 2 × 2-es célorientációs elmélet alapján. Az eredmények alapján a célorientációk közül a viszonyító célorientációnak volt a legnagyobb hatása a tanulmányi eredményre (r = 0,257, p < 0,001), bár ez a kapcsolat nem volt túl erős. A célorientáció minden faktora szoros kapcsolatban állt az iskolai énhatékonysággal, az elsajátítási célorientációk az intrinzik célokkal, a viszonyító célorientáció pedig az extrinzik célokkal mutatott szorosabb együttjárást. Ezek az eredmények rávilágítanak arra, hogy a célorientációk fontos szerepet játszanak a tanulási motiváció és az iskolai teljesítmény alakulásában, így a célok, célorientációk gyakorlatban való megjelenése a tanulók motiválásának új lehetőségeire hívják fel a figyelmet