Exploring value through integrated service solutions:the case of e-grocery shopping

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the need for an improved understanding of consumer value for online grocery purchases and to propose the notion of “integrated service solution” packages as a strategy for growing and successfully sustaining the channel to guide both marketing strategy and policy. Design/methodology/approach – This paper integrates and synthesises research from retailing, consumer behaviour and service quality literatures in order to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the value of e-grocery shopping to aid practitioners to address the critical needs, expectations and concerns of consumers for the development of grocery shopping within the online environment. Findings – This paper offers an alternative approach to allow e-grocery to become a mainstream retail channel in its own right and not to compete with the in-store offerings. The research demonstrates the need for a progressive approach that follows contemporary consumer needs and habits at the household level. The conjecture is that shopping for fast-moving consumer goods follows a learning path that needs to be replicated in the online context. Moreover, it is suggested that consumer resistance to the adoption of the new channel should be addressed not only from a technological perspective but also from the social aspects of online shopping. Originality/value – The research provides a practical framework for both retailers and policy makers on how the “next generation” of online services can be developed using a “bottom up” consumer perspective. This paper also advocates a non-technological bias to e-grocery retailing strategy.

Lessons learned from INTAMAP, an interoperable web service for the real-time interpolation of environmental variables

Interpolated data are an important part of the environmental information exchange as many variables can only be measured at situate discrete sampling locations. Spatial interpolation is a complex operation that has traditionally required expert treatment, making automation a serious challenge. This paper presents a few lessons learnt from INTAMAP, a project that is developing an interoperable web processing service (WPS) for the automatic interpolation of environmental data using advanced geostatistics, adopting a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The “rainbow box” approach we followed provides access to the functionality at a whole range of different levels. We show here how the integration of open standards, open source and powerful statistical processing capabilities allows us to automate a complex process while offering users a level of access and control that best suits their requirements. This facilitates benchmarking exercises as well as the regular reporting of environmental information without requiring remote users to have specialized skills in geostatistics.

Do ‘passive’ medical titanium surfaces deteriorate in service in the absence of wear?

Globally, more than 1000 tonnes of titanium (Ti) is implanted into patients in the form of biomedical devices on an annual basis. Ti is perceived to be ‘biocompatible’ owing to the presence of a robust passive oxide film (approx. 4 nm thick) at the metal surface. However, surface deterioration can lead to the release of Ti ions, and particles can arise as the result of wear and/or corrosion processes. This surface deterioration can result in peri-implant inflammation, leading to the premature loss of the implanted device or the requirement for surgical revision. Soft tissues surrounding commercially pure cranial anchorage devices (bone-anchored hearing aid) were investigated using synchrotron X-ray micro-fluorescence spectroscopy and X-ray absorption near edge structure. Here, we present the first experimental evidence that minimal load-bearing Ti implants, which are not subjected to macroscopic wear processes, can release Ti debris into the surrounding soft tissue. As such debris has been shown to be pro-inflammatory, we propose that such distributions of Ti are likely to effect to the service life of the device.

Testing the assertion that 'local food is best':the challenges of an evidence-based approach

Advocates of ‘local food’ claim it serves to reduce food miles and greenhouse gas emissions, improve food safety and quality, strengthen local economies and enhance social capital. We critically review the philosophical and scientific rationale for this assertion, and consider whether conventional scientific approaches can help resolve the debate. We conclude that food miles are a poor indicator of the environmental and ethical impacts of food production. Only through combining spatially explicit life cycle assessment with analysis of social issues can the benefits of local food be assessed. This type of analysis is currently lacking for nearly all food chains.

Szervezetek közötti együttműködés a fenntartható fejlődés szolgálatában (Cooperation among the organisations in service of the sustainable development)

A vállalatok egyre gyakrabban alakítanak ki olyan kapcsolatokat, melyek célja az egymással, illetve más típusú szervezetekkel (pl. kormányzati vagy civil szervezetekkel) különféle célok érdekében megvalósuló együttműködés. Ezen együttműködési formák egy része kedvező hatással van a vállalatok környezeti, illetve társadalmi teljesítményére is, és ezáltal – a szűken vett profitérdekeken túl – elősegíti a fenntartható fejlődés társadalmi céljának megvalósítását is. Jelen cikk célja, hogy bemutassa a vállalati szférára jellemző együttműködési formákat magyarázó legfontosabb szervezetelméleti megközelítéseket, majd ezek tükrében ismertesse a fenntartható fejlődés ügyét is elősegítő együttműködési kapcsolatok korszerű megnyilvánulási formáit. _________ Corporations more and more often engage in relationships, which aim at cooperation with each other and other types of organisations (e.g. governmental or nongovernmental organisations). Some of these collaborative efforts have a positive impact on the environmental and social performance of participating organisations and thus – apart from their positive impact on profitability – also foster the implementation of sustainable economic and social development. The objective of this article is to introduce the most important organisational theories, which give an explanation of the cooperative efforts of the corporate sector and, using this as a basis, to provide an overview of the most up-to-date forms of cooperation, which enhance our chances in the direction of a sustainable future.

Intra-industry agri-food trade of the Baltic Countries

The article analyses patterns and country-specific determinants of the Baltic Countries agri-food trade with the European Union. Literature focusing on the country-specific determinants of vertical and horizontal intra-industry trade is rather limited and those analysing agricultural (or agri-food) trade are extremely rare. Therefore, the paper seeks to contribute to the literature by covering latest theory and data available on the topic to provide up to date results and suggestions. Moreover, it seeks to identify the determinants of horizontal and vertical intra-industry trade of the Baltic Countries after EU accession. Results suggest that agri-food trade of these countries is mainly inter-industry in nature but intra-industry trade is dominated by vertical elements. Results verify that determinants of horizontal and vertical IIT differ and suggest that economic size is positively, while factor endowments and distance are negatively related to both sides of IIT. However, the relationship between IIT and FDI is ambiguous.

Antecedents of loyalty for food products – Investigating the effects of subjective constructs

Our research aimed to reveal the effects that can be observed during the buying process of food products and can influence the decisions of customers. We focused on the role of enduring involvement in customers’ behavioural loyalty, that is, the repurchase of food brands. To understand this relationship in a more sophisticated way, we involved two mediating constructs in our conceptual model: perceived risk and perceived knowledge of food products. The data collection was carried out among undergraduate students in frame of an online survey, and we used SPSS/AMOS software to test the model. The results only partly supported our hypothesis, although the involvement effects on loyalty and the two mediating constructs were strong enough, loyalty couldn’t be explained well by perceived risk and knowledge. The roles of further mediating/moderating variables should be determined and investigated in the next section of the research series. Keywords: involvement brand loyalty, subjective knowledge, perceived risk, food products

Personal Style of On-Site Food Service Managers

Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI) assess preferences based on Carl Jungs theory of psychological types. They are widely used in organizational development, management and leadership training, and team building. This study examines MBTl of food service managers in a single organization to determine whether food service managers have a typical personal style and whether this style varies.

The Impossible is Possible

Networking is providing new support for women interested in or entering the food service industry. The author discusses how educators and the industry can assist and how one organization is putting together specific programs to provide support and encouragement to women.

Conflicting expectations in transforming government service processes: the story of e-payment for social welfare in Ireland

Despite its clear potential and attractiveness as a solution to a broad range of societal problems, E-Government has not been adopted to levels predicted in early 2000 literature. Whilst case studies of punctual development of E-Government initiatives abound, few countries have progressed to high levels of maturity in the systematic use of ICT in the relationship between government and citizens. At the same time, the current period brings challenges in terms of access to public services and costs of delivering these services which make the large scale use of ICT by governments more attractive than ever, if not even a necessity. This paper presents a detailed case study of a specific E-Government initiative in Ireland in the area of E-payments for G2C, in the social welfare area. Locating the current initiative in its historical context, it analyses the varied motivations and conflicting requirements of the numerous stakeholders and discusses the constraints that bear on the potential scenarios that could be followed at this point in time.

