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The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge into the relationship between open innovation (OI) and firm’s innovative performance. Specifically, the authors aim to determine whether the benefits of OI practices are different for Food and Beverage (FnB) firms as compared to those of other sectors. The FnB industry is relevant in terms of employment GDP generation in the UE, characterised by high integration and low-tech intensity.

In order to achieve the goal and obtain robust results, the authors consider four OI dimensions and four innovation performance measures using panel data (2004-2011) from 10,771 FnB and non-FnB firms using Tobit and Logit models by random effects.

The authors test and confirm the presence of the classical inverted U-shape relationship between OI and firm innovative performance for FnB and non-FnB companies. However, the optimal number of external sources of knowledge used is lesser for FnB than the rest of the companies.

The paper compares the OI effects in a traditional and low-tech industry vs other industries considering four innovation outputs (product innovations, process innovations, incremental innovation and radical innovation).

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences in consumers’ preferences to food safety label (FSL) on vegetables in central and south central Chile in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, consumers’ food safety knowledge and frequency of vegetables consumption.

A survey was applied to 1,201 consumers in charge of buying vegetables for their households. The questionnaire measured consumer preference for FSL using tomatoes as a case study.

The most important attributes for consumers were price (57.3 percent), FSL (19.7 percent), point of sale (11.86 percent) and production system (11.07 percent). Cluster analysis was used to differentiate three types of consumers. The majority (50.5 percent) are consumers oriented to price of tomatoes more than other attributes. A second group (30.1 percent) considers it important to purchase tomatoes at the lowest price with the existence of a FSL. A minority (19.4 percent) was oriented to purchasing tomatoes with a FSL. The groups differ according to sociodemographic characteristics, food safety knowledge and frequency of vegetables consumption.

The study was conducted in country in South America. The results revealed that the majority of consumers choose price over FSL. Nevertheless, a potential market niche was identified that was motivated by FSL as a potential risk-reduction strategy when making choices about fresh vegetables purchase.

FSL is a marketing tool to help the consumers about food decisions.

To avoid problems associated to unsafe vegetables, FSL is used as a potential risk-reduction strategy when making choices about fresh vegetables purchase.

The research provides information about a market niche of consumers interested in the existence of an explicit FSL, due to their awareness of the risks associated with the consumption of vegetables. This topic has received little research in Latin American developing countries.

Conjoint analysis has become an increasingly popular approach to estimate the benefits derived from the attributes of a product. This decompositional method provides information about the structure of consumers' preferences, as obtained from the overall judgement of a set of alternative products defined as a combination of levels of different attributes. A two‐Limit Tobit Model approach for conjoint analysis has been used to examine and compare wine attribute preferences within and between different retail outlets (wine shops, direct‐from‐producer and supermarkets) in two Spanish regions: Aragon and Navarre. Three attributes have been used in the conjoint design: price, origin and vintage year. Among these attributes, price is the principal aspect for consumers who buy in wine shops, origin is the most important attribute for supermarket buyers and grape vintage has more utility for buyers who obtain wine directly from the producer. Finally, three wine consumer segments have been identified and characterised in the two regions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderator role of hierarchical distance (HD) in the relationship between human resources management (HRM) practices and organizational performance (OP, perceived/financial). To date there is no empirical evidence that demonstrates whether HD affects this relationship.

These relationships are examined through an empirical study of 102 small- and medium-sized enterprises from Europe (Spain). Partial least squares structural equation modeling is used to test the moderator effect of HD.

The results show that HD is a cultural dimension which moderates the relationship between HRM practices and OP. Furthermore, when OP is studied in relation to HRM practices, the use of perceived measures are considered more appropriate as these indicate the opinion of employees and managers regarding about OP.

The non-cross-sectional character of the paper.

Organizations should consider HD when deciding the structure and application of their HR practices, since a lesser HD has positive effects on business results.

Little attention has been paid to non-linear models, with particular reference to the inclusion of cultural dimensions – such organizational culture (i.e. HD) – in HRM models.

