Food aid and nutrition: The case of Botswana

Food aid is widely used to stimulate and sustain nutrition projects. Christopher Stevens examines the link between the two by reference to a single case study. Botswana has received more WFP food aid per head than any other state, and has used much of it on continuous feeding projects. While the programmes are potentially very important for the poorest groups, they miss many who are in need. Nevertheless, they have achieved a good deal, possibly in ways that are not yet fully recognised, and represent an interesting use of foreign aid to support recurrent expenditure.     

Agricultural inputs and nutrition in South Asia

There are a number of potential pathways leading from agricultural input decisions to nutrition outcomes of farm households. These have special resonance in less developed areas of South Asia given widespread undernutrition problems, market failures and restricted access to land and other key assets and inputs, as well as ongoing debates around the implications that the green revolution has held for nutritional outcomes. A number of initiatives, including the Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA) project have been undertaking research that addresses these linkages. The objectives of this paper are to systematically review the recent evidence on linkages between agricultural inputs and diet and nutrition outcomes of farm households in South Asia, place relevant LANSA research within the context of this review, and draw implications for policy, practice and the future research agenda. We focus on land and livestock assets and the set of productivity enhancing inputs in the form of irrigation, seed and agrochemicals. We report on a systematic review of recent evidence based on observational data on the links between these agricultural inputs and assets and diet and nutrition outcomes of farm households in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal. We find that the literature has slowly but steadily grown since previous reviews conducted in the early 2010s, but that there is still a long way to go. Review results suggest that while there is no indication that land ownership or size by themselves have clear associations with farm household dietary or nutrition outcomes, land productivity is more clearly associated with improved outcomes. Yet the literature linking specific inputs such as improved seeds or irrigation with nutrition remains very thin. The literature appears strongest for the case of links between livestock keeping and dietary and nutrition outcomes. This is particularly the case with animals reared for milk, with the evidence indicating milch animal ownership improves household milk intakes and thereby influences the growth of children. Priorities for future research include the formulation and testing of more specific hypotheses relating to input-nutrition linkages and more strenuous efforts to improve causal identification in this literature.     

International migration and nutritional outcomes in Tajikistan

Tajikistan is the country with the largest share of remittances to GDP in the world. At the same time it suffers from stubbornly high levels of child malnutrition against which only very slow progress has been made. This paper investigates the relationship between international migration and child malnutrition, using data from a recent nationally representative household survey. There are theoretical reasons to expect that migration may be exerting both positive and negative effects on nutrition and food security, so that understanding what the net effect may be is essentially an empirical question. Our results indicate that migration appears to be playing a positive role in enhancing child growth patterns (as measured by height-for-age z-scores) in the country. We explore some of the possible channels through which this effect might be operating and find that one such channel is by increasing households’ kilocalorie consumption.     

Does nutrition information on food products lead to healthier food choices?

This paper examines the link between nutrition label use and consumers’ healthier food choices. Label use is considered for the two main types of labels currently found on food products; nutrition facts panels and nutrition/health claims. This link is tested using a three-equation multivariate probit model. Data were obtained from an ad hoc survey conducted in two medium-sized Spanish cities. The results indicate that the use of nutrition information by consumers, whether this involves the fact panel or the claim labels, does influence consumer choice of healthier food products to the same extent, although different types of consumers use the various types of labels considered.     

A qualitative study of inter-organizational knowledge management in complex products and systems development

Much research has recognized that cross-disciplinary knowledge inputs are necessary to successful product innovation, particularly in complex products and systems (CoPS) development. This paper focuses on developing an exploratory framework for studying how an inter-organizational knowledge management (KM) approach affects the development of CoPS, and exploring how inter-organizational collaboration affects KM within a CoPS context. Based on a review of the literature and in-depth case studies, this paper puts forward some propositions and develops an integrated conceptual model showing the link between the dimensions of inter-organizational KM and the performance of CoPS development. Finally, the implications of the proposed model for inter-organizational KM in a CoPS environment are discussed.     

