This study aims at identifying the dynamics of the innovation system for functional foods (FF) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Functional food is any healthy food claimed to have a health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond the basic function of supplying nutrients. Health has been...

The stickiness of prices and reasons for price changes are widely discussed in market analyses and marketing theory. Explanations and reasons of rigidities have shown that prices do not change as often in small retail stores and in markets with high concentration (Powers and Powers 2001, Hannan...

Grain markets in Germany, as in the rest of the world, are becoming more and more volatile. At the same time, the consolidation process on the level of the first hand, buying the grain from farmers, is moving forward in a strong pace, leaving farmers with less local alternatives to sell their...

This paper investigates the long-run relationship between spot and futures prices for corn and soybeans, for the period January 2004 -September 2010. We apply cointegration methodology in the presence of potentially unknown structural breaks in the commodities prices and we then study the...

European society, with its steadily increased welfare levels, is not only concerned about food (safety, prices), but also on other aspects such as biodiversity loss, landscape degradation, pollution of water, soil and atmosphere. To a large extent these concerns can be translated into a wider...

A careful analysis of contemporary society shows a radical evolution of the role and function of consumption. So-called post-modernity, along with the technological, economic and social transformations that have brought it on, inaugurate a different way of conducting relationships, of existing...

A key feature of food products is their perishability. Within the short marketing window that characterizes most food and ag products, demand is typically highly stochastic and difficult to predict. This combination of features poses substantial challenges to retailers when pricing products and...

In the biotechnology sector small R&D intensive firms play a fundamental role to keep innovation rates high. With less bureaucratic burdens, low level of hierarchy and high internal flexibility they are able to move fast and to make most efficient use of unique competences. Still their shortage...

Product labeling is an important dimension in food retailing. The evolution of Protected Geographic Indicators (PGI) and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) in the European Union are used to identify products grown in a specific region or food products produced using a specific technology. The...

Institutional food buyers in the U.S. are increasingly demanding food products that are safe, traceable, healthier, local/regional, or sustainably produced and supplied. These markets consist of schools, universities, hospitals, charities, correction facilities, clubs and other similar...