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This working paper presents results from the project 'Supra-company level determinants of degree of market orientation of value chains in agriculture and fisheries', which is carried out in cooperation between MAPP - Centre for Research on Customer Relations in the Food Sector, Aarhus School of Business, Denmark, the Norwegian College of Fisheries Science, University of Tromsø, Norway, and the Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, Scotland. It has benefited from grants from the Danish Social Science Research Council and from the Norwegian Research Council. The present working paper is the 'long' version of the empirical work in the first major phase of the project, where we study four examples of food value chains to get insight into their degree of market orientation and possible determinants. The insights gained here have been used in subsequent empirical work that is currently underway.

European consumers are skeptical towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food production, and their willingness to buy such products is low. Previous research also shows that these attitudes are quite resistant to attempts to change them by giving additional information. The aim of the study was to investigate if positive sensory experience with a (purportedly) GMO‐based food product would influence consumers' attitude towards the use of GMOs in food production. An experiment was conducted in which subjects in the experimental group tasted cheeses, one of which was labeled as “produced using GMOs.” The cheeses were selected in a way that ensured that the subject had a sensory preference for the GMO cheese. A control group tasted cheeses that were unlabelled. After the tasting, subjects completed a conjoint analysis task about cheese, in which the type of starter culture used (GMO/conventional) was one of the attributes. Subjects also were administered a set of items measuring attitude towards the use of GMOs in food production. Results showed that for subjects in the experimental group (who believed that they had tasted a GMO cheese, with which they had a positive sensory experience) (1) attitude towards GMO in food production was less negative, and (2) type of starter culture used (GM/conventional) had less impact on their buying intentions with regard to cheese than for subjects in the control group.

This paper analyses the changing competence requirements which members of the food chain face in their pursuit of competitive advantage. Two groups of trends serve as point of departure: more dynamic and heterogeneous consumer demands, which can be analysed in terms of consumer demands for sensory, health, process and convenience qualities, and changing roles for retailers in the food chain. Based on these trends, it is argued that competencies which can increase producers' level of market orientation get increased weight in the attainment of competitive advantage, and three types of competencies are singled out as especially important: consumer understanding, relationship management, and new product development. The development of market-related competencies aimed at exploiting trends in consumer behaviour and retailing will also entail changing forms of cooperation among members of the value chain, which favour both new ways of adding value but also new ways of matching consumer heterogeneity with heterogeneity in agricultural raw materials.

In the first part of the paper, the Total Food Quality Model is used as a frame of reference for analysing the way in which consumers perceive meat quality, drawing mainly on European studies involving beef and pork. The way in which consumers form expectations about quality at the point of purchase, based on own experience and informational cues available in the shopping environment, is described, as well as the way in which quality is experienced in the home during and after meal preparation. The relationship between quality expectations and quality experience and its implications for consumer satisfaction and repeat purchase intent is addressed. In the second part of the paper, and building on the insights obtained on subjective quality perception, possibilities for consumer-oriented product development in the meat sector are addressed. Issues dealt with here are branding, differentiation by taste, healthiness and convenience, and by process characteristics like organic production and animal welfare.

Det oksekød, der produceres i EU, kommer hovedsageligt fra malkekøer, som slagtes direkte efter de udtages fra produktionen (Nielsen, 1998). Kødet fra disse dyr er kendetegnet ved en betydelig kvalitetsvariation. Kvaliteten kan muligvis forbedres ved at færdigfede dyrene før slagtningen. Systematisk viden om, hvordan produktionsparametre som slutfedning påvirker den spisekvalitet, forbrugerne oplever, er dog sparsom. Kun hvis en færdigfedning påvirker kødkvaliteten i en sådan grad, at forskellen opleves af forbrugerne, kan det forventes, at kød fra dyr, som er blevet færdigfedet, vil kunne opnå en merpris, der kan retfærdiggøre de ekstraomkostninger, som en slutfedning medfører. Formålet med dette projekt er derfor at undersøge, om en slutfedning af udsætterkøer påvirker den spisekvalitet, forbrugerne oplever for oksekød. Et yderligere formål er at bidrage til en bedre forståelse af forbrugernes kvalitetsopfattelsesproces i forbindelse med køb, tilberedning og spisning af oksekød.

1. Consumers form expectations about the quality of meat at the point of purchase based on the quality cues that are available to them in the shop. These expectations can either be confirmed or disconfirmed during consumption, depending on how cap the consumers actually are of predicting the quality that they will perceived when preparing and consuming the meat. 2. The study uses the Total Food Quality Model as a frame of reference to investigate how consumers' quality expectations and quality experience with regard to pork are formed, how they are interrelated, and how both of them are related to a number of physical product characteristics commonly used to assess objective pork quality. 3. 200 German consumers are interviewed using real samples of pork chops, alongside with technical measurements of the meat quality. 4. Results show that consumers use colour, fat marbling, share of fat and quantity of meat juice as product-specific quality cues to derive expectations about the quality of pork. Consumers associate the quality of pork with health-related and hedonistic dimensions, and both quality expectations and quality experience are determined by the perceived taste, tenderness, wholesomeness, nutritional value, freshness, ju and leanness of the meat. 5. Results also reveal a moderate accordance between quality expectations and quality experience, meaning that the quality expectations consumers derive are not fully predictive of the quality that will be experienced upon consuming the meat. 6. Finally, it is clear that both quality expectations and quality experience are only weakly related to objective product characteristics. In some cases, an objective product characteristic may even have a positive impact on quality expectations and a negative impact on quality experience, or vice versa. 7. Since consumers obviously lack competence in judging the quality of meat when choosing among different kinds of meat in a purchase situation, marketers of pork are faced with a serious problem. One way of dealing with this problem, in cases where quality experience exceeds expectations, is to market the meat as part of a quality mark programme which outlines relevant sensory characteristics of the meat to the consumers.

