José María García Álvarez-Coque

Innovative firms and the urban/rural divide: the case of agro‐food system

Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the capacity of rural and urban spaces to promote innovation in the agro‐food firms. The purpose is to determine if the rural/urban division affects the innovative behaviour of agriculture, food processing and food distribution firms.Design/methodology/approach – Business data have been obtained for over 2,000 firms based in the Valencia region, Spain. Out of them, over 200 declared to have taken part in R&D&i activities, mainly in partnership with public support institutions. The database supplies data of micro and small enterprises, which have been typically underestimated in the Spanish Survey on Technological Innovation in Enterprises. The database also makes it possible to identify the main location of agro‐food business, and the territory is divided in Local Labour Systems (LLS). LLS were in turn classified as rural or urban according to alternative criteria (OECD, national legislation). A logit model has been used in the analyses.Findings – The location of enter...

Sources of EC horticultural import growth from developing countries

A decomposition analysis of horticultural trade flows is carried out to identify the main sources of change in EC horticultural imports from different LDC regions. Sources of change are associated with each regions international competitiveness, the relative openness of the EC market, the degree of trade preference enjoyed by the region, and the EC global import growth. The main contribution to the LDC export growth of fruit and vegetables to EC between 1975-79 and 1985-89 is found to be attributable to the global import growth effect. However, it has been significantly counteracted by the negative effect of a declining share of non-EC suppliers as a group. Marked interregional differences in changes in regional preferences show a lack of a strong correlation between LDC export performance and the existence of preferential trade agreements with EC. While the potential for LDC export growth to EC is clear, the results seem to indicate that in general EC protection policies have adversely affected import growth from LDCs. Various factors influencing LDC export performance in horticultural products arc discussed. Apart from EC protection policies and changes in trade preferences, domestic supply factors arc of significance in explaining export growth, including a liberal trading environment, but also specific policies to promote exports of horticultural products. While non-price competition weakens the discriminatory effect of preferential tariffs, there is a pressing need for developing countries to adapt to the demands of the European distribution system relating to quality, grades, and regularity of supplies.

Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries

Member Partner Countries plus Turkey (MPCs) face numerous challenges to agricultural policy and competitiveness. The current policy strategy has not generated desperately needed economic development in rural areas and growth in value-added agriculture is low compared to other developing regions, all of which indicate a need for new approaches that go beyond conventional industry analysis. Using principles from the supply chain management literature and drawing heavily from current value chain thinking, this chapter applies a Global Value Chain Analysis (GVCA) to the fresh orange export sector in MPCs. Consumer data was collected in four European countries through quantitative surveys and Tesco loyalty card data and field interviews were conducted with value chain stakeholders in MPCs. A set of policy recommendations are presented. It is hoped the findings catalyse a discussion on the use of value chain thinking in agricultural policy formation for the region.

Multidimensional paths to regional poverty: a Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of Colombian departments

Abstract This paper provides a simple, systemic, holistic assessment of regional conditions that lead to capability deprivation. Capability deprivation is measured at the regional level using the indicators of monetary poverty and life expectancy in Colombia. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is used to identify necessary or sufficient conditions for high and low deprivation in Colombian departments (regions). The multidimensional paths consist of combinations of economic conditions (GDP per capita and trade openness), social conditions (education) and institutional conditions (transparency and internal displacement). The observed interactions between conditions indicate that no single condition leads to regional poverty. Peace and transparent institutions are important conditions in most of the paths that lead to high or low capability or functioning indicators.

Food Security, Competitiveness and Trade: The Case of Tunisian Agriculture

The purpose of this study is to provide an overview about the competitiveness of the Tunisian agri-food sector before signing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU. Agri-food sector plays a vital role in Tunisian economy and exports. However, the globalization of markets can influence the comparative advantage of agri-food sector enjoyed by Tunisia in exporting several Mediterranean products and increase competition. Tunisian agricultural sectors competitiveness is deeply concerned given the particular economic context in the country after the revolution and the important competition atmosphere in the Mediterranean area. Meanwhile, food security is an essential priority that cannot be compromised. Tunisia should tradeoff between two options by signing the DCFTA agreement: Developing agri-food exports in free trade area or protecting local market and the implementation of new policies to ensure food security. An analysis of the competitive advantage of the Tunisian agri-food sector reveals an important potential of exporting some agri-food staples. Recently, Tunisia is facing new challenges in exporting strategic products such as dates and olive oil, underlying the importance of adopting new business and marketing strategies, such as conditioning, packaging or prospecting new markets.

Do EU Member States Apply Food Standards Uniformly? A Look at Fruit and Vegetable Safety Notifications

The hypothesis that six EU Member States show a common behaviour on the implementation of food safety standards on fruit and vegetables imports is examined. To do so, we analyzed food border notifications recorded by the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). Path dependence and reputation effects of past border notifications were explored for the whole period 2001–13, and for sub‐periods 2001–07 and 2008–13. Negative binomial (NB) and zero‐inflated negative binomial (ZINB) distributions were used to deal with over‐dispersion and excess of zero counts. Our findings suggest that the EU cannot be considered as a single unit when non‐tariff measures are studied, although there are some signs that Member State behaviour is becoming more uniform in the most recent period.

Determinants of Non-Tariff Measures in Agricultural Trade

Over the past few decades a great deal of effort has been made to facilitate the markets access. This effort has attempted to reduce tariff in particular. Resulting from the reduction in tariffs, the significance of an interest in Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) has increased. In this paper we address certain hypotheses on the factors that contribute to explain the extent of the use of NTMs and their numberrelated to Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulation. One hypothesis we want to test relates to the existence of “policy substitution” between tariffs and NTMs. The second is the hypothesis that “path dependence” can affect the number of food alert notifications at the borders. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/ICBM.2015.1294