Conveying conscientiousness: Exploring environmental images across servicescapes

The study explores how conscientiousness gets conveyed across servicescapes in two specific retail contexts: a supermarket and an organic food store, both of which claim an environmentally oriented branding strategy. Data collected from a qualitative approach and a photo elicitation technique consist of 20 semi-structured interviews with consumers of organic food products. The present study contributes to extant retailing literature by demonstrating that a conscientious corporate brand image requires long-term, comprehensive dedication by retailers. Moreover, this study contributes to research into retailer branding by uncovering a nostalgic dimension of conscientious branding, which in this setting means acknowledging the effects of the past.     

建立有机食品安全快速检测全程可追溯系统的探究

随着经济的不断发展,人民生活水平的不断提高,人们对食品的关注重点也从"吃饱"向"吃好"转变,对"舌尖上的安全"有了更高的要求。于是促进了有机农业、生态农业、自然农业、再生农业等一系列关乎自然环境、生态文明建设的新型农业领域的兴起。国家"十三五"对于食品安全提出了更高要求,要求建立食品安全全程可追溯体系,建立"一站式"食品安全监测平台,使食品安全检测海量信息实时传输、存储、分析、运用成为可能。对食品安全进行风险监测、评估和预警,也必将促进我国在保障食品安全问题上又上一个新台阶。     

我国旧城更新改造中的产权问题研究

本文认为,产权明晰是旧城更新改造规划得以有效实施的前提。产权失灵是过去制约城市规划干预效率的内在原因。根据当代产权制度多元化的趋势,今后我国旧城中应当鼓励公有、共有和私有产权的多样并存,而不应当片面地从一种制度极端(公有产权占绝大多数)骤然跃进到另一种制度极端(私有产权占绝大多数)。传统大规模更新的巨大惯性是在公有制转轨上形成的,要转向小规模、渐进式的更新方式,必须另外铺就一条合理的路径。私有产权的轨道上,只能容纳少部分受益者,而大量的弱势群体注定没有能力跟上这趟貌似充满效率的快车。只有兼顾效率和公平的共有产权制度,才有可能为旧城朝向"有机更新"方式的顺利转轨,提供坚实的路基。包括公共产权形式在内的多样化产权形式是旧城更新中的最好选择,它能够帮助我们实现社会保障和促进多样化的更新模式。     

立法论视野下的台湾审计制度——以台湾审计制度立法的发展为研究视角

台湾地区是亚洲经济腾飞的四小龙之一,其完备的审计法制大抵充任着"监督预算执行、审核财务收支与审定决算、稽查不法、考核财务效能以及核定财务责任"的角色,台湾地区审计制度大多围绕着立法论而展开,保障着经济顺利有序地发展。台湾地区政府审计由传统的财务合法性审计,朝向兼重财务效能性的绩效评估审计,这可说是台湾地区审计制度的立法形成与发展完善的一大进步。     

Will they buy it? The potential for marketing organic vegetables in the food vending sector to strengthen vegetable safety: A choice experiment study in three West African cities

Considering the hazardous use of synthetic pesticides in vegetable production in urban West Africa, this research investigated the marketing potential of organic vegetables in the food vending sector of Cotonou (Benin), Accra (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Certified organic production and marketing was examined as a potential strategy to improve chemical food safety. A stratified random sampling strategy was applied to study the preferences of food vendors (n = 180) and consumers (n = 360); vegetable use, risk perception, choice preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for organic certification were specifically analyzed. The results showed that awareness of chemical contamination risks was generally low. Appearance of a product was central to vendor choice; consumers attributed similar utility to taste and organic certification. Consumer WTP was calculated to be a premium of 1.04 USD (per plate) if the food served contained only certified organic vegetables. In restaurants, this would mean an average premium of 19% for a meal. If certified organic vegetable production is to make a positive impact on food safety in urban West Africa, we suggest concentrating marketing efforts on the educated “elite” who frequent restaurants. However, considering that restaurant owners exhibited a lower preference for organic certification than lower class food vendors, the marketing situation is difficult. We therefore conclude that demand from the food vending sector alone will not institutionalize domestic certification mechanisms; this underlines the need for public commitment to facilitating such change.     

Territorial management contracts as a tool to enhance the sustainability of sloping and mountainous olive orchards: Evidence from a case study in Southern Spain

The continuity of farming in traditional sloping and mountainous olive production systems (SMOPS) is at risk, especially in marginally productive areas. The abandonment of olive production on sloping lands would have adverse economic, social, environmental and cultural effects. To tackle this risk of abandonment and to improve the sustainability of traditional SMOPS, we propose the Territorial management contracts (TMC) of rural areas. The potential of this instrument to be specifically applied to organic olive production systems on sloping lands is assessed. The paper then summarises the results of a survey of Andalusian farmers in sloping and mountainous areas aimed at identifying key characteristics of the TMC with the potential to enhance its uptake in target farming communities. Results show that farmers are well-disposed towards TMC, and that issues such as flexibility and external advice need to be considered for its successful implementation. From a policy perspective, the instrument is well aligned with the objectives of the last reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).     

Introduction to the special section on organic certification systems: Policy issues and research topics

This article introduces a special section in Food Policy that discusses organic certification systems. Among the various issues in this field, the three articles in this special section address (i) the determinants of farmers’ decisions regarding whether to utilise organic production practices and whether to apply for organic certification; (ii) consumer preferences for different organic labels; and (iii) how to organise effective risk-based inspections. Key policy recommendations derived from this special section include continuously striving to reduce the transaction costs of all actors in the organic certification process, implementing a risk-based inspection system based on the collection of adequate farm data by certification bodies and harmonising the supervision of the certification system within the EU.     

Measuring heterogeneity,survey engagement and response quality in preferences for organic products in Nigeria

The identification of the market potentials of organic products is important in the drive towards a sustainable agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, available evidence shows that valuing attributes of credence goods (such as organic products) while using stated preference methods faces additional obstacles compared to other normal goods. In this study, we examine consumers’ preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for health and environmental attributes of organic products in Nigeria. We employ an approach that allows us to adequately capture the value of organic products by linking part of the heterogeneity across respondents to differences in scale, while making use of indicators of survey engagement, without risks of endogeneity bias and measurement error that arise from the deterministic methods. The empirical results show that market for organic products exists in Nigeria, with reduction in pesticide residues attribute attracting the highest value, followed by the certification programme. Furthermore, we observe that increases in the latent engagement variable lead to a greater probability of agreement with statements relating to survey understanding and realism, and hence more substantive output.     

Organic price premium or penalty? A comparative market analysis of organic wines from Tuscany

Previous literature suggests that the price of wine is a function of its intrinsic and extrinsic attributes. Studies have examined the price of wines from various wine producing regions using the hedonic price model to determine the correlation between wine attributes and price. However few studies have examined the relationship between organic production or certification and price. This study uses a hedonic pricing model to examine the price premiums associated with organic production and organic certification for Tuscan red wines produced between 2000 and 2008 in both the Italian and American wine markets. Controlling for a variety of wine attributes, the analysis finds that wines produced with organic practices, but not certified as organic and wines certified, but not labeled as organic receive a higher price compared to conventional wine, for wines with low quality ratings. However, as the wine’s quality rating increases, the positive effects of organic practices and certification on price decrease, and for wine with higher quality ratings, organic practices and certification is associated with lower prices relative to otherwise comparable conventional wines.     

Are local market relationships undermining organic fruit and vegetable certification? A bivariate probit analysis

This article investigates how an organic fruit and vegetable farmer's choice to use direct‐to‐consumer market channels impacts his/her decision to be certified organic. First, we model the decision to be certified organic as a conditionally independent decision from the farmer's chosen market channels. Second, we estimate the probability of certifying organic as an endogenously determined marketing decision to the choice of market channels, and use a bivariate probit specification to model this decision. Empirical evidence indicates that the decision to certify is endogenous to the chosen market channels. We show that farmers selling direct to consumers are less likely to certify organic.