Industry Actors Research Articles

Animal welfare has priority: Swiss consumers’ preferences for animal welfare, greenhouse gas reductions and other sustainability improvements in dairy products

Animal welfare is at the forefront of the debate on sustainable food systems. However, animal welfare improvements often imply higher costs for producers. We explored whether Swiss consumers are willing to contribute monetarily to such improvements through an increase in prices of butter or milk. Based on a discrete choice experiment on 986 Swiss consumers, we investigated preferences for two animal welfare improvements in the dairy industry – loose housing and farm killing – as well as for organic production, origin of product, and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. Furthermore, we investigated how consumers perceive a potential conflict between of GHG reductions and animal welfare concerns. Half of our sample faced increases in milk prices; the other half faced increases in butter prices. Findings indicate that animal welfare is of higher importance to consumers when compared to the other attributes under analysis. Consumers oppose GHG reductions associated with deteriorations in animal welfare and are willing to pay for improvements in housing conditions and a less stressful killing of the animals. Improvements in animal welfare could be crucial for dairy industry actors and provide strong arguments in communicating the benefits of dairy products to consumers.

Discourses on Positive Animal Welfare by Sheep Farmers and Industry Actors: Implications for Science and Communication.

This research examines how sheep farmers and industry actors in the United Kingdom (UK) understand and conceptualize what animal welfare scientists term 'positive animal welfare'. It explores their awareness of the concept, and how they interpret it using a qualitative approach. Participants were recruited using a snowballing, purposive sample approach, resulting in 25 sheep farmers and 11 industry actors (veterinarians, farming organizations, advisors, and supply chain) being interviewed. To collect data, a combined approach involving semi-structured interviews and a facilitated workshop were used between April 2021 and March 2022. Data were then thematically analyzed using a hybrid of inductive and deductive coding process. The findings suggested that the perceptions of farmers and industry actors in the study regarding positive welfare differ from contemporary academic discourses. Overall, around 7 of the farmers equated positive welfare with "positive stockmanship", while six of them expressed "good animal welfare" definitions associated with the Five Freedoms. In contrast, most industry actors (6) expressed interpretations associated with high welfare standards (going above minimum recommended practices) and positive mental experiences (3). Emerging discourses revealed the link between self-identity, social identity and what positive welfare is, the importance of knowledge exchange, and the need for practical indicators through language rephrasing. There is a clear need to enhance and improve knowledge dissemination strategies, particularly in the UK, where much research is being conducted on positive animal welfare.

Enhancing Sustainability Through Collaborative Value Creation in the Football Ecosystem

This article empirically explores the potential for enhancing sustainability through football, leveraging the sport’s widespread popularity and influence. Football functions in a dynamic, multi-stakeholder context, and this inevitably entails a wide range of challenges and considerations for all the industry actors. Football clubs and related entities possess unique platforms that can be harnessed to address environmental, social and economic challenges while simultaneously driving long-term business success. To maintain sustainability, every stakeholder needs to develop the necessary strategies to identify, interrelate and ultimately balance the value exchanges involved in the pursuit of a viable future. Methodologically, this research initially conducts a thorough theoretical analysis of the football industry to identify the stakeholders and then empirically applies a qualitative approach, gathering data through 33 semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders within the football industry, to recognize the distinctive values that each industry actor holds through the individual synergies within the football ecosystem. The findings underscore the significant potential for football to serve as a catalyst for advancing organizational sustainability on multiple fronts, and future research directions are presented, as well as contributions to theory and practice.

The Effectiveness of Updating Data on Small and Medium Industrial Business Actors in the Industrial Sector at the Cirebon City Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises, Trade and Industry Office

The development of Science and Technology (IPTEK) affects various aspects of human life, including in the context of organizations and government agencies. In Cirebon City, the management of Small and Medium Industries (SMEs) by the Trade and Industry Small and Medium Business Cooperative Office faces challenges in updating data that has not been fully computerized. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the IKM data update process. The study results show that the number of SMEs is increasing every year, although there are still obstacles, such as incomplete information and manual processes that slow down efficiency. The application of digital technologies, such as applications for data collection and update, is proposed as a solution to improve the efficiency and accuracy of processes. It is hoped that better data updates, facilitated by digital technologies, can significantly support the development of the creative economy of Cirebon City through the identification of more appropriate needs and opportunities, as well as the optimization of government programs in the SME sector.

