The relationship between household food waste and food security in Tehran city: The role of urban women in household management

Food loss and waste are some of the most urgent social, economic and environmental issues affecting our planet's sustainability, and it has a direct and indirect impact on food security. Food security is a strategic development issue in Iran. This study aims to investigate the overall prevalence and factors affecting household food security with a novel approach to analyze the relationship between food waste and food security in Tehran city. This study applied the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) for assessing food insecurity and logistic regression modeling. It was found that 64.2 percent of the households are food secure in Tehran. Results have shown that food waste has a significant negative effect on the food security of households, while marital status, family income, food storage, education and housing asset of family indicated positive significant effects on the food security of households. The results revealed most food waste is related to edible food waste such as bread, cooked rice, cooked pasta, which implies that the reduction of it can contribute to improving food security. In light of the major findings of this study, it is concluded that food waste control can decrease the food insecurity of urban Iranian households. This study is the first attempt to conceptualize and provide empirical evidence that food waste reduction increases food security A significant implication that emerges from this study is that food waste control programs could enhance food security in urban households.     

Individual antecedents to consumer intention to switch to food waste bioplastic products: A configuration analysis

Food waste management remains a significant economic and sustainability problem and is being actively addressed by scholars, governments, and organizations around the world. Bioplastics, which are biodegradable plastics derived from food waste, are a recent innovation that might contribute to managing this waste in a more sustainable manner. Unfortunately, many of today's consumers are not necessarily ready to consider such alternatives. Consumer switching to sustainable products is a tenuous topic, as consumers often value other product attributes (i.e., cost, quality, and associated prestige) more than their sustainability attributes (i.e., fewer natural resources expended, lower carbon footprints, and end-of-life recoverability). A greater understanding of consumers' intention to switch to bioplastic products provides opportunities for firms to develop state-of-the-art, profitable, and sustainable food systems. Considering the complex set of inter-relationships surrounding consumer involvement in sustainable innovations and associated supply chain strategy, this research leverages complexity theory and a qualitative comparative analysis research approach to uncover eight different, yet equifinal, configurations of antecedents that motivate consumer intention to switch from new plastic products to equivalent products made from bioplastics.     

A consumer segmentation of nutrition information use and its relation to food consumption behaviour

Consumers need information such as nutrition tables to assess the nutritional value of a food product. Although a broad range of studies has examined consumers’ attention, perception and use of nutrition tables, relatively little is known about what types of consumers use what kind of nutrition information. Therefore, using data from the Swiss Food Panel, we conducted a cluster analysis of nutrition information usage and health and nutrition interest to determine whether consumers could be segmented into specific groups. We identified four segments, which we labelled Official Information Users, Internet Users, Moderate Users and Uninterested. We then determined the segments’ demographics, food frequencies and perception of food. Based on our findings, we provide suggestions for targeted interventions that stimulate healthy food choices among these four segments. Our findings imply that nutrition education or the improvement of nutrition labels is unlikely tostimulate nutrition information usage among all consumer types; some consumers may rather benefit more from environmental cues that prime healthy food choices.     

The impact of a food security program on household food consumption in Northwestern Ethiopia: A matching estimator approach

With the financial support from various development partners, Ethiopia has designed and implemented several programs to improve household food security. Yet, food insecurity is still a major challenge to several millions of people in the country and it is questionable whether the different food security programs implemented over the past years have been successful. Using a propensity score matching method to control for pre-intervention differences, this study examined the impact on household food calorie intake of an integrated food security program (IFSP), which had been implemented in Northwestern Ethiopia by two non-governmental organizations as a case study. The estimated results provide evidence that IFSP has a positive and statistically significant effect on food calorie intake. In particular, IFSP has raised physical food calorie intake by 30% among the beneficiary households. However, we also found that IFSP has differential impact depending on family size, landownership and gender of head of household. Overall, the paper provides evidence that supporting integrated food security programs is important to improve food security in rural areas.     

A system-wide interdisciplinary conceptual framework for food loss and waste mitigation strategies in the supply chain

The issues of food loss and waste (FLW) in the global supply chains have recently gained attention. However, causes for FLW and their mitigation strategies for curbing FLW at different stages of the supply chains remains under researched. Our research aims to address these research gaps in a three-fold way: i), we identified key causes (through root-cause analysis) of FLW in the supply chain of developed and less developed countries; ii), systematically classified measures and policies, which have been implemented to mitigate FLW; iii), developed an interdisciplinary conceptual framework for waste utilisation practices that can contribute towards the triple bottom-line in food system. A root-cause analysis was performed, and mitigation strategies identified by systematically analysing and synthesizing the extant research published over the past 20 years (1998 to 2018) in the areas of food loss and waste in the supply chain. A conceptual model for the prevention of FLW utilising a systems approach through the circular economy concept has been proposed. Since the agri-food sector is largely interdisciplinary, we have also demonstrated a method of integrating contributions from multiple disciplines in our proposed model towards achieving a total depollution (zero waste supply chain).     

