Rainer Haas

• Assoc. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.
• Professor (Associate) at BOKU University

Within the food sector, there is a growing embrace of meat substitutes as a more sustainable alternative to meat, driven by ethical, environmental, and health considerations. This study aims to explore consumer behavior and willingness to pay (WTP) for plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs), illustrated by the example of vegan burger patties. The sa...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine represents an unforeseen and significant market disruption for global trade with wide-ranging effects on global trade, particularly on the economies of the major import countries of Ukrainian agricultural commodities. The general impact and consequences of the war on the global economy are described, and key componen...

The Russo-Ukrainian war led to supply shocks in the EU's Food Supply Chain (FSC), impacting energy, fertilizer, and agricultural trade. By means of seven expert interviews, we assess possible impacts of these shock effects downstream entities within the EU’S FSC. Despite initial concerns about the need to compensate for Ukraine's previous agricultu...

Food safety is a pressing global concern, particularly in developing and emerging economies. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has further heightened consumer attention towards food safety, quality, and maintaining a healthy diet. This study provides insights into consumer awareness and perceptions related to food safety and the origin of beef products,...

Palm oil plays a crucial role in the food industry, industrial applications, and bioenergy, accounting for over one-third of global vegetable oil production. The production area has quadrupled, and the volume is about seven times higher today than in the early 1990s. This significant increase is attributed to several factors, including the oil palm...

Algae-based foods have been gaining increasing popularity in recent years and hold tremendous potential, provided that there is greater awareness and knowledge about microalgae-based foods within both the general population and the food industry. These products not only offer health benefits for the human body but are also cost-effective and enviro...

Existing research based on labels, risks and benefits, and cultural differences has focused on consumers’ preferences for genetically modified (GM) food products. Limited attention has been paid to the attitudes toward the source who developed the biotechnology. Because there may be trust issues associated with large multinational firms that are of...

Zusammenfassung Die ergriffenen Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der COVID-19-Pandemie sowie Einstellungs- und Verhaltensänderungen der Konsumenten haben sich global auf Lebensmittelwertschöpfungsketten ausgewirkt. Um die Auswirkungen von COVID-19 auf die österreichische Landwirtschaft zu untersuchen, wurden im Frühjahr 2021 Interviews mit 34 Landwirt:inne...

This report presents an analysis of the current situation regarding sustainable food habits, primarily in partner countries, and compares with the need for sustainable consumption of food as expressed i.a. in the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. We distinguish between the situation in countries with an existing long track record...

onsumers are responsible for almost 50 percent of food waste. Consumer-focused interventions are crucial to achieve many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 12.3. There are many factors that cause food waste, and these can be prevented by changing the consumption behavior of adults. Mobile apps are seen as promising tools to change...

To assess the effects of COVID-19 on Austrian farmers, a qualitative study design including computer-aided, qualitative content analysis was applied. Interviews with 34 Austrian farmers covering a broad spectrum of the sector were conducted to identify the impacts, obstacles, and opportunities during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The res...

Globally, organic food production and consumption have significantly increased in the last two decades, driven largely by perceived positive impacts on consumer health, the environment, and sustainable development. The aim of this study was to investigate factors influencing consumers’ attitudes towards organic food in the context of a transition/e...

The scarcity of natural resources together with the exponentially increasing world population has made the sustainable consumption of food (SCF) a crucial issue, as it has impacts on a variety of environmental, health, economic, and social dimensions. Considering the rarity of a holistic view in previous studies, this study aims to assess the curre...

Domestic food markets are of significant importance to Kosovar and Albanian companies because access to export markets is under-developed, partly as a result of the gaps in food safety and quality standards. Kosovar and Albanian consumers’ use of food safety attributes and their evaluation of the quality of domestic food versus imported food are th...

Distribution systems for food can change quickly in emergent markets, requiring new competences for consumers, and even in some European countries we have seen considerable changes in the distribution system for food in recent decades, raising the question whether consumers have acquired corresponding competences. We take two Balkan countries, Alba...