The making of public investments: The role of champions,co-ordination,and characteristics of nutrition programmes in Mozambique

This study examines governance and institutional factors that influence how public resources are allocated for nutrition interventions in the context of a developing country—Mozambique—with very high rates of malnutrition. Based on qualitative empirical analysis building on a political economy framework, we explore the importance of two agent-centred and two investment-centred factors that determine how decisions on budget allocation to nutrition are made. The analysis finds that public decisionmakers strongly favour highly visible nutrition investments and those with a short duration between the time that spending is incurred and outcomes or outputs are achieved. Co-ordination has been quite successful among donors, and mainly of a spatial nature. Co-ordination is significantly weaker among government agencies, given the absence of fiscal tools of the co-ordinating agency, and its placement in a sector ministry rather than at a supra-sectoral level. Champions as change agents have had a truly influential role in attracting more funding to nutrition and improving its allocation. But their influence is also fleeting and difficult to sustain.     

Migration and food consumption patterns in Ghana

This paper examines the link between migration and food consumption patterns in Ghana, which has a history of widespread migration and high levels of poverty. Data from 4130 households from the nationally representative 2005/2006 Ghana Living Standards Survey are used for the analysis. Since migrants self-select into migration, an instrumental variable approach is taken to analyze the relationship between migration and total food expenditures per capita, food expenditures across a range of food categories and shares of food expenditures across these categories. Overall, the results indicate that migration does not substantially affect total food expenditures per capita, and has minimal noticeable effect on food expenditure patterns. Looking at results in different settings, the analysis indicates that only in high migration regions does migration appear to increase overall food expenditures resulting in a shift towards the consumption of potentially less nutritious categories of food, such as sugar and beverages and eating out of the home. The results raise questions about the value of migration for improving the food consumption of migrant sending households.     

Rejoinder: nutrition planning is alive and well,thank you

This article is a rejoinder to an article by John Osgood Field which discussed the failure of multisectoral nutrition planning. The author argues that, although nutrition planners may have been overly optimistic in their hopes that political political systems could be made responsive to the problems, significant advances have been achieved. Many of the successes of nutrition planning and theimportance of multisectoral work are outlined. Malnutrition is a problem that escapes all the standard programs, and cannot be tackled through the health and agriculture sectors alone. There has been much critical thinking by many concerned people various countries. To suggest that nutrition planners moved blindly is to ignore much of the literature. A number of cautions--some of them very early--make it clear that practitioners were not oblivious to the bureaucratic constraints and political realities Professor Field now identifies. It would be cruelly wrong to suggest that no progress has been made. Nutrition planning may have borne fruit of a different sort than some of its early advocates envisioned, but there is no question that it bore fruit. The issue is whether nutrition planning has influenced the way people think about nutrition and the way they analyze problems. And about this there can be no doubt.     

Agricultural growth,poverty, and nutrition in Tanzania

Rapid economic growth does not appear to have significantly improved poverty and nutrition outcomes in Tanzania. We link recent production trends to household incomes using a regionalized, recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium and microsimulation model. Results indicate some inconsistency between recent growth and poverty measurements in Tanzania. We also find that the structure of economic growth may have constrained the rate of poverty reduction. Agricultural growth has been driven by larger-scale farmers who are less likely to be poor; and has been concentrated among crops grown in specific regions of the country. Slow expansion of food crops and livestock also explain the weak relationship between agricultural growth and nutrition outcomes. We find that accelerating agricultural growth, particularly in maize, strengthens the growth–poverty relationship and enhances households’ caloric availability, while also contributing significantly to growth itself.     

Fit for purpose? Rethinking food security responses in protracted humanitarian crises

The recent rise in the price of food worldwide defied easy categorization. However, the impact of the price hikes on developing country consumption served to refocus attention on food security. Much attention was paid to short-term buffering of nutrition in tandem with new investments in agriculture – a dual approach that served to reinforce a longstanding bifurcation in analysis and programming between “emergency” and “development” categories, suggesting that “emergency” responses deal with immediate needs while “development” means addressing underlying causes with a longer-term lens. The notion of the “relief to development continuum” has long been dismissed as conceptual framework, but has never really been replaced as a programmatic framework. This paper suggests a multi-dimensional way of conceiving of these categories and a more systematic way of thinking about response. Ethiopia is noted as an example where elements of this new approach are taking shape but even Ethiopia has not adopted all of these components in an integrated way, and the programming there has not been comprehensively evaluated.     

