Bodo Steiner

Can Ethno-Linguistic Diversity Explain Cross-Country Differences in Social Capital?: A Global Perspective

Motivated by the inconclusiveness of empirical studies on the relationship between ethno‐linguistic diversity and social capital (SC) at various levels of regional aggregation, this paper provides new evidence on the relationship between the two variables at a global scale. A cross‐sectional analysis of 68 developed and developing countries applying two‐stage least squares estimations suggests not only that the cognitive dimension of SC (shared codes and languages) is highly important for SC formation across regional origin, but also that countries with a greater degree of linguistic fractionalisation have a lower SC stock. In particular, countries with fractionalized ethnic and linguistic groups, as captured by number of languages and measures of linguistic diversity, tend to have lower levels of social trust, fewer memberships in social organisations, and deteriorated social norms and structures. The negative ethnic fractionalisation effect on SC is also found weaker in higher‐income and in non‐African countries.

Cattle farmers’ perceptions of risk and risk management strategies: evidence from Northern Ethiopia

This study analyzes cattle farmers’ perceptions of risk and risk management strategies in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. We use survey data from a sample of 356 farmers based on multistage random sampling. Factor analysis is employed to classify scores of risk and management strategies, and multiple regression is then used to investigate the relationship between scores and farmers’ characteristics. The results demonstrate that shortage of family labor, high price of fodder, and limited farm income were perceived as the most important risks. Use of veterinary services, parasite control, and loan utilization were perceived as the most important strategies for managing risks. Livestock disease and labor shortage were perceived as less of a risk by farmers who adopted the practice of zero grazing compared to other farmers, pointing to the potential of this practice for risk reduction. We find strong evidence that farmers engage in multiple risk management practices in order to reduce losses from cattle morbidity and mortality. The results suggest that government strategies that aim at reducing farmers’ risk need to be tailored to specific farm and farmer characteristics. Findings from this study have potentially important policy implications for risk management strategies in developing countries.

Old World Wines Revisited: Consumers' Valuation of Spanish and German Wines In the UK Wine Market

The mid 1990s was a pivotal period for the UK retail wine market, as New World Wines started to expand significantly at the expense of Old World Wines. This paper reviews supply and demand-side characteristics of the UK wine market during this period, and the underlying wine labeling scheme, before assessing how wines from Old World wine producing countries were valued by consumers in the British wine market. Following a more detailed discussion of econometric estimation issues, hedonic price analysis is applied in order to analyze consumers’ valuation of wine label attributes of Spanish and German wines sold in Britain in 1994.

Applying the resource-based view to alliance formation in specialized supply chains

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore drivers of alliance formation in a specialized supply chain from a manager’s perspective, focussing on firm-specific resources, resources embedded in inter-firm relationships and capabilities under the control of the focal firm. Design/methodology/approach This paper focusses on the resource-based view to obtain insights from the analysis of a manager survey conducted in Canada’s beef sector, applying a logistic regression approach to study alliance formation. Findings In identifying significant roles for resource richness and diversification of resource usage, the analysis highlights the importance of resource characteristics underlying factor market imperfections as drivers of alliance formation in a single primary input supply chain. The results suggest that resource heterogeneity is important for alliance formation and organizational success in specialized supply chains. Research limitations/implications If previous alliance-related experience of managers, controlled for in the underlying cross-sectional survey, serves as an approximation for persistent unobservables impacting the alliance formation decision, we may face spurious state-dependence. Practical implications Managers interested in building compatible alliances in specialized single primary input supply chains may benefit from an improved understanding of the differential role of resource characteristics and resource heterogeneity for alliance formation, as these can function as a source of competitive advantage. Originality/value The analysis provides new insights from an individual manager’s perspective on alliance formation drivers in a specialized agri-food supply chain, thereby solidifying extant findings on alliance formation obtained in other sectors. The study contributes to the understanding of the role of resources in alliance formation with regard to prior relationship experience, resource heterogeneity and thus causal ambiguity, thereby also contributing to the debate of the role of relational capabilities vs firm-internal resources for sustained competitive advantage.

Government support for the development of regional food clusters: evidence from Alberta, Canada

This paper analyses government support for networking and regional cluster growth in the food sector. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first paper to provide a literature review of studies on regional food clusters, focusing on key features that characterise successful regional food clusters. The review compares key characteristics of such clusters with characteristics of clusters from other industrial sectors. The insights from these studies on clustering success and the role of government are contrasted with empirical evidence on government support for clustering in the Canadian food sector, specifically in the province of Alberta. The empirical evidence is based on two small industry surveys, one conducted in March 2005, and the second in August 2009. Considering this empirical evidence, we have little support for an emerging food (innovation) cluster in Alberta, and little evidence for effective government support toward food cluster development in Alberta.

Formal beef alliances and alignment challenges: issues in contracting, pricing and quality

Vertical coordination throughout Canadas beef supply chain is imperfect on several accounts. We observe failures in the established pricing system, the established grading system, a lack of appropriate incentives for investments to promote adding value, and misalignments due to the increasing industry concentration at the processor level. Since all of these issues are inherently linked, the proposed project has aimed to address them in an integrated manner. At the heart of this study is a firm-level analysis of alignment and risk-management problems at the cow-calf sector. A survey of cow-calf producers in Western Canada evaluated their willingness to participate in beef alliances. The initial part of the survey suggested that cow-calf producers view auction markets as price competitive but perhaps these markets are less successful at rewarding cattle quality. Very few of the surveyed participants had used contracts such as forward contracts or futures contracts in their cow-calf business. Slightly over 22 percent of the participants indicated they would not participate in any beef alliance. The remaining survey group that did indicate a willingness to participate in a beef alliance showed a clear preference for the following: • Alliance purchase calves from producer and producer have the opportunity to participate in profit sharing. • Producers prefer to receive information on individual live animal performance versus individual carcass performance. • Producers prefer minimal restrictions on production protocols and numbers of animals that must be committed to participate in the alliance. • A small per head alliance fee paid by the producer was not a major issue in determining willingness to participate in the alliance. iii These survey results above suggest the key issues that need to be addressed in alliance contracts. However it may be difficult to appropriately include price risk in these contracts if the alliance is also trying to share risk along the value chain. Analysis of secondary price data and other researcher conclusions indicate that contracts for Alberta cow-calf producers that include pricing based upon fed cattle or meat cut out values will expose producers to more variability in cow-calf returns. This risk cannot be effectively managed with existing market based risk tools. The choice of cow-calf producer alliance participants would be a pricing scheme that eliminated most if not all of the downside risk associated with fed cattle or meat cut out values. Cow-calf producers risk perception versus actual level of risk may not always be aligned. This may create increased difficulties in designing alliance contracts that appropriately share risk along the value-chain. Successful alliance schemes that include cow-calf producers require more work on the compensation scheme. Specific risk-based compensations schemes need to be explored in more depth and in the broader context of the key value chain members to develop more appropriate alliance contracts. The divergence between perceived and actual risks deserves particular attention. Results from our analysis on price spreads and competition at the packer, wholesale and retail level suggest that the industry has become somewhat more competitive since May 2003. While there were no noticeable differences between western and eastern regions of Canada, large disparities in price spreads were found between Canada and the US. Competition issues were not too dissimilar in the two countries with some evidence of imperfect competition pre-BSE (1980- May, 2003) in Canada and US, but much less evidence after May 2003 in both countries.

Industry diversity, competition and firm relatedness: the impact on employment before and after the 2008 global financial crisis

ABSTRACT Industry diversity, competition and firm relatedness: the impact on employment before and after the 2008 global financial crisis. Regional Studies. This study investigates the extent to which indicators of external-scale economies impacted employment growth in Canada over the period 2004–11. It focuses on knowledge spillovers between firms while accounting for Marshallian specialization, Jacobs’ diversity and competition by industry, as well as related and unrelated firm varieties in terms of employment and sales. It is found that the employment growth effects of local competition and diversity are positive, while the effect of Marshallian specialization is negative. Diversification is found to be particularly important for employment growth during the global financial crisis and immediately thereafter.

Social capital, religious affiliation and business performance in Denmark

Values, norms, trust, and community membership are considered key sources of motivation for social capital, providing resource flows that can impact the performance of local actors. Motivated by li...

Regional food clusters and government support for clustering: Evidence for a ‘dynamic food innovation cluster’ in Alberta, Canada?

This paper analyzes government support for networking and regional cluster growth in the food sector. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first paper to provide a literature review of studies on regional food clusters, focusing on key features that characterize successful regional food clusters. The review compares key characteristics of such clusters with characteristics of clusters from other industrial sectors. The insights from these studies on clustering success and the role of government are contrasted with empirical evidence on government support for clustering in the Canadian food sector, specifically in the province of Alberta. The empirical evidence is based on two small industry surveys, one conducted in March 2005, and the second in August 2009. Considering this empirical evidence, we have little support for an emerging food (innovation) cluster in Alberta, and little evidence for effective government support toward food cluster development in Alberta.

The Extent and Nature of Contracting in the Wine Supply-Chain When Moral Hazard is Present

This paper explores an optimal sharing contract between a grape grower and a winery, when a risk-averse grower allocates efforts among multiple activities that differe in measurability, while double-sided moral hazard is assumed to be present. The contract allows for asymmetric quality contributions by the grape grower and the winery, and is conditioned on both the value of joint production outcomes as well as on the performance evaluation from monitoring. The model is motivated by the use of residual claimancy in the wine industry. Through comparative static analysis of the Pareto optimal share, the model provides insights into the extent and nature of contracting in the wine industries of Australia, New Zealand, California and Spain.