Kosovo and Albania, in a manner similar to other Western Balkan countries, face serious challenges in relation to national food safety and control in terms of legislation, infrastructure, institutional capacity and private investments. Consequently, food safety is a major concern for consumers in this region. The objective of this study was to gain...

Cow milk is under increased scrutiny due to its environmental impact and ethical considerations concerning animal welfare. At the same time, a rising share of consumers is switching to plant-based milk substitutes (abbreviated “plant milk”). The objective of this study was (1) to analyze the product image of plant milk and cow milk and (2) to compa...

Within the study, we show that it is quite demanding to conduct consumer surveys abroad, in particular, if the targeted society differs in so many ways compared to the domestic market. This contribution presents results of a study analyzing consumer behavior in the Japanese rice market. The main focus was set on the evaluation of preferences of Jap...

A general overview of authenticity in connection with food is given. Cases are presented by way of example to explore authenticity in relationship to modernism, hipster authenticity and hyperrealism. Indicators of authenticity are given that allow a matrix of authenticity to be scored on different metrics. Levels of authenticity are proposed with a...

An overview of the contemporary food chain is given. After a general model, several variations are discussed. An exploration of food chains at different levels – local, regional and global – is covered. These are known as short and long food chains respectively. How consumers make social constructs in mediating the food chain is explored along with...

Neuromarketing also known as consumer neuroscience is explored with an ethical discourse which includes opinions of researchers and practitioners. We look at the broad scope of neuromarketing, before exploring an Ethical Code of Neuromarketing. Afterwards more critical aspects are covered in detail touching upon legal, moral and praxes related to b...

A general contextualization of augmented reality (AR) is given. The current institutional environment, relationship to mediated reality and assessment of AR at the human machine interface or human computer interface in a manufacturing environment is given. Human factors regarding health and safety are explored. Some AR wearables are discussed. A pr...

This study focuses on consumers' behaviour towards Fruits and Vegetables (FVs) under economic crisis. The implementation of both factor analysis and logistic regression reveals discrete consumer groups, affected and not affected by the ongoing economic crisis. Interviewees were selected randomly. In total, 250 questionnaires were completed and 238...

Purpose Claims about environmental impact, health effects and taste of food products are restricted in the EU. The purpose of this paper is to quantify how much such claims would change the willingness to pay (WTP) for organic products in Croatia. Design/methodology/approach For estimating the WTP under different claims the authors used an experim...

In recent years, the discussion concerning critical thinking and problem solving among college graduates and new industry hires has increased dramatically. A plethora of research has discovered that college graduates entering the workforce are lacking in their ability to problem solve and think critically. These attributes have been called some of...

Purpose – In the contribution the authors show how the concept of community-powered co-innovation can successfully be implemented in order to improve the situation of small-scale farmers. The purpose of this paper is to focus on developing countries in consideration of economic, social and ecological sustainability aspects. Design/methodology/appr...

The dairy market is one of the fastest growing agri-food sectors in Kosovo, yet the farm structure is fragmented. The level of productivity is lower compared with European Union levels and shows potential for improvements. The consumption of dairy products is expected to rise due to income growth and segmentation of consumers that would reflect dif...

This study analyzes consumers’ information needs concerning quality labels in the food sector. We analyzed that by using one of the most well-known quality labels for food products in Austria as our research object (the quality label of the organization AgrarMarkt Austria, the so-called AMA Seal). Apparently, there is a lack of consumer-oriented in...

This study analyzes consumers’ information needs concerning quality seals in the food sector. A survey was conducted taking one of the most well-known quality labels for food products in Austria (the AMA Quality Seal). Apparently, there is a lack of consumer-oriented information. Up to now, the type of information con-sumers of AMA sealed products...

This book bridges the gap between innovative ICT potentials for cost-efficient processes in the European food chain and trust between companies in the food chain. Using case studies from European countries, chapters discuss trust-building methods for food networks in an e-business environment. Key issues include the influence of cultural disparity...