Este artículo presenta un instrumento teórico para analizar los estilos de vida alimenticios de los consumidores. El estilo de vida alimenticio es percibido como un esquema mental que enmarca el comportamiento del consumidor, pero que no es idénti las acciones de compartamiento indivual. Se presenta la aplicatión de este instrumento por primera vez a una muestra representativa de consumidores españoles (n=1000). En base a los datos de las encuestas, se determinan las características general los consumidores y se identifican diferentes segmentos en base al estilo de vida alimenticio, utilizando un análisis cluster jerárquico. Los segmentos de consumidores obtenidos son: aventureros, conservadores, pasotas, racionales y entusiastas. Es segmentos y las características generales de los consumidores españoles son comparados y descritos.

This paper deals with consumer perceptions of food quality before and after consuming the product, and with the relationship between quality perception and the actural physiological characteristics of the product. The paper is work in progress and with an investigation of how German consumers perceive the quality of pork (n=200). The main objectives of the study are 1) to investigate which factors determine expected and experienced quality of pork, 2) to investigate the relation between exp and experienced quality, and 3) to investigate the impact of the physiological characteristics of the pork on expected and experienced quality. The study uses the Total Food Quality Model (Grunert et al, 1996) as a theoretical framework.

Denne rapport indeholder hovedresultaterne af en undersøgelse om fødevarerelateret livsstil i Spanien. Undersøgelsen baserer sig på en nationalt repræsentativ stikprøve på 1000 spanske husstande.

Executive summary 1. Danish consumption of seafood is difficult to estimate reliably. A qualified estimate would put it at 21-22 kgs landed weight per capita per annum, with a slightly increasing tendency. Tinned fish is the most popular type of product, followed by fresh fish, frozen fish, smoked fish, shelled prawns, and ready-cooked fish meals. 2. Fresh fish is mainly bought at the fishmonger's, but a considerable proportion consists of van sales, fish bought from friends and relatives, fishermen at the harbour, and own catches. When asked about their preferred point of purchase for fresh fish, consumers put the fishmonger and the fisherman at the harbour at the top, with 42% and 32% respectively. This can be interpreted as expressing consume desire to be as close to the landing time as possible. 3. Initiatives to increase Danish consumption of seafood should take account of the following: ­ The main problem with fresh fish is access. Many consumers find it difficult to buy, prepare, and eat fresh fish. ­ It is not enough just to sell fresh fish in supermarkets. Many consumers think that supermarkets do not have the necessary expertise to handle and sell fresh fish. ­ Increasing access by filleting and deep-freezing fish is no solution. Many consumers perceive frozen fish as a different product from fresh fish; they doubt that frozen fish is as healthy and natural as fresh fish. ­ The family motive plays a central role in the purchase of seafood. While many consumers think that seafood is good for the family, they also think that the inconvenience of and time spent on shopping, preparation and consumption will have a negative effect on the family's well-being. ­ It is a waste of time emphasising how healthy and nutritious seafood is ­ all consumers know that seafood is good for you. However, many perceive frozen fish as being less healthy than fresh fish. ­ Purchasing behaviour for seafood varies from segment to segment; not all segments are equally inclined to increase their consumption of seafood, and not all segments can be reached with the same marketing strategy. The eco-moderates and the rational (20% and 11% of the population respectively) have the biggest potential for fresh fish, while the careless and the adventurous (23 25% respectively) have the biggest potential for frozen fish. The biggest potential for shellfish (prawns) lies in the adventurous (25%), the careless (23%), and the conservative (11%) segments. 4. Marketing should therefore increase access and at the same time preserve the perception of freshness, naturalness, and being close to primary production. It must underline the family motive and ignore health-related aspects. Both the marketed products and market communication should be adapted to one more of the six Danish consumer segments.

Executive summary 1. Food markets are claimed to be characterized by two opposing tendencies. On the one hand, food culture seems to be a domain of increasingly transnational character. On the other hand, there is substantial evidence that food culture has considerable inertia. This paper reports a series of studies aimed at investigating whether cross-national food consumer segments can be found. 2. Food consumer segments are derived using the food-related lifestyle instrument, which characterizes consumers by how they employ food and eating to obtain life values. The instrument, which has been developed especially with a view towards cross-national comparisons, consists of 69 items measuring 23 dimensions. 3. 1000 respondents were interviewed in each of the countries France, Germany, and Great Britain. 1200 respondents were interviewed in Denmark. Respondents had the main responsibility for shopping and meal preparation in their households. Data were collected by personal interviews. 4. A test of the cross-cultural validity of the data obtained using a confirmatory factor analysis approach showed that the data have at least minimal cross-cultural comparability, and sometimes higher degrees of cross-cultural comparability. 5. Nation-wise cluster analysis using Ward's method yielded sets of five or six segments per country. The segments were labelled the uninvolved food consumer, the careless food consumer, the rational food consumer, the conservative food consumer, the adventurous consumer, the moderate food consumer (France only), the hedonistic food consumer (France only), and the eco-moderate food consumer (Denmark only). 6. A comparison of the segment profiles across nations by MDS showed that most segments group naturally, even though there are numerous differences in the absolute scale means across nations for comparable segments. A cross-national cluster analysis yielded four segments which could be interpreted in a way similar to the across-nation analysis of the national segment profiles. It was also shown that the way in which the national segments are distributed across the cross-national segments supports this interpretation. 7. The results tend to indicate a rather strong tendency towards cross-national segments. This is especially strong for the groups of conservative, uninvolved, adventurous, and careless food consumers.