In this paper, market values for most of wine attributes are measured through the estimation of a hedonic price function, which relates the price of a wine to its various attributes. As more expensive wines are also associated with higher recognition of wine attributes, results also reflect consumers’ valuation of wine attributes. Data used in this paper comes from a wine catalogue in which only price categories are available. As independent variables, the following wine attributes have been considered: region of production, the year vintage, grape variety, alcoholic content and expert quality ratings. Due to the nature of available data, the hedonic price function has been estimated in the form of a Multinomial Logit model. Results indicate that the two first variables (region of production and the year vintage) are the main market price determinants while grape variety and the alcoholic contents are not significantly correlated with red wine prices.

Organic production and its consumption have grown tremendously in recent years. However, in the case of Spain demand still represents only 1 per cent of food expenditure. The main obstacle seems to be that organic food faces problems related to consumers’ acceptability; lack of food availability and seasonality make it difficult to establish appropriate retailing outlets; also, higher costs of production and retailer margins jointly may result in higher prices than consumers are willing to pay for organic food attributes. Research studies have mostly elicited consumers’ willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for organic food through contingent valuation. Alternatively, explores, using an experimental second‐price sealed‐bid auction, the value that consumers place on organic food and the effect that information included on ecolabel and physical appearance have on their WTP. This methodological approach involves the use of real money and real products, which, in fact, may overcome the hypothetical bias detected in previous studies. Also discusses the effect on WTP of consumers’ demographic characteristics and lifestyles, as well as attitudes towards food safety and buying behaviour. Results show, that as more accurate information is offered, consumers’ acceptability of labelled organic food products increases; and that WTP is highly correlated with consumption habits variables.

This paper aims to test whether the effects of wine consumption on the emotions vary with the age of the consumer, the objective being to use the results to orient further product differentiation in a highly saturated and competitive market.

The decision structures of various age groups of wine consumers were explored by means of laddering interviews, a technique drawn from means‐end chain theory, to reveal consumers' attribute‐consequence‐value chains.

The results reveal that wine consumers perceive an emotional benefit from drinking wine and that this varies with the age of the consumer. The degree of abstraction in the cognitive process involved in the perception of this benefit increases inversely with the age of the consumer. Older people report less complex decision‐making processes. In general terms, consumers drink wine for the sensory pleasure it gives, but younger drinkers are also motivated to drink it for reasons relating to cultural identity and social status, while older generations focus primarily on the potential of wine as a social catalyst.

This study offers the wine industry new alternatives to enhance information, communication and product differentiation campaigns.

Examines and compares wine attribute preferences within and between two different Spanish regions, Aragón and Navarra, by means of the weighted least squares approach for conjoint analysis. Uses three attributes in the conjoint design: price, origin and grape vintage year. Among these attributes, Navarra consumers assigned more importance to the origin of the wine, followed by price and grape vintage year. Aragón consumers also considered origin as the most important attribute, followed, in this case, by grape vintage year and price. Comparing the different attribute levels, consumers from Aragón preferred locally produced and cheaper wines, while consumers from Navarra preferred Rioja and more expensive wines. Identifies and characterizes four wine consumer segments. Describes how a market simulation experiment was designed to simulate market shares of three alternative wine profiles.

This study aims to identify how Spanish consumers’ extrinsic preferences for food have evolved by examining the extant literature on food preferences in Spain, focusing on food-related attributes and food-related values.

This study is based on a synthetic review of the extant academic literature on Spanish consumer preferences for food-related attributes and food-related values from the mid-20th to the 21st century. This study uses key economic and social milestones that are most likely to influence food value chain actors to show how consumer preferences have evolved over the study period.

Spanish consumer food attribute preferences expanded as the food sector of the nation continued to grow, and value preferences showed a similar pattern from the mid-20th to the 21st century. The drivers of these preferences were trust, lifestyle, education (campaigns), sociodemographic factors and purchasing power.

Evaluating the extant literature’s contribution to consumer preferences for food-related attributes and values is important because it can aid in understanding the hierarchy and variety of consumers’ food preferences as well as the factors that drive these preferences. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore how Spanish consumer preferences evolved between the mid-20th and 21st centuries.