The purpose of this paper is to present Danish distribution research, with an emphasis on research conducted during the last decade. In order to give the reader an understanding…
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to present Danish distribution research, with an emphasis on research conducted during the last decade. In order to give the reader an understanding of the background of current research, a number of older projects are also mentioned. We refrain, on the other hand, from suggesting any trends for the future development of Danish distribution research — trends concerning topics, paradigms and methodology. As will be seen, the volume of research is quite small and the number of researchers is very limited. Hence, the future of distribution research is very dependent on the development of a few individuals and on their subjective choices. Having said this, it should also be made clear that what is presented below deals only with academic research.
Jerker Nilsson and Lena W. Lind
– The purpose of this paper is to explain institutional changes in the Swedish meat industry after major external events.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain institutional changes in the Swedish meat industry after major external events.
Design/methodology/approach
Analysis based on secondary data sources and interviews with people involved when the dominant meat co-operative in Sweden underwent major changes.
Findings
The decline in the Swedish meat industry is interpreted using the theory of institutional change presented by Aoki (2007, 2011). The country’s former national agricultural policy created a specific set of norms and values. Co-operatives were considered to be indispensable. The co-operative sector was large and hierarchically organised. Therefore, external signals did not create sufficient endogenous processes within the co-operatives. Co-operative adaptation to rising competitive pressure took place only reluctantly and belatedly. Hence many farmer-members defected and the major co-operative faced finally insurmountable problems. A strong ideological conviction caused the once dominant co-operative to collapse and much of the Swedish meat industry to disappear.
Originality/value
This study shows that strong ideology (here a conviction about the advantages of politically governed co-operatives) can hamper endogenous processes within an organisation. Management may ignore outside influences, to the extent that even a large industry is impaired. Other large, hierarchically structured and top-governed organisations with a strong ideology may behave in a similar way.
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The purpose of this paper is to present theoretical explanations for the failure of the largest dairy processing firm in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) after only…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present theoretical explanations for the failure of the largest dairy processing firm in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) after only about one year of operation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper contains a case study on the establishment and failure of a new firm is presented. Data were collected through mass media reports and interviews with knowledgeable individuals in the dairy industry. The data were analyzed using neo-institutional theories, primarily agency theory.
Findings
The core of the explanation is that the various categories of institutions were not aligned. For example, poor contract enforcement created insurmountable agency costs for all parties involved.
Research limitations/implications
As this paper is based on a case study it is uncertain to which extent the finding can be generalized.
Originality/value
Most case studies describe successes. This paper presents a case where the odds for success were poor, but the project was still initiated.
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The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains…
Abstract
The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.
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Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover…
Abstract
Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine different quality schemes and to determine how these could be combined by Agricultural Cooperatives into a brand development strategy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine different quality schemes and to determine how these could be combined by Agricultural Cooperatives into a brand development strategy designed not only to differentiate their products but also to enhance them with higher value added in the competitive landscape of the food industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper will first address how brands have enclosed quality signs and even more, how consumers respond to it. Then, it will examine to what extent Greek Agricultural Cooperatives have developed brands for their products and whether they have used quality systems in their activities. Thus, the starting point in the paper's argument is that Agricultural Cooperatives have been slow to develop brands while consumers have been displaying a positive attitude towards these products.
Findings
This work suggests a solution to overcome the difficulties and drawbacks associated with the notion “cooperative product” and to compare its similarities with a collective brand, which has been previously proposed as a brand development strategy for the Agricultural Cooperatives.
Practical implications
The development of a Quality System especially designed for agricultural cooperatives’ products and, in combination with product certification, can be used as a part of their brand strategy.
Originality/value
Agricultural cooperatives could build a brand development strategy based on quality systems, Total Quality Management elements and hence attain the benefits associated with their implementation.
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Many farm producer organizations pursue growth and complexity in response to price volatility, industry consolidation and other external developments. Consequently, as ownership…
Abstract
Purpose
Many farm producer organizations pursue growth and complexity in response to price volatility, industry consolidation and other external developments. Consequently, as ownership is dispersed and control is delegated, members may face increasing agency cost. In spite of the potential to impact performance and even survival, empirical attention to agency problems in farm producer organizations is limited. The purpose of this paper is to address the gap in the literature with an empirical study.
Design/methodology/approach
With survey responses from 365 farm producer organizations in the USA, the author uses a two-limit tobit model to estimate the relationships of six ownership and governance characteristics (i.e. board size, management size, director independence, manager independence, CEO independence and non-member ownership) to agency cost, which is proxied by the operating expense ratio.
Findings
While controlling for heterogeneity in scale and technology, the author finds positive relationships of board size, management size and CEO independence to agency cost. The novel result illustrates there is a significant cost to the adoption of non-traditional ownership and governance characteristics by farm producer organizations.
Practical implications
The presence of agency cost serves as motivation to farm producer organizations to implement new or adapt old agency mechanisms. One recommendation is to reconsider the payment structure of non-member CEOs. There may not be enough incentive to inspire an upstream bias, which is perhaps possible by linking CEO performance to price, patronage and member-oriented performance measurements.
Originality/value
Agency cost is rarely studied in relation to farm producer organizations. Recent contributions in the empirical literature lacked an explicit connection of ownership and governance characteristics to agency cost.
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Tommaso Piseddu and Fedra Vanhuyse
With more cities aiming to achieve climate neutrality, identifying the funding to support these plans is essential. The purpose of this paper is to exploit the present of a…
Abstract
Purpose
With more cities aiming to achieve climate neutrality, identifying the funding to support these plans is essential. The purpose of this paper is to exploit the present of a structured green bonds framework in Sweden to investigate the typology of abatement projects Swedish municipalities invested in and understand their effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
Marginal abatement cost curves of the green bond measures are constructed by using the financial and abatement data provided by municipalities on an annual basis.
Findings
The results highlight the economic competitiveness of clean energy production, measured in abatement potential per unit of currency, even when compared to other emerging technologies that have attracted the interest of policymakers. A comparison with previous studies on the cost efficiency of carbon capture storage reveals that clean energy projects, especially wind energy production, can contribute to the reduction of emissions in a more efficient way. The Swedish carbon tax is a good incentive tool for investments in clean energy projects.
Originality/value
The improvement concerning previous applications is twofold: the authors expand the financial considerations to include the whole life-cycle costs, and the authors consider all the greenhouse gases. This research constitutes a prime in using financial and environmental data produced by local governments to assess the effectiveness of their environmental measures.