Executive summary 1. With the Total Food Quality Model as point of departure, a study is described which analyses how consumers evaluate the quality of beef in a purchase situation in four European countries: France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The study consisted of a series of focus groups and of an extended form of conjoint analysis which enables an estimatation of means-end structures. 2. Tradition and security, variation, atmosphere and social life, health, acceptance from family/children/guests, nutrition, demonstration of cooking abilities, and status are the most important purchasing motives in all four countries. 3. The most important quality aspects of beef are that it tastes good, is tender, juicy, fresh, lean, healthy and nutritious. 4. Purchasing motives as well as quality aspects are uni-dimensional in Germany, Spain, and the UK, while they are multi-dimensional in France. This implies that French consumers have a more sophisticated purchasing behaviour than consumers in the other countries. 5. Place of purchase and quality perception are related in all four countries, ie the butcher is regarded as a sort of guarantor of high quality. This applies less in the UK than in the other countries, however. 6. The most important concrete product characteristics, which consumers base their quality evaluation on, are fat content and colour. Fat is generally negative, and this applies to all aspects of fat. The positive effects of fat on taste and tenderness a unimportant. German consumers prefer dark meat, whereas Spanish consumers tend to prefer light meat. 7. Information about country of origin and breeding and feeding has no effect on quality perception. 8. The results suggest that producers of superior beef have a problem in communicating this quality to consumers, and that a quality grading system developed in co-operation between producer and retailer may be the best way to overcome consumer uncertainty in evaluating the quality of beef.

Executive summary 1) The means-end chain model has been widely advocated for the understanding of how consumers perceive self-relevant consequences of products. The model implies that subjective product meaning is established by associations between product attributes and more abstract, more central cognitive categories like values. A means-end chain consists of concrete product attributes, abstract product attributes, functional consequences, psychosocial consequences, instrumental values, a terminal values. 2) The most common method of measuring means-end chains has been the laddering interview technique. Laddering is a semi-qualitative technique which is open for the respondent's own answers without flooding the interviewer with data, as do other qualitative techniques. The results from the laddering interviews are coded and usually presented in a so-called hierarchical value map. 3) However popular, a number of problems with means-end chain analysis have been pointed out. In this paper we report how three variables affect the outcome of a laddering study, namely (1) product experience, (2) product involvement, and (3) verbal processing style. 4) 90 respondents in the Copenhagen area were interviewed. Respondents were asked to rank four meat types, ie, (1) a fresh, whole, gutted plaice, (2) a package of frozen fish fillets, (3) a whole, frozen chicken, and (4) a package of fresh pork chops, according to how likely it would be that they would use them for a hot meal on a work Respondents were asked to give reasons for the ranking, and from the answers given, laddering procedures were carried out. 5) At the aggregate level, ie when comparing hierarchical value maps across different groups of consumers, the investigation showed that less involved consumers perceived more negative consequences of the consumption of fresh plaice than did the more involved consumers. Fresh fish is perceived to be difficult to get hold of ­ it has to be bought at the fishmonger's ­ di to prepare, and difficult to eat. These aspects are considered time-consuming and result in less time spent with the family. Both the less involved and the more involved consumers regard fresh plaice as healthy. 6) At the individual level, ie when comparing the amount and character of the data provided by the individual respondents, we found that consumers' level of experience had a significant positive relationship with the number of ladders retrieved in the interviews and a significant ne relationship with the proportion of consequence categories. There was no effect on the value categories' share of the total number of categories. As for consumers' level of involvement we found a significant positive correlation with the number of ladders provided in the interviews. Consumers' tendency towards a verbal processing style seemed to have no influence on neither the number of ladders, average length of the ladders, nor the proportion of value categories in the data set. 7) The study seems to indicate that it is possible to employ laddering with consumers with both higher and lower degrees of involvement and experience. The study also showed that the respondent's capability of verbal processing had no influence on the results. method can therefore not be said to be more or less applicable to respondents with varying degrees of verbal processing ability.

Executive summary 1. In recent years, means-end chains ­ and the laddering technique as a way to measure these chains ­ have become popular in consumer research. At the same time, however, a substantial amount of critique regarding the validity of the theory as well as the method has been published. 2. Some of the critique relates to the use of laddering with low involvement products, neglect of the situational factor when making laddering interviews, and the lack of a link from means-ends chains to constructs which are closer to the actual behaviour of consumers. Furthermore 'hierarchical value maps', which are normally used for analysing laddering data, have been criticised for being questionable representations of raw data. 3. This paper reports on a study in which laddering was used to measure means-end chains for a low involvement product (vegetable oil), explicitly controlling for the situation. Also, a possible way of linking means-ends data to overall product perceptions and alternat the 'hierarchical value map' analysis are presented. 4. The study presented is part of the Danish research project Rape seed oil for human consumption. Although modern Danish rape seed oil has nutritional qualities which are comparable to the best vegetable oils on the market, and in spite of the fact that rape seed oil covers as much as one third of the Danish demand for vegetable oil, it still leads an anonymous life in the mind of the Danish food consumer.

Food markets are claimed to be characterized by two opposing tendencies: On the one hand, food culture seems to be a domain of increasingly transnational character. On the other hand, there is substantial evidence that food culture has considerabl inertia. This papers reports a series of studies aimed at investigating whether cross-national food consumer segments can be found. Food consumer segments are derived using the food-related lifestyle instrument, which characterizes consumers by ho employ food and eating to obtain life values. The instrument, which has been developed especially with a view towards cross-national comparisons, consists of 69 items measuring 23 dimensions. 1000 respondents each were interviewed in Denmark, Fran Germany, and the United Kingdom. A test of the cross-cultural validity of the data obtained using a confirmatory factor analysis approach showed that the data have at least weak cross-cultural comparability. Nation-wise cluster analysis using Ward method yielded sets of five or six segments per country. The segments were named the uninvolved, the careless, the rational, the conservative, and the adventurous food consumers. A comparison of the segment profiles across nations by MDS showed th segments group naturally. The results tend to indicate a rather strong tendency towards cross-national segments.

Executive summary 1. We define a key success factor as a skill or resource that a business can invest in, which, on the market the business is operating on, explains a major part of the observable differences in perceived value and/or relative costs. The key success factors as perceived by managers need not be identical with the actual key success factors in a market. 2. Depth interviews with managers in yoghurt-producing companies in Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom showed considerable variation in both substance and degree of detail in their perceptions of the determinants of success on their markets. 3. When aggregated, 16 potential key success factors were derived: High product quality, attractive packaging, high quality of raw material, possession of advanced technology and know-how, competent management and competent staff, wide product range, extensive product development activities/high degree of innovativeness, extensive marketing activities, (abundant) financial resources, s production, good logistics management, good product portfolio management, non-complex organisation, low retail prices, good relations with trade, extensive market knowledge. 4. According to managers' perceptions, three direct determinants lead to high perceived value: attractive packaging, high product quality, and extensive marketing activities. High product quality is in turn determined by high raw material quality, possession of advanced technology and know-how, and competent management and indicating an emphasis on an objective concept of quality. 5. According to managers' perceptions, extensive market knowledge is the main determinant of good relations with trade, supplemented by extensive product development activities, good logistics management, and extensive marketing activities. Competent management and staff is a major second-order determinant. 6. According to managers' perceptions, scale production, possession of advanced technology and know-how, and good logistics management are regarded as the main direct determinants of low relative costs, with competent management and staff and financial resources as second-order determinants. 7. Managers' perceptions seem to be fairly correct with regard to the determinants of consumer perceived value and good relations with trade. They do not seem to be correct with regard to the determinants of low relative costs.

Executive summary 1. This report is about an investigation of food-related lifestyle in France, based on a representative sample of 1000 households. 2. The French consumers are described by five segments, which differ in how and to which extent they use food and cooking to attain their central life values. We call them the uninvolved, the moderate, the conservative, the rational and the hedonistic food consumers. The segments have only little relation to demographic variables. 3. The uninvolved food consumers stand for 18% of the population. These consumers are uninvolved in practically every aspect of food. Their food-related lifestyle is characterized by the fact that they do not use food to achieve basic values. What these consumers w from life they get through other channels than food. 4. The moderate food consumers stand for 16% of the population. These consumers lie close to the average for the French population as a whole in nearly all dimensions of food related lifestyle. This is the picture of a food consumer one would get if one only looked at the average for the whole population and did not divide it into segments: moderate interest in nearly all aspect of shopping and cooking. 5. The conservative food consumers stand for 13% of the population. Food is an important part of these consumers' lives. Food and food products create stability and security in their lives. This is reflected in the careful planning of both shopping and cooking, and an aversion to anything ne Taste is a prominent criterion influencing choice. 6. The rational food consumers stand for 35% of the population. Food and food products are an important part of these consumers' lives, and are essential for achieving such basic values as self-fulfilment, recognition, social togetherness and security. This gives rise to an interested-critical shopping behaviour, which is characterized by a strong interest in product information, price, and such major quality aspects as healthiness ecological/naturalness. New products are not interesting in themselves, unless they represent improvements on the above-mentioned characteristics. Innovation is expected more from cooking than from shopping. 7. The hedonistic food consumers stand for 18% of the population. Food and food products are an important element also in these consumers' lives. The crucial motives are recognition, self-fulfilment and social relations. Cooking is a creative and social process for the whole family. These creative and social aspects are more important than the more rational aspects of buying food, which is reflected in the lower priority given to such quality aspects as healthiness and naturalness. The hedonistic aspects of food and cooking are the conspicuous here.

Executive summary 1. This report is about an investigation of food-related lifestyle in Great Britain, based on a representative sample of 1000 households. 2. The British consumers are described by five segments, which differ in how and to which extent they use food and cooking to attain their central life values. We call them the uninvolved, the careless, the uninterested conservative, the interested conservative, and the adventurous food consumers. The segments have only little relation to demographic variables. 3. The interested conservative food consumer stands for 33% of the population. This segment consists of conusmers who are interested in food and cooking, because it is a part of tradition and can therefore help create a feeling of security in their lives. They are critical in the sense that they attach importance to information and are interested in a lot of product characteristics. They also like shopping. They are not completely dismissive of new ways of cooking food, but recipes must be based on traditions, and preferably also on familiar products. 4. The uninterested conservative food consumers stand for 19% of the population. Also this segment stresses the security that traditional eating can create, but it doesn't make them any keener on cooking. They are price conscious, but do not otherwise attach much importance to product characteristics or general information about products. They are conservative with regard to cooking, who does it, and in eating habit are not interested in new products whatsoever. 5. The careless food consumers stand for 27% of the population. This is a group of consumers for whom food is not especially important for achieving basic values, which is reflected in their careless shopping and cooking behaviour. For these consumers, tradition is not equated with security, but then eating and food products are not linked to any other values either. They plan little, but are tempted by new products - as long as they don't req more effort or new cooking skills, and especially if they fit in with eating habits characterized by a large propensity to eat snacks. 6. The uninvolved food consumers stand for 9% of the population. These consumers are uninvolved in practically every aspect of food. Their food-related lifestyle is characterized by the fact that they don't use food to achieve basic values; they achieve them through other channels. 7. The adventurous food consumers stand for 12% of the population. Food and food products are the most important element in these consumers' lives. The decisive motives are recognition and self-fulfilment. Cooking is a creative and social process for the whole family.

