In the past 10 years, growth in the organic food industry has been tremendous. Retail grocers and organic food supporters are interested in effective promotion techniques that increase sales of organic food products in mainstream grocery stores. An experimental study was designed to test the...

This article summarizes topics discussed at the 2012 CHS Insight Meetings which were held at 12 locations around the United States. Over 225 cooperatives sent directors, managers, and employees to the meetings. The article draws upon the discussion of the participants and issues raised in the...

As the practice of a firm in one country owning production facilities in another has increased, several theories have developed to explain why production facilities do not always have local owners who would presumably be more familiar with local business conditions. A transaction cost...

By 2010, foodservice establishments are projected to capture 53 percent of consumers' food expenditures, whereas in 1980, foodservice captured less than 40 percent. The foodservice industry accounts for approximately 4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and about 11 million jobs. It has been...

What role has the growing practice of eating out rather than at home played in the evolution of wages in retail food? Between 1983 and 1998, real wages fell for nearly all types of grocery store employees, whether they were relatively well paid, poorly paid, or somewhere in the middle. This...

Most retail food firms adhere to traditional human resources management practices, with employees enjoying little involvement in decision-making and little participation in company financial returns. More than one tenth of non-food firms have innovative human resources systems, with much...

While Americans claim to be eating better and improving their understanding of diet and health, they are getting heavier and increasing their risk of suffering from diet related illnesses. The cause of this inconsistency is unclear. Using theoretical models of preference reversal and econometric...

Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) is an industry-wide, collaborative initiative to re-engineer the grocery supply chain. This report presents findings from a study of ECR adoption in Minnesota grocery stores. Data were collected through interviews with managers of forty stores that are broadly...

The central hypothesis of this paper is that the largest global growth opportunity for high-value food products is the emerging middle class in many developing countries. Using data for Lima, Peru, 20 percent of households are classified as middle or upper class based on the prevalence of...

This report details the activities and findings of a three year research project funded by The National Center for Food Protection and Defense at the University of Minnesota, a Homeland Security Center of Excellence. The project was conducted by three universities each taking responsibility for...