Traceability: European consumers' perceptions regarding its definition, expectations and differences by product types and importance of label schemes

Given the heterogeneity of European consumers it is not unsurprising that they have different perceptions and expectations regarding (but also understanding thereof) 'traceability'. A large number of individuals may not even have a memory anchor for the concept. Consumers may also perceive traceability differently among different product types. The present study is based upon focus groups analysis of 12 countries across Europe. It presents an explanation of traceability's understanding by European consumers. It also presents consumer's expectations towards traceability and its differences according to different product types.Focus groups, Traceability, Cross-national, Perceptions, Food products, Labels, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Occasions, people and places for pork consumption in Europe. Empirical findings from the Q-Porkchains pan-European consumer survey

Objective: to describe the occasions when, the places where and people with whom respondents reported pork meat consumption. Design & Setting: Cross-sectional web based survey in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Poland, January 2008, with quota samples on gender (male, female), age categories (20- 44y and 45-70y), and locality of residence (urban, rural with low pig production density and rural with high pig production density). Subjects: 2437 respondents (51% women, 49% men; mean age 41.4 y SD 13.1). Methods: Online computer based survey, including sociodemographic information, anthropometrics (weight, height), and further questions on frequency of pork consumption (30 common items, 17 country-specific items), the occasions (working day, any day, weekend, special occasions), the company (alone, with family, with friends, with others) and the place of actual consumption (at home, outside of home). Results are aggregated for the five European countries. Results: Tenderloin, mignonette, brochette together with pork shoulder ranked as the first choices for weekend and special occasions. The most out-of home consumed products are mixed gyros-pita meat, pork based brochette, pizza, small cuts, marinated meat, escalope, shoulder, tenderloin and mixed meat. The Greek country specific Sygglino, Tigania, and the Country-style sausage are amongst the main preferences for out of home consumption. At European level, most products are consumed at home and with the family. Meat products such as salami, ham, and similar products are amongst the first choices when eating alone. Semi-processed meat like brochettes, small cuts and marinated or ready to eat dishes as gyros-pitas and pizza are the main choice for eating in the company of friends. Conclusions: European respondents seem to make specific choices of food depending on to the occasions, the places and the company. This information highlights the potential orientation of consumers towards fresh meat for special occasions or weekends, and more processed and convenient products when alone or socializing. This information is also useful to address interventions aiming at the improvement of food related health in Europe.Occasions, Pork consumption, Europe, Q-Porkchains, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

A theoretical and empirical investigation of nutritional label use

Due in part to increasing diet-related health problems caused, among others, by obesity, nutritional labelling has been considered important, mainly because it can provide consumers with information that can be used to make informed and healthier food choices. Several studies have focused on the empirical perspective of nutritional label use. None of these studies, however, have focused on developing a theoretical economic model that would adequately describe nutritional label use based on a utility theoretic framework. We attempt to fill this void by developing a simple theoretical model of nutritional label use, incorporating the time a consumer spends reading labels as part of the food choice process. The demand equations of the model are then empirically tested. Results suggest the significant role of several variables that flow directly from the model which, to our knowledge, have not been used in any previous empirical work

Factors affecting product innovations: A literature review

Product and process innovations are prime manifestations of innovativeness by an organization. Yet surprisingly little is known regarding how to initiate and maintain the innovative momentum in organizations with the ultimate target to produce an increasing number of product innovations and improve competitiveness. Of major concern has been however, the sheer volume of contributions on the subject and the complexity of issues involved. An extensive literature review has been carried out covering 400 scientific Journals during a 10-year long period (1991-2001). Over 2500 journal articles have been identified as relevant and read. Their contribution to the subject of product innovations (i.e., process innovations are not covered) has been identified using a multitude of literature mapping techniques. The present article summarizes the contributions of individual articles depicting the current state-of-the-art in the area.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Factors affecting product innovations: A literature review

Product and process innovations are prime manifestations of innovativeness by an organization. Yet surprisingly little is known regarding how to initiate and maintain the innovative momentum in organizations with the ultimate target to produce an increasing number of product innovations and improve competitiveness. Of major concern has been however, the sheer volume of contributions on the subject and the complexity of issues involved. An extensive literature review has been carried out covering 400 scientific Journals during a 10-year long period (1991-2001). Over 2500 journal articles have been identified as relevant and read. Their contribution to the subject of product innovations (i.e., process innovations are not covered) has been identified using a multitude of literature mapping techniques. The present article summarizes the contributions of individual articles depicting the current state-of-the-art in the area