Executive summary 1. There are two major views on innovation. In one view, innovation is closely linked to technological change and to research and development (R&D) activities; a view prevailing in industrial economics literature. In the other view, mainly taken in marketing literature, innovation is regarded as the detection and fulfilment of unfilled needs and wants of potential customers, presupposing a market orientation of the innovative company. In the food sector, the interaction of R& market orientation can be expected to be a major determinant of innovation and innovativeness. 2. A product innovation is defined as something which is new to the consumer, the distributor, and/or the producer. It can be caused by any changes in the marketing parameters. A process innovation is defined as investments enabling product innovations. Innovations can be more or less successful, as measured by market acceptance of fulfilment of company goals. Companies can differ in their degree of innovativeness, depending on the number and success of their innovations. 3. There is no clear-cut evidence on the relationship between the extent of R&D activities and business performance, neither in general nor in the food industry. There is some empirical evidence that a higher degree of market orientation leads to improved business performance, although this has not been demonstrated for the food industry. 4. The innovation process of a company is affected by the way in which the company is embedded in networks, clusters, and chains. Companies within an industry also exhibit certain patterns of innovative activities over time. 5. The size of the company may have an impact on its innovativeness, but the relationships is not clear, arguments being raised for a higher degree of innovativeness of both small and large companies. In the food sector, however, there may be reason to believe that small companies are better in invention and development, whereas larger companies have advantage market introduction and diffusion. 6. Vertical co-operation may improve innovativeness in three ways: downstream vertical co-operation can facilitate the generation of market intelligence, upstream vertical co-operation may facilitate the acquisition of production competences necessary for innovation, and the communicational requirements of vertical co-operation may facilitate market responsiveness. 7. Research on the determinants of success at the project level has identified three groups of factors: the existence of a clearly defined new product development strategy, market focus in the product development process, and the organisation of the product development process, especially a certain degree of formalisation.

Executive summary 1. Means-end chains are a device used to understand how consumers mentally link products to self-relevant consequences. Means-end chains are usually measured by a method called laddering. 2. Means-end chains may fall short of tapping all relevant aspects of how consumers think about products. Specifically, nonverbal imagery, episodic information, and procedural knowledge are not included in means-end chains. 3. A number of methodological problems can be identified in the collection of means-end chain data. Major problems, which should be addressed in research, are methods to elicit the product attributes the laddering is to start with, the integration of a usage situation in the interview, and the basic decision on how much direct the respondent. 4. Concerning the coding of laddering data, a higher degree of transparency of the coding process would be desirable. 5. Hierarchical value maps, a major graphic device used to visualise results from laddering studies, should take care of possible non-homogeneity of respondents and of the intricacies of aggregation following from it. 6. A catalog of research topics is developed that can guide studies aimed at improving the means-end chains and laddering methodology.

Executive summary 1. Rapporten beretter om en undersøgelse af briternes fødevarerelaterede livsstil, baseret på en repræsentativ stikprøve af 1000 husstande i hele Storbritannien. 2. Briterne kan beskrives ved fem segmenter, der adskiller sig med henblik på i hvilken grad og hvordan de bruger mad og fødevarer til at opnå de livsværdier, der er centrale for dem. Vi kalder dem de uinteresserede, de skødesløse, de uengagerede konservative, de engagerede konservative og de udforskende fødevareforbrugere. Segmenterne har kun ringe sammenhæng med demografiske kendetegn. 3. De engagerede konservative fødevareforbrugere udgør 33% af befolkningen. Dette segment er en gruppe af forbrugere, der interesserer sig for madvarer og madlavning, mest fordi det er en del af traditionen og derfor kan være med til at skabe tryghed i tilværelsen. De er kritiske forstået på den måde, at de lægger vægt på information og er interesserede i mange af fødevareprodukternes egenskaber. De kan også li købe ind. De er ikke helt afvisende over for nye måder at lave mad på, men de skal være baseret på traditionerne og helst også tage udgangspunkt i kendte produkter. 4. De uengagerede konservative fødevareforbrugere udgør 19% af befolkningen. Også dette segment lægger vægt på den tryghed, traditionsbunden spiseadfærd kan skabe, men det får dem ikke til at gå op i indkøb eller madlavning. De kigger på prisen, men ellers lægger de ikke særlig vægt på produkegenskaber eller generel information om produkterne. De er konservative i tilberedningen, i relation til hvem der står i køkkenet og i forhold til spisemønstrene. De er slet ikke interesseret i nyheder. 5. De skødesløse fødevareforbrugere udgør 27% af befolkningen. De er en gruppe forbrugere, hvor fødevarer ikke er specielt vigtige til at opnå centrale livsværdier, hvilket afspejler sig i en skødeløs måde både at handle og lave mad på. Her bidrager mad ikke til tryghed gennem traditionerne, men heller ingen andre livsværdier kædes samm spisning og fødevarer. Disse folk planlægger lidt, men de lader sig friste af nye produkter, hvis de ikke kræver større indsats eller nye færdigheder i madlavningen, og specielt hvis de kan indpasses i et spisemønster, der er kendetegnet af en høj af snacking. 6. De uinteresserede fødevareforbrugere udgør 9% af befolkningen. Disse forbrugere er uinteresserede i stort set alle forhold omkring fødevarer. Deres fødevarerelaterede livsstil er karakteriseret ved, at de ikke bruger fødevarer til at opnå grundlæggende livsværdier. Det, disse forbruger ønsker at nå i deres liv, når de gennem andre kanaler end gennem maden. 7. De udforskende fødevareforbrugere udgør 12% af befolkningen. For dette segment er mad og fødevarer et vigtigt element i deres livsførelse. De afgørende motiver er anerkendelse og selvopfyldelse. Madlavning er en kreativ og social proces for hele familien.

