Swedish Food Industry Research Articles

Energy use categorization with performance indicators for the food industry and a conceptual energy planning framework

Energy efficiency improvements can enhance industry’s decarbonization. A major challenge however is that the energy efficiency potential often remains untapped, due, among other things, to the lack of information on energy end-use and available energy efficiency measures. Further, this lack of information also makes the deployment of energy efficiency difficult to monitor and evaluate. The creation of a standard or taxonomy on how to categorize energy end-use for major industries would help to close this knowledge gap. This paper presents a novel taxonomy for energy end-use in the food industry, with four hierarchical levels. Further, results show that the production process utilizes two-thirds of the total energy used in the food industry and only one-third is used for support processes. Another result is that heat processing and space heating are the most intensive unit processes in terms of energy and carbon dioxide emissions for production and support processes, respectively. The paper also presents an array of energy performance indicators for the identified energy-intensive processes. The case study was carried out in the Swedish food industry. However, taxonomy and energy performance indicators can be generalized internationally. In addition to the above results, this research presents a novel concept of the energy planning framework, which helps with simple and effective planning of energy improvement activities in an industrial context. The energy planning framework can help in benchmarking, setting targets, and monitoring energy performance in the industry.

How is value created? – Extending the value concept in the Swedish context

This inductive study elaborates on the value concept and unpacks the process of how value is created in the Swedish food industry by combining the theoretical tool of goal hierarchy with the methods of network analysis. Through real world insights, on how consumers and retail firms act and coordinate their activities to fulfill their roles in consumer value creation, this study proposes a differing perspective that extends the value-in-use concept by identifying four sequential consumer activities. They are (i) reflections about what is important (value) in the specific consumption situation (the focal goal), (ii) the starting point of value creation (selection and application of means), (iii) the process involved in providing and enjoying holistic solutions, and (iv) ultimately its contribution to life fulfillment in the sense that value creation is meaningful. Thus, consumers create value by setting clear differential hierarchical goals that include the identification of resources and consumers’ own capacity before choosing the products and using them. The network analyses also reveal an additional space for supporting value creation: firm to firm interactions which add more resources to providers’ support of consumer value creation. The paper provides new real world insights on how consumers and firms act to fulfill their roles in consumer value creation. This knowledge helps retailers to better identify and manage value creation tools to support their customers in value creation.

How public policy can stimulate the capabilities of firms to innovate in a traditional industry through academic engagement: the case of the Swedish food industry

This paper shows how public policy can stimulate innovation in low‐ and medium‐technology industries, by connecting firms and universities through collaborative scientific research. A conceptual framework proposes that collaborative research between universities and firms may result in tangible innovative outcomes, such as new or improved products or processes, and intangible outcomes that strengthen firms’ internal capabilities and thereby indirectly increase their innovativeness. Findings are presented from a case study of a Swedish public policy stimulating the development of firm capabilities for innovation, through collaborative research projects connecting universities and firms in the food industry between 1998 and 2006. In line with the conceptual framework, the analysis distinguishes between (i) direct outcomes, such as new products; and (ii) indirect outcomes in the form of the development of firms’ capabilities to innovate. Based on this analysis, the initial conceptual framework is expanded to indicate how policy can stimulate the development of firms’ capabilities.

Risk Management and Quality Assurance Through the Food Supply Chain - Case Studies in the Swedish Food Industry~!2008-04-01~!2008-05-05~!2008-06-12~!

Processed food and eating out of the home are increasing phenomena, which presents new business opportunities for food manufacturers. However, the new food products require increased quality and safety, and thereby a more controlled distribution. The overall purpose of the research presented in this article is to describe the food supply chain from a critical context point of view in order to highlight the risks and the traceability issues. The paper expands previous discussions regarding critical control points into a critical context perspective in traceability in food supply chains. The initial part of the study is based on a literature review in the area of traceability combined with a number of related search words. A number of case studies have been carried out in order to map the food supply chains and better understand consumer standpoints. This paper describes how the system for distribution of food from manufacturer to end-user operates in Sweden. The chains studied all showed critical contexts. The paper suggests attitudinal changes towards overall supply chain responsibility, better resource utilisation and increased knowledge among actors. Furthermore it suggests supply chain actors to better integrate consumer insights on food safety perceptions in order to create value. (Less)

Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition in transition

Dear Reader, This is the last issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition, No 4/2007, concluding volume 51. The journal started as “Naringsforskning” in Swedish (i.e. Nutrition Research) in 1957 with the aim of informing Swedish and Nordic readers about progress in nutritional sciences. It was directed to professionals working with nutrition such as dieticians, nutritionists, medical doctors and nurses, teachers of home economics, and not the least the Swedish food industry that was keen on applying new results for nutritional improvements of their products. In 1961, the Swedish Nutrition Foundation was established and took over the journal as one way of realising its overall aim to promote nutrition research and its practical implications. The Swedish language was kept, occasionally with articles in the Danish and Norwegian languages and the aim was to satisfy the broad spectrum of readers with different kinds of articles, reviews, summaries and debate in the broad area of nutrition. From 1992 the name of the journal was changed to Scandinavian Journal of Nutrition/Naringsforskning with the ambition to increase the number of subscribers and readers both within and outside the Nordic countries. Members of the Swedish Society of Nutrition were an important part of the readers who got a discounted subscription included in their membership fee. Similar but discounted subscriptions were offered to societies in the other Nordic countries, and at times the journal had Scandinavian News from Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway in each issue. The journal was made more consistently bilingual, i.e. English and Scandinavian languages. Original articles in English were welcomed and appeared more and more. The journal was produced in the offices of the Swedish Nutrition Foundation. From 2002 a contract was signed with a well-reputed publisher of scientific journals, Taylor&Francis, now Informa Healthcare/Taylor&Francis, with the title “Scandinavian Journal of Nutrition”, and the journal was published consistently in the English language. The aim was to increase the attractiveness of publishing original articles as well as reviews in the journal and to increase the number of international subscribers through efficient marketing activities. However, neither of these expectations was realised, also not after broadening of the scope and change of name to Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition from 2006. The journal has been indexed in several databases, CAB Abstracts; Elsevier Bibliographic Databases; EMBASE (Excerpta Medica); Food Science and Technology Abstracts (FSTA); and SWEMED. However, applications to be indexed in Index Medicus/PubMed have failed so far. This fact and the absence of an official impact factor, are major and increasingly important obstacles in attracting good original articles, particularly from the biomedical area. With this background it was decided to discontinue the Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition in its present form, volume 51 being the closing volume. From 2008, the Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition will be continued in two separate forms: One purely scientific open access journal named Food & Nutrition Research (see adjacent advert), and a new information journal in Swedish, with certain articles in other Scandinavian languages, named Nordisk Nutrition (Nordic Nutrition).

Exploring the organisational preconditions for occupational accidents in food industry: A qualitative approach

The continuing high frequency of occupational accidents in the Swedish food industry calls for new approaches to better understand the underlying factors. In the present study, 54 accidents involving hand injuries were investigated from the operators’ perspective, to explore the organisational preconditions. In-depth interviews were conducted with operators and their supervisors, and 24 of these interviews were analysed using the grounded theory method. The core category ‘safety as a process’ was identified encompassing the perception of the process of the accident at operative level and organisational preconditions that increased the risk of occupational accidents. These preconditions were open factors: deficiencies in technical/physical environment and work organisation; and concealed factors: insufficient communication and learning, a high level of responsibility in combination with low control, conflicting goals and a gap between procedures and practice. These preconditions lead to risk acceptance, resignation towards improved safety and normalisation of risk. Through the analysis a five-step hypothesis was empirically generated.

Market Power and European Competition in the Swedish Food Industry

This paper investigates the existence of market power in the Swedish food and beverage industry and how market power has been affected by European competition (the Single Market and Swedish EU membership). The study makes use of a census of some 500 firms for the period 1990–2002. The results show that firms in the Swedish food and beverage industry do enjoy some market power, the degree of which varies significantly across the sectors of the food and beverage industry. Increased foreign competition has contributed to reducing market power in sectors that were protected by tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade prior to Swedish EU membership.

