Adele Coppola

Indications for drivers of innovation in the food sector

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to analyse the main dynamics of the Italian food system, focusing on the relationships between the inclination to innovate and a set of firm characteristics.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical analysis includes two steps. In the first, principal component analysis is carried out in order to identify factors that can explain the features that differentiate Italian food firms. In the second phase the role of such factors on innovation behaviour is quantified by means of a logit model.Findings – The empirical analysis showed that, in the Italian food sector, innovation adoption follows different patterns when product or process innovation is considered. In particular, the probability of introducing product innovation is influenced by the quality of human capital, the geographical context and, to a lesser extent, the age of the firm.Research limitations/implications – The research is restricted in so far as it only considers the Italian food sector. Because the da...

An empirical analysis on technophobia/technophilia in consumer market segmentation

Many factors can affect the success of food product innovations. One such factor is the role played by consumer attitudes and psychological factors, especially the way consumers feel towards technology, their attitude towards risk, and the perceived relationship between nutrition and health. With a view to analysing these factors, this paper first identifies consumer groups using a technophobia/technophilia scale and then relates attitude to technology with purchasing behaviour regarding products which have a higher level of manipulation. A set of statements based on the psychometric scale proposed by Cox and Evans was administered to a sample of 355 individuals intercepted as they left supermarkets and hypermarkets. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were applied to identify groups of homogeneous individuals with regard to the behaviour of the interviewees in relation to technology. Results show the presence of seven different groups, including a small group of convinced technophiles (13% of the sample). This group of early adopters can play an important role in promoting the use of innovative products, thereby contributing to a rapid increase in demand. Moreover, an important aspect was the result with respect to confidence attributed to the media in ensuring correct and unbiased information regarding new food technologies. Many of the respondents judged the media negatively in this respect. However, appropriate use of the media could be an important lever to counteract the attitude of caution or scepticism.

Explaining price variability in the Italian market for high quality wines.

Explaining price variability in the Italian market for high quality wines (di Adele Coppola, Valeria Sodano, Fabio Verneau) - ABSTRACT: In the last 20 years the Italian wine market exhibited a dramatic change. While total consumption has been falling there has been a continuos rise in the demand for high quality product. The paper analyses the price-quality relationships in the market for the Italian high quality wines, in order to better understand current strategies of product differentiation in the wine market. We estimated a regression model with price as dependent variable and a set of quality attributes and reputation indicators as independent variables. The empirical findings show that the higher prices are associated both with higher quality and reputation and that consumer perception of quality is affected by subjective rather than objective quality attributes.

Personal values and pro-social behaviour

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of socio-economic context in affecting the relationship between personal values and the purchase of fair trade (FT) products. Design/methodology/approach The study was based on data and information collected by means of a web-administered survey and was performed in two steps. First, an explanatory factor analysis on the Schwartz value system and a confirmatory factor analysis on socio-economic context variables were carried out. Second, the per capita GDP at provincial level and the predicted factor scores were used in an ordered probit model to explain the expenditure level of FT products. Findings The results provide evidence that the value system has an effect on the consumption of FT products, but the economic context, in particular the average wealth at province level, is also relevant and plays a role by either affecting FT product purchasing levels directly or interacting with personal values. Research limitations/implications Because of the electronic submission and the specific channel used in the survey, the sample cannot be considered as representative of Italian consumers, and thus the analysis has a merely descriptive (non-inferential) function. Originality/value While several studies investigated how personal values affect consumers’ behaviour directly or indirectly, very few studies analysed the way socio-economic context interacts with the value structure and the way both aspects influence ethical consumption. The present study analyses this last aspect and provides evidence of the role economic context plays in affecting the relationship between personal values and FT products consumption.

Environmental and social sustainability in Producer Organizations’ strategies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role Italian Producer Organizations (POs) play in implementing sustainability actions in the fruit and vegetable sector. In particular, it aimed at verifying whether environmental actions reveal different models with respect to implementation of sustainability and at analyzing the relationship between environmental strategies and specific POs’ characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The work is based on a field survey carried out by submitting a questionnaire to POs. Collected data were processed by means of exploratory data and multivariate analysis techniques. A cluster analysis was used to classify POs with respect to their ability/will to translate views into sustainability actions. Findings Three different groups were identified with reference to the involvement in ethical and environmental actions. Results show that POs’ strategies often include interlinked economic and environmental objectives. In particular, product quality improvement often goes with the promotion of environmentally friendly techniques, while other environmental actions respond to a reduction costs rather than to a sustainability strategy. Research limitations/implications Only 38 out of 300 POs returned the questionnaire. Because of the small sample, the analysis has only an exploratory nature and aims at giving a first insight on how sustainability issues are intended and implemented in the agri-food sector. Originality/value Most works have analyzed environmental strategies at the company level. This study focused on POs in the agri-food sector as they can also represent the drivers of a sustainability pattern involving their members.