Alcohol free? An analysis of UK and Scottish Government obesity policies’ engagement with alcohol 1999–2023

Background and aimsAlcoholic beverages can be highly calorific yet remain largely absent from obesity policy debates. This article seeks to identify how Scottish and English obesity policies have engaged with the issue of alcohol consumption since devolution.MethodsObesity policy documents for England and Scotland from 1999 to 2023 were thematically analysed to identify their engagement with alcohol consumption. A stakeholder analysis was undertaken to identify key public health actors and commercial sector policy actors in the debate regarding the inclusion of alcohol in obesity policy. Their engagement with the issue of alcohol as an obesity policy issue was assessed through thematic analysis of consultation responses, along with documents, press releases, reports and other statements on policy (e.g. blog posts) available on stakeholder websites.ResultsWhile alcohol was recognised as a risk factor for obesity within obesity policy documents, no specific measures to address this issue were identified until a consultation on mandatory calorie labelling on alcoholic beverages was proposed in 2020. Engagement with alcohol in the policy documents was mainly limited to voluntary and self-regulatory measures favoured by industry actors who portrayed themselves as a key part of the policy solution. They used the policy focus on childhood obesity as a pretext to exclude alcoholic drink from fiscal and labelling measures. Public health NGOs, by contrast, argued that obesity measures such as mandatory calorie labelling and other obesity policies should be extended to alcoholic beverages.ConclusionThere is an insufficient engagement with alcohol as an obesity policy issue within policy documents and an over-reliance on voluntary and industry-partnership approaches. Alcoholic beverages and reduced alcohol products are excluded from beverage taxes and labelling requirements in ways which are hard to justify. As with other areas of public health policy, this represents an industry-favoured policy agenda, opposed by health NGOs. Further research is needed to understand the influence of these actors on the engagement of obesity policy with alcohol.

Pengembangan Pangsa Pasar Terhadap Pelaku UMKM dalam Industri Kreatif

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are a crucial sector in Indonesia's economy. The lack of thorough preparation by MSME actors results in suboptimal performance. This journal aims to investigate and outline effective market share development strategies for MSME actors in the creative industry. The method used is literature review. The research results show that market analysis, branding strategies, and understanding customs procedures are key in the market share development of MSMEs.

Critical features of ecosystem practice empowering industrial sustainability transformation

AbstractThe pursuit of a sustainable industry is facilitated by the evolution of diverse cooperative networks. There is a limited understanding of how industrial actors can collectively foster the continuity in learning required to address wicked problems of sustainability. This study explores how industry stakeholders collectively address this wicked problem by fostering innovation in ecosystems and identifies the critical features of an ecosystem practice that supports empowerment in evolving multi‐actor network settings. Employing an abductive approach, we integrate insights from the innovation literature with analyses of three empirical industrial ecosystem cases to enhance understanding of the internal dynamics inherent in collaborative innovation. This study elucidates the critical features of ecosystem practice, underscoring four key characteristics essential for empowerment. These characteristics hinge on the adept balance of the four identified critical features throughout the process of continuous innovating in ecosystems. We argue that such practices serve as catalysts for cross‐industry innovation, thus expediting transformation. This research contributes to understanding the self‐organizing dynamics needed for sustained learning in evolving collaboration settings where actors, their motivations and their roles change. It also advances innovation theory by illustrating how wicked problems can be collectively addressed through the continuous exploration and exploitation processes of ecosystems.

Tobacco Industry Engagement in the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee E-cigarettes Inquiry

Background: A now extensive literature has documented political strategies of healthharming industries (HHIs), but little is known about their engagement with Parliamentary select committees. Recent investments by trans-national tobacco corporations (TTCs) in electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has raised concerns that industry actors may be using these to re-engage policymakers in ways precluded by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 5.3. Methods: This article examines tobacco industry engagement with the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee (STC) inquiry into electronic cigarettes. It draws on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with committee members and support staff (n=4) triangulated against written and oral evidence submissions. Results: TTCs featured prominently in the STC inquiry via written and oral submissions. Opportunities existed for industry engagement, and potential influence, at each stage of the process. There was an absence of oral testimony from those sceptical about the potential health benefits of ENDS. The governance mechanisms in place for select committees appear inadequate for protecting committee work from industry influence. As it relates to TTCs, this has implications for the UK’s commitments under FCTC Article 5.3, yet understanding of the FCTC and the requirements of Article 5.3 compliance within the committee were limited. Conclusion: The governance of select committees requires urgent reform in order to balance norms of openness and participation with the need to protect their work from power of economic actors with conflicts of interest. This is particularly the case in relation to TTCs and adherence to FCTC Article 5.3. These findings are of relevance to other select committees whose work affects the interests of HHIs. Further research is needed on other committees and sectors.

Strategic transparency under authoritarian environmentalism: information disclosure and the role of environmental NGOs in China’s national emission trading scheme

ABSTRACT Transparency in carbon markets is considered critical to ensure market effectiveness and public accountability. Low levels of transparency and lack of participation of non-governmental actors are persistent criticisms of Chinese (pilot) emission trading systems. Building on debates around authoritarian environmentalism and China's role therein, this article analyses transparency, manifested as information disclosure, in China's national carbon emission trading scheme (C-ETS) – the largest carbon emission market worldwide. Using expert interviews and content analysis, the article outlines practices of C-ETS information disclosure and discusses its characteristics in the context of China’s environmental governance. Key findings include discrepancies both between central and provincial governments related to information disclosure, and between different provincial governments. And while most industry actors lack interest and capacity to engage in C-ETS disclosure, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), by contrast, are significantly more involved in the policy process and information disclosure, often as ‘eco-elites’. Overall, this reveals that international and domestic ENGOs retain high-level channels to influence policy design and implementation. Yet, ENGO input is not pursued as a public good valuable for its own sake, but sought strategically as a means to the larger goal of efficient market functioning. This type of ‘strategic transparency,’ as we call it, suggests that China’s environmental governance model – regularly considered to be a key example of authoritarian environmentalism – instead represents an evolving mixture of liberal and illiberal tactics.

Migration industries around the nexus of mobility, immobility and settlement. An overview

This introduction aims to give a brief overview of research on the migration industries, based on our definition of the migration industry as all those eco-nomic and financial activities developing between people on the move and the border, we categorise the literature that focuses on this topic around the nexus of mobility, immobility and settlement. We suggest reading and interpreting the research along three main dimensions, depending on where migration in-dustry actors intervene in the relationship between people on the move and the border: a migration industry that facilitates mobility and border crossing and involves actors ranging from smuggling networks to global recruitment agen-cies; an immobility migration industry that involves state and private actors aiming to regulate and/or control the movement of people; and a migration in-dustry that is not concerned with the journey itself, but with the settlement of migrants. Various migration industry actors are present in all these stages, re-configuring their roles, shifting their activities, and responding to new and dis-tinct opportunities for/of the commodification and commercialisation of mi-gration. For these reasons, as will be argued in the introduction to this mono-graph issue, the notion of industries rather than a single industry better reflects the variety of actors and activities operating between migrant agency and border along the different stages of migration projects.

The role of metaphor in the corporate political strategies of health harming industries: Comparing the concept of balance in the gambling and opioid industry discourses

