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Food waste is a big problem where millions of pounds of produce are discarded every year because they are imperfect or unattractive. Despite the societal implications of selling unattractive produce, limited research has been directed toward understanding the effect of imperfect produce on consumers’ evaluations of the produce and retailer outcomes. This paper aims to investigate why consumers tend to discard imperfect produce and how retailer interventions (i.e. anthropomorphized signage and packaging) can alleviate these negative effects.

Three experiments were conducted to examine the postulations. Study 1 highlights the role of consumers’ embarrassment in the purchase decision of imperfect produce and retailer patronage intention. Studies 2 and 3 provide managerially relevant boundary conditions of anthropomorphic signage and opaque packaging.

Convergent results across three studies (n = 882) indicate that imperfect produce increases purchase embarrassment and reduces purchase intention and retailer patronage intention. Retailer interventions (i.e. anthropomorphic signage and opaque packaging) can allay this feeling of embarrassment and lead to an increased retailer patronage intention and higher service satisfaction.

This research provides guidance to retailers for effectively promoting imperfect produce.

Retailers’ actions can benefit the well-being of farmers, suppliers, customers and the overall environment.

This research adds to the literature on unattractive produce by identifying new moderators, namely, anthropomorphic signages and opaque packaging. The research also shows that purchase embarrassment is a key process mechanism.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the positive effect of packaging transparency on purchase intention is moderated by product quality risk (PQR) associated with the product category.

Two separate experiments were conducted. Study 1 was designed to test the mediating role of perceived quality to account for the positive effect of transparency on purchase intention. Two types of packaging (opaque vs transparent) for a product associated with a high level of PQR were examined. Study 2 extended the findings by introducing the moderating role of PQR. A 2 (type of packaging: opaque vs transparent)*2 (PQR: low vs high) between subjects design was used.

The moderating role of the product PQR level is established: transparent packaging improves the product perceived quality and brand purchase intention when the product is associated with a high PQR, whereas there is no such preference for transparent packaging when the product is associated with a low PQR.

The results offer insights to better understand the potential gains from adopting transparent packaging. If a brand manager's main goals are to develop sales, costly investments in research and development of transparent packaging appear to be fruitful only for products associated with high PQR.

This paper contributes to packaging, cue utilisation and perceived risk literatures by evidencing the moderating role of PQR to explain the positive effect of transparency on purchase intention.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of transparency on consumers' judgment and decision-making.

This study uses an experimental research design in which participants' negative emotions dynamically change driven by group emotional interactions when they are experiencing a group complaint.

The experimental results show that compared with opaque products, transparent products make consumers rely more on emotions to make judgments and decisions (Experiment 1). It is precise because transparency increases the influence of emotion on consumers' judgment and decision-making that positive emotion makes consumers' evaluation and willingness to pay higher, while negative emotion makes consumers' evaluation and willingness to pay lower (Experiments 2 and 3). Transparency will also affect consumers' subsequent judgment and decision-making methods, so they are more inclined to choose the option with the dominant emotional dimension (Experiment 4).

Previous studies mainly focus on the impact of transparent packaging on consumers and discuss the impact of transparent packaging on consumer product evaluation and consumption quantity. This study proves that product-related transparent elements can also affect consumers' decision-making methods, making them more dependent on emotions to make decisions, enriching the research on the influencing factors of consumer decision-making methods.

People are increasingly concerned about food and health and seek for functional and sugar-free products. However, there are technological challenges when adding functional components and substituting sugar in foods. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of packaging and storage time on the sensory profile of functional diet guava preserve added with prebiotics, supporting the development of functional and sugar-free products and contributing to the product variety in the market.

A two-factor full factorial design was conducted in triplications that evaluated transparent and opaque packaging vs storage time (six months). The products were stored in packages with different light permeability (transparent and opaque). Quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) and acceptance tests were performed.

The packaging material did not affect the sensory changes of functional diet guava preserve during the six months of storage. QDA test showed that from three months of storage the original characteristics of the product were lost and a slight decrease in overall acceptance was observed after four and six months. However, during the six months the products had good acceptance; consequently, it was not possible to establish their rejection before this period.

More detailed studies regarding a longer storage period, including the physical and chemical measurements must be done to clarify other points about the influence of packaging and storage time on the sensory profile of functional diet guava preserve added with prebiotics. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

The development of a functional and sugar-free preserve is a good alternative to provide a product that meets the actual consumer desires and adds value to the product. However, there are technological challenges when adding functional components and substituting sugar in foods. Thus, this study provides important information for the development of sugar-free and functional products, and to prolong their shelf life.

There are few studies with respect to the sensory aspects during the storage of functional preserves. Thus, this work will aid future studies, supporting the development of functional and sugar-free products and contributing to the product variety in the market.

Packaging, food packaging in particular, has attracted a considerable amount of adverse comment in the popular and technical press in recent years. Accusations have been made that many products are over packaged and that this adds unnecessarily to their cost. Difficulties encountered in opening, reseating and dispensing from packages have been reported. The contribution made by packaging to the problem of litter and the disposal of waste materials has been highlighted. It is right that such matters should be considered and research is currently in progress to minimise these detrimental influences of packaging. On the other hand, one must not lose sight of the fact that packaging plays an important role in maintaining the quality of food during processing, storage and distribution and that in many of the modern processes for food preservation packaging is an essential and integral stage.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the symmetrical disposition of information items displayed on the front of product packaging on perceived complexity, perceptual fluency, aesthetic evaluation and product purchase intention.

A sample of 104 participants was exposed to fast-moving consumer goods packaging. A within-subject design experiment was carried out to assess the influence of the symmetrical disposition of information items displayed on the front of the packaging. ANOVA and a PROCESS procedure to assess mediation (Hayes, 2013) examined the relationships among the factors influenced by symmetry.

This study found that the symmetrical disposition of information items around the vertical axis (mirror symmetry) decreased visual complexity and highlighted an “indirect-only mediation” of visual complexity on the aesthetic evaluation of the packaging through processing fluency. This research also highlighted the fact that packaging aesthetic evaluation had a positive influence on purchase intention.

This study extends knowledge on package design by showing that the elements on which the producer can act (in this case, symmetry on the front of packaging) have an influence on the consumer’s evaluation of the product and intention to purchase.

In Mali, dairy processors mostly use imported powdered milk rather than local fresh milk, constraining the development of a domestic milk sector. We investigate factors motivating a firm's choice of milk input, to identify measures that can encourage demand for fresh milk.

We utilize case study data from nine firms that use fresh and powdered milk to varying degrees, and which are representative of dairy processing in Bamako. To model firm motivations, we assess how each input contributes to or detracts from firm competitive advantage, through its influence on cost and differentiation.

Firms using fresh milk pay a higher input price, incur higher transaction costs and face additional challenges in production and distribution. Firms distinguish themselves from competitors through four potential sources of differentiation: novel product types, quality enhancements, quality-signaling and unique packaging. However, fresh milk firms are less likely to exploit each source of differentiation.

Competitive advantage is a useful framework for understanding firm behavior in developing markets and can be applied in other contexts to strengthen external validity.

The extant economics literature on African dairy development has been surprisingly silent on the threat of import competition. This research is one of the first to investigate this issue in the under-studied middle segment of food value chains.

This paper explores the enabling technologies and thermal performance trade‐offs associated with inserting small multichip modules (MCMs) into surface mount packages. Using assembly and interconnect technologies available today, ‘few‐chip’ packages can lead to less costly solutions than traditional single chip package approaches, and may be practical depending on system size and modularity constraints. The key enabling technologies required include fine‐line interconnect substrate technology, direct leadframe attachment and chip bonding to fine‐line laminate substrates, the moulding of large substrates with multiple components in a thin surface mount package, and cost‐effective cooling techniques. The thermal performance of a moulded few‐chip package is analysed and cooling methods are discussed. A screening experiment was performed in which several geometric and material parameters were studied to determine their impact on thermal performance. The size of the heat slugs appears to be the variable with the greatest effect on thermal performance. The effects of external board size, board material and the design of the internal substrate on the thermal performance of a few‐chip packaqe are also discussed.

The major problem confronting food technologists in the necessity to be ahead of consumer demand, so that they have the necessary time to be able to develop technology appropriate to that demand at the right time. The solution lies in the study of social value groups, which are identified, and whose changing requirements can be assessed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underlying causes of the series of banking disasters that unfolded from July 2007 onwards and to suggest what action should be taken to avoid a repetition.

The practices and culture that have evolved in banking over recent decades are compared and contrasted with general principles of actuarial science and with Adam Smith's blueprint for a well‐functioning market economy as set out in his Wealth of Nations. Recent instances of financial turmoil such as the Northern Rock debacle and the global “credit crunch” are then viewed from a longer term perspective.

The serious weaknesses identified by comparisons with actuarial science and the wisdom of Adam Smith, amplified by perverse methodologies of finance theory and “fair value” accounting and unchecked by the lax regulatory framework, take not only the global banking industry, but also the entire global economy to the point where the self‐stabilising properties of Western capitalism are destroyed. To avoid a repetition, banking practices and culture must be completely rebuilt along actuarial and “Adam Smith” lines, the destabilising methodologies of finance theory and “fair value” accounting must be abandoned, and the new and more prudent approach must be rigorously enforced by a strong regulatory regime.

By adopting a longer term actuarial perspective, the paper identifies deeper problems and suggests more fundamental solutions than have generally been the case in the continuing debate as to the best way forward in rebuilding a robust financial system.