Fabio Verneau

Il sistema agroalimentare ed il consumatore postmoderno : nuove sfide per la ricerca e per il mercato

The paper is an attempt to analyze the role of consumers and some of the most important trends in the food systemin the Eght of a new interpretative key that refers to the concept of postmodernity which has been generated in the field of sociology and progressively outlined from the first 80s. In postmodern society the act of consumption becomes an expression of culture and identity creation, products as material objects lose their importance and they become marks, symbols and a way to communicate personality. These phenomenons are difficult to interpret with the standard theory of neoclassical consumer, although several attempts in this direction have been carried out. For example, the proposal to introduce a function of happiness to express the features and behavior of the postmodern consumer is a possibility to be explored but certainly not yet a new theory. In the first part of the report the concept of postmodernism, its origin and evolution is discussed. Later, in the light of this new interpretative key the changing role of the consumer is analyzed. Finally, as case studies, the strategies of modern distribution and the problem oftypical Italian food products in foreign markets are also discussed. All the analysed cases, illustrate very well the traditional rules can lead to political intervention pontentially erroneous, as for example, an excess of expenditure in food safety policy or policies of the national mark.

Consumer acceptance of food nanotechnology in Italy.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate attitudes of Italian consumers towards a set of applications of nanotechnology in the food domain. The chief goal is to identify the main factors influencing the willingness to buy nanofoods (WTBN), distinguishing between factors related to the products, in terms of perceived risks and benefits and psychological factors. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was administered to a sample of about 300 people to gather information about the willingness to buy six nanofoods (namely: creamier ice cream with the same fat content; salt and sugar that do not form lumps with moisture; fruit juices enriched with bioactive molecules; bread enriched with Omega-3; plastic bottles for beer; antimicrobial food packaging for meat) and psychological characteristics, measured by several attitudinal scales. In order to study the influence of the attitudinal factors on the WTBN a simultaneous equations model was estimated, defining both its structural and reduced ...

Competition Policy and Food Sector in the European Union

The article reviews the enforcement of the EU competition policy in the food sector in order to evaluate its actual ability to promote a fair and efficient food supply. Competition policy is scrutinized stemming from the different perspectives offered by 3 antitrust schools, namely, the Harvard, the Chicago, and the post-Chicago Schools. The main finding of the article is that with reforms carried out in the 1990s, EU competition policy has followed the shift that occurred in the United States since the late 1970s from the traditionalist Harvard School to the Chicago and post-Chicago Schools of antitrust. The general effect of this shift has been a significant drop in antitrust enforcement and merger control activity. As a consequence, currently competition policy is not able to tackle the wide range of social and economic problems associated with the overwhelming power of large agrofood corporations.

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.

Anti-Waste Labeling and Consumer Willingness to Pay

ABSTRACT Food waste is an important topic in the general context of food consumption sustainability and ethical consumption. Several studies have focused on environment-friendly labeling schemes based on different “ethical attributes,” such as organic, fair trade, and locally grown. However, the effect of a labeling scheme based on food waste prevention has never been studied. In the current work, experimental auctions were used to investigate the effect of a certification about containing food waste within a certain threshold on participants’ willingness to pay. The product chosen for the auctions was the French baguette (500 g) packaged with a paper wrapper. Furthermore, we examined whether the effect would be moderated by different communication strategies about the consequences of wasting. Specifically, two different frames of reference were used: the first is based on the carbon footprint, the other on the water footprint. Our results showed that waste prevention–based labeling positively affected participants’ willingness to pay and that this effect was enhanced by the carbon footprint frame of reference.

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.

Dinamiche di consumo ed evoluzione degli stili alimentari attraverso l’indagine istat sui consumi delle famiglie

The paper uses the 1973-2009 historical series on domestic food consumption, and analyzes the main changes in the structure of food consumption both at national and regional level. In the first part of the work, it is shown the main changes undergone by domestic food consumption basket relative to the eight main product categories consist of: bread and cereals, dairy products and eggs, meat, fishery and fish farming products, fruit vegetables and potatoes, drinks, coffee sugar and groceries, oils and fats. The evolution of the basket is discussed taking into account the main social and economic factors such as the territorial area, the number of members of the family, type of employment. In the second part of the paper the analysis is developed taking into account the regional data. In this case the objective was to compare the differences in the composition of the basket at the beginning and at the end of the observation period to assess how the specific consumption of the 20 Italian regions have developed. By means of a hierarchical cluster analysis, data from three-year periods 1973-75 and 2007-’09 were compared in an attempt to identify the existence of common evolutionary paths in the composition of spending and lifestyles in food. The analysis at regional level suggests the existence of an evolutionary path generating a a process of convergence of the shares of spending on an unique assortment for all regions. This evidence allows to hypothesize the gradual disappearance of the specific regional life style in foods and the birth of a common and strongly homologated style. Although the type of data used does not allow further consideration to analyze the reasons for this convergence, it seems reasonable to identify the pervasive presence of modern retail and widespread role of the media as the most responsible for this process. Finally it is possible to conclude that the disappearance of regional and specific food habits represent a net loss to the country, at least in terms of culture and.

Comparing Italian and Brazilian consumers’ attitudes towards Short Food Supply Chains

According to the Theory of Planned Behavior, this work investigates consumers’ attitudes towards the intention to buy local food in Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), carrying out a survey among university students in Italy and Brazil. Results show that sustainability and food safety mostly influence consumers’ behavior in both countries. However, the main differences emerged are related to the fact that Italian consumers recognized the SFSCs as a catalyst for new employment opportunities and local development, whereas the role of short chains on life quality and wellbeing is stressed by Brazilian ones.

Evaluating italian attitude and behaviour toward Fair Trade products

In the context of food consumption, several issues have been widely discussed in reference to a large array of attributes and product types used as evidence of growing consumer feeling toward ethical issues linked to moral and social consciousness. Animal welfare, fair prices for farmers, social aspects of production, and preservation of cultural features, are some of the product attributes for which consumer behaviour has been analyzed in the context of ethical consumerism. This paper aims at providing insights into consumer motivational systems and their relations with fair trade product purchasing behaviour. In order to pursue this goal, the effectiveness of two alternative approaches, proposed in the literature and tested in Belgium and Germany, were formally assessed in Italy. The two sets of scales were tested for predicting purchasing behaviour by using a sample of Italian consumers.