Consumer's attitudes, vertical differentiation, and labelling regulation in the food industry new GM-products vs. traditional regional products

Consumers attitudes, vertical differentiation, and labelling regulation in the food industry new GM-products vs. traditional regional products (di Adele Coppola, Maria Teresa Gorgitano, Valeria Sodano, Fabio Verneau) - ABSTRACT: The paper discusses results of a simulated marked research evaluating consumer’s preferences toward GM and NGM food products in the South of Italy. Three experimental scenarios with different hypotheses of price ratio and product attributes of GM and NGM products were run. Consumers’ choices were related to information and risk attitude. We find that consumers tend to prefer NGM products to GM products, without any statistical relationship with their information level and risk attitude. When the NGM product is compared with an enhanced GM product, most consumers still prefer NGM product. GM product consumption does rather depend on consumers’ risk perception. The results demonstrate that there is room in the market for vertical differentiation policies based on the wholesomeness of traditional production methods.

A Survey of Fertility Program Responses of Kentucky Dark Fire-Cured Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) Yield and Quality for Cigars Manufacture in the Benevento Province (Southern Italy)

Summary Nitrogen (N) fertilization of Kentucky dark fire-cured tobacco can be used to increase weight of high quality cured leaves for cigar manufacture. We conducted field experiments at 11 different locations in the province of Benevento (Southern Italy) where the following four N treatments were compared: 1) unfertilized control (N0); 2) a site-specific N rate, calculated by a N fertilization plan (NFP) based on physical and chemical soil characteristics, which ranged between 113 and 145 kg N ha−1; 3) 200 kg N ha−1 (rate commonly used by farmers, N200); 4) 100 kg N ha−1 (half of the rate commonly used by farmers, N100). Yields of the following five commercial quality categories of cured leaves were measured: i) wrappers, ii) heavy filler (Fh), iii) light filler (Fl), iv) heavy shredded (Sh) and v) light shredded (Sl). Fh cured products of B1, B4, B6 and B10 locations were analyzed for: total alkaloids, reducing sugars, chlorides, total N (Kjeldahl), ammonium-N (NH4-N), nitrate-N (NO3-N), and tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNA). Color parameters: Lightness (L), Chroma (C) and Hue (H) were determined on five cured leaves / plot of both Fh and Fl types at B1, B2, B3, B6, B8 and B10. A blind evaluation of cured leaves collected across locations was conducted by a panel test who considered the main basic characteristics of cured leaves (stalk position, leaf structure, texture, etc.). The total yield of cured products increased with fertilization across locations, up to NFP treatment, without any statistically significant increase at N200 treatment. Fertilization increased yield of wrappers at B1 up to NFP treatment (113.5 kg N ha−1), without any significant increase at N200 treatment. Yield of light filler product was positively influenced by fertilization up to the maximum dose only in 5 out of 11 locations. Total alkaloids significantly increased with increasing fertilization up to 100 kg N ha−1 without any significant changes at higher N rate. Fertilization hardly increased L and C of Fl leaves, which appeared light-brown but brilliant-colored. There was a reduction in the H value of Fh products which indicated a darker tone of those leaves with respect to Fl. Increasing N rate affected production costs more than revenues. According to agronomic results, in most locations the best results in terms of net revenues were obtained by NFP treatment. Considering that N rates above the NFP would disqualify growers from the economic aids provided by EU agrienvironmental measures, by economic point of view the NFP treatment would be recommended over the current grower standard (N200).

Il ruolo delle organizzazioni di produttori nel settore ortofrutticolo: un’analisi delle possibilità di sviluppo nello scenario di riforma della PAC

The work aimed at analyzing relationship between structural characteristics of the Producers Organizations and strategies carried out in their Operative Programmes and at assessing whether POs are able to undertake the functions reform of the fruit and vegetables CMO assigned to them. Using the EC 2006 database on POs, we first drew a general picture of their features; secondly, focusing to those countries where fruit and vegetable sectors are more important and/or where the POs play a higher role, a cluster analysis was carried out in order to identify and characterize POs groups that differ in the way structural characteristics, marketing outlets and measures in Operative Programmes are related.