Executive summary 1. This report is about an investigation of food-related lifestyle in Germany, based on a representative sample of 1000 households. 2. The German consumers are described by five segments, which differ in how and to which extent they use food and cooking to attain their central life values. We call them the uninvolved, the careless, the conservative, the rational and the adventurous food consumers. The segments have only little relation to demographic variables. 3. The uninvolved food consumers stand for 21% of the population. These consumers are quite uninterested in most aspects of food, with the possible exception of price and the social aspect. Their food-related lifestyle is characterized by the fact that they hardly food to achieve basic values at all. Whatever it is these consumers want to achieve in their lives, they achieve it through other channels than food. 4. The careless food consumers stand for 11% of the population. These consumers attach little importance to food as a means of achieving basic values, which is reflected in careless shopping and cooking behaviour. In this respect, they resemble the uninvolved food consumers. They differ in their impulsiveness and spontaneity: They plan ver little, and are often tempted by new products - as long as they don't require a greater effort or new cooking skills. 5. The conservative food consumers stand for 18% of the population. Food is an important part of these consumers' lives. Food and food products create stability and security in their lives. This is reflected in the careful planning of both shopping and cooking, and an aversion to anything new. Taste is a prominent criterion influencing choice. 6. The rational food consumers stand for 26% of the population. Food and food products are an important part of these consumers' lives, and are essential for achieving such basic values as self-fulfilment, recognition, social togetherness and security. This gives rise to an interested-cr shopping behaviour, which is characterized by a strong interest in product information, price, and such major quality aspects as healthiness and ecological/naturalness. New products are not interesting in themselves, unless they represent improvem the above-mentioned characteristics. Innovation is expected more from cooking than from shopping. 7. The adventurous food consumers stand for 24% of the population. Food and food products are an important element in these consumers' lives. Decisive motives are social togetherness and innovation. Cooking is a creative and social process for the whole family.

Executive summary: 1. When a set of products is exported to many different countries, these products will probably be in different stages of their life cycles in the various countries, and in addition the life cycles of various products may be lagged to each other. In such a situation, understanding the forces which move a product through its life cycle is important for decisions about when to withdraw from or enter a market, when to transfer a product from one country to another, and also with r to obtaining economies of scale and scope by grouping countries where the life cycle position is similar. 2. The main factors affecting sales of a canned pork product on a by-country basis are a) economic and socio-demographic factors: income, employment, importance of agricultural sector, education, household size, ownership of household appliances, urbanisation, age of population, b) cultural factors: religion, attitude towards meat, pork, and canned pork, usage of product, c) distrib factors: retail structure, outlet characteristics, possibilities for transporting fresh meat, d) competitive factors: primary and secondary competition, tariffs. 3. Information about these factors is not generally available from official statistics and other secondary sources, rendering a primary data collection necessary. In the present study, data about these factors was collected for a set of 26 countries. 4. Data analysis showed that, by using appropriate models, about 70% of the variation in sales of canned pork products can be explained by a subset of the factors named above. The models have been implemented in a software package that allows on-line simulations of the future development of sales for these products as a consequences o assumptions about changes in the factors determining sales.

Executive summary: 1. Modern marketing knowledge points out that competitor analysis is equally important as customer analysis for the attainment of sustainable competitive advantage, given the ways in which market environments have changed in the seventies and eighties. 2. A study based on interviews with 20 Danish food companies shows that they realise this need and do carry out competitor analysis. However, the collection, storage, and processing of competitor information is largely informal and accidental. It refers to direct competitors only, and it is mostly standard information about competitor prices, products, and market shares. 3. Danish food companies use competitor information mostly at the tactical/operational level. This is related to the fact that there is little long-term planning. 4. There is very little knowledge about competitors on export markets. 5. The company's salespeople and informal networks are the most important sources of information about competitors, even though salespeople are regarded as a not particularly reliable source of information. 6. Some companies desire a more formalized form of competitor analysis, while others regard a higher degree of formalization as a threat.

Executive summary: 1. Consumers in central planning economies have developed different skills from consumers in market economies: while the former have developed skills in locating products, the latter have developed skills in comparing and deciding between products. Even now, some of these differences probably remain. 2. In the food area, the former East Germany was characterized by a range of products that was quantitatively sufficient, but offered little variety and had low to medium quality. Products were sold at uniform prices in the whole country. Now, the variety and quality range of products is the same as in the West, and there are considerable price differences. 3. Differences between East and West German consumers were analysed by comparing samples of consumers in Kiel and Rostock. It was analysed how they perceive food products (frozen ready meals and cheese), and how they relate them to values (means-end approach). 4. While product perceptions are more focussed in the West and more fuzzy in the East, the basic perceptual dimensions are the same: they are based on concrete product attributes. 5. An analysis of the fundamental life values of East and West German consumers (using the Schwartz value inventory) showed that the East German sample scored higher on collectivistic values and the West German sample scored higher on individualistic values. 6. An analysis of how consumers link concrete product attributes (for frozen ready meals and for cheese) to fundamental life values showed that (1) there are slight differences in values, (2) West German respondents did get to the value level more quickly, (3) West German respondents started with more abstract attributes. 7. These differences indicate that East German consumers are, compared to West German consumers, at a lower level of habitualization of their shopping behaviour. While the purchase of food products in West Germany is to a large extent characterized by low involvement and inertia, the same purc in East Germany seem to be characterized by high involvement and real decision-making. 8. These differences have implications for appropriate marketing communication. The West German food consumer will generally be difficult to influence, because s/he is not highly interested in the product, and communication therefore requires media and messages that attract attention, are based on peripheral (eg emotional) cues, and are highly repetitive. East German food consumers will be interested in the p and in information about the product, and communication should therefore be more informative, based on functional product attributes.