Challenges of servitization: A systematic literature review

The challenges of servitization have gained significant attention from both academics and practitioners, as more firms in the industrial sector are seeking marketing opportunities leading to business growth through the adoption of a service strategy. Although existing research has explored its challenges from multiple perspectives, this is largely fragmented and the studies offer little understanding of the impacts of the challenges on the realisation of servitization benefits and improvements in business performance. This study, therefore, aims to create a formal construct of the challenges and develop a set of hypotheses through a systematic review of the servitization literature to build a theoretical model explaining the underlying relationships. Five challenges are identified: organisational structure, business model, development process, customer management, and risk management. The indicators of each challenge are discussed to support the establishment of hypotheses. This study contributes to the current body of knowledge by reaching a clear conclusion from the fragmented literature and brings together five challenges to explore their impacts on the overall business.     

The sceptical consumer? Exploring views about food assurance

The problem of trust in food production and regulation has increasingly been raised as a practical and policy issue in recent years and one solution has been to provide more and better information about food production and regulation, especially through food assurance schemes. To look for evidence that this might be successful, this paper uses a small empirical study of how UK consumers think about food information and food assurance claims, using a statement sorting exercise (Q methodology) to identify key factors or shared views. We found that our consumers, despite differences in sociodemographics, gender, diet and shopping habits, tended to share a baseline of scepticism about food information and food assurance claims. We speculate that such scepticism may mean that, rather than providing a solution to the problem of distrust, food assurance schemes may themselves come to be distrusted.     

A theory-based evaluation of food waste policy: Evidence from Italy

Italy recently reformed its food waste policy by introducing innovative measures, such as the possibility of donating food after the best-before date (BBD) and a significant simplification of the bureaucracy of donations. These measures are advocated by food waste specialists and are thought to increase donations almost automatically. The article performs a theory-based evaluation using the method of realist synthesis to investigate the two measures, test their implicit assumptions, and provide a more complete picture of how the policy works. The results highlight the marginal importance of bureaucratic procedures in the cost structure of donations, the diverse responses of different donors and food rescue organisations, and the importance of considering the capacity and preferences of charities when an increase in donations is expected. Further, the analysis uncovers severe reputational risks that limit both the supply of and demand for food past the BBD, despite legal provisions promoting its donation.     

The impact of maize price shocks on household food security: Panel evidence from Tanzania

Using three waves (2008/09, 2010/11, 2012/13) of the Tanzanian National Panel Survey, this study investigates the impact of maize price shocks on household food security. Between 2008/09 and 2012/13, calorie intake stagnated for urban households, yet sharply deteriorated for rural households. The latter was driven by a significant decline in the consumption of the major staple maize which showed strongest price hikes among all major food items. Fixed-effects regressions indicate a clear negative relationship between maize prices and average household energy intake. Almost all population groups were found to be negatively affected by maize price shocks, with rural landless households being the most vulnerable group. In particular, a 50 percent rise in maize prices decreases caloric intake for rural (urban) households on average by 4.4 (5.4) percent, and for rural landless households by 12.6 percent. Results further indicate that subsistence agriculture can act as an effective strategy to insure against food price volatility.     

Economic crisis and the unemployment effect on household food expenditure: The case of Spain

This paper examines the unemployment effect on food expenditure (UEFE) for Spanish households and quantifies its magnitude in boom and crisis periods. The results show that the UEFE was negative in both contexts but was reinforced during the economic crisis. Applying propensity score matching and difference-in-differences techniques to a sample of Spanish households for 2006 and 2013 (representative of a boom period and a crisis period, respectively), we found that the UEFE amounted to 2.9% in the boom period and to 4.5% in the crisis period. Quantile difference-in-differences estimates confirmed that the economic crisis enhanced the UEFE for Spanish households, with this effect decreasing continuously up to quantile 0.9. The UEFE was exacerbated mainly in those economically disadvantaged households.     

