Quality assurance mechanisms in agrifood: The case of the Spanish fresh meat sector

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology

Volumn 2, Issue 3-4, 2003, Pages 361-382

  González Díaz, Manuel ^a   Fernández Barcala, Marta ^a   Arruñada, Benito ^a,b,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OVIEDO   (Spain)

^b DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS   (Spain)

^c UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA   (Spain)

Author keywords

Agriculture; Cobranding; Contracts; Quality assurance; Vertical integration

Indexed keywords

FOOD INDUSTRY; FOOD QUALITY; QUALITY CONTROL;

EURASIA; EUROPE; SOUTHERN EUROPE; SPAIN;

EID: 1542349218     PISSN: 14624605     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (53)

1. Internal estimations of Empresa Asturiana de Servicios Agrarios for 1999.
2. In 1994, purchases of fresh meat in major retail outlets (supermarkets and hypermarkets) were at 47.85%, rising to 49.19% in 1999. Likewise, shopping in traditional shops decreased in the same period from 41.26 to 38.27% [3, p.207]. The same tendencies have been maintained since the eighties.
3. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (MAPYA) (2000) La alimentación en España, 1999, Madrid: Secretaria General Técnica del Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, pp.59-60.
4. The owner can also adopt other legal forms, such as cooperatives or associations of producers. In those hybrid cases the only difference lies in the collective ownership of the brand name that guarantee the quality to the consumers.
5. Castillo, R.D. (2002) 'A contractual analysis of determinations of origin: the case of Spanish wine', manuscript, Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Department of Economics and Business.
6. The process undergone by a hypothetical product with denomination could be as follows: an Autonomous Region grants the Guarantee Brand Name. The product is therefore accepted within the regional territory. As long as the product is suitable, the Autonomous Region proposes it as a Specific Denomination or as Denomination of Origin, depending on the nature of the product, being confirmed by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture). In this case, the product is accepted at both the national and international levels. To be a product with a Specific Denomination or Denomination of Origin, the product does not have to have first been a product with a Guarantee Brand Name. The products recognised by the Spanish nation are also recognised by the EU as products with a Protected Geographical Indicator, Protected Denomination of Origin or Guaranteed Traditional Specialty.
7. Cobranding is not exclusive of agrifood products. Credit cards and computers are other well-known examples. See Blackett and Boad [8] for an extensive overview on this topic.
8. Blackett, T. and Boad, B. (Eds.) (1999) Co-Branