Food Values Applied to Livestock Products

Food values have been proposed in previous research as a method of identifying stable constructs of consumer preference. We conducted an online survey of 1950 US respondents using best–worst scaling applying the concept of food values to four specific meat and dairy products: ground beef, beef steak, chicken breast, and milk. We test the applicability of general food values to specific products, while further discovering the nature of heterogeneity of values by defining classes of respondents. Our findings suggest that the general food values previously proposed apply well to specific products of the livestock industry. We also found that the differences between consumer classes were driven primarily by price sensitivity, with many of the most important and least important values remaining the same.     

Price transmission in the international skim milk powder markets

This article investigates the strength and the pattern of spatial price linkages in skimmed milk powder markets using monthly wholesale price data from three major producers and exporters (the U.S.A., the E.U., and Oceania) and the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model. The results suggest that prices in the three regions considered are linked with stable long-run relationships. The law of one price, however, does not hold. The dominant pattern of transmission in the long run is asymmetric involving positive price stocks to be transmitted with higher intensity compared to negative prices shocks; asymmetries in price transmission exist in the short run as well.     

从问题奶粉事件分析市场经济下公司的社会责任

从2008年轰动全国的毒奶粉事件到2010年再次爆发的问题奶粉事件,中国乳制品公司企业的社会责任备受质疑。改革开放以来,市场经济制度给公司提供了自由发展的机遇,但是市场经济呼吁法治,公司的发展不能违背道德和社会责任的制约。现行《公司法》将公司的社会责任上升到原则化,给法治社会的公司管理制度设定了活动准则,但并没有具体详实地做出实践性条文规定,故公司缺失的社会责任亟需通过社会的努力加强。     

大学生奶茶知识、态度和行为(KAP)调查

目的:了解大学生奶茶知识、态度和行为(KAP)现状及存在问题,并探索其影响因素,为有针对性地指导大学生奶茶合理消费提供科学依据。方法:采用调查问卷的方式,调查在校大学生奶茶KAP现况,并对结果进行统计分析。结果:大学生奶茶KAP得分普遍偏低。知识得分中,女大学生高于男大学生、上海地区高于非上海地区大学生、医学类高于非医学类大学生(P<0.05);态度得分中,未找到有统计学意义的相关因素;行为得分中,男大学生高于女大学生、非上海地区高于上海地区大学生、非医学类高于医学类大学生(P<0.05)。结论:奶茶饮用在大学生中是一个普遍现象,且大学生对奶茶营养知识不够了解、态度不够积极、饮用行为也不够健康。大学生奶茶饮用行为的改善需要家庭、学校和社会等各方面的努力。     

Factors Determining Joint Venture Formation in the Agribusiness Sector of Sub-Saharan African Countries

This paper reviews the definition and the importance of joint ventures (J.V.'s) as well as the determining factors for their formation with particular reference to agribusiness in sub-Saharan African countries. The study provides evidence to show: · that African countries have increasingly attempted to create an attractive environment to encourage foreign investment in general, and J.V.'s in particular; · and that where J.V.'s have been successfully established the host countries have benefited substantially. The paper concludes that while the various reforms underway in terms of political changes, liberalisation of regulations, privatisation, and other measures taken by African countries should encourage J.V. formation, much remains to be done as regards proper implementation of policies, promotion of entrepreneurship, strengthening regional markets, overcoming the debt crisis, and improvement of the infrastructure, all of which would require substantial support from the international community.     

The role of certificate issuer on consumers’ willingness‐to‐pay for milk traceability in China

In response to increasing concerns about domestic food safety issues, establishing tracking systems in the food industry is mandatorily required under newly launched food safety laws. However, the kinds of monitoring and certification systems that should be set up to ensure practical adoption and the effectiveness of the regulation remain unclear. This study aims to analyze consumers’ preferences for milk traceability, with particular interest in investigating how consumers’ preferences could be affected by monitoring and certification systems of the regarding system. Survey data from a choice‐based conjoint (CBC) experiment are used to achieve this objective. In the experiment, milk is defined by a set of attributes in which we assume that milk traceability can be certified by three entities: the government, an industrial association, and a third party. The CBC data are then analyzed by using the alternative‐specific form of a conditional Logit (McFadden's Choice) model. We found that urban Chinese consumers have a strong desire for traceable milk, but their preference for traceable milk is significantly related to the associated certificate issuers. Currently, the highest willingness‐to‐pay goes to government certificated traceable milk, followed by industrial association certificated and third‐party certificated milks. In the future, however, consumers are likely to give more credit to third‐party certification with rising income and knowledge.     

Product Labeling and Economic Value of Milk Market Segmentation

Abstract

This study explores the economic benefit from labeling milk and milk products and its impact on the supply and demand for fluid milk. The empirical estimate measures the economic value of milk market segmentation based on consumers' willingness to pay for hormonefree milk. The study uses survey data from Kansas households and applied a Probit model for willingness-to-pay and an ordinary least square model for demand analysis. The empirical results show that as long as consumers are willing to pay a higher price for bSTfree milk society would benefit from milk market segmentation.     

Attitudes and Preferences of Kosovar Consumer Segments Toward Quality Attributes of Milk and Dairy Products

ABSTRACT

The dairy market is one of the fastest growing agri-food sectors in Kosovo, yet the farm structure is fragmented. The level of productivity is lower compared with European Union levels and shows potential for improvements. The consumption of dairy products is expected to rise due to income growth and segmentation of consumers that would reflect different preferences for low-fat or zero-fat products, products with natural additives, and so on. On the market level, a significant share of the consumed milk and dairy products is imported. This study aims to better understand attitudes and preferences of Kosovar consumer segments toward milk and dairy products. A quantitative survey with 300 consumers was conducted in major Kosovo cities. Applying a reduced version of the Food Related Lifestyle instrument identified three distinct consumer segments: the conservative consumer segment, the socially oriented foodie, and the information-seeking eco-consumer. The latter two segments are especially open to trying new food products and actively search information about food. All three consumer segments show strong consumer patriotism by believing that domestic milk and cheese are safer than imported products and are of higher quality. This indicates the strong market potential for dairy farmers and companies in the Kosovo, which should develop new food products having these segments in mind. The authors explore the strategies that farmers and companies should use to better target these consumer groups and gain greater access to desirable segments.     

Biotechnology in the agricultural sector: a challenge to consumer welfare

The promises and pitfalls of agricultural biotechnology have long been debated. The public is often thwarted because consumers frequently perceive as risky, and therefore undesirable, those advances that they do not understand or of which they are unaware. A comparative study of the introduction of a biotechnology innovation in the United States (US) and in the European Union (EU) is a case in point. In the US, despite concerns of consumer protection and environmental groups that the use of genetically produced growth hormone in milk‐producing cows will adversely impact the safety of the milk supply, scientific evidence and governmental findings appear to indicate that milk from treated cows is identical in quality, taste and nutritional value to milk from untreated cows. Experience to date in the US demonstrates some consumer resistance to milk from those cows that have received the growth hormone, which typically leads to a 10% increase in milk production. In fact, if there is no perceived differentiation between the two forms of milk, the issue offers little choice to consumers at large, and may result in economic benefit only to selected dairy farmers, as well as the producers of the genetically produced growth hormone. This situation in the US is an example of dysfunctional technology transfer, with perceived desirable benefits to a few, and perceived undesirable benefits to society‐at‐large. The information suggests that the US may have reacted hastily in approving the use of bovine growth hormone in milk‐producing cows. The EU has taken a divergent approach by enacting moratoriums against its use. The differences identified in this study, contrasting responses to the bovine somatotrophin issue in the US and EU – driven in part by general consumer attitudes towards biotechnology – may provide insights into the issues and challenges that will be faced by both advocates and opponents of global proliferation of certain advances in biotechnology.     

汽车制造业实施循环取货物流模式现状与展望

基于对循环取货运输模式在汽车制造业应用的相关文献的研究与国内外案例的研究分析,概括了国内外对汽车制造业实施循环取货模式的研究进展,总结了循环取货方法在国内外汽车企业的应用分析成果,对已有相关研究进行了评述,指出已有研究中的不足和缺憾,提出了解决问题的思路和方法,对我国汽车制造业循环取货运输模式的系统的理论、方法和运行模型的进一步研究提供了借鉴.