Abstraction and product categories as explanatory variables for food consumption

This study sets out to explore variation in the consumer choice structure in relation to three types of products with different levels of search, experience and credence attributes. The decision structures of rice, wine and functional food (experience, search and credence products) consumers were explored by means of laddering. The results suggest the presence of an emotional component in foods that increases in complexity (becomes more abstract) with the number of credence attributes. The findings recommend adjusting the complexity of advertising campaigns and product positioning to the type of product being promoted.     

America's technology slip — A new political issue

A declining rate of technological innovation in the United States is postulated based on measurements of relative productivity, and balances of trade (especially in manufactured goods). Reasons given for this decline include slowing of t areas, shifts of the national R&D effort to less productive areas, low capital investment compared to other nations, a decline in the rate of formation of technology-based corporations, increased regulatory barriers and other factors. Development of synthetic fuels based on plentiful U.S. reserves of coal is given as an example of technological need and opportunity which could be exploited to reverse the technology slip. Political and governmental considerations and options are discussed in terms of roles and policies vis-à-vis the private sector and the voting public.     

Using emotional benefits as a differentiation strategy in saturated markets

The high level of product substitution in most consumer markets often makes it difficult to match supply with demand, especially in sectors with mature, saturated markets with intense competition and a high degree of product differentiation. The difficulty of using technical characteristics such as quality and/or price to differentiate products suggests that marketers could profit from gaining more insight into the way in which consumers' purchase decisions are influenced by their perceived emotions. This paper investigates this issue in the wine market, a highly saturated market with homogeneous supply, obtaining results that appear to support the notion that emotions do indeed play a part in consumer choice structures, which show a higher degree of abstraction in those segments that report a greater number of perceived emotions. This considerably complicates the task of creating a differentiated marketing strategy, in the sense that suppliers need to give much greater consideration to consumers' self‐awareness. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How far from harmonization are sanitary,phytosanitary and quality-related standards? An exporter’s perception approach

Harmonization of trade regulations and standards is perhaps the most contentious issue regarding export markets due to the impacts that it can have on trade. We determine the extent of harmonization as perceived by exporters with respect to the major Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPSs) and quality measures which Chile faces in 16 international fresh fruit markets. The methodology combined qualitative and quantitative techniques. First, the most relevant safety and quality standards and regulations were identified and ranked. Second, a representative sample of exporters was interviewed to assess their perceptions regarding the level of stringency across markets and time for selected regulations. Perceptions were ranked on a likert scale and based on this scale a stringency index was constructed. The results show that Chile faces regulations which can be grouped into the following categories: (i) phytosanitary measures; (ii) tolerance limits for pesticide residues and contaminants; (iii) hygiene requirements; (iv) labeling, marking and packaging; (v) product and process standards; and (vi) registration procedures and other import requirements. The number of regulations varied among countries, ranging from 13 to 3 out of the 14 considered in the study. The most stringent country among the sample as perceived by exporters was México, whereas the least stringent was Saudi Arabia. Additionally, exporters agreed that stringency has increased over time with an average of 15% between 2005 and 2009.     

Differences in Consumer Abstraction Levels as a Function of Risk Perception

This study investigates factors affecting consumer purchase choice (cognitive structures) in two foods with different perceived risk levels. Means‐end chain methodology is used to test for differences in the degrees of abstraction and complexity in the purchase decision process for each product. The results reveal significant differences, with more food safety issues coming into play in the case of the product associated with higher perceived risk in the past. This might suggest a non‐temporal effect on consumers’ level of risk perception in food products, with important implications for crisis management. Furthermore, logit models estimated to investigate the health impact of foods show that age and income have played a role in turning this credence attribute into a key element of consumer choice.     

Human capital and youth emigration in the “new normal”

Every society's future lies in its youth, which can be considered a critical milestone for a nation's sociopolitical development. This research examines the young population attempting to identify and explores the students' perceptions about migration, their postulates, and the reasoning why so many students ultimately choose to emigrate. Data were collected in a questionnaire survey of 206 randomly selected students from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some different multivariate analyses were performed to test the hypotheses. Other results were further discussed. Results show that the country's legal framework is a key reason for the prevailing poor living standard. This has resulted in a large number of youths leaving the country. Overall, both the legal framework (for both young entrepreneurs and women) and the overall standard of living (quality of life, well-being, salary, retirement, and education) are correlated with people choosing to emigrate. Furthermore, theoretical and practical implications are discussed. As far as we know, this is the first empirical study on this particular region that investigates the youth migration trends considered an important milestone for human capital development.