COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES ON THE MEAT PRODUCTS MARKET

The Hungarian meat-market can be characterised by intensive transitions both in market actors and product-structure. There is a decrease in the consumption of pork and at the same time in this category an increase in the share of processed meat products. There are also increasing differences in the quality and price-level of processed meat products. This transition highlights the importance of relations between the meat production industry and the meat retail trade. In the framework of a field-study we have analysed the opinions of more than two hundred meat trade specialist on supplier-retailer relationships. The responses have been analysed by one- and multivariate statistics. The results of the research confirm that the overwhelming majority of retailers consider a wide choice of products and flexibility to be a necessary precondition of success. The cheap product-line is no longer in itself enough for the achievement of sustainable market development. Retail enterprises attach great importance to marketing activities undertaken in partnership with the meat industry. The competition between meat suppliers is an especially intensive one in larger towns and in the capital. The maintenance of their partnership with the meat industry is regarded as an important success factor among managers of dynamic, growth-oriented firms. As confirmed by our structural mathematical model, the conflict level between meat-processor and retailer is diminishing with increasing levels of competition. The level of co-operation is increasing with the flexibility of meat producers and the sharing of market intelligence. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX A magyar húsipari termékek mind a piaci szereplÅ‘k, mind a forgalmazott termékek megoszlása szempontjából mélyreható változások tanúi lehetünk. A sertéshús –fogyasztás erÅ‘teljesen csökken, és ezen belül nÅ‘ a húskészítmények aránya. A felodogozott húsipari termékek között minÅ‘ségben és árban egyre nö-vekvÅ‘ különbségek tapasztalhatók. Az átalakuló helyzet fokozottan állítja elÅ‘-térbe a húsipari-vállalat –élelmiszerkereskedelem közötti kapcsolatrendszer fon-tosságát. Vizsgálataink során több mint kétszáz boltvezetÅ‘ véleményét kérdeztük meg a húskészítmények gyártóival fenntartott kapcsolataikról. A válaszokat egy –és többváltozós matematikai-statisztiaki módszerekkel elemeztük. Kutatásaink azt igazolják, hogy a kereskedelmi vállalkozások meghatározó többsége a siker alapvetÅ‘ feltételének tekinti a széles termékválasztékot és a rugalmas piaci rea-gálást. Önmagában az olcsóságra törekvés már nem elegendÅ‘ a fenntartható pia-ci növekedés eléréséhez. A vállalkozások nagy jelentÅ‘séget tulajdonítanak a hús-iparral közösen végzett piacbefolyásoló tevékenységnek. A megkérdezett keres-kedÅ‘k kedvezÅ‘tlenül értékelték azt a minÅ‘ségcsökkenést, mely az alacsonyabb hozzáadott-érték tartalmú húsipari termékeket jellemezte. A húsipari vállalatok közötti verseny különösen erÅ‘teljes a városokban és a fÅ‘városban. A dinamikus, növekedés-orientált kereskedelmi vállalkozások veze-tÅ‘i fokozott jelentÅ‘séget tulajdonítanak a húsiparral fenntartott, intenzív partneri kapcsolatoknak. Strukturális egyenletekkel igazoltuk, hogy a húsipar-kereskedÅ‘ közötti konf-liktusok szintjét nagymértékben csökkenti a húsipari vállalatok közötti erÅ‘teljes verseny. Az együttműködést hatékonyan javíthatja a húsipari szállítók rugal-massága és a piaci információk megosztása.quality price-value, questionnary, analysis- minÅ‘ség ár-érték, felmérés, együttműködés szerepe, Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

Values, attitudes, and goals of future Hungarian food engineers

Over the last few decades Hungarian higher education has been radically transformed, and this transformation was implemented to counter the backwardness that previously plagued the education system. Agricultural education in particular was part of this transformation process, which included the disciplines of food science and related technology. This attempt at transformation yielded only a partial success; student numbers shot up, but there was no subsequent general improvement in the efficiency of higher education. This article is based on two surveys carried out in 1997 and 2007. The students’ values can be characterised as pluralistic and heterogenous. Based on longitudinal research, a shift can be seen toward materialistic and hedonistic values. The motivation for choosing the Faculty of Food Science is varied in nature, mirroring the food industry’s often critical current situation. High schools’ professional orientation is weak. Although the Faculty’s Budapest location is attractive, in the long run this is not sufficient to replace carefully planned promotional work. By structural equation modelling a significant relationship can be proven between the students’ values, their types of knowledge, and their expectations for future types of work.higher education policy, human resource management, food science education, social psychology, empirical research, Agribusiness, Labor and Human Capital,