Scholars have identified notable similarities between the political strategies employed by health-harming industries. This includes similarities in the narratives employed by industry actors seeking to oppose public health regulations that threaten their commercial interests. This study seeks to examine the use of a specific concept – the balance metaphor – in the policy discourses of two health-harming industries. Namely, the pharmaceutical industry implicated in the prescription opioid crisis in the US, and the UK gambling industry, whose products and practices are associated with a serious, but largely neglected, series of harms. We first review research on metaphors, demonstrating how this provides additional theoretically-informed concepts with which to understand how industry discourse circumscribes the terrain of policy debates in ways amenable to commercial interests. Building from these insights, we conducted a rhetorical analysis, examining how the concept of balance is employed by different actors in distinct contexts to shape understandings of the social and policy problems associated with gambling and opioid products and to promote industry-favourable regulatory responses to these. This brings a micro-level of analysis to supplement previous meso- and macro-level scholarship in this space. We use our findings to argue that the depoliticization of the policy process and objectivization of the policy space – in ways that obscure its contingent and political nature – through discourses of balance is itself an arch political act. Examining the metaphors used in policy debates and their functions provides important insights that can be used to inform the construction of counter-narratives to industry-favourable discourses, including the creative use of novel metaphors in the service of public health goals.

A research on the Turkish shipyards in the Arctic: Opportunities and challenges

The Arctic region has been experiencing an extensive transformation and several economic opportunities have emerged due to the shrinking sea ice. While the Arctic Ocean has become more convenient for navigation, both Arctic and non-Arctic states have updated their Arctic policies according to recent developments. There has been a substantial increase in the number of studies studying three main Arctic sea routes: Northwest Passage (NWP), Northeast Passage (NEP), and Trans-Polar Sea Route (TSR). Albeit the existence of contradictory results, the interest in Arctic shipping presents a growing trend. The Turkish shipyards increasingly participate in tenders as well. While Çelik Tekne Shipyard stands out as the first Turkish shipyard to win the shipbuilding tender in accordance with polar conditions, a significant increase has been observed in the number of shipyards within the Arctic shipping tenders since 2018. In addition to Atlas and Akdeniz Shipyards, producing ice-class vehicles in accordance with the requirements of the Polar Code, it is possible to multiply examples from Beşiktaş Shipyard, which built ice class fuel ships, Sanmar Shipyard, which won the icebreaker tugboat tender, and Sefine and Kuzey Star Shipyards, which participated in the icebreaker tenders. Besides, the participation of Turkish shipyards as sole contractors in the Russian Arctic as of 2021 indicates their determination to become active actors in the Arctic shipping industry. Accordingly, this paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of Arctic shipping based on the Turkish case.

Analysis of Business Feasibility Studies in Management Aspects Case Study Services: Duck Sinjai Cab Restaurant. Bangkalan

In today's economy, every company, whether in the service sector or not, must outperform both old and new competitors. To achieve the company's goals and improve the quality of a company, various aspects must be considered for improvement through consideration. This also applies to business actors in the culinary industry, such as restaurants. Restaurant evaluation is essential to increase sales and meet projected results. The purpose of this study is to find out whether the Sinjay Duck Restaurant has fulfilled the management aspect and to find out what management aspects can be applied to the Sinjay Duck Restaurant to improve the quality of the restaurant in the eyes of the public. The research method used is library research, data collection by searching for sources and constructing from various sources such as books, journals, and existing researches. The result of this study is that consumer satisfaction with service is less than optimal in serving, because in its implementation it turns out that the Sinjay Cab.Bangkalan Duck Restaurant has not implemented the points described by the author, especially in Service Quality and Getting Convenience.

Sending the Right Signals: A Theoretical Model to Understand How Interpretative Leadership Capacity Advances Cross-Sector Collaboration

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are increasingly asked to facilitate cross-sector collaboration between state, private industry, and nonprofit actors and organizations. Growing evidence indicates certain contexts and conditions support cross-sector col-laboration more than others. However, there is still limited understanding of how, spe-cifically, process and practice produce leadership activity necessary to advance cross-sector collaboration. The purpose of this study is to examine illustrations of how the leadership practice of interpretative signaling emerges in facilitated committees work-ing to enable cross-sector collaboration. Relying on a Leadership-as-Practice (LAP) frame, this video ethnography of Collaborative Leadership Learning Group (CLLG) sessions establishes a theoretical model helpful to capturing how everyday dialogic, re-lational, and socio-material interactions emerge leadership between committee mem-bers attempting to enable cross-sector collaboration. Leadership practice was primarily connected to informal authority that was dispersed through networks of people and community systems. Four forms of interpretative signaling are illustrated as a general practice in the theoretical model.

