Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2013 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
The present paper provides a literature review of studies examining the potential causes and consequences of recent surges in\r\nfood and agricultural commodity prices. Furthermore, this paper uses the structural trend methodology proposed by Koopman\r\net al. (2009) to analyze movements in the IMF monthly commodity food price index for the period 1992(11)ââ?¬â??2012(10) and to\r\nprovide forecasts for the period 2012(11)ââ?¬â??2014(12). The empirical results indicate that commodity food prices present seasonality\r\nand cyclicality with the longest periodicity of two years.The empirical findings identify certain structural breaks in commodity food\r\nprice series aswell as outliers. These structural breaks seem to capture the trend component of the price serieswell,while the outliers\r\ntake account of temporal effects, that is, short-lived spikes. Finally, the presented forecasts show high and volatile commodity food\r\nprices....
Nutrition information enables consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing and\r\nconsuming food products. Despite this, the issue of consumer awareness and usage of\r\nnutrition information has attracted little research attention in developing countries. This study\r\npresents findings of an empirical investigation of nutrition information awareness and usage\r\nin Botswana. The study is descriptive and data was collected using a structured questionnaire\r\nadministered to a sample of 150 consumers in Gaborone, the Capital City of Botswana. A\r\nmall-intercept technique was used in the selection of the respondents. The main findings of\r\nthe study indicate that the level of awareness of nutrition information among the sampled\r\nconsumers is relatively high, and that the majority of them use nutrition information to\r\ninform food purchases. The study further finds that whereas nutrition information awareness\r\ndoes not significantly differ across the demographic segments, usage differs. Lack of\r\nknowledge and interest are the main factors that prevent consumers from using nutrition\r\ninformation. Nutrition information is mostly used when comparing products or when buying\r\nfood products for the first time. These findings highlight the need to improve nutrition\r\neducation in Botswana. The findings also suggest that food producers in Botswana need to\r\nuse nutrition information to differentiate their products from competitors�. Similarly, the\r\nfindings highlight the need for the food industry in Botswana to establish more effective\r\nnutrition information labeling standards. However, these findings need to be interpreted with\r\ncaution as they are based on consumers� self-report of nutrition information use, which is\r\nhighly subjective....
Background: Few studies have focused on the relationship between the retail food environment and household\r\nfood supplies. This study examines spatial access to retail food stores, food shopping habits, and nutrients available\r\nin household food supplies among 50 Mexican-origin families residing in Texas border colonias.\r\nMethods: The design was cross-sectional; data were collected in the home March to June 2010 by promotoraresearchers.\r\nGround-truthed methods enumerated traditional (supercenters, supermarkets, grocery stores),\r\nconvenience (convenience stores and food marts), and non-traditional (dollar stores, discount stores) retail food\r\nstores. Spatial access was computed using the network distance from each participant�s residence to each food\r\nstore. Data included survey data and two household food inventories (HFI) of the presence and amount of food\r\nitems in the home. The Spanish language interviewer-administered survey included demographics, transportation\r\naccess, food purchasing, food and nutrition assistance program participation, and the 18-item Core Food Security\r\nModule. Nutrition Data Systems for Research (NDS-R) was used to calculate HFI nutrients. Adult equivalent\r\nadjustment constants (AE), based on age and gender calorie needs, were calculated based on the age- and gender\r\ncomposition of each household and used to adjust HFI nutrients for household composition. Data were analyzed\r\nusing bivariate analysis and linear regression models to determine the association of independent variables with\r\nthe availability of each AE-adjusted nutrient.\r\nResults: Regression models showed that households in which the child independently purchased food from a\r\nconvenience store at least once a week had foods and beverages with increased amounts of total energy, total fat,\r\nand saturated fat. A greater distance to the nearest convenience store was associated with reduced amounts of\r\ntotal energy, vitamin D, total sugar, added sugar, total fat, and saturated fat. Participation in the National School\r\nLunch Program (NSLP) was associated with lower household levels of total energy, calcium, vitamin C, sodium,\r\nvitamin D, and saturated fat. Spatial access and utilization of supermarkets and dollar stores were not associated\r\nwith nutrient availability.\r\nConclusions: Although household members frequently purchased food items from supermarkets or dollar stores, it\r\nwas spatial access to and frequent utilization of convenience food stores that influenced the amount of nutrients\r\npresent in Texas border colonia households. These findings also suggest that households which participate in NSLP\r\nhave reduced AE-adjusted nutrients available in the home. The next step will target changes within convenience\r\nstores to improve in-store marketing of foods and beverages to children and adults....
The integration among different companies\r\nfunctions, collaborative planning and the elaboration of\r\nfocused distribution plans are critical to the success of\r\neach kind of company working in the complex retail\r\nsector. In this contest, the present work proposes\r\nthe description of a model able to support coordinated\r\nstrategic choices continually made by Supply Chain (SC)\r\nactors. The final objective is achievement of the full\r\noptimisation of Merchandise & Replenishment Planning\r\nphases, identifying the right replenishment quantities and\r\nperiods.\r\nTo test the proposed model�s effectiveness, it was applied\r\nto an important Italian fashion company in the complex\r\nfield of fast-fashion, a sector in which promptness is a main\r\ncompetitive leverage and, therefore, the planning cannot\r\nexclude the time variable. The passage from a total push\r\nstrategy, currently used by the company, to a push-pull\r\none, suggested by the model, allowed us not only to\r\nestimate a reduction in goods quantities to purchase at the\r\nbeginning of a sales period (with considerable economic\r\nsavings), but also elaborate a focused replenishment plan\r\nthat permits reduction and optimisation of departures\r\nfrom network warehouses to Points of Sale (POS)....
In this paper we investigate the most\r\nprominent drivers of brand equity, from a consumer\r\nbased point of view. We present a new approach for\r\nmeasuring brand equity, which can be applied\r\nregardless of the brand sector and is based on the\r\nAnalytic Hierarchy Process. This approach has the\r\nmain advantage of allowing for comparisons to be\r\nmade between nondirectlymeasurable elements and\r\nalso has the advantage of enabling the ranking of\r\nintangible criteria, such as consumersââ?¬â?¢ feelings or\r\npurchaseintentions.Wefocusonthefashionindustry,\r\nsince we believe in the higher value of our approach\r\nwhenappliedtobrandswhichofferproductswithless\r\ntangiblecharacteristics.Thankstoacasestudyââ?¬â??which\r\ninvolved about 250 interviewees ââ?¬â?? we succeed in\r\nfinding and prioritizing the elementswhich can have\r\nanimpactonthebrandvalue.Wealsoprovideaglobal\r\nrankingforthreeapparelbrands:Gap,H&MandZara.\r\nThe results from our model are consistent with other\r\npopularratingsandcanbeextremelyusefulforbrand\r\nmanagers....
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