Miroslava Bavorova

Producing compliant business behaviour: disclosure of food inspection results in Denmark and Germany

Public disclosure of food inspection results (“name-and-shame”) is increasingly used to promote compliance with food regulations. Name-and-shame measures tackle the problem of market failure by increasing transparency, strengthening the sovereignty of consumers and enabling them to make informed choices. Consumers prefer to buy from compliant food businesses. If information on compliance is successfully conveyed to consumers, non-compliant businesses will face a competitive disadvantage. They will be sanctioned not only by the state but also by a loss of market share. Additionally, social sanctioning from “relevant others”, such as friends and regular customers, may be linked with market sanctions. Both economic and social sanctions further the motivation to comply. Name-and-shame measures are thereby expected to effectively increase compliance with food regulations while keeping costs low for tax payers. Regulatory strategies which are both effective and cost-efficient are said to be “smart”. A prerequisite of smart regulatory approaches is that they are legally viable within a nation’s legal and constitutional environment. Against this background, and with a view to the current political discussions regarding the introduction of a public disclosure system in Germany, we carry out a comparative analysis of the well-established Danish smiley scheme and three pilot projects in Germany. Aiming at identifying the potential for improvement, we address the institutional design of these systems as well as their effectiveness and costs.

Die Wirkung von veröffentlichten Hygienekontrollen auf Lebensmittelunternehmen: das Beispiel “Berliner Smiley”

ZusammenfassungIn dieser Arbeit haben wir den Einfluss von immateriellen Determinanten auf das Entscheidungsverhalten von Lebensmittelunternehmern untersucht. Eine solche Analyse ist vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Diskussion um Transparenzsysteme in Deutschland von besonderer Bedeutung. Um die Wirkung der sog. „Smiley-Systeme“ bewerten zu können, haben wir eine empirische Untersuchung unter Lebensmittelunternehmen in den Berliner Bezirken Pankow, Lichtenberg und Marzahn-Hellersdorf durchgeführt, da dort ein deutschlandweit einmaliges Pilotprojekt der verpflichtenden Veröffentlichung der Ergebnisse der behördlichen Kontrollen eingeführt wurde. In die empirische Untersuchung konnten 186 Unternehmen einbezogen werden. Mit Hilfe eines Generalized-Ordered-Logit-Modells testeten wir den Einfluss verschiedener Verhaltensdeterminanten auf die Compliance (als abhängige Variable), differenziert nach Art des Lebensmittelunternehmens (Restaurants oder nicht). Unsere Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Wirkung des Smileys auf die Verhaltensdeterminanten, in Abhängigkeit von der Unternehmensart, differiert. Obschon die Wirkung des Smileys unterschiedlich ist, fanden wir signifikante Einflüsse auf die Compliance bei allen Unternehmen. Somit verfügen Transparenzsysteme über das Potenzial, das unternehmerische Verhalten in die gewünschte Richtung zu beeinflussen.

INNOVATION AT RURAL ENTERPRISES: RESULTS FROM A SURVEY OF GERMAN ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL FARMERS

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of interpersonal networks and other information sources on the innovativeness of farmers. This understanding can be useful for organizations that are involved in extension work that aims to increase the farmers’ innovativeness and for farmers who aim to be more innovative. The study focuses on two types of farmers’ network ties: friendship ties (ties to other farmers) and affiliation ties (ties to associations). Additionally, the importance of information gathered by farmers from interpersonal sources and from media is compared. We collected data within the European Union (EU)-funded Food Industry Dynamics and Methodological Advances (FOODIMA) Project using face-to-face interviews. Our sample, which consists of 72 farmers (organic and conventional) in Germany, was used to map farmers’ innovativeness (number of innovations adopted). We analyzed the data to determine if the structure and strength of network ties can be used as predictors of innovativeness for organic and conventional farmers. When considering both the friendship and affiliation ties, the main results show that organic farmers who communicate more frequently with other farmers are more likely to be highly innovative. The large network size indicates low innovativeness on the part of organic farmers. Membership in at least one association is positively interconnected with high innovativeness of conventional farmers. Regarding information sources, the results indicate that the highly innovative farmers appreciate information from research institutes more and information from agricultural organization less than the less innovative farmers.

Compliance with Food Safety Laws in Germany: Food Businesses in Berlin: Compliance with Food Safety Laws in Germany

In this article we explore how variables associated both with material temptations (economic incentives that foster rule breaking) and nonmaterial behavioral determinants (protective factors that shield people from rule breaking) are linked to compliance with food laws. The object of the study is to examine food businesses in the ready‐to‐eat industry in three districts of the German capital, Berlin. We collected data on compliance behavior and its potential drivers via an anonymous postal survey in 2014. Accounting for the data structure, we used a generalized ordered logit regression to model the relationship between the presumed behavioral drivers and compliance. One crucial finding is that a feeling of embarrassment if relevant others were to learn about noncompliance is positively related to compliance. The same holds for the internalized approval of food laws and their enforcement (acceptance of rules).

Farm-level economics of innovative tillage technologies: the case of no-till in the Altai Krai in Russian Siberia

In the agricultural Altai Krai in Russian Siberia, soil degradation problems are prevalent. Agronomists recommend “reduced tillage systems,” especially no-till, as a sustainable way to cultivate land that is threatened by soil degradation. In the Altai Krai, less is known about the technologies in practice. In this paper, we provide information on plant cultivation technologies used in the Altai Krai and on selected factors preventing farm managers in this region from adopting no-till technology based on our own quantitative survey conducted across 107 farms in 2015 and 2016. The results of the quantitative survey show that farm managers have high uncertainty regarding the use of no-till technology including its economics. To close this gap, we provide systematic analysis of factors influencing the economy of the plant production systems by using a farm optimization model (linear programming) for a real farm, together with expert estimations. The farm-specific results of the optimization model show that under optimal management and climatic conditions, the expert Modern Canadian no-till technology outperforms the farm min-till technology, but this is not the case for suboptimal conditions with lower yields.

Does disclosure of food inspections affect business compliance? The case of Berlin, Germany

Purpose A whole series of food scandals indicates that misdirected incentives continue to be a source of food risks. Lacking market transparency and the opportunistic use of seemingly profitable opportunities to break the rules cause negative externalities and failure of markets. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of mandatory transparency schemes on food businesses’ behavioural drivers and thus on compliance. Design/methodology/approach The authors use an adopted analytical framework developed by Hirschauer et al. (2012) as the theoretical background. The authors provide an empirical analysis of the effects of a disclosure system on businesses’ behavioural drivers in three urban parts of the German capital Berlin. The authors conducted a pen-and-paper survey among food businesses to collect data and used a generalized ordered logit regression model to analyse them. Findings The results show that the higher the businesses assess the possible negative effects of a negative smiley on sales, the higher the probability of compliance. Considering the immaterial behavioural drivers (protective factors) the authors find the statistical significant influence of a feeling of embarrassment in case of disclosure and the feeling of a fair evaluation on compliance. Thus, the study supports the expectation that disclosure policies affect behavioural drivers and have the potential to steer food businesses’ compliance. Practical implications The study supports the expectation that hygiene controls’ disclosure positively affects food businesses’ compliance. These findings should be taken into consideration in the ongoing discussion about disclosure. Nowadays, there is no mandatory transparency in Germany due to a strong opposition from businesses and their lobbying groups. Originality/value The authors conducted a pen-and-paper survey among food businesses in three urban districts of the German capital Berlin, namely, Pankow, Lichtenberg and Marzahn-Hellersdorf in 2014. The food authorities in these districts were the only ones in Germany that had introduced and run a mandatory disclosure system (smiley-system) for food businesses. The results of the inspections were published on the authorities’ homepages in the internet, and were displayed in businesses. Thus the data mirror the unique experiences of the only German food businesses that participated in a mandatory transparency scheme.