Nutrition work in socioeconomic development agencies

Since the early 1980s nutritional levels have deteriorated in Latin America. A growing number of multinational and bilateral assistance agencies have intensified ongoing efforts at incorporating nutrition components into the formulation of agricultural, fisheries and development projects. The main focus is on measures that would reduce additional deterioration of nutritional status. This paper reviews the response of bilateral and multilateral development agencies to the situation and outlines some practical options of systematically incorporating nutrition considerations in the formulation of agricultural, rural, urban, educational, housing, health and industrial projects. The Sub-Committee on Nutrition (SCN) of the UN Administrative Committee on Coordination has served as a clearinghouse for information on the subject. In spite of the SCN efforts to work closely with nutrition authorities of bilateral and multinational development aid agencies, nutrition has not yet become an integral component of rural or urban development projects. A number of workshops have been sponsored by the SCN and by other agencies such as the International Development Bureau (IDB); their goals and aims are reviewed and it is concluded that to incorporate nutritional considerations into development projects requires overcoming image barriers to the effect that nutrition activities are complex, costly, difficult to administer and economically not readily justifiable.     

Initial relationship development in new business ventures

This paper seeks to investigate some of the issues faced by an existing company when developing the initial customer relationships for a new venture. All companies face the challenge of new-relationship development in order to achieve growth and to replace relationships which have been lost or are in decline. But the challenge of developing the first customer relationships of a new venture is likely to be particularly acute because the new venture's marketing function and its offering to customers are likely to be undefined and undeveloped. This paper is based on a case study of initial customer relationship development in a new venture of an established business. The paper analyses the issues that the company faced in developing these initial relationships and the approaches to relationship development that it took. The case analysis leads to the conclusion that the development of initial relationships can be facilitated by an ‘open marketing function’ involving a number of functional areas both in the supplier and in the initial customers. The paper draws managerial implications from the case analysis for the task of marketing in this situation.     

Impact of off-farm income on food security and nutrition in Nigeria

While the poverty implications of off-farm income have been analyzed in different developing countries, much less is known about the impact of off-farm income on household food security and nutrition. Here, this research gap is addressed by using farm survey data from Nigeria. Econometric analyses are employed to examine the mechanisms through which off-farm income affects household calorie and micronutrient supply, dietary quality, and child anthropometry. We find that off-farm income has a positive net effect on food security and nutrition. The prevalence of child stunting, underweight, and wasting is lower in households with off-farm income than in households without. Using a structural model, we also show that off-farm income contributes to higher food production and farm income by easing capital constraints, thus improving household welfare in multiple ways.     

Market representations in industrial marketing: Could representations influence strategy?

A central question in industrial marketing is whether the form in which the market of a firm is represented influences the marketing strategy. This question has been studied generally through case study research, and quantitative evidence is limited. In response to this limitation, this paper reports on a quasi-experiment investigating whether market representations have a constructive aspect in business. Empirically, this study compares two types of market representations - ostensive and performative - in order to test for influence exacted in two well-established strategies in industrial marketing - service focus and product differentiation. Results indicate that service focus is selected when market representations rely on agency in firms (i.e., performative), and product strategies are selected when structures are emphasized (i.e., ostensive). This paper contributes to methodology development by expanding the link between a case study approach and quasi-experiments explaining how quasi-experiments can replicate findings in industrial marketing.     

Determinants of Stability in International Joint Ventures: Evidence from a Developing Country Context

Though the number of international joint ventures (IJVs) from developing countries has grown considerably, little has been reported on their operations and performance. The extant literature is based largely on IJVs from developed countries. To help fill this knowledge gap, this paper examines the determinants of stability from a study of 59 IJVs from developing and developed countries operating in a developing country. A multivariate model investigates the impact of a set firm, managerial and culture related factors on the stability of IJVs. Logistic regression analysis reveals that cooperation and physic distance between partners have significant impact on the stability of an IJV. There were no significant differences between stability rates for IJVs from developing and developed countries, but their determinants varied. The paper discusses the implications and limitations of the study, and identifies areas for further research.     