In Whose Image: The Emergence, Development, and Challenge of African-American Evangelicalism

The current era of American Christianity marks the transition from a Western, white-dominated U.S. Evangelicalism to an ethnically diverse demographic for evangelicalism. Despite this increasing diversity, U.S. Evangelicalism has demonstrated a stubborn inability to address the entrenched assumption of white supremacy. The 1970s witnessed the rise in prominence of Evangelicalism in the United States. At the same time, the era witnessed a burgeoning movement of African-American evangelicals, who often experienced marginalization from the larger movement. What factors prevented the integration between two seemingly theologically compatible movements? How do these factors impact the challenge of integration and reconciliation in the changing demographic reality of early twenty-first Evangelicalism?

The question is examined through the unpacking of the diseased theological imagination rooted in U.S. Evangelicalism. The theological categories of Creation, Anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, and Ecclesiology are discussed to determine specific deficiencies that lead to assumptions of white supremacy. The larger history of U.S. Evangelicalism and the larger story of the African-American church are explored to provide a context for the unique expression of African-American evangelicalism in the last third of the twentieth century. Through the use of primary sources — personal interviews, archival documents, writings by principals, and private collection documents — the specific history of African-American evangelicals in the 1960s and 1970s is described. The stories of the National Black Evangelical Association, Tom Skinner, John Perkins, and Circle Church provide historical snapshots that illuminate the relationship between the larger U.S. Evangelical movement and African-American evangelicals.

Various attempts at integration and shared leadership were made in the 1970s as African-American evangelicals engaged with white Evangelical institutions. However, the failure of these attempts point to the challenges to diversity for U.S. Evangelicalism and the failure of the Evangelical theological imagination. The diseased theological imagination of U.S. Evangelical Christianity prevented engagement with the needed challenge of African American evangelicalism, resulting in dysfunctional racial dynamics evident in twenty-first century Evangelical Christianity. The historical problem of situating African American evangelicals reveals the theological problem of white supremacy in U.S. Evangelicalism.

The cost of a minimum essential food basket in the Republic of Ireland: Study for six household types.

A Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) is derived from a negotiated consensus on what people believe is a minimum standard. It is a standard of living that meets an individual’s or a household’s physical, psychological and social needs. This is calculated by identifying the goods and services required by different household types in order to meet their needs. While an MESL is based on needs, not wants, it is a standard of living below which nobody should be expected to live. This report focuses on food, one of the 16 elements of the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) data. It is based on a methodology called Consensual Budget Standards (CBS). The report is presented in the context of increasing concerns about the issue of food poverty in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and an increase in the number of people reporting that they do not have enough money to buy food. Recent data from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have shown that the number of people believing they cannot afford food doubled from 4.2% in 2008 to 9% in 2014. Data from Eurostat show that in 2013, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices in Ireland were 17% higher than the EU average. Moreover, research by Carney and Maitre, using data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), found that one in ten people are living in food poverty in Ireland. Food poverty is defined as the inability to have an adequate and nutritious diet due to issues of affordability and access to food. This has related effects on health, culture and social participation. The 2013 data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) show that 1.4 million people, almost 31% of the population, suffer from deprivation. This means that they are unable to afford two items from a list of 11 very basic items (of which one is not being able to eat a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every second day). The highest levels of deprivation are experienced by lone parents (63%), unemployed people (55%) and people not at work because of illness or disability (53%). The experience of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ) is that expenditure on food tends to be one of the least important considerations when households are dealing with competing demands on an inadequate income. A Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) is derived from a negotiated consensus on what people believe is a minimum standard. It is a standard of living that meets an individual’s or a household’s physical, psychological and social needs. This is calculated by identifying the goods and services required by different household types in order to meet their needs. While an MESL is based on needs, not wants, it is a standard of living below which nobody should be expected to live. This report focuses on food, one of the 16 elements of the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) data. It is based on a methodology called Consensual Budget Standards (CBS). The report is presented in the context of increasing concerns about the issue of food poverty in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and an increase in the number of people reporting that they do not have enough money to buy food. Recent data from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have shown that the number of people believing they cannot afford food doubled from 4.2% in 2008 to 9% in 2014. Data from Eurostat show that in 2013, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices in Ireland were 17% higher than the EU average. Moreover, research by Carney and Maitre, using data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), found that one in ten people are living in food poverty in Ireland. Food poverty is defined as the inability to have an adequate and nutritious diet due to issues of affordability and access to food. This has related effects on health, culture and social participation. The 2013 data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) show that 1.4 million people, almost 31% of the population, suffer from deprivation. This means that they are unable to afford two items from a list of 11 very basic items (of which one is not being able to eat a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every second day). The highest levels of deprivation are experienced by lone parents (63%), unemployed people (55%) and people not at work because of illness or disability (53%). The experience of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ) is that expenditure on food tends to be one of the least important considerations when households are dealing with competing demands on an inadequate income. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/The-cost-of-a-healthy-food-basket.aspx#sthash.RiBpj5no.dpuf A Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) is derived from a negotiated consensus on what people believe is a minimum standard. It is a standard of living that meets an individual’s or a household’s physical, psychological and social needs. This is calculated by identifying the goods and services required by different household types in order to meet their needs. While an MESL is based on needs, not wants, it is a standard of living below which nobody should be expected to live. This report focuses on food, one of the 16 elements of the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) data. It is based on a methodology called Consensual Budget Standards (CBS). The report is presented in the context of increasing concerns about the issue of food poverty in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and an increase in the number of people reporting that they do not have enough money to buy food. Recent data from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have shown that the number of people believing they cannot afford food doubled from 4.2% in 2008 to 9% in 2014. Data from Eurostat show that in 2013, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices in Ireland were 17% higher than the EU average. Moreover, research by Carney and Maitre, using data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), found that one in ten people are living in food poverty in Ireland. Food poverty is defined as the inability to have an adequate and nutritious diet due to issues of affordability and access to food. This has related effects on health, culture and social participation. The 2013 data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) show that 1.4 million people, almost 31% of the population, suffer from deprivation. This means that they are unable to afford two items from a list of 11 very basic items (of which one is not being able to eat a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every second day). The highest levels of deprivation are experienced by lone parents (63%), unemployed people (55%) and people not at work because of illness or disability (53%). The experience of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ) is that expenditure on food tends to be one of the least important considerations when households are dealing with competing demands on an inadequate income. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/The-cost-of-a-healthy-food-basket.aspx#sthash.RiBpj5no.dpuf A Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) is derived from a negotiated consensus on what people believe is a minimum standard. It is a standard of living that meets an individual’s or a household’s physical, psychological and social needs. This is calculated by identifying the goods and services required by different household types in order to meet their needs. While an MESL is based on needs, not wants, it is a standard of living below which nobody should be expected to live. This report focuses on food, one of the 16 elements of the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) data. It is based on a methodology called Consensual Budget Standards (CBS). The report is presented in the context of increasing concerns about the issue of food poverty in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and an increase in the number of people reporting that they do not have enough money to buy food. Recent data from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have shown that the number of people believing they cannot afford food doubled from 4.2% in 2008 to 9% in 2014. Data from Eurostat show that in 2013, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices in Ireland were 17% higher than the EU average. Moreover, research by Carney and Maitre, using data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), found that one in ten people are living in food poverty in Ireland. Food poverty is defined as the inability to have an adequate and nutritious diet due to issues of affordability and access to food. This has related effects on health, culture and social participation. The 2013 data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) show that 1.4 million people, almost 31% of the population, suffer from deprivation. This means that they are unable to afford two items from a list of 11 very basic items (of which one is not being able to eat a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every second day). The highest levels of deprivation are experienced by lone parents (63%), unemployed people (55%) and people not at work because of illness or disability (53%). The experience of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ) is that expenditure on food tends to be one of the least important considerations when households are dealing with competing demands on an inadequate income. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/The-cost-of-a-healthy-food-basket.aspx#sthash.RiBpj5no.dpuf

More Than a Wallet: Serving the Older Consumer

Considers the values, behaviour and needs of older shoppers in terms of interactions with employees; interactions with other shoppers present in the retail environment; and physical aspects of the retail environment.