Pablo Villalobos

Consumer Preference and Willingness to Pay for an Officially Certified Quality Label: Implications for Traditional Food Producers

Con el objetivo de evaluar la preferencia y disposicion a pagar del consumidor chileno por un sello de calidad certificada usado en productos alimenticios de origen campesino, se llevo a cabo un estudio empleando la metodologia de analisis conjunto. Un total de 234 consumidores de las ciudades de Talca y Santiago fueron consultados, respondiendo un cuestionario especialmente disenado. Como producto base para el analisis conjunto se utilizo una mermelada de mora (Rubus ulmifolius) de elaboracion artesanal. Ademas, un conjunto de tres atributos (precio, sello de calidad y presentacion del envase) fueron considerados en la evaluacion. Mediante un diseno ortogonal, se definieron nueve conceptos de productos hipoteticos, los cuales fueron ordenados por los consumidores de acuerdo a sus preferencias. Los resultados obtenidos a traves del modelo conjunto senalan que un ?sello de calidad certificada? es el atributo mas importante que domina el comportamiento de eleccion de los consumidores, observandose una positiva disposicion a pagar por esta caracteristica. Como herramienta de gestion de calidad y diferenciacion, un sello de calidad certificada parece ser una buena alternativa para mejorar las condiciones y oportunidades de mercado de los productores de alimentos respaldados por una tradicion campesina. Cabe destacar que esta es la primera experiencia empirica desarrollada en el pais que relaciona el metodo de analisis conjunto con las preferencias del consumidor por este tipo de productos alimenticios.

Carbon footprint of premium quality export bananas: case study in Ecuador, the world's largest exporter.

Nowadays, the new international market demands challenge the food producing countries to include the measurement of the environmental impact generated along the production process for their products. In order to comply with the environmentally responsible market requests the measurement of the greenhouse gas emissions of Ecuadorian agricultural goods has been promoted employing the carbon footprint concept. Ecuador is the largest exporter of bananas in the world. Within this context, this study is a first assessment of the carbon footprint of the Ecuadorian premium export banana (Musa AAA) using a considerable amount of field data. The system boundaries considered from agricultural production to delivery in a European destination port. The data collected over three years permitted identifying the hot spot stages. For the calculation, the CCaLC V3.0 software developed by the University of Manchester is used. The carbon footprint of the Ecuadorian export banana ranged from 0.45 to 1.04 kg CO2-equivalent/kg banana depending on the international overseas transport employed. The principal contributors to the carbon footprint are the on farm production and overseas transport stages. Mitigation and reduction strategies were suggested for the main emission sources in order to achieve sustainable banana production.

BEEF CONSUMER PREFERENCES IN CHILE: IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY ATTRIBUTE DIFFERENTIATORS ON THE PURCHASE DECISION

Agrifood markets worldwide have focused on searching for new quality attribute differentiators, which capture the attention of consumers and meet their needs. The purpose of this research was to determine the importance of a set of quality attribute differentiators associated with a beef cut on the choice behavior of the Chilean consumer. The evaluated differentiating characteristics were: price, origin, production method, and quality assurance. A total of 750 subjects were surveyed in the following cities: Talca, Rancagua, and Santiago. Conjoint analysis was carried out to estimate the impact of the assessed attributes on the purchase decision of the consumers polled. Findings point out that the quality attribute differentiators significantly influence consumer choice behavior, with price being the least important for the majority of consumers polled (21.07% relative importance for the whole sample). In this context, the quality assurance attribute is shown as the most relevant which guides the decision-making process of beef consumers (29.75% relative importance for the whole sample). Even though some limitations are shown within this study, it must be emphasized that the results follow similar trends already described in previous research carried out in other countries. These tendencies should be considered, therefore, to establish differentiation strategy tools when designing a marketing mix focused on the domestic market.

Effects of the transaction characteristics on the side of dependence in a context of vertical coordination: The case of fresh produce exports from Chile to Europe

Abstract While organization theories acknowledge the influence of specific assets on dependence and increasingly represent the latter as a structure of mutual dependence (dependence of A on B and dependence of B on A), there is, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical test concerning the impact of specific assets on a structure of dependence. Our chapter aims to fill this gap. It is all the more original in that it considers a case study where dependence changes sides according to the characteristics of the transaction. We examine the dependence between Chilean exporters and European importers when trading fresh produce. Such dependence originates with the need for just-in-time coordination and compliance with a compelling demand in a context of high price uncertainty. Using a unique dataset from international trade in fresh produce between Chile and the rest of the world, we justify the use of a concentration sales ratio as a proxy for dependence and test the influence of a variety of specific assets on the side of dependence by using both categorical and dimensional approaches. Original findings show that certain transaction attributes have a strong influence on the side of dependence. In particular, the higher the frequency and the level of specific assets such as volume, niche varieties, and joint sales with other products, in the transaction, the greater the likelihood of a higher ratio of dependence for the importer rather than the exporter. Conversely, in the event of low levels of specific assets and less frequent operations, dependence tends to be greater on the side of the exporter.