Rolling out new products across country markets: An empirical study of causes of delays

Faced with the challenge of launching a new product into numerous countries, managers may view a sequential rollout as the prudent course of action. Rather than launching the product simultaneously in diverse countries, they may believe they can reduce risk by launching first in one or two countries, and then in others. However, this strategy overlooks the interplay between timeliness in international new product rollouts (INPR) and product success. George M. Chryssochoidis and Veronica Wong explore these issues in a study of 30 high-tech products launched into multiple European markets. Their study has three objectives: examining the incidence of timeliness and delays in simultaneous and sequential INPR; exploring the causes of delays in INPR; and assessing the effects that INPR timeliness and delays have on new product outcomes. They define timeliness in INPR as the availability of the new product to the firm's multiple target markets within the time frame planned by the company's managers. In other words, timeliness in this study reflects a company's capability for adhering to the schedule that management has established. Contrary to expectations, the results of this study do not reveal direct effects on timeliness in INPR from such sources as diversity of target markets or the firm's external environment. These results suggest that firms can achieve on-time, multicountry rollout of new products notwithstanding the legal, technological, and competitive environment. For the firms in this study, timeliness in INPR depends on such factors as sufficiency of marketing and technological resources (for example, to train sales staff, provide after-sales service, and adapt the product for multiple markets), proficiency in executing new product development activities, and effective communication between a company's headquarters and its business units and customers in different countries. Among the 22 product launches categorized as sequential rollouts in this study, 15 experienced delays. All eight of the simultaneous launches were timely. The results of this study indicate a positive relationship between timeliness in INPR and new-product success. Conversely, for the firms in this study, delays in INPR resulted in lower-than-expected product sales and profitability. In other words, the seemingly less risky sequential launch strategy may actually increase the risk of new product failure by delaying product rollout in multiple markets

Customization of product technology and international new product success: Mediating effects of new product development and rollout timeliness

Offering a standardized product for different country markets may enable companies to accomplish fast product development and multicountry rollout, whereas also enjoying substantial cost benefits. However, not all manufacturers serving multicountry markets can adopt a standardized product strategy. Where technological requirements, standards, and approval procedures vary substantially across countries, manufacturers invariably must adapt the product's technology to fit individual country requirements. Extensive customization may lend to longer new product development and rollout times and increase the likelihood of delays in the entire project, hence adversely affecting overall new product outcome

Does the country-of-origin (COO) of food products influence consumer evaluations? An empirical examination of ham and cheese

The present study attempts to assess the impact of the COO effect on the evaluation of specific food products by Greek consumers. This issue has been examined exhaustively in the international literature, albeit very few studies concern food products. A particular effort is geared towards measuring consumers' ethnocentric tendency as antecedent to the appearance of the COO effect and examining the level at which the latter is activated (product or attribute- specific). In this respect, consumer attitude (dis)similarities towards product types are analysed with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Data were collected though personal interviews with a sample of 274 respondents, which compared two food products of Greek origin (ham and yellow cheese) to their counterparts from Italy and the Netherlands. Results indicate that respondents exhibit a marginally ethnocentric tendency. Overall, although the present study reveals the existence of COO effect activated at the product - level, a more thorough analysis justified only minor differences between the competing products at the attribute level

The Web Presence of Greek Food Firms

The World Wide Web is still a new technology. In higher internationalization sectors, firms are not only expected to adopt new technologies quickly, but also do so in a simultaneous manner across countries. Nonetheless, the food industry is a lower internationalization sector, meaning that adoption of new technologies (such as the web) may be taking place at a slower pace. We check the overall hypothesis that the Greek food firms are lagging behind their counterparts in other Western countries with respect to their web presence. We investigate this hypothesis by comparing and contrasting the functionality, usability, efficiency and reliability of the web sites of 119 food and 56 beverage Greek and 98 overseas food companies. Our hypothesis is confirmed

The Web Presence of Greek Food Firms

The World Wide Web is still a new technology. In higher internationalization sectors, firms are not only expected to adopt new technologies quickly, but also do so in a simultaneous manner across countries. Nonetheless, the food industry is a lower internationalization sector, meaning that adoption of new technologies (such as the web) may be taking place at a slower pace. We check the overall hypothesis that the Greek food firms are lagging behind their counterparts in other Western countries with respect to their web presence. We investigate this hypothesis by comparing and contrasting the functionality, usability, efficiency and reliability of the web sites of 119 food and 56 beverage Greek and 98 overseas food companies. Our hypothesis is confirmed.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,