Claire Seaman

Missed Opportunities? Reaching the Ethnic Consumer Market

Changing population demographics within the UK have become a source of increased interest to marketers as companies have realized the importance of targeting their products and advertising efforts towards minority and ethnic groups. In addition, as the UK’s ethnic minorities grow in both numbers and in terms of prosperity, so does the commercial significance of this market. A clearer understanding of both the nature of changing markets and the relative importance of different minority ethnic groups as consumers is imperative to facilitate both consumer understanding and business development; marketers need to understand better how to target these people, what they have in common with the mainstream and where the differences lie. This paper seeks to describe current understanding of ethnic consumers and their impact on the marketplace while highlighting an area where future research is potentially of considerable benefit.

Consumer perceptions of meat production: Enhancing the competitiveness of British agriculture by understanding communication with the consumer

Purpose – To identify factors that could influence consumer perceptions relating to meat production and areas where further development would be of assistance to British agriculture.Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative semi‐structured interviews of a quota sample of Scottish meat purchasing consumers.Findings – Results indicate that consumer views on meat production vary widely and that while there are some differences between rural and urban consumers the differences are rarely simple. Views were expressed on a variety of factors including livestock producers, agricultural production, certification and traceability. Relatively few consumers were routinely concerned with assurance labels. Consequently, knowledge of underpinning standards was limited. Primary sources of meat were the major supermarket groups with a distinct bias towards older consumers among those who preferred to shop in small butchers shops. Attitudes towards producers were mainly positive but some consumers remained sceptical about...

Culture and service predisposition among hospitality students in Switzerland and Scotland

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate the impact of ethnic/national culture on service predisposition, using Lee‐Rosss Service Predisposition (SP) Survey, plus items from Hofstedes IBM attitudes survey and from the Chinese Values Survey.Design/methodology/approach – The sample consisted of international students studying hospitality management at two hotel schools in Switzerland and one in Scotland. The questionnaire was administered to all who had recently completed an internship as part of their programme of study. The two Swiss schools produced 179 usable questionnaires and the Scottish school, 98. Thus data were obtained from students from many different nationalities, and effects due to differences in organisational culture or teaching methods were controlled.Findings – Significant relationships were found between the SP components and the Chinese value dimensions. The Hofstede cultural dimensions showed anomalous results. The biggest differences within the sample were those between ...

The challenge to c‐stores: Edinburgh South Asian responses

While no two businesses are the same, examples from Edinburgh Pakistani community convenience store owners illustrate business survival strategies developed in response to increased environmental challenges presented by changing consumer behaviour, increased competition and demographic variations. These are related to the individual’s motivation, experience and family business background, and include exiting the sector, gaining recognised qualifications and alternative employment, and involving second and third generations in expanding family business activities. The resulting smaller, but stronger, convenience(c)‐store sector continues to provide opportunities for individual businesses, thus maintaining the economic and social benefits for the ethnic minority community and the wider city population.

Perceptions of Knowledge Sharing Among Small Family Firm Leaders: A Structural Equation Model

Small family firms have many unique relational qualities with implications for how knowledge is passed between individuals. Extant literature posits leadership approach as important in explaining differences in knowledge-sharing climate from one firm to another. This study investigates how leadership approaches interact with family influence to inform perceptions of knowledge sharing. We utilize survey data (n = 110) from owner-managers of knowledge-intensive small family firms in Scotland. Our findings present a choice in leadership intention, contrasting organization-focused participation against family-influenced guidance. Insight is offered on the implications of this leadership choice at both organizational and familial levels.

Composing a database of minority enterprises in Scotland: a discussion based on the concept of mixed embeddedness.

Purpose – To address the issue of the low take‐up of available ethnic business support the article proposes the composition of a database for Scotland, thereby providing baseline data on minority businesses and hence providing a sampling frame for future research. The database will hold the following information: name and gender of the business owner, sector, location, number of employees as an indicator of company size, generation, the year in which the business was established, as well as the legal form of ownership of businesses.Design/methodology/approach – The database draws from the concept of mixed embeddedness as well as the political agenda of the Scottish Executive for the sector. Data sources used are commercial databases, the Yellow Pages of Scotland, local business registers across Scotland, a telephone survey and personal contact/networking with businesses.Findings – In order to facilitate the composition of a Scottish database of minority businesses, this article has looked at existing theo...

Consumers as Sensory Panellists

Reports on evaluation of the reliability and consistency with which consumers assessed roast beef L. dorsi by presenting duplicate samples under standardized conditions in a sensory evaluation laboratory. Seven‐point hedonic scales were used, which were designed to assess flavour, tenderness, juiciness and overall eating quality. Results indicate that the samples were evaluated with very high levels of reliability and consistency, despite major differences in the eating qualities of the beef L. dorsi. Variation greater than ± 1 point on the hedonic scale was rare. While Quantitative Descriptive Sensory Profiling (QSP) provides detailed information on the eating qualities of foods, using panellists trained to identify small differences in specific foods, consumers may be used as sensory panellists to provide information on the likely impact on the consuming public. Under certain circumstances, consumers may also be a much more convenient choice for sensory panellists.

Generating effective change in school meals: a case study

Purpose – Obesity among primary school children is an area of current concern throughout the UK, alongside much discussion surrounding the opportunities and challenges of effecting change. School meals may contribute to obesity, tending to be high in fat and sugar and lacking in essential nutrients. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the success of a healthy eating programme and to examine the work that had been done to identify areas where further work was required, where lessons might be learned for future campaigns and areas where further research would be useful.Design/methodology/approach – The current study uses a case study approach to examine food provision and education within a primary school in Edinburgh, which adopts a healthy eating programme based on the guidelines of Hungry for Success. Within the case study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, including semistructured interviews, recipe analysis and observational research.Findings – Results indicate some c...

MBA for small firms and Microenterprises? development issues

Purpose – To report on an investigation amongst small firm owner‐managers in the service sector into potential demand for an MBA.Design/methodology/approach – Relevant recent literature is critiqued concerning small firms and learning, and MBAs and small firms. A description is given of the research methods employed involving a mail questionnaire sent to 600 small and microenterprises eliciting 99 completed questionnaires, and follow‐up interviews with a sample of 20 respondents.Findings – Identifies a potential market for an MBA tailor‐made to the requirements of a “learning segment” of small firm owner‐managers. Finds owner‐managers have sophisticated product requirements to be satisfied which would necessitate significant changes in higher education course provision and processes.Research limitations/implications – The research was not concerned with investigating price. Bridging the gap between meeting the educational needs of small firms and higher education provision would help to address issues of ...

Staff motivation in small food manufacturing enterprises (2): the perceptions of owners and managers

Earlier work examined the factors that affected staff motivation and satisfaction in small food businesses, focusing on staff whose roles did not include overall responsibility for the firm. As part of this work, 38 small food processing and manufacturing companies in Scotland were recruited and data collected using interviews and questionnaires. In order to examine the topic in greater detail and to offer a more complete perspective, the owners and/or managers of the 38 firms were interviewed and the results presented here as a contrast. Results highlighted differences in perception between the owner/managers and those staff who took part in the earlier data collection.