Using a Centroid-based approach for a reliable identification of morels (Morchella spp.): A case study for food authentication.

Food fraud is a problematic yet common phenomenon in the food industry. It impacts numerous sectors, including the market of edible mushrooms. Morel mushrooms are prized worldwide for their culinary and medicinal use. They represent a taxonomically complex group in which food fraud has already been reported. Among the methods to evaluate food fraud, some rely on comparisons of genetic sequences obtained from a sample to existing databases. However, the quality and usefulness of the results are limited by the type of comparison tool and the quality of the database used. The Centroid-based approach is applied by SmartGene in a proprietary artificial intelligence-based method for the generation of automatically curated reference databases that can be further expert curated. In this study, using sequences of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the genus Morchella (true morels), we compared this approach to the traditional pairwise alignment tool using two other databases: UNITE and Mycobank (MLST). The Centroid-based approach using an expert-curated database was more performant for the identification of 53 representative ITS sequences corresponding to validated species (83% accuracy, compared to 36% and 47% accuracy for UNITE and MLST, respectively). The Centroid method also revealed an inaccurate taxonomic annotation for sequences of commercial cultivars submitted to public databases. Combined with the web-based commercial software IDNS® available at Smartgene, the Centroid-based approach constitutes a valuable tool to ensure the quality of morel products on the market for actors of the food industry. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The Centroid-based approach can be used by agri-food actors who need to identify true morels down to the species level without any prior taxonomical knowledge. These include routine laboratories of the food industry, food distributors, and public surveillance agencies. This is a reliable method that requires minimal skills and resources, therefore being particularly adapted for nonspecialists.

Impact of cryogenic environment on piezoelectric transducers used in SHM applications

A high number of actors of the space industry, including ESA (European Space Agency) and CNES (French national space agency), are engaged in a program aiming at developing future European reusable space launchers. In this context, PYTHEAS Technology has developed an embedded Non-Destructive Testing (eNDT) solution to ensure that strategic structural elements of the launcher are free of damage before a new launch, performing Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). The sensors used for this application are subject to severe temperature variations, including cryogenic temperatures. Cryogenic conditions are present in other fields requiring SHM solutions, such as liquid hydrogen reservoirs, increasing the importance of this study. Results of experimental tests are presented, where piezoelectric transducers are glued with two types of glue on samples of aluminum plates and carbon composite plates. A reference measurement is carried out before plunging the plates in a climatic chamber, down to -196°C. Pulse-echo and admittance measurements are performed during the temperature decrease and after the temperature rise. The admittance measurements show no deterioration of the samples after being immersed in liquid nitrogen: the transducers, wires, glue, and samples themselves have resisted to the temperature cycle. The pulse-echo signals’ time and frequency analysis show a linear attenuation of the signals relative to temperature. A difference in signal intensity and wave behavior has also been observed relative to the sample’s material: composite or aluminum. No difference regarding the type of glue is witnessed. These results pave the way for damage detection in harsh environments, since the system’s performance is maintained through a whole temperature cycle in cryogenic conditions.

Scientists, censorship, and suppression: A combined comparative‐processual analysis of U.S. cases involving chemical and climate change expertise

AbstractAlthough scientific research is often crucial for efforts to achieve improved environmental regulation for industrial products and processes, scientists who document or publicize research on possible risks can face suppression or censorship by industry, government, and other actors. This study contributes to the sociology of science by examining the challenges and responses of environmental scientists in the U.S. in two research areas: toxic chemicals and climate change. Drawing on comparative and processual methods applied to a small‐N, unique data set of cases, the study conducts formal coding of variables for contextual conditions and four general categories of the suppression sequence: triggering circumstances and actions, suppression actions, responses, and outcomes. The first stage of the analysis identifies significant relationships between contextual conditions and the suppression sequence, such as the different forms of suppression that government employees and university professors face. The second stage identifies three composite processual sequences: employment risk for government scientists, records attacks for both government and university scientists, and reputation attacks on university scientists. Together, the two types of analysis advance research by identifying novel relationships in a more systematic way than is accomplished with the standard approach of one or a few cases. The approach also examines the benefits of a mode of comparative analysis that can be more readily connected with theory testing via process tracing at the case level. The practical issue of responding to suppression or censorship is considered, which could be of value to environmental scientists and their partners.