A place for food in Australian schools: a socio-historical review of food education

The historical development of food education in secondary schools in New South Wales Australia is a compelling yet under-researched area of interest. This review starts by exploring how food curricula have evolved since the 1700s to the present day juxtaposed on socio-economic and political factors. This review is interested in the role secondary food education may play in ‘supplying’ people into professional studies towards a career as a food technologist. Accordingly this review compares contemporary secondary food curriculum with related curricula in the higher education sector and establishes a marked dissonance between the two. The implications of this are then put forward. The drive to empower students to be enterprising and innovative twenty first century problem solvers in relation to food design through the interdisciplinary nature of food science is discussed, despite the uncertainty as to what degree Food Technology in schools is currently promoting these life-long and life-wide abilities in students. The authors suggest the lack of a theoretical underpinning may be holding the subject back from becoming a robust discipline. For this reason this review puts forward a conceptual framework for the study of food. The following review is relevant to secondary and higher education food education stakeholders (teachers, academics, curriculum developers, professional food industry) and higher education providers nationally and internationally, as the way in which food education is presented in secondary schooling is not contained to the Australian context alone.     

Reducing food waste through digital platforms: A quantification of cross-side network effects

To fight food waste, retail stores have begun selling perishable food close to the expiration date at discounted prices. To render this form of last-minute discounting effective, digital platforms have been developed with the major aim to connect local retail stores and their consumers by sharing information about these discounts. To sustain digital platforms, platform leaders need to ensure both consumers and retail stores remain active on it. To provide platform leaders with advice on how to create a sustainable digital platform, we examine how retail store activity on the digital platform affects consumer activity, and vice versa (also known as cross-side network effects). By combining a PVAR model and an impulse response function, along with data from a digital platform aimed at food waste reduction, we find that the effect of consumer activity on retail store activity is stronger and more long-lasting than the effect of retail store activity on consumer activity. We discuss the implications of our findings for both retail stores and digital platform leaders.     

Pursuing consumer empowerment in the age of big data: A comprehensive regulatory framework for data brokers

Data brokers play a central role in the big data ecosystem, compiling personal data from numerous sources and subsequently selling them to businesses worldwide. Such practices, however, generally occur clandestinely without consumers' knowledge or consent and can harm consumers in a discriminatory manner. In recent years, US policymakers have been urged to regulate data brokers by promoting individual choice but have failed, whereas the European Union has introduced broad data privacy guarantees for consumers and a data protection regime that limits data brokers' activities if consumers' consent has not been obtained for specific purposes. Because of the power imbalance between consumers and data brokers, the author argues that the European Union's coherent data protection framework serves as an effective model for regulating data brokers.     

A mixed-methods study of retail food waste in New Zealand

Little is known about the amount of food wasted in the retail sector. This study aimed to quantify retail food waste in New Zealand (NZ) and identify key drivers for food waste reduction, using a mixed-methods, observational study design that consisted of three parts: onsite food waste audits undertaken in 16 selected stores (complete data from 11 stores); semi-structured interviews with key retail staff from each store; and obtaining existing data from retailers. Retail food waste in NZ was estimated at 13 kg/capita/year for all food waste and diverted product (i.e. all food not sold or utilised at a retail level), which included 5 kg/capita/year designated as food waste (i.e. food directed to landfill, protein reprocessing and compost), with 3 kg/capita/year of this sent to landfill. Fresh vegetables (27%), bakery (23%), meat and fish (19%) and fresh fruit (17%) contributed the most to discarded product. The motivators for encouraging food waste reduction were: concern for the environment; making profit; caring for the community; and doing the ‘right’ thing. The barriers to food waste reduction were: training and educating staff; food safety concerns; quality standards; availability and capacity of waste diversion avenues; and lack of available resources. Audit data and food waste data recorded by retailers were similar. NZ has a number of policies and practices that successfully divert retail food waste away from landfill, in particular, retailers have established relationships with various groups that use their waste as a resource including protein reprocessors, local farmers, and food rescue charities.     

Alliance capabilities: A systematic review and future research directions

The ability to manage, integrate and learn from strategic alliances is essential in today's interconnected and globalized economy. Despite the managerial relevance of alliance capability, there remain several open questions related to the conceptualization of alliance capabilities, their antecedents, processes and outcomes, and future research needs. We address these issues through a systematic review of 94 articles from top-tier journals focused on alliance capabilities. This study makes three contributions. The study (1) defines the concept of alliance capabilities when operating in a dyadic relational context by reviewing the rich alliance capability literature, acknowledging and bridging the works conducted in different fields. We (2) identify the main processes, antecedents and outcomes of alliance capabilities and, through this analysis, pave the way for (3) the creation of a comprehensive research agenda to direct future research efforts. Overall, this study extends the existing literature by providing an integrative view of alliance capability research in various fields.     

