One of the main problems facing all countries at the European agri-food market is achieving agricultural specialization. Such specialization can bring additional advantages with regard to differentiation in the markets. In this paper we seek to identify the sources of competitive advantages of...

The relation between the moment at which a recall of Dutch custard is initiated and the direct costs of this recall was investigated. A simulation model of the custard supply chain was developed to compare scenarios with and without a quarantine of 48 h at the storage of the production plant....

Major changes have occurred in the agri-food sector, generating new and more complex concepts of food quality. One of the most significant indicators of these changes is market restructuring, in terms of rapid concentration among retailers, the dominance of chain stores and their imposition of...

Italian agro-food cooperatives are involved in mergers, acquisition and alliances processes, that require a renovating model of membership management. Wine cooperatives are particularly dynamic in this context. The aim of the research is to identify new integration patterns between the...

The EU agricultural policy has recently been characterized by radical changes that increase market volatilities. Especially in the dairy market, fluctuating prices as well as production and political risks lead to high uncertainty for farmers. Based on a comprehensive survey, this paper...

The influence of risk perception and risk attitudes in the process of accepting genetically modified (GM) food is often ignored, and particularly whether both constructs (latent variables) have a combined effect in explaining consumer acceptance. Similarly, the inclusion of organic product...

Farmers’ markets have always been the usual way of buying and selling rural products in the Western world. With the advent of supermarkets, farmers’ markets rapidly disappeared in many nations. However, in countries such as France and Italy, which place a high priority on food origin and...

Because loyal consumers are less likely to switch to competitors and because they are more tolerant to increases in price than non-loyal consumers, one of the main aims of firms is the “generation” of loyal consumers. But what is consumer loyalty? The marketing literature emphasises that for...

It is often hypothesized that geographical proximity in clusters (or industry districts) has positive effects on access to information and knowledge and on firm competitiveness. We present one of the first empirical tests of this hypothesis in the context of the European agribusiness sector. A...

Agricultural producers face many risks in their economic activity due to weather conditions, plant or animal diseases, price volatility, policy changes and so on. One of the management tools to deal with some of these risks is the crop insurance system. In Catalonia (North-East of Spain)...