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This paper explores the impact of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures in developed countries on developing country exports of agricultural and food products. It identifies the problems that developing countries face in meeting SPS requirements and how these relate to the nature of SPS measures and the compliance resources available to government and the supply chain. The paper examines the impact of the WTO's SPS Agreement on the extent to which SPS measures impede exports from developing countries. It identifies the problems that limit the participation of developing countries in the SPS Agreement and their concerns about the way in which it currently operates.

Summary An increasingly competitive international environment makes it necessary for firms to focus more and more on cross-country consumer segments. This increases the importance of international market segmentation and the need to develop new research approaches. The aim of this work is to present some of the results of a yoghurt segmentation study across Europe based on an innovative consumer measure explaining motivation to food choice, and to discuss the strategic implications of cross-country segments. The segmentation exercise identifies four pan-European segments with respect to yoghurt. The approach used for market segmentation proves to have important strategic implications, especially for the development of standardized product positioning concepts and communication strategy.

This paper assesses the responses made by food companies to changes in food safety legislation. Such responses are assessed in three ways. Firstly, an assessment is made as to why strategic responses to such legislation might be different to general strategic behaviour. Secondly a conceptual framework is presented and an examination of supply chain organisational response is made. Finally, the paper addresses the question of external marketing responses to food safety legislation. The paper concludes that food safety legislation is different, and often requires very swift strategic actions to be effective. Like other forms of legislation, however, food safety issues can also provide incentives and opportunities to well-managed and market-orientated firms.

This article addresses the role and impact of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement on prospects for export trade by developing countries. The SPS Agreement aims to facilitate discussion under the aegis of the World Trade Organization (WTP). It provides an enquiry and dispute settlement procedure; it also offers certain concessions and aid to developing and least developed countries. The article presents data on participation and several objective measures of the way the Agreement works for developing countries. Participation in the Agreement by developing countries is relatively low, despite the fact that several current issues (for example aflatoxins, salmonella) impact directly on such countries. The article suggests ways that developing countries can benefit further from the operation of the SPS Agreement, and explores how the standards operated by certain countries might act as a trade barrier to exports from developing countries. [Econ-Lit citations: L660, F100, Q170] © 1999 John Wiley & Sons.

Marketing systems for fresh food products are frequently analysed in the economics and marketing literature, most often either in terms of a quantitative model reflecting some policy or environmental concern, or in terms of a simple description of the shape and size of the system. Considers explicitly the nature of the relationships at each level of a marketing system, using methods derived from the transaction cost and marketing literatures. The methods focus on simple evaluations of transactions at each level of a system, and are applied to the marketing system for a fresh product from Egypt to the UK.

Analyses the likely impact of the recent bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis on the organization of the UK beef supply chain. Using concepts from New Institutional Economics, argues that, in addition to the direct financial costs of the crisis, additional hidden transaction costs and long‐term “transaction benefits” should be considered. Hidden costs include the increased need for monitoring and traceability in the supply chain, while hidden benefits may result from a reorientation of the industry towards a more consumer‐driven focus, a greater attention to food safety issues and opportunities for branding and market segmentation. It is suggested that the hidden transaction costs and benefits are likely to lead to closer vertical co‐ordination throughout the beef supply chain.

The traditional approach to the analysis of food policy treats government as an impartial 'clearing house,' balancing the needs of different groups and correcting for market failures. Recent writings on political economy, particularly relating to agriculture, argue that policy making should be treated as an endogenous component of the food system which depends on the nature of the political institutions and the policy-making process and on interest groups and their relative strengths. In this paper these ideas are discussed in relation to food policy generally and, in particular, to three specific examples: food safety; food research and development (RD and food labeling. The preliminary analysis presented in this paper supports the view that this is a fruitful area for further investigation. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.