Maria Teresa Trentinaglia, Daniele Cavicchioli, Cristina Bianca Pocol and Lucia Baldi
The goal of this study is to understand if ethnocentrism exists at the sub-regional level among honey consumers living in the same production area as a protected designation of…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this study is to understand if ethnocentrism exists at the sub-regional level among honey consumers living in the same production area as a protected designation of origin (PDO). Moreover, this analysis explores if ethnocentrism is influenced by individual economic conditions, among other socio-demographic characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 725 consumers was collected through the use of a questionnaire that was circulated in the province of Varese, one of the few honey PDO areas in Italy. The authors performed a principal component analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different PDO honey consumer segments, focusing on their interest for PDO attributes.
Findings
The authors identified four consumer segments, depending on socio-demographic, consumption habits, frequencies, preferred attributes and preferences for the PDO product. One cluster exhibited strong preferences for the PDO honey, in the spirit of ethnocentrism, and was characterised by low-income levels; ethnocentric preferences were also observed in another cluster that had a different socio-economic profile.
Research limitations/implications
Honey is a niche product and not universally diffused among consumers: further analyses should investigate sub-national ethnocentrism for more universal food products. Yet, through the inspection of the different profiles found, it was possible to devise marketing strategies to boost PDO honey purchasing and to bring consumers closer to PDO products.
Originality/value
This analysis considers ethnocentrism as a segmentation criterion for PDO honey consumers that live in the very same PDO honey production area and enriches the existing literature on the relationship between ethnocentrism and individual economic status.
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Mariana Baldi, Frank G.A. de Bakker and Rodrigo Luís Melz
This study aims to analyse the strategic moves used by major tobacco corporations to thwart the ratification of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse the strategic moves used by major tobacco corporations to thwart the ratification of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a detailed historical case study spanning 1988–2005 and encompassing the period leading up to Brazil’s FCTC ratification. The authors collected qualitative data from various sources to triangulate and develop a comprehensive historical account.
Findings
The historical analysis identified three distinct phases. First, the acquisition of a Brazilian cigarette factory, Souza Cruz, by British American Tobacco dramatically altered power dynamics, strengthening the position of the tobacco industry. The second phase regards the era of dictatorship and the efforts of various actors advocating against smoking and the tobacco industry. The third phase involved Brazil’s re-democratisation and the challenges of securing FCTC ratification, during which fierce industry opposition had to be overcome. Throughout these phases, the authors identified four key strategies used by multinational corporations (MNCs) in Brazil to uphold unsustainable practices and products that contradicted public interests instead of reforming them: shaping collective memory, dissimulation, re-presentation and redirecting attention.
Originality/value
This study contributes to critical international business research on emerging economies by examining how Brazil’s position in the global capitalist system has influenced its dependency and how MNCs produce and maintain cycles of poverty and unsustainable practices through the exploitation of power dynamics within the country.
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Rocío Ortiz, Juan Manuel Macias-Bernal and Pilar Ortiz
The purpose of this paper is to present research on vulnerability and service life indexes applied to cultural heritage buildings. The construction and rehabilitation industry is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present research on vulnerability and service life indexes applied to cultural heritage buildings. The construction and rehabilitation industry is concerned with the maintenance of monuments and reducing the economic costs of urgent interventions by taking preventive conservation action in historic cities. By applying a vulnerability index or analyzing the service life of buildings, it is possible to reduce risk and optimize the identification, evaluation and prioritization of urgent monument restoration tasks in a city or a region to establish preventive conservation policies.
Design/methodology/approach
This research sets out the concepts of vulnerability and service life, focusing on their methodologies in comparison with other techniques for building diagnosis, discussing the differences between indexes that measure the vulnerability and service life of buildings.
Findings
The vulnerability of three churches in Seville (Spain) was studied by means of their vulnerability index, based on Delphi analysis, and the service life of these buildings was also assessed, based on artificial intelligence tools. Delphi and artificial intelligence tools allow us to compare and dovetail different scenarios and expert opinions. The degree of each monument’s conservation is defined as its vulnerability index, which is an indirect function of deterioration levels. The service life of buildings, on the other hand, includes the assessment of vulnerability and hazards.
Practical implications
This study is useful for stakeholders, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and policymakers, as an important reference on diagnosis, including updated, inexpensive and sustainable methodologies to manage the conservation of monuments, which are easy to implement in developed and developing countries. The application of vulnerability and/or service life indicators is crucial to ensuring the sustainability and improvement of maintenance carried out on cultural heritage buildings.
Originality/value
This study details new approaches based on artificial intelligence and Delphi analysis to prioritize preventive conservation actions in a city or region.