Executive Summary: 1. We define market surveillance as the collection of information about variables which will allow inferences about the attractiveness of a company's present and future offerings. The attractiveness, in turn, will depend on the value customers perceive in a product relative to competing products and relative to its price. Such information on determinants of value perception and costs can be used in the strategy formulation of the company. 2. We define a market surveillance system as a set of methods/instruments to regularly select, collect, and process data about a market and its actors, with the aim of detecting changes in those long-term trends, which are expected to influence the attractiveness of a company's present an future offerings. 3. Different types of market surveillance systems can be distinguished based on the actors it covers (distributors/end users/competitors), whether it deals only with present or also with future offerings, which markets are covered, and how the data are collected (frequency/level of aggregation) and processed. 4. Market surveillance systems can be evaluated on their validity and their appeal. Validity is concerned with its ability to correctly predict the attractiveness of offerings. Appeal is the extent to which it motivates users to actually use it. Both validity and appeal are influenced by the way the information need of the company is assessed. 5. A qualitative study of a number of Danish food companies shows that all of them are engaged in market surveillance of some sort, but that none of them had a market surveillance system and that the design and usefulness of such a system are hard to imagine. 6. Four elements of a market surveillance system are distinguished: a market attractiveness module, a distributor module, a competitor module, and an end user module. 7. Distributor module, competitor module, and end user module are all concerned with characteristics of economic actors. We propose that three types of such characteristics are useful for a market surveillance system: decision-makers' cognitive structures, intraorganizational decision processes, and organizational resources. 8. For end users, cognitive structures can be measured by the instrument food-related life style, intraorganizational decision processes refer to family decision-making, and organizational resources to households' equipment with time and money. 9. For distributors, decision-makers' cognitive structures may be measured by an instrument termed retail supplier evaluation style, intraorganizational decision processes refer to retail purchasing routines, and organizational resources to distributors overall sales, profit, number of outlets etc. 10. For competitors, decision-makers' cognitive structures refer to their subjective key success factors, intraorganizational decision processes to managerial decision-making, and organizational resources to companies' scores on the market's key success factors.

This note informs about the Danish MAPP research programme, a collection of 15 research projects aimed at making product and process innovation in the food sector more market-based. The programme, which has an interdisciplinary base, but is geared towards marketing applications, is concerned with the organization of the innovation process, the interaction of consumer and producer criteria in product development, the assessment of long-term developments in the market environment and the role distribution system in product innovation. Innovation in both primary production and processing are considered.

Executive summary: 1. The term key success factors can be used in four different ways: a) as a necessary ingre-dient in a management information system, b) as a unique characteristic of a company, c) as a heuristic tool for managers to sharpen their thinking, d) as a description of the major skills and resources required to be successful in a given market. We adopt the last view. 2. The actual key success factors on a market, and those key success factors perceived by decision-makers in companies operating in the market, will be different. A number of psychological mechanisms result in misperceptions of the causes of success on a market. Both the actual key success factors on a market, and the way they are perceived by decision-makers, are amenable to scientific analysis. Such an analysis can improve performance of decision-makers on that market. 3. The major immediate causes of success on any market are the value perceived by customers in a business's products, and the costs (relative to competitors) incurred in producing this value. How good a business is in creating customer value at low costs will depend on skills and resources of the company. We therefore define a key success factor as a skill or resource that a business can i in, which, on the market the business is operating on, explains a major part of the observable differences in perceived value and/or relative costs. 4. Key success factors differ from core skills and resources, which are prerequisites for being on a market, but do not explain differences in value created and costs incurred. They also differ from slack skills and resources, which neither explain differences in value created and costs incurred, nor do they form prerequisites for being on a mark 5. Key success factors differ in their changeability, i.e., in the degree to which competitors can emulate them. They also differ in whether they are conjunctive or compensatory. Conjunctive key success factors are necessary conditions for superior performance. Compensatory key success factors open up for choices of areas of excellence and hence for the formation of strategic groups. 6. Perceived key success factors can be measured by semi-structured interviews with business decision-makers which follow a laddering procedure. Actual key success factors can be measured by collecting objective or semi-objective company data and relating them statistically to measures of relative costs and perceived value.

Executive summary 1. Few studies have to date explained consumer attitudes and purchase decisions with regard to genetically engineered food products. However, the increased marketing of genetically engineered food products and the considerable concern that consumers seem to express with regard to the technology call for the development of a theoretical basis for research into these issues. 2. The aim of the paper is to present three models which we have developed to explain consumer attitudes, buying behaviour and attitude change with regard to genetically engineered food products. All three models build on established consumer behaviour theory and on existing and comparable research in the field. 3. Consumer attitudes toward genetic engineering in food products are explained in an attitude model that builds on Fishbein's multiattribute attitude model. The model deviates from Fishbein's model in a number of ways: there is an explicit distinction between perceived benefits and risks and betwe attitude towards product and process, outcome beliefs are targeted at different outcome groups, more general attitudes are included as additional determinants of attitudes, and the traditional outcome evaluation measures are replaced by standardis regression coefficients obtained by regressing attitudes, measured by global measures, on beliefs. 4. Consumer buying behaviour with regard to specific genetically engineered food products is explained in a behavioural intention model which uses Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior as its point of departure. In the model, behavioural intention covers both intentions to purchase and intentions to avoid a genetically engineered food product, and the model suggests perceived moral obligation, perceive difficulty and, through the attitude to behaviour factor, the person's attitude towards genetic engineering in food production in general as additional determinants of behavioural intentions. 5. How consumers' attitudes towards genetically engineered food products are affected by various information strategies is explained in an attitude change model, which integrates aspects of the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Social Judgment Theory. The model specifically takes into account the impact of credibility and various informational factors, such as persuasive content of the information provided, on attitudes.

Executive summary 1. Rapporten beretter om en undersøgelse af danskernes fødevarerelaterede livsstil, baseret på en repræsentativ stikprøve på 1200 danske husstande. 2. Danskerne kan beskrives ved 6 segmenter, der adskiller sig ved i hvilken grad og hvordan de anvender mad og fødevarer til at opnå de livsværdier, der måtte være centrale for dem. Vi har kaldt segmenterne de udforskende, de rationelle, de skødesløse, de økologisk moderate, de konservative og de uinteresserede fødevareforbrugere Segmenterne kan kun i ringe omfang karakteriseres ud fra demografiske kendetegn. 3. De udforskende fødevareforbrugere udgør 25% af befolkningen. For disse meget engagerede fødevareforbrugere er socialt samvær, selvopfyldelse og fornyelse afgørende købsmotiver. De udforskende vil have kvalitetsprodukter og søger generelt udfordringer gennem produktvalget og i selve madlavningen, der udføres med deltagelse fra hele familien. 4. De rationelle fødevareforbrugere udgør 11% af befolkningen. Forbruget af fødevarer har også en meget central placering i disse forbrugeres livsførelse. Selvopfyldelse, anerkendelse, tryghed og socialt samvær tilstræbes gennem maden. Dette betyder, at de rationelle er interesserede, men kritiske forbrugere, der planl deres indkøb efter en rationel stillingtagen til varernes kvalitetsrelaterede aspekter i forhold til prisen. 5. De skødesløse fødevareforbrugere udgør 23% af befolkningen. Disse forbrugere indkøber og forbruger mad og fødevarer på lemfældig vis, og fødevarer er ikke centrale i disse forbrugeres livsførelse. Deres impulsivitet bevirker dog, at de lader sig friste af nye produkter, især hvis disse ikke kræver den store tilberedning. 6. De økologisk moderate fødevareforbrugere udgør 20% af befolkningen. Dette segment tillægger forbruget af mad og fødevarer moderat betydning for opnåelsen af central livsværdier. Som følge heraf er de ikke specielt interesserede i fødevarer som sådan, men en sundhedsbevidst adfærd bevirker, at de gern økologiske produkter. 7. De konservative fødevareforbrugere udgør 11% af befolkningen. For disse forbrugere er forbruget af mad og fødevarer forbundet med stort engagement, og fødevarer anses for centrale for opnåelse af tryghed og stabilitet i hverdagen. Dette betyder, at de konservative for alt i verden undgår nye produkter og opskrifter, ligesom mad og indkøb betragtes som kvindens ansvar. 8. De uinteresserede fødevareforbrugere udgør ligeledes 11% af befolkningen. Disse forbrugere er totalt uinteresserede i stort set alle aspekter af mad og fødevarer. Samtidig udviser de en meget traditionspræget spiseadfærd, der tjener som et middel til opnåelse af tryghed og stabilitet i hverdagen.

Executive summary 1. The Danish consumption of seafood is difficult to estimate reliably. A qualified estimation is a consumption of 21 to 22 kgs landed weight per capita per year with a slight increasing tendency. Tinned fish is the most popular type of product followed by fresh fish, frozen fish, smoked fish, shelled shrimp and ready-made fish dishes. 2. Fresh fish is mainly bought at the fishmonger's, but a considerable part of the distribution is also due to mobile fishmongers, friends and relatives, fishermen at the harbour and own landing. When consumers are asked about their favourite point of purchase for fresh fish, the stationary fishmonger and the fisherman at the harbour top the list with 42% and 32% of the consumers respect This may be interpreted as an expression of consumers' wish to be as close to the landing time as possible. 3. The following guidelines for an increase of the Danish consumption of seafood can be listed: · The main problem for fresh fish is access. Many consumers find it difficult to buy, prepare and eat fresh fish. · It is not enough just to sell fresh fish in supermarkets. Many consumers find that at present supermarkets do not have the necessary expertise to handle and sell fresh fish. · Increasing access by filleting and deep-freezing fish is no solution. Many consumers perceive frozen fish as a different product from fresh fish; they doubt that frozen fish is as healthy and natural as fresh fish. · The family motive plays a central role in the purchase of seafood. On the one hand many consumers find seafood good for the family's well-being, but on the other hand many consumers find that the inconvenience and the time spent on shopping, preparation and consumption may have a negative effect on the family's well-being. · Forget about health and nutrition in the marketing of seafood. All consumers know that seafood is good for you; frozen fish is, however, perceived by many as being less healthy than fresh fish. · Buying behaviour for seafood varies for the various consumer segments and not all segments are equally inclined to increase their consumption and not all segments can be reached with the same marketing effort. For fresh fish the largest potential is seen in the ecologically moderate segment (20% of the population) and the rational segment (11%). For frozen fish the largest potential lies with the careless (23%) and the adventurous (25%) segments. The largest potential for shellfi (shrimp) lies with the adventurous (25%), the careless (23%) and the conservative (11%) segments. 4. Marketing should therefore increase access and at the same time maintain the sense of freshness, naturalness, being close to primary production. It must underline the family motive and ignore the health-related aspects. Both the marketed products and the market communication should be adapted to one or more of the six Danish consumer segments.

There is wide agreement in the public debate that the food industry in Western industrialised countries is entering a difficult period. Several tendencies taken together work to increase the competitive pressure on food companies (Grunert et al., 1996): In affluent economies, it is one of the laws of economics that growth in markets for food products, if any, is not in terms of quantity, but in terms of value. Most industrialised economies are characterised by an oversupply of agricultural products. A global tendency towards deregulation, decrease of government subsidies to producers of agricultural and food products, and reduction of trade barriers removes many of those shields which have protected food companies from competition in some countries. Consumers are believed to become less predictable in their behaviour, as consumer demands become more fragmented and less consistent. Concentration in the retail sector has resulted in powerful agents. Not only do the agents exercise an important gatekeeper function but they can also put competitive pressure on food manufacturers.