Corporate social responsibility, policy framing and strategic marketing: understanding the alcohol industry’s use of social media in Uganda

BackgroundSub-Saharan Africa is important to the future of alcohol and global health because the alcohol market there is expanding rapidly in a relatively young population. This entails a corresponding contest about whether the policy measures adopted will be shaped by scientific evidence or by industry interference in alcohol policy. This study examines how alcohol industry actors use social media.MethodsUganda was selected for study because of high levels of alcohol harm and recent alcohol policy debates. Data on the X (formerly Twitter) activity of the Ugandan companies of AB InBev and Diageo, who are the two main brewers, and the trade association including both, were collected, coded and thematically analysed.ResultsX is used overwhelmingly by alcohol industry actors in Uganda to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) and alcohol policy framing content. There is little direct product marketing. The framing of policy problems and solutions, and of the actors involved in policymaking and CSR resembles that used elsewhere in the political strategies of the transnational alcohol corporations. Content which appears more emphasised in Uganda includes material on farmers, illicit trade and contribution to the economy. As elsewhere, it avoids giving attention to the policy measures which would make a difference to the levels of alcohol harms endured by Uganda. Rhetorically, X is thus used to create a parallel universe, in which the actual harms and what is known about how to reduce them are conspicuous by their absence.ConclusionsThe alcohol industry presents itself as indispensable to Uganda’s future and appears to have developed relationships with politicians, partnerships with government, and built a coalition with farmers. This means the alcohol industry may be well positioned to oppose public health policy measures, even though their arguments lack substance and are at odds with the evidence.

Chinese consumers’ lived experiences of flexitarianism

PurposeThis was an explorative study, the purpose of which was to understand how Chinese flexitarians were motivated to reduce their animal-based food consumption and specifically to explore why and what was behind these changes. Further, this study provides insights into how a transition towards a more plant-based diet might occur.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted 30 in-depth online interviews with Chinese flexitarians from two major Chinese cities. Interview transcripts were analysed through the lens of the Food Choice Process Model.FindingsParticipants adopted flexitarian diets due to health (n = 22), sustainability (n = 5) or ethical (n = 3) concerns. Many participants stated that they still enjoyed animal-sourced foods, were uncomfortable talking about their dietary transition and needed more social support. Consequently, most participants were unlikely to progress to vegetarian or vegan diets. While there are some commonalities between these findings and the results of similar studies with Western consumers, the many culturally and context-specific results revealed herein make an important contribution to the sustainability literature.Originality/valueThis is the first study exploring Chinese consumers’ flexitarianism experiences. These findings can be used by the food industry and interested business actors to improve communication and promotional strategies that encourage consumers to make healthier and more sustainable food choices.

Empirical Insights into Salvage Wood Logistics

Climate crises and natural disasters increasingly challenge wood supply chains by the critical need to transport high volumes of salvage wood quickly out of the forests to limit wood value loss and to prevent inducing forest calamities. Salvage wood logistics covering unimodal, multimodal and multi-echelon unimodal transport as well as storage plays an essential role in tackling existing problems and future risks by linking diverse actors along wood supply chains. Since little is known about specific challenges in salvage wood logistics, an extensive empirical study was conducted to evaluate logistics concepts and coping strategies involving stakeholders representing the entire wood value chain in Austria. The knowledge and experience of 161 forest owners, transport operators and wood-based industry actors were surveyed based on questionnaires with 108 matrix, rating, Likert scale and open questions. Results show a significant loss in salvage wood transport capacity due to long waiting times at receiving mills leading to more than one-fourth lost transport capacity in the unimodal salvage wood supply chain. Sustainable and resilient wood supply chain management can be achieved by increasing train and semitrailer truck wood transport as well as wood storage capacity and by improving both working conditions for self-loading log-truck drivers and cooperation between stakeholders.