This book bridges the gap between innovative ICT potentials for cost-efficient processes in the European food chain and trust between companies in the food chain. Using case studies from European countries, chapters discuss trust-building methods for food networks in an e-business environment. Key issues include the influence of cultural disparity...

In recent years, the discussion concerning critical thinking and problem solving among college graduates and new industry hires has increased dramatically. A plethora of research has discovered that college graduates entering the workforce are lacking in their ability to problem solve and think critically. These attributes have been called some of...

This paper analyzes a global classroom model that utilizes the "flipped classroom" approach to pedagogy.

The dairy market is one of the fastest growing agri-food sectors in Kosovo. Yet the farm structure is fragmented. The level of productivity is lower compared to EU levels and shows existing potential for improvements. The consumption of dairy products is expected to rise due to income growth and segmentation of consumers that would reflect differen...

This study examines the design of voluntary dairy schemes adopted by the Canterbury dairy industry in New Zealand against desired attributes listed by scholarly literature. Eight environmental dairy schemes were reviewed against attributes forming six key dimensions of a rigourous scheme. These are Scheme Focus, Goals and Objectives, Monitoring and...

Purpose – The aims of this paper is to determine, via an empirical study of beer consumers in Croatia, the influence of tasting on the validity of conjoint analysis (CA) under presence of familiar or unfamiliar brands. Design/methodology/approach – The research comprised a face-to-face survey with 403 beer consumers. The respondents were divided i...

In the past few decades, the market for organic food has developed well in Western European countries and comparable markets like the United States or Canada. While these markets are now approaching market saturation, other markets still have huge potential for growth and are therefore of special interest to export companies. In this paper, we anal...

Attributes of effective voluntary dairy schemes were identified through a systematic literature review of 328 scholarly papers that describe and evaluate voluntary management schemes. Attributes were identified using NVivo software resulting in 15 common attributes which were subsequently assigned one of five attribute categories serving as buildin...

The market of local and organic food is still a niche market in the USA, despite its strong growth rates. Both offer consumers an alternative to a globalized anonymous food supply chain. Yet local food and organic food seem to be overlapping and to some degree competing food concepts. While the organic food market somehow has managed to ?mature?, b...

Companies dedicated to the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) decide to act voluntarily towards a better society and environment. The aims are manifold like signalling a dedication towards sustainability to stakeholders, securing access to scarce resources or to increase the profitability in the long run. For this paper we developed a...

In Croatia certified organic food production and consumption of organic food is substantially lower than in higher income EU countries. We use experimental auctions to reveal the willingness to pay of Croatian consumers’ for organic apples and tomatoes and find the premium for organic apples to be 45% and for organic tomatoes 56%. Reading claims ab...

Social media marketing has become a powerful tool of interaction with stakeholders. An increasing number of companies are using social media platforms to initiate active interaction and communication with current and prospective customers. Within this study, certain content and contact features, as well as social media activities of companies of th...

Purpose – The rise of CSR followed a demand for CSR standards and guidelines. In a sector already characterized by a large number of standards, the authors seek to ask what CSR schemes apply to agribusiness, and how they can be systematically compared and analysed. Design/methodology/approach – Following a deductive-inductive approach the authors d...

The increasing retail concentration and a shift of power to the retail as well as impressive gains in market share by the retailers private labels resulted in problems and challenges for Austrian food producers, especially for those with a dual brand strategy. This thesis tends to analyse the internal and external challenges of food operators to fi...

http://www.iufro.org/download/file/8665/1209/20209-ctre-proceedings-11_pdf

This study is aimed at exploring perceptions of European gatekeepers toward renowned Thai fruit and coffee products protected by geographical indication (GI) and factors influencing purchasing decision of gatekeepers toward imported food products. Sixteen qualitative interviews with distribution channel gatekeepers were administered in Austria, Ita...