Scaling limit of a limit order book model via the regenerative characterization of L\'evy trees

We consider the following Markovian dynamic on point processes: at constant rate and with equal probability, either the rightmost atom of the current configuration is removed, or a new atom is added at a random distance from the rightmost atom. Interpreting atoms as limit buy orders, this process was introduced by Lakner et al. to model a one-sided limit order book. We consider this model in the regime where the total number of orders converges to a reflected Brownian motion, and complement the results of Lakner et al. by showing that, in the case where the mean displacement at which a new order is added is positive, the measure-valued process describing the whole limit order book converges to a simple functional of this reflected Brownian motion. Our results make it possible to derive useful and explicit approximations on various quantities of interest such as the depth or the total value of the book. Our approach leverages an unexpected connection with L\'evy trees. More precisely, the cornerstone of our approach is the regenerative characterization of L\'evy trees due to Weill, which provides an elegant proof strategy which we unfold.Comment: Accepted for publication in stochastic system

Equal-area method for scalar conservation laws

We study one-dimensional conservation law. We develop a simple numerical method for computing the unique entropy admissible weak solution to the initial problem. The method basis on the equal-area principle and gives the solution for given time directly.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Workshop report European multifunctional farmers network : creating an European network of pioneers in multifunctional agriculture

This report describes the results of the Workshop European Multifunctional Farmers Network (EMFN) which was held on October 23, 2008 on the multifunctional farm “De Zonnehoeve” of Piet van IJzendoorn, at Zeewolde, the Netherlands. This workshop was part of the European Eemland Conference ‘Versatile Countryside’ which was held 22 – 24 October 2008 (see http://www.eeconference.eu/). This report introduces the of the European Multifunctional Farmers Network, and describes the program of the workshop and the results of the different sessions within the workshop. In addition, it provides the outcome of a pilot with international rural development students working with international multifunctional farmers, using the Interactive Strategic Management Method

Livestock farmers' attitude towards manure separation technology as future strategy

In this paper, an ordered probit model is used to assess the factors that affect the probability of livestock farmers having plans to adopt manure separation technology in the future. A survey, based on a postal and computerized questionnaire of representative dairy and pig farms in the Netherlands was carried out in 2009. The results show that age of farmer and a variable which accounts for the interaction between size and location of the farm are important variables explaining the probability of farmers having plans to adopt manure separation technology. Furthermore, farmers who agreed that future application norms are the driving force for considering adoption of manure separation technology were more likely to consider manure separation as the right strategy for their farm. This outcome implies that farmers are considering manure separation as a strategy to survive the more stringent future application norms. Policy implications are that young farmers with bigger Dutch size unit located in manure regions where there is oversupply of manure are more likely to adopt manure separation technology in the futur

THE NECESSITY OF STRATEGIC THINKING IN HUNGARIAN AGRIBUSINESS

Based on analysis of a time series of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) indicator and Relative Trade Advantage Index the performance of Hungarian agriculture and food industry has declined rapidly during the last fifteen years. This fact highlights the importance of searching new paradigms in development. In short term the increasing of production–quantity does not seem to be a rational way. The only alternative is the product–differentiation strategy. Under conditions of increasing competition in foreign markets the importance of domestic markets gains in importance. The domestic market is a dynamic one, too: the producers should be better focussed of new demands of specific consumer segments (e.g. elder generations, ethnic minorities etc…). On the long term the future of Hungarian agri-food chain is considerably determined by external factors: in case of increasing energy prices and global warming the importance of production capacities will be increasing rapidly.competitiveness, future research, marketing, system analysis, strategic planning, Agribusiness, Farm Management,

Determinants of Economic Growth in Organic Farming: The Case of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg

The organic sector in Germany has experienced a substantial growth since the beginning of the 1990s until today. During this process of expansion, most organic farms have grown in terms of factor endowment, while others have disappeared or reconverted to conventional agriculture. This paper investigates the potential determinants of farms growth in the organic sector. This paper models potential factors that might have an impact on the economic growth of 332 organic farms in Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. The econometric model was developed based on ‘Gibrat’s Law’, using a fixed effect method (FE). The results suggest that direct marketing and livestock intensity significantly influence farm growth. In addition, less efficient farms grew faster than more efficient ones. This outcome can be explained by the economic pressure on inefficient firms for adaptation during the growth and survival process.farm-growth, Gibrat’s law, technical efficiency, direct marketing, Farm Management,