Does nutrition have a place in agricultural research?

There are very few examples where nutritional objectives have made an effective contribution to planning agricultural research for developing countries. The complex nature of nutrition and the limitations of formal planning procedures help explain the failure. But most commentators ignore the personal, political and ideological factors that seriously limit the effectiveness of nutrition as a parameter for research planning. Three cases are discussed where nutrition has played a role in setting agricultural research directions, without evident nutritional impact. Conclusions are proposed for making agricultural research planning more relevant to nutritional concerns.     

Priorities in agricultural research

This article is a personal reflection on priorities in agricultural research, priorities which can only be seriously formulated in relation to an overall strategy for agriculture, food and nutrition. Dr Ulbricht identifies three main areas of agricultural research — that which is universal in application and involves a substantial increase in knowledge, that which is generally universal in application but is defining new technologies and that which is directed to defining new technologies for specific local situations. He emphasises the importance of the latter which has been greatly neglected and is of particular importance in developing countries.     

Asymmetric customer–supplier relationship development in Taiwanese electronics firms

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship development stages of asymmetric customer–supplier relationships. The structure of relationships between larger customers and smaller suppliers has been the focus of a number of studies in IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group) research. But, there is a paucity of research that examines development stages in relationships where a difference in size between the parties exists. The paper links the characteristics of asymmetric customer–supplier relationships and the relationship development stages through a literature review. The findings from a set of five in-depth case studies of asymmetric customer–supplier relationships in the Taiwanese electronics industry are presented. The case studies involved 50 semi-structured interviews with customer and supplier executives and, in addition, multiple observations of customer–supplier interactions within each case study. Individual and cross-case analysis was conducted to examine the links between the characteristics of asymmetric customer–supplier relationships and relationship development stages. The findings revealed that asymmetric customer–supplier relationships in the Taiwanese electronics industry were very unbalanced and vulnerable in the exploratory stage of development. In the developing stage relationships were more likely to develop if suppliers and customers mirrored each other's behaviour and echoed each other's priorities. In the stable stage suppliers and customers worked on shared and balanced contributions to the relationship. The paper contributes to the understanding of how smaller suppliers and larger customers can identify and develop key sets of relationship characteristics through the exploratory, developing and stable stages of asymmetric relationship development from both customer and supplier perspectives.     

Are Important Innovations Rewarded? Evidence from Pharmaceutical Markets

This paper focuses on the relationship between therapeutic value and different measures of market rewards: the number of patents, price, market share, and revenues. Using an assessment of therapeutic value that is provided by the French Haute Authorité de Santé (HAS), I find a weak relationship between most measures of rewards and this assessment of therapeutic value, which suggests that the returns to developing a “me-too” product are not very different from developing treatments with greater therapeutic effects. One interpretation is that the HAS score is a poor assessment of therapeutic value, in which case the use of similar health technology assessments by governments and other payers should be re-examined. Alternatively, if the HAS score is informative, the results suggest that countries are overspending on less innovative products, and that a re-balancing of innovation incentives may be worth considering if therapeutic value is highly related to social welfare.     

An examination of the foreign market knowledge of exporting firms based in the People's Republic of China: Its determinants and effect on export intensity

Although the critical role of knowledge in generating organizational advantage has been increasingly recognized in the strategic management field, there is little research examining firm-specific foreign knowledge, the construct itself, its determinants, and impact on export performance. This study seeks to extend the foreign market knowledge literature in three ways. First, the current study develops a conceptual model of determinants of foreign market knowledge, based on the social capital theory. It explains how structural and relational social capital affects the creation of foreign market knowledge. Second, this study substantiates the theoretical link between foreign market knowledge and export intensity, which has been put forward by the internationalization process model with empirical evidence. Third, to expand the generalizability of the present foreign market knowledge model, this study tests the model using firms from different industrial types and product categories in a newly developing country, that is, the People's Republic of China.