In this study, we focused on estimating Austrian consumer preferences or willingness to pay for organic products using stated preference methods: choice experiment and contingent valuation. Austria is a pioneer country in organic farming, and has an advanced market for organic food products in Europe. Therefore, it is meaningful to investigate thei...

Over the past 20 years the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained momentum in business practices and strategies. In the agribusiness sector, the need for CSR integration has recently triggered a number of private sector led initiatives that should contribute to sustainable agricultural practices. Consequently we emphasize that...

In der zweiten, überarbeiteten Auflage des vorliegenden Buches werden Erkenntnisse aus dem Wissensmanagement mit Erkenntnissen aus der Entscheidungstheorie und zu Decision Support Systemen verknüpft. Die Ausführungen sind das Ergebnis umfangreicher empirischer Beschäftigung mit dem Wissensmanagement, der Entscheidungstheorie und Decision Support Sy...

The following study focuses on the evaluation of the elements of a comprehensive quality manage-ment model by use of two different evaluation methods. Quality management is an important task within a company. In this respect, the combination of methods delivered priorities for the quality man-agement model with higher validity compared to approxima...

The general topic of this book is the production, trade and consumption of high quality foods in Asia and Europe. This publication is the output of Bean-Quorum an European funded Asia-Link project that represents a consolidated network of researchers working together with the business sector and non-governmental organizations to enhance European As...

This paper discusses the European organic agricultural sector from a socio-economical point of view and from an EU perspective. The organic food and beverage market has been a niche market in Europe for many decades. But since the 1990s the number of organic farms has increased significantly in some European countries. In the last decade 'organic'...

Purpose The aims of this paper is to determine, via an empirical study of beer consumers in Croatia, the influence of tasting on the validity of conjoint analysis (CA) under presence of familiar or unfamiliar brands. Design/methodology/approach The research comprised a face‐to‐face survey with 403 beer consumers. The respondents were divided into...

A widely held view is that a dramatic shift is well underway in the structure of food system. First noticed at the farm level, contracting between retailers and fruit and vegetable growers for specific quality attributes signaled a shift from commodity style markets to relational transactions managed by retail grocers operating on massive spatial s...

Research on organizational and inter‐organizational trust has become an important field in management and marketing literature, as it is perceived as a pivotal aspect of business transactions. However, clarifications are still needed on the issue of whom we trust; is the person whom we are trading with trusted, or the organization, or just the prod...

This book represents a unique collection of European and Asian perspectives on the production, trade and consumption of high quality food. The rapidly growing demand for organic and quality food in Europe imposes new challenges on competing food value chains. Europe, as the biggest worldwide food importer, attracts many developing and developed cou...

Purpose The aim of this paper is to investigate consumer attitudes to, and acceptance of, affective communication in the context of pre‐knowledge regarding wood‐based food additives. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 263 Austrian consumers was carried out to investigate pre‐knowledge, attitude and attitude change as a result of affective com...

Austrian origin, regional products as well as environmental issues are among others very important factors for Austrian consumers purchasing organic products. However, demand exceeds supply in Austria. Therefore, imports are getting more important. The following paper focuses on internationally produced organic products and their market opportuniti...

In marketing literature, trust is perceived as a pivotal aspect of business transactions. However, trust is still a concept that needs to be clarified. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to measure the importance of trust building elements in establishing a trustful relationship between trading partners in business transactions, and in the foo...

In marketing literature, trust is perceived as a pivotal aspect of business transactions. However, trust is still a concept that needs to be clarified. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to measure the importance of trust building elements in establishing a trustful relationship between trading partners in business transactions, and in the foo...

The purpose of this study is to assess and evaluate the most important risks in selected European and international food chains from the perspective of the buying company. The primary objective is to identify the “non-acceptable” risks in terms of damage potential and likelihood of occurrence of value chains in the sectors grain, meat, fruit and ve...

Nowadays, agri-food chains are more global than ever and are characterized by increased imports and exports and global sourcing of products, resulting in increased cross-border transaction risks. The objective of this paper is to identify the typical risks regarding agri-food supply chains involved in cross-border transactions and to assess their i...

