Considering Technological Impacts When Selecting Food Suppliers: Comparing Retailers' Buying Behavior in the United States and Europe

Purpose: The research investigates the impact of emergent technologies, specifically supply-chain technology and food-production technology (i.e., genetically modified organisms [GMO]), on global food retailers' supplier decisions.

Methodology/approach: Qualitative research is conducted to examine technology-related vendor selection criteria of food retailers in 5 European countries comparing to those in the US.

Findings: Our findings show that global food retailers view supply-chain technology as a competitive advantage and is integrated as an important selection criteria; however, selection criteria differ for food-production technology between the United States and the European countries. European food retailers explicitly oppose food-production technology (GMO), while U.S. food retailers implicitly accept food-production technology. Emerging from this opposing view, global food retailers establish similar criteria for organic food (non-GMO) supplier selection: reliability, distance, consistent quality, and relationships with suppliers.

Research implications: Applying the supplier choice criteria framework (Lehmann and O'Shaughnessy 1982 Lehmann, D. R. and 'Shaughnessy, J. O. 1982. Decision criteria used in buying different categories of products. Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, 18: 9–14.  [Google Scholar]) to further analyze organic food suppliers, we find that reliability (adaptive criterion), distance (integrative criterion), consistent quality (performance criterion), and relationships with suppliers (economic criterion) are essential, but price is not.

Practical implications: This study suggests that to sustain competitiveness in the global food market, food suppliers not only need to ensure technological compatibility in supply-chain, but also adapt to the local food-production restriction (GMO) and organic food selection criteria preferences.

Originality/value/contribution: Supply-chain technology is strategically important and is adopted by global food retailers for competitive advantage; yet, there are dramatic differences regarding the acceptance of food production technology. This research contributes to the better understanding of how technologies exert significant and strategic weight in the food supplier selection process.     

The Influences of Portion Size,Context and Package Characteristics on Snack Food Consumption: Evidence from a U.S. Rolling Cross-Sectional Survey

Using a rolling cross-sectional sample of over 40,000 U.S. snack food consumers during 2004–2010, we build a three-dimensional model to study how portion sizes, consumption context, and package characteristics jointly affect the amount of food consumed. As with prior research, we find that consumption does increase with larger portions. However, this effect diminishes significantly when accounting for the consumption context and packaging characteristics as consumption drivers. Most important is how the snack is presented to consumers at the point of consumption (type, size, and quantity of packages). We also find that snacking on impulse, alone, with a beverage, or while watching television increases the amount consumed, whereas socializing or snacking at home decrease consumption. We test our model over seven snack types (potato chips, crackers, cheese puffs, nuts and seeds, tortilla chips, pretzels, popcorn), and find that our results hold even for products with different cross-category granularity, palatability, and satiety.     

Loyalty toward online food delivery service: the role of e-service quality and food quality

This study assesses the direct influence of food quality and e-service quality on customer loyalty toward online food delivery (OFD) service and its indirect influence through the mediation of customer satisfaction and perceived value. This study uses a survey of 405 OFD service customers from Bandung, Indonesia. By applying variance-based partial least squares to evaluate the proposed model, this study confirms the direct effect of food quality on online loyalty, but not e-service quality. Further, this study discloses the partial mediation role of customer satisfaction and perceived value on the relationship between both food quality and e-service quality on online loyalty toward OFD services.     

Family life in grocery stores – a study of interaction between adults and children

Today the family is seen as a unit for food choice and consumption. The influence of family members on food choice comprises several stages that can be carried out both in the private home and in the public sphere, such as the grocery store. This makes the grocery store a context in which ordinary family life can be observed. The aim was to study families and the interaction between children and adults in the grocery store, focusing on young people's involvement in food shopping. Hidden observation and family interview methods were used. A total of 338 people were observed in seven different grocery stores in Stockholm during the summer and autumn of 2003. Seven family interviews, involving a total of 29 persons, were conducted in Uppsala in the spring of 2003. In the interviews, parents reported avoiding shopping for food together with children as they experienced it as stressful and exhausting. The observations showed that family life in the grocery store comprises not only the food purchase, but also bringing up children and consumer education. Young people's involvement in the food purchase varied depending on their age and the specific product. The different behaviour observed may be interpreted as reflecting the variation in ways of bringing up children at home. Another conclusion is that a public place such the grocery store facilitates pedagogical situations and can work as a tool for informal education.     

Analysing customers' reviews and ratings for online food deliveries: A text mining approach

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between online reviews and ratings through text mining and empirical techniques. An Indian food delivery portal ( Zomato.com ) was used, where 50 restaurants on Presence Across Nation (PAN) basis were selected through stratified random sampling. A total of 2530 reviews were collected, scrutinized, and analysed. Using the NVivo software for qualitative analysis, seven themes were identified from collected reviews, out of which, the ‘delivery’ theme was explored further for identifying sub-themes. Linear regression modelling was used to identify the variables affecting delivery ratings and sentiment analysis was also performed on the identified sub-themes. Regression results revealed that hygiene and pricing (delivery subthemes) demonstrated lower delivery ratings. These variables can be established as indicators for restaurants and related online food delivery services to build their business model around them. Similarly, negative sentiments were observed in pricing and hygiene sub-themes. Restaurants and online food services can enhance hygiene levels of their food delivery process in order to receive higher delivery ratings. Similarly, pricing of food items can be modified such that customers are not deterred from ordering the items—food and ordering service do not become cost-prohibitive. This study devised a standardized methodology for analysing vast amounts of online user-generated content (UGC). Findings from this study can be extrapolated to other sectors and service industries such as, tourism, cleaning, transportation, hospitals and engineering especially during the pandemic.     

高职“小吃”教育兴起与“走出去”路径的研究与实践——以兰州牛肉拉面为例

当前,高职"小吃"教育方兴未艾,本文探索了这一特色教育兴起的必然性,分析了它所蕴含的国际化属性,以兰州牛肉拉面为例,在实践的基础上,以当前国际形势为背景,阐述了"小吃"实体如何以教育为载体实施"走出去"战略,助力中国餐饮和优秀传统文化的海外输出,最后总结了兰州牛肉拉面的国际化育人的主要做法。     

上市公司关于新股发行募集资金使用的信息披露研究

上市公司良好的会计信息披露是资本市场健康运行的重要内容。从募集资金使用的角度对我国上市公司会计信息披露行为进行研究,提出信息披露的三个动机,包括公布好消息、再融资和降低代理成本。对我国股票市场1995～2000年上市的418家A股上市公司进行实证检验,发现以上三个动机对上市公司的会计信息披露行为都有影响,其中再融资动机的影响最为显著。     

我国辐照食品检测技术与标准的发展

文章介绍了我国几种常用的辐照食品检测技术及应用情况,阐述了近年来我国辐照食品检测标准的现状,并对我国未来辐照食品检测技术和标准的研究及发展进行了探讨。     

网络环境下地方志资源的开发与利用

互联网的诞生改变了人类的生活方式,也提高了人们的工作效率和能力。互联网环境下,加强地方志资源的开发与利用,将对本地经济发展和社会进步起到积极的推动作用。     

乡镇土地利用规划中农村居民点用地空间布局优化研究——以衡南县廖田镇为例

由于长期以来缺乏系统的规划,农村居民点用地呈现出数量多、分布零散、利用粗放等问题,对农民生活水平提高、农村经济和农业现代化发展形成了束缚。在新一轮土地利用总体规划背景下,亟需对其空间布局优化进行研究,以引导农村居民点用地的科学管理。在分析研究区农村居民点用地特点的基础上,从宏观上构建优化布局的四级等级体系,从微观上设计优化布局的三种模式:城乡融合型、中心村重构型和产业优先型。并在Mapgis软件支撑下,选择典型区域对农村居民点用地进行微观空间布局调整。