A consumer segmentation study with regards to genetically modified food in urban China

The objective of this study is to identify the underlying subgroups of Chinese consumers in terms of their perceptions and attitudes toward GM foods. In particular, we address the following specific questions: may researchers segment Chinese urban consumers in terms of their attitudes and perceptions toward GM foods? Are there any relationships between segmented consumer groups and other factors – such as their exposure to GM knowledge and socio-demographics? And, what policy implications can be drawn from this research to the future biotech development in China? Based on a large-scale survey data collected by the authors in 2002 and 2003 in 11 cities of China, this research applies consumer research methodologies. The combination of factor and cluster analysis enables us to identify successfully and consistently four Chinese consumer clusters based on their perceptions and attitudes toward GM foods, which include a food safety cluster, a nutritional technologist cluster, a GM skeptic cluster, and a cluster of GM for non-food promoter.     

The paradoxes of food waste reduction in the horticultural supply chain

Research on on food waste is often reductionist, in that it attempts to measure food waste at single points within the supply chain. While this enables consideration of where food is being wasted within the supply chain, it does not necessarily answer why and how food is wasted across an entire supply chain. Using a paradox theory approach, the aim of this paper is to address these knowledge gaps by exploring the inherent paradoxes in resolving food waste across a supply chain. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research within the Australian horticulture industry, the findings reveal four macro-level paradoxes relating to policy, markets, responsibility, and marketing. This paper makes a novel contribution through consideration of a holistic, whole of chain perspective in relation to food waste. It also extends paradox theory into food waste scholarship. From a managerial perspective, the visibility of paradoxes highlights the need for organisations in the food supply chain to look beyond their own organisational boundaries and adopt a whole-of-chain approach in an attempt to address food waste.     

A systematic review of research on coopetition: Toward a multilevel understanding

While research on the phenomenon of coopetition has dramatically increased during the last years, this line of inquiry often embodies a loosely connected body of work with fragmented themes, underdeveloped concepts, and little work explaining coopetition at multiple levels. In this paper, we conduct a systematic literature review of the field, and based on a final set of 142 contributions, synthesize the disparate research into a coherent whole by developing an overarching and dynamic multilevel model. We first systematize diverse conceptualizations of coopetition with respect to different levels into The Actor and The Activity Schools of Thought. Then we integrate major critical themes into a Driver, Process, Outcomes (DPO) framework, and offer a Blended School of Thought to show how different levels are intertwined and affect each other. Next, we develop a multilevel conceptual model of coopetition by integrating the Blended School into the DPO framework. This model helps future research better understand how the phenomena of coopetition at one level of analysis are distinct, yet interlinked, from coopetition at other levels, and in so doing, provides a richer and more complete perspective of the phenomenon of coopetition. Finally, we identify promising research avenues and suggest how future research can strengthen this line of inquiry.     

Genetically modified food labeling: The impacts of message and messenger on consumer perceptions of labels and products

We analyze responses to a survey designed to elicit consumer reaction to various approaches to labeling genetically modified (GM) foods. Consumers were shown sample labels that differed with respect to claims concerning the presence and potential effects of GM ingredients and the agency that certified these claims. A sample of 1898 US consumers rated 3681 labels with regard to the credibility and adequacy of the information content, with regard to perceived health and environmental impacts of the product and with regard to purchase intent. Simple claims that a product contains GM ingredients are viewed as most credible while simple claims of no GM content are viewed as most adequate. Label claims certified by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are, in general, viewed as most credible and adequate and products with FDA certified claims are perceived to have fewer long-term health problems. Several practical policy implications of the results are discussed, including how different label messages may impact consumer reactions in markets involving GM products.     

The roles of internet of things technology in enabling servitized business models: A systematic literature review

The internet of things (IoT) is gaining attention from both scholars and practitioners regarding its potential as a key enabler of servitized business models; academic research on this emerging concept is increasing but overall underexplored, however. This paper comprehensively analyses and consolidates the relevant literature on the emerging concept of IoT and servitized business models through conducting a systematic literature review. Based on an analysis of 74 articles, four archetypes of business models are identified that are enabled by the IoT: add-on, sharing, usage-based and solution-oriented and supplemented with information on what role IoT adoption takes, benefits from the provider perspective, and the inhibiting factors per archetype. A framework draws the findings together and forms five propositions about these elements and their corresponding business models that may guide future empirical research and serve as a common typology. Therefore, this study contributes to the body of knowledge on innovative servitized business models by classifying emergent business models utilising IoT and what is currently known about them. For practice, this paper provides an overview for initial consideration by practitioners before adopting IoT in enabling servitized business models and the range of applications IoT may have in enabling servitized business models with examples.