This paper focuses on the level of inter-organizational trust-building elements in food chains of different countries. It is based on a theoretical typology of trust elements, developed and tested for an early stage of business to business (b2b) relationships. In a planned study, required data will be collected via qualitative expert interviews. Th...

The following contribution describes how an E-collaboration platform may be used within new product development. In order to develop a new dairy product (a yoghurt dessert), a leading Austrian dairy co-operated with representatives from the Austrian University of Natural Resources and Applied Live Sciences Vienna and other experts by use of a speci...

The following contribution describes a product development case study for an isotonic organic sport drink in which the value factors of GfK Sinus Milieus have been applied. The underlying research question is, if the prescribed values are a viable tool to differentiate buyers and nonbuyers of organic food in respect to purchase intention in the cas...

Summary Genetic Modified Organism (GMO) in agriculture (agricultural biotechnology) are a controversial discussed issue between USA and Europe. This article compares legal issues, the scope of production and trade of transgenic plants (soybean, maize) and furthermore the prevailing public opinions in the USA and EU in respect to GMOs.

The study groups households in North Eastern Thailand according their income and grade of specialisation in crop production to derive representative household types. For these household types a linear optimization model is run to calculate net incomes under four scenarios. These are certified organic farming, organic farming in the initial and tran...

Meat is one the most important products concerning sales in the food retail sector in industrialised countries. Confirming Eurostat (2007), almost 45% of the agricultural output in the EU 15 comes from meat. However, production figures of some meat products, especially beef, declined dramatically during the last ten years (minus 690 000 tons betwee...

Many communities in rural areas are facing the problem not to have a local food store any longer, mainly because of the increasing concentration tendencies of trade organizations and changing consumer behavior. As a result, both, economic and social consequences have to be taken into account. The following article presents exemplarily the situation...

Summary This paper presents a multi criteria model for planning and decision making on small organic and direct marketing farms. The model KARSIM 1.0 combines financial cost benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-attribute decision making methodology based on expert systems DEX-i and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). In the first stage the techno- logi...

The traditional process of new product development is focusing on an intra-organizational workflow, which should - in its ideal form - be done by virtual interdisciplinary teams. Team members should be from several departments like manufacturing, research & development, sales and marketing. But innovation is happening more and more in networks of c...

This paper presents a multi criteria model for planning and decision making on small organic and direct marketing farms. The model KARSIM 1.0 combines financial cost benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-attribute decision making methodology based on expert systems DEX-i and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). In the first stage the technological and fi...

Increasingly global virtual teams work creatively, discuss controversial aspects and implement complex decisions in multinational organizations. Due to the rapid advance in information technology and IT-usage inter-organizational and cross-national collaboration is a common scenario in organizational life. University organizations are challenged to...

Numerous companies in the Austrian food industry have already been certified in accordance with the ISO 9000 standards. However, the introduction of a quality management system in a company alone does not guarantee continuous improvement as required by the standard Ö–NORM ISO 9001:2000. In order to be successful when introducing and maintaining a q...

Wie in der vorangegangenen Bewertung der Informationsportale orientiert sich diese Usability-Messung am Ablaufschema, welches in Abbildung 59 (S. 221) zu finden ist. Der erste Schritt ist demnach die Auswahl und Beschreibung des spezifischen Web-Applikationstypus, bevor an die Ableitung des theoretischen Bewertungsmodells zu denken ist. Die Beschre...

Als Nutzen der Projekt-Collaboration40 werden Zeit- und Kosteneinsparungen angeführt, sinkende Reiseausgaben, schnellere Entscheidungsfindung und verbesserte Kommunikation (vgl. Bafoutsou und Mentzas, 2002, 281). Für global agierende Unternehmen, auch in der Agrar- und Ernährungswirtschaft, ist die Nutzung von modernen Kommunikationsmedien schon al...

Der Protagonist des Business Reengineerings, Michael Hammer (2002, 44), schreibt in seinem Artikel „Der Weg zum supereffizienten Unternehmen“: „Unternehmen beginnen Geschäftsprozesse als das zu begreifen — und zu managen -, was sie wirklich sind: Ketten von Tätigkeiten, die von verschiedenen Organisationen ausgeführt werden“. Immer mehr Unternehmen...

Ein Kritikpunkt an der Usability-Forschung ist die mangelnde theoretische Fundierung und infolgedessen ein Mangel an Modellen, die der Evaluation von Prototypen oder Produkten zugrunde liegen (vgl. Goodhue, 1995). Vielfach begnügt sich die Usability-Forschung mit der Feststellung von Usability-Defekten, wofür sie ein reichhaltiges Angebot an qualit...

Dieses Kapitel beginnt mit einer Abgrenzung der Usability-Forschung zu verwandten Disziplinen wie Human Factor- oder Human Computer Factor-Forschung. Anschließend werden aktuelle und vergangene Forschungsschwerpunkte der Usability-Forschung vorgestellt und der Einfluss der Soziotechnik und Makro-ergonomie auf die Usability-Forschung beschrieben. Mi...

Nach den euphorischen Berichten der 1990er-Jahre über die bevorstehenden revolutionären Veränderungen der Arbeitswelt bedingt durch globale informations- und kommunikationstechnologische Entwicklungen, die ein Ende der Raum-Zeit-Restriktionen für kooperative Prozesse prophezeiten, hat die Gegenwart diese Prognosen in zweierlei Hinsicht korrigiert....

Eine flüchtige Betrachtung der inhaltlichen Schwerpunkte dieser Forschungsarbeit — Collaboration und Usability — könnte zu der Erkenntnis gelangen, dass beide Themen mit Marketing oder Betriebswirtschaft im eigentlichen Sinne nichts zu tun haben und besser in das Feld der Arbeitsorganisation oder Human-Computer-Interface-Forschung einzuordnen wären...

Wie bereits im vorangegangenen Kapitel festgestellt, ist die Produktentwicklungsfall-studie Bestandteil der komparativen Usability-Evaluation der Collaborationsplattform ec4ec. Innerhalb dieses Kapitels werden die Rahmenbedingungen und die Vorgehensweise im Zuge der virtuellen Produktentwicklung erläutert, wobei zu betonen ist, dass erneut der Pers...

Innerhalb dieses Kapitels werden theoretische Beiträge erläutert, die für ein umfassendes multiparadigmatisches Verständnis interorganisationaler Unternehmensnetzwerke notwendig sind. Neben ökonomischen Ansätzen wird auch sozilogischen Theorien entsprechend Raum gegeben. Zum Abschluss des Kapitels vollzieht sich ein Wechsel der interorganisationale...

Ziel dieses Kapitel ist es, erstens die Eignung und den Einsatz des AHP für komparative Usability-Messungen zu demonstrieren und zweitens ein Usability-Modell speziell für die komparative Evaluation von Informationsportalen zu präsentieren. Dazu ist es zunächst notwendig, die Besonderheiten von Web-Applikationen darzustellen. Anschließend wird im Z...

Das vorliegende Kapitel ist nach folgenden Gesichtspunkten strukturiert. Zuerst erfolgt eine kurze Beschreibung des AHP bezüglich seiner Anwendungsmöglichkeiten und Grundprinzipien. Anschließend wird ein allgemeines Ablaufschema für die Anwendung des AHP präsentiert und zum Abschluss des Kapitels erfolgt die Begründung, warum der AHP ein für die Us...

Bevor wir in den folgenden Kapiteln relevante Theorien zum Collaborative Commerce analysieren ist es sinnvoll, sich die Entwicklungen und Veränderungen der Informationstechnologie und deren Einsatz in den Unternehmen der letzten 30 Jahre anzusehen. Ein Verständnis dieser fundamentalen Veränderungen liefert eine solide Basis für die weiteren Ausführ...