Anastasiadis Foivos, Apostolidou Ioanna, Michailidis Anastasios
Deptartment of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541-24 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Foods. 2021 Mar 5;10(3):543. doi: 10.3390/foods10030543.
Technological advances result in new traceability configurations that, however, cannot always secure transparency and food safety. Even in cases where a system guarantees transparency, the actual consumer involvement and a real consumer-based perspective cannot always be ensured. The importance of such consumer centricity is vital, since it is strongly associated with effective supply chains that properly fulfil their end-users' needs and requests. Thus, the objective of this paper was to explore the level of consumer centricity in food supply chains under a traceability system. The methodological approach employed a framework of two studies validating subsequently a similar set of variables, using initially consumers data and then supply chain actors data. The supply chain of sustainable tomato was selected to design the studies. The level of agreement between datasets suggested the level of the supply chain consumer centricity. Findings showed health, trust, quality, nutrition, and safety-related values to be significant for the consumers towards accepting a traceability system. The supply chain actors also accepted a traceability system based on the fact that their customers' needs rely on the exact same beliefs, indicating a high level of consumer centricity. The current work underlines the magnitude of consumer centricity in food supply chains and provides an easy and straightforward framework for its exploration. Key implications suggest the design of more effective supply chain and consumer-based strategies for the food industry. Policymakers could also adopt the concept of consumer centricity to further improve the food industry.
技术进步带来了新的可追溯性配置，然而，这些配置并不能始终确保透明度和食品安全。即使在一个系统保证透明度的情况下，也不一定总能确保消费者的实际参与以及基于消费者的真实视角。这种以消费者为中心的重要性至关重要，因为它与能够恰当满足终端用户需求和要求的有效供应链紧密相关。因此，本文的目的是探讨在可追溯系统下食品供应链中以消费者为中心的程度。所采用的方法框架包含两项研究，随后对一组相似变量进行验证，首先使用消费者数据，然后使用供应链参与者的数据。选择可持续番茄的供应链来设计研究。数据集之间的一致程度表明了供应链以消费者为中心的程度。研究结果表明，健康、信任、质量、营养和安全相关的价值观对于消费者接受可追溯系统具有重要意义。供应链参与者也基于其客户需求依赖于完全相同信念这一事实接受了可追溯系统，这表明以消费者为中心的程度很高。当前的工作强调了食品供应链中以消费者为中心的重要性，并为其探索提供了一个简单直接的框架。关键启示建议为食品行业设计更有效的基于供应链和消费者的策略。政策制定者也可以采用以消费者为中心的理念来进一步改善食品行业。
