The impact of perceived corporate environmental performance on the behavior of capital market decision makers : analysis of food industry companies

Environmental protectionism and sustainable development has been gaining increased attention among governments, investors and consumers alike. As a result, firms are facing growing pressure from the various stakeholders to improve their environmental performance. This study is focusing on the food industry, which in recent years has been a subject of increased scrutiny due to their role in resource consumption, waste generation and unsustainable production practices. Our research is aiming to examine how the financial community evaluates the environmental stewardship of food industry companies as proxied by market reactions in response to environmental news. Are all company related environmental news items evaluated equally, and which financial and non-financial firm-specific attributes can influence market responses? Have there been changes in reactions on the stock exchange in the past two decades?

An empirical study of international private label branding in the food sector in Hungary

Private label branding strategies differ to that of the manufacturer. The study aims to identify optimal private label branding strategies for (a) utilitarian products and (b) hedonistic products, considering the special factors reflected in consumer behavior related to private labels in Hungary. The issue of House of Brands and Branded House strategies are discussed and evaluated in the light of retail business models. Focus group interviews and factor analysis of the survey found differences in branding strategies preferred by consumers for the two product categories. The study also outlines a strong trend in possible private label development based on consumer’s changing attitude in favor of national products.

Opportunity Knocks: An Economic Analysis of Television Advertisements

Certain aspects of advertising–especially on television–are not easily explained with conventional economic models. In particular, much of the imagery and repetitive thematic content seen in advertisements suggests it is "psychological" in nature, as opposed to "informative". To understand the economic rationale for incorporating such material, we develop a theory of preferences in which information about threshold payoffs induces sudden shifts in demand. These threshold payoffs are best understood in the context of human evolutionary history. Furthermore, the presence of threshold payoffs in consumer preferences gives firms incentive for providing threshold-type information. To examine the use of threshold-related content in television advertisements, we look for this con- tent in a sample of 370 television advertisements. We find considerable evidence that advertisers make strategic use of threshold-type content in television advertisements. Specifically, threshold-related content occurred in 83% of food and beverage advertisements for children and in 71% of advertisements for general audiences. Furthermore, the threshold-related content in children’s food and beverage advertisements occurred with statistically greater frequency than factual content, which isn’t true for food and beverage advertisements for general audiences.

"Gene-fouled or gene-improved?" – Media framing of GM crops and food in Hungary

This paper presents results from a research which analyzed the reporting on genetically modified crops and food in the Hungarian tabloids and political papers with the highest circulation from 1 May 2007 to 31 October 2009. Both quantitative and qualitative media analysis was conducted. It was found that in contrast to some Western countries the issue had low salience in the investigated period; it featured especially marginally in the tabloids. Two distinct valenced frames could be differentiated: a dominant ANTI-GM (Threat) frame – which was particularly frequent compared to what has been found for some other countries, and a minority PRO-GM (Advancement and Benefits) frame. Despite a range of similarities with what had been reported by previous research from some other countries, argumentation on the GMO topic in the Hungarian press had several distinct characteristics, one of which was the relative prominence of economic arguments against the technology.

Vertical intra-industry trade and the EU accession: The case of Hungarian agri-food sector

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the factor endowment and the pattern of intra-industry trade. Our empirical analysis relates to Hungary’s intra-industry trade in agri-food products with 26 member states of the EU over the period 1999-2010. Estimations reject the comparative advantage explanation of vertical intra-industry trade and provide partial support the prediction of Flam and Helpman model. Findings highlight that nature of factor endowments play also important role in explanation of vertical intra-industry trade. Other variables like market size and distance confirm the theoretical expectations. In addition, trade with new member states positively, whilst the EU accession ambigouosly influence the share of vertical IIT.

Analysis of Hue Spectra During Storage of Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Color information is widely used in non-destructive quality assessment of perishable horticultural produces. The presented work investigated color changes of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) samples received from retail system. The effect of storage temperature (10±2°C and 24±4°C) on surface color and firmness was analyzed. Hue spectra was calculated using sum of saturations. A ColorLite sph850 (400-700nm) spectrophotometer was used as reference instrument. Dynamic firmness was measured on three locations of the surface: tip cap, middle and shoulder. Significant effects of storage conditions and surface location on both color and firmness were observed. Hue spectra responded sensitively to color development of pepper. Prediction model (PLS) was used to estimate dynamic firmess based on hue spectra. Accuracy was very different depending on the location. Firmness of the tip cap was predicted with the highest accuracy (RMSEP=0.0335). On the other hand, middle region cannot be used for such purpose. Due to the simplicity and rapid processing, analysis of hue spectra is a promising tool for evaluation of color in postharvest and food industry.

Az élelmiszer-fogyasztás szerkezete és környezeti hatása Magyarországon (Analysing the structure and environmental impact of food consumption in hungary)

Egyre többen ismerik fel, hogy az élelmiszer-fogyasztás egészségügyi és környezeti hatása is jelentős. A különböző életstílusú társadalmi csoportok fogyasztási szerkezete eltérő lehet. Jelen tanulmány ezerfős, országos reprezentatív minta alapján vizsgálja az élelmiszer-fogyasztási szerkezet eltéréseit a nemek és különböző iskolázottságú fogyasztók körében. Jellemző fogyasztási klasztereket tár fel a fogyasztás szerkezete alapján. A fogyasztás szerkezeti és mennyiségi értékein túlmenően az ökológiai lábnyom indikátorával a fogyasztás környezetterhelését is számszerűsíti. _____ Concern about both health and environmental impacts of food consumption is increasing. Social groups with various lifestyles can have different food consumption structure. The present study analyses the differences in the food consumption structure among genders and educational groups based on a national, representative survey of 1000 adults. Food consumption clusters are identified based on food consumption structure. Beyond the analysis of food consumption and its structure, its environmental impact is quantified by the ecological footprint indicator.