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Felipe Furtini Haddad, Ana Paula Lima Ribeiro, Kelly Carvalho Vieira, Rafaela Corrêa Pereira and João de Deus Souza Carneiro
This study aimed to identify, with producers of specialty beers (SBs), producers' perceptions regarding the consumers, besides analyzing the consumer's behavior of SBs regarding…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to identify, with producers of specialty beers (SBs), producers' perceptions regarding the consumers, besides analyzing the consumer's behavior of SBs regarding consumers' preferences, perceptions and determining buying factors.
Design/methodology/approach
In the qualitative analysis, interviews were performed with 14 professionals from the SB industry. In the quantitative study, 301 consumers of SB answered a questionnaire about preferences, perception and determining buying factors of special beer. Techniques such as content analysis, frequency analysis, cross-tabulation and hierarchical cluster analysis were used in this study.
Findings
The study demonstrated an important convergence in the perceptions of producers about consumers and the real behavior of SB consumers, mainly on factors of beer packaging, label, style and price. Those respondents consuming just SB were characterized by having higher income, frequency and time of beer consumption and willingness to pay more for the product. Cluster analysis allowed to segment respondents into three groups: (1) beginners in the universe of SBs who also drink commercial beers; (2) regular consumers willing to pay more for SB and (3) legitimate consumers of SB averse to commercial beer.
Practical implications
There are practical implications in this study such as new products development and assertive creation of labels and packaging for special beers.
Social implications
There are social implications in this study such as the convergence between industry professionals and consumers.
Originality/value
By addressing professionals and consumers, this study generated scientific information and knowledge to assist the specialty brewing industry in developing new products and defining marketing strategies as well as creating actions for bringing producers and consumers closer together to benefit both parties.
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Parisa Sabbagh, Mangirdas Morkūnas and Antonino Galati
This paper systematically explores the consequences of the adoption of blockchain technology (BCT) in the wine supply chain, aiming to offer a comprehensive overview of its…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper systematically explores the consequences of the adoption of blockchain technology (BCT) in the wine supply chain, aiming to offer a comprehensive overview of its advantages within the dynamic and complex wine sector.
Design/methodology/approach
This study deploys the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) method to provide a comprehensive examination of the effects of BCT adoption in the wine supply chain (WSC) by guiding the conduct and reporting of the systematic review.
Findings
The findings identify eight primary areas of advantage in blockchain adoption, illuminating its transformative impact on the wine industry. In addition, an examination of the technical attributes and applications of 17 existing blockchain-based platforms in the wine supply chain contributes valuable insights for strategic decision-making by wineries.
Originality/value
This study, through a systematic literature review, contributes to understand the potential BCT interactions at different stages of the WSC and to highlight some of the lesser known benefits for wineries.
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Anandika Sharma, Tarunpreet Bhatia, Rohit Kumar Singh and Anupam Sharma
The food supply chain has faced many challenges due to its complex and complicated nature. Blockchain technology is one of the mechanisms used to improve agri-food supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
The food supply chain has faced many challenges due to its complex and complicated nature. Blockchain technology is one of the mechanisms used to improve agri-food supply chain processes by evolving organization capabilities. A study is being conducted to scrutinize the adoption of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain through the lens of the operational capability approach. It further makes an attempt to identify the capabilities of blockchain to improve supply chain processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews was used to gather information from experts and professionals in the food supply chain and blockchain technology. The authors have adopted a systematic approach of coding using open, axial and selective methods to depict and identify the themes that represent the blockchain-enabled agri-food supply chain. The data were collected from 32 interviews of selected participants.
Findings
The result shows five critical areas where blockchain can come up to enhance the agri-food supply chain performance by providing traceability, transparency, information security, transactions, and trust and quality. Further, the study reveals that blockchain will provide safety, lower the cost of transactions and can create trust among users to communicate within the whole supply chain without the intervention of a third party. This study demonstrated that the capabilities need to be considered when introducing technology into the practice.
Research limitations/implications
The study implies thought-provoking implications for bridging the theory-practice gap by examining the empirical data to demonstrate how the operational capabilities of blockchain technology further strengthen the agri-food supply chain. Additionally, this study provides some suggestions for utilizing the results and proposes a framework to understand more about blockchain use cases in the agri-food supply chain as well as extend the application of blockchain using an operational capability approach for future academic researchers in this area.
Practical implications
This study presented some more important managerial implications which reveal that the majority of organisations were in the initial stages of adoption process of blockchain technology. Further, the positive influence of managers and IT experts can help the information technology companies (IT) and stakeholders for developing and promoting blockchain solutions in the agri-food supply chain. The important implication of blockchain enabled agri-food supply chain is to maintain information security and incresae supply chain performance.
Originality/value
The study shows the operational capabilities of agri-food supply chain using blockchain technology. Blockchain can contribute in enhancing the agri-food supply chain to increase traceability and transparency and helps to reduce the risk of disruptions.