Urban Shopping Patterns in Indonesia and Their Implications for Small Farmers

In developing countries, the expansion of supermarkets and other modern food retailers has raised concerns about the potential impact on traditional retailers and fruit and vegetable farmers. Will small farmers, in particular, be squeezed out of this growing, remunerative market by the quality standards imposed by supermarkets? In an attempt to answer this question, we analyse data from a stratified random sample of 1,180 urban households in Indonesia. We find that only a small share of fruits and vegetables are purchased from modern outlets, even among high-income urban households. On the basis of the relation between income and shopping patterns in our data, we project that even after 15 years of income growth, supermarkets will account for less than 40% of urban food spending. The impact of supermarket standards on small farmers may be less dramatic than has been feared.     

Designing warnings to compensate for age-related changes in perceptual and cognitive abilities

A variety of individual difference variables affect whether or not someone notices, encodes, comprehends, and complies with a warning. Failures at any of these stages reduce the effectiveness of warnings. Development of effective warnings must be based on understanding the characteristics of the product user. As the population grows older, consideration of age-related changes in perceptual and cognitive abilities becomes more relevant to the warning designer. For example, aging researchers have identified a variety of changes in the visual system (e.g., acuity, contrast sensitivity, and color discrimination) and cognitive function (e.g., working memory and reading comprehension). By considering the abilities of the product user, the impact of these age-related changes may be minimized. The goal of this article is to describe findings from research on aging and to make recommendations about how designers can increase the effectiveness of warnings for the older adult. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

External effects of neighbourhood parks and landscape elements on high-rise residential value

Neighbourhood parks provide recreation opportunities and amenity to nearby residents and improve the quality of the environment and life. Their provision and protection could be facilitated by a deeper understanding of their multiple values. The hedonic pricing method, using statistical techniques to estimate the part of a price due to a particular attribute of a commodity, assessed the external effects of neighbourhood parks on the transaction price of high-rise private residential units in Hong Kong. The empirical results derived from 1471 transactions in a district indicated that neighbourhood parks could lift price by 16.88%, including 14.93% for availability and 1.95% for view. Comparing with other landscape elements, neighbourhood parks induced the heaviest investment intention in home-buying behaviour. Harbour view attracted a premium of 5.1%, but mountain view was surprisingly not welcomed. Street view, considered as unappealing, suppressed price. Residents were insensitive to building landscape due to its ubiquity in the compact city. The scarcity of neighbourhood parks in the city has pushed their hedonic value to an exceptionally high level, providing guidance to revamp the policies, planning and management of urban greenspaces in tandem with the sustainable city quest.     

An Agency Theory perspective on the purchase of marketing services

The purchase of business services has become an important part of organizations' acquisition of external resources, and is therefore receiving growing scholarly attention. The supply management function is increasingly supporting more complex service purchases, including a wide range of marketing services. The trend to involve supply management in the purchase of these complex business services is partially being driven by increasing awareness of the value of applying standard purchasing techniques to the purchase of these non-standard items. The purchase of such services has historically been managed by content experts, with limited involvement of supply management. However, the involvement of supply management in these purchases is driving the content experts to adopt a more facilitating relationship in which both areas interact with the supplier. This research uses Agency Theory as a lens to look at the Agency Triad among supply management, marketing, and suppliers. Elaborating on prior seminal work, the basic tenets of Agency Theory and its assumptions regarding human behavior are combined with the results of a focus group and case studies to develop propositions on the design of contractual arrangements between two Principals (marketing and supply management) and a single Agent who provides marketing services.     

Managing Design in Small High-Growth Companies

Cost-cutting measures may keep investors happy, but such belt-tightening does little for a company's long-term growth. In an era of ever-shrinking product life cycles, effective product design skills are essential to any company's ongoing vitality. To remain competitive, even the largest manufacturers must learn to replicate the entrepreneurial drive and innovativeness that characterize small, high-growth firms. To foster a better understanding of the product design skills of small, high-growth firms, Peter Dickson, Wendy Schneier, Peter Lawrence, and Renee Hytry describe the results of a survey of CEOs from companies that have been included in the Inc. 100 or Inc. 500 lists. On average, 50% of the sales for these companies came from new products launched during the past 3 years. The survey addresses three fundamental questions. First, which aspects of design management do the CEOs of small, high-growth firms believe they manage well, and which give them difficulty? Second, to what extent are the CEOs involved in design decisions? Finally, how important is good product design to these firms? The respondents face the most difficulty in making the transition from sequential to concurrent engineering and design. Many cite a need for improved management of such skills as design for manufacturability, involvement of suppliers in the design process, estimation of costs during the design process, and the use of computer-aided design tools during the design process. In contrast to these engineering-related aspects of product design, the respondents are more confident in their ability to handle such marketing-related tasks as generating new design ideas and involving customers in the design process. The survey results indicate that CEOs of small, high-growth firms are deeply involved in design decisions. In over half the companies surveyed, CEOs indicated they had primary responsibility for design decisions. Most respondents also reported increasing their investment in design, with approximately 75% increasing their investment in product/service design over the past 3 years and almost 50% increasing their investment in packaging design. CEOs of Inc. 100 and Inc. 500 firms clearly recognize the importance of design. Approximately 70% of the respondents believe that design issues will be of increasing importance for U.S. firms' competitiveness in the coming years, and the majority feel it is important that their managers be knowledgeable about design. Approximately 75% of the CEOs believe that adopting new, fast-track approaches to new product design would improve their firms' competitiveness.     

Propelling diverse leaders to the top: A developmental network approach

Scholars and practitioners are making a strong business case for greater representation of women and other underrepresented groups on senior management teams and boards. A model is developed that highlights how to create optimal developmental networks—groups of developers who help advance people's careers and personal growth—that can assist in propelling diverse leaders into the upper echelons of their organizations and board positions. Several literature streams are integrated in order to identify developmental networks that will help diverse leaders overcome barriers to breaking the glass ceiling in greater numbers. Numerous strategies intended to shape diverse leaders' network structure and content are discussed, as are contextual challenges that may inhibit optimal networks' development. Lastly, theoretical and practical implications for individuals and organizations are highlighted.     

Role of credence and health information in determining US consumers' willingness-to-pay for grass-finished beef

Consumer demand for forage- or grass-finished beef is rapidly emerging in the US. This research uses data elicited from consumer surveys and experimental auctions to provide insight on product attributes (taste/flavour, credence and nutritional characteristics) and socio-demographic factors that are most important in determining US consumers' preferences and willingness to pay premiums for grass-finished versus grain-finished beef. Information related to beef production processes increased the probability consumers would be willing to pay a premium for grass-fed beef. However, it appears that health-related messages are more important drivers of willingness-to-pay, on average, than the absence of antibiotics and supplemental hormones and traceability. Labelling information regarding grass-fed beef's nutritional content and related production processes is vital for maintaining and growing premium niche markets for grass-fed beef in the US. The relative size of the willingness to pay estimates compared to previous cost estimates suggest that the Australian beef industry may have a comparative advantage for finishing beef on forage and marketing premium grass-fed differentiated beef products in the US market.     

Understanding Preferences for Dietary Supplements and Fortified Food during Pregnancy: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Using a discrete choice experiment, we examine pregnant women’s preferences to determine the relative importance they place on product attributes when choosing between nutritionally fortified food and beverage products, and supplement tablets. The choice experiment was included in a cross-sectional web-based questionnaire completed by 857 pregnant Australian women. Latent class analysis identified four distinct consumer segments: ‘Nulliparous information seekers’ (42% of sample), ‘Lower-income milk-lovers’ (22%), ‘Older multiparous tablet users’ (16%), and ‘Young juice-lovers’ (20%). While nutrient levels were a strong driver of choice in the largest segment, over one-third of pregnant women were not influenced by levels of recommended nutrients (folate or iodine) in supplement products. Pregnancy supplements endorsed by a reputable government science agency were most appealing in three of the segments. The information gained regarding product preferences of different consumer segments can aid in targeting pregnant women and those planning pregnancy with more appropriate nutrition information, advice, and products.     

Connecting business with the agricultural landscape: business strategies for sustainable rural development

Agribusiness enterprises link rural landscapes to global and regional markets. The nature of these business–landscape relationships is vital to the sustainability transition. Decisions by farmers and agriculture policymakers aggregate to changes in the ecology of landscapes, but the influence of food supply system businesses on rural landscape sustainability also requires scrutiny. This article uses four international cases to present a conceptual framework for investigating how different business strategies can support agricultural landscape sustainability. Insights from North America, New Zealand, The Netherlands, and Denmark inform the framework dimensions of horizontal/territorial and vertical/systemic business–landscape relationships. Three types of business model that promote rural sustainability are highlighted: provenance, cogovernance, and placemaking. These models engage strategies such as environmental management systems, certification, ecosystem and landscape services, and spatial planning. Research directions that will improve understanding about how business can engage with rural stakeholders for more sustainable rural landscapes are identified, including the need for cross disciplinary perspectives incorporating social, ecological, and business knowledge.