This paper considers the implementation of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) as a methodological framework for the development of new food products. This paper focuses on the beef supply chain and develops a horizontal product’s quality deployment as a strategic tool for the implementation...

This article examines the innovative performance of the Spanish Food & Drink Industry (F&DI). Results highlight the 'evolutionary' rather than 'revolutionary' nature of innovation activities in the Spanish F&DI. However, the adoption of 'defensive/imitative' strategies by Spanish F&D...

The following paper shows the work in progress in the frame of the specific support action Program “E-Trust”. A initial qualitative study was carried out in order to find out evidences and opinions about the performance of e-commerce in the agricultural and food sector. The paper shows a...

The goal of the TOPMARD project is to develop a model of agriculture and rural development to better understand the agronomic, ecological, economic and social dimensions of rural regions. The resulting model, (Policy Model of Multifunctional Agriculture and Rural Development) was built...

This paper presents the application of the sensitivity analysis techniques Design of Experiments (DOE) and metamodelling to the agent-based model AgriPoliS, which is a spatial and dynamic simulation model of regional structural change. DOE and metamodelling provide a more systematic analysis of...

This paper develops a game - theoretic model of heterogeneous consumers to analyze the effect of cooperative involvement on quality- enhancing product innovation activity, the pricing of food products, and the welfare of the groups involved in the context of a mixed duopoly where an...

This paper analyses the adoption process of water-conserving irrigation technologies by a risk averse farmer in a context of uncertain water availability. Firstly, it is analytically shown that the increase in water efficiency that the new technology allows results in a decrease in the cost of...

This paper aims at investigating the price-induced innovation hypothesis in Italian agriculture over the years 1951 to 1991. Price-inducement hypothesis is analysed and tested within the framework proposed by Peeters and Surry (2000). The major difference is the short-run specification of the...

The paper discusses the final results of research into the use and impact of ICT on a sample of firms in the Calabria region of southern Italy processing typical food products (salami, citrus fruits, oil, cheese) certified as PDO or PGI. The specific sample was chosen for two reasons: on the one...

In this work we utilise CES approach where factor ratios (mechanical power/labour and fertilizer/land) are regressed on price ratios and efficiency parameters (public and private R&D) to obtain a direct test of the induced innovation in Italian case for the period 1968-2002. Provided that...