The Impact of Internationalisation on the Swedish Food Industry

The European integration process has changed the competitive landscape in many industries. The questions raised in this paper concern the reactions of national firms that are subjected to this process of internationalisation of competition. This study highlights the vertical inter-dependence within a system of production and distribution. In internationalisation theory, most studies have focused on how firms become international or global players, where entrance into new markets is seen as a result of strategic decisions. To illustrate this process, three industries in food production, that is the baking, the brewing and the confectionery industries, were chosen. The results indicate that a supra-industrial strategic recipe exists, with a core content of specialised volume production. The discussion on company strategies focussed on the retail sector. The findings might be interpreted in the light of Galbraith's theory of countervailing power.

Relationships as entry barriers: a network perspective

Recent literature on the European Union has focused to a great extent on the growing competition that the creation of the union was expected to generate on the former national markets. And yet, as we have moved into the new millennium, cross-border competition in many sectors is still at modest levels. One explanation for this could lie in firm-level strategies that involve relationship-building on the home-market and abroad with a view to creating new entry barriers to deregulated national markets. However, entry barrier literature, is dominated by economics-oriented frameworks in which relationships and collaboration take second place to horizontal competition. The adoption of a network perspective helps to reveal what happens when a market is deregulated. Anyone in Europe can become an actor overnight, whereas previously all kinds of regulations limited the number of actors, essentially, to the national ones. However, to be able to establish itself on the new market, a firm needs to establish relationships. The main aim of a defending firm is then to strengthen its relationships to prevent entrants from establishing a position in the national network. This article, mainly theoretical and using a network perspective, seeks to develop a framework for analysing relations as entry barriers. It also presents some general propositions as to how relationships, as entry barriers, may influence firm strategies in general, and discusses some implications for mainstream entry barrier research and for policy-makers. The empirical material, namely strategic developments in the Swedish food industry during the 1990s, has had a purely illustrative function.

Decision Making in Inter-firm Networks as a Political Process

A political-process-oriented approach to decision making is applied to an asymmetric network of firms, based on the notion of resource interdependen cies as the prime motivator of inter-firm exchange, and on a multi-dimensional view of power. Empirically, the paper draws upon a case study of the introduc tion of a computer-based decision aid (DPP) in the Swedish food industry. A theoretical model is developed, demonstrating how motives, structural condi tions and moves made by powerful as well as more dependent firms interact in shaping the decision process. A central theme is that structural change as well as the adoption of innovations within inter-firm networks is influenced by political activities during the decision process. The relevance of subtle moves aimed at influencing the perceptions and beliefs of other actors is espe cially stressed. The paper also suggests that more dependent firms do not necessarily give priority to balancing dependencies since they may actually jeopardize privileges not attainable within a less asymmetric structure.

Prevailing national networks: an obstacle to European interaction?

European integration is expected to result in international industrial networks, facilitating information and technology exchange, and improvements in efficiency and effectiveness. Within many industries in Western Europe, however, companies still operate mainly in their home markets, e.g., the food industry. We argue that substantial obstacles to increasing industrial co-ordination and the diffusion of innovations within Europe may exist in industries dominated by concentrated national sub-networks. Theoretically, this argument is derived from a network and resource dependence perspective and illustrated by a case study of the introduction of a new decision aid in the Swedish food industry. Here, it is concluded that conflicting interests among the actors created inertia, and that development was not controlled by actors operating internationally, i.e. multinational manufacturers, but by retailers and wholesalers holding strong national network positions.

The Institutions of Industrial Governance

The unit of analysis in the transaction-cost approach is the transaction that takes place between two parties. According to transaction-cost theory, the governance structure found is the result of an effort to minimize transaction costs, which leads to the establishment of either market, hierarchical, or some intermediate form of governance. Through this focus on the single transaction, however, this approach tends to overlook the fact that the transaction between two parties usually is part of a whole system of transactions and relations with strong interdependences. The present paper develops the idea that a set of transactions is a more relevant unit of analysis and presents an illustrative case from the Swedish food industry. Exploring this case leads, in turn, to the suggestion that by focusing on interorganizational theory and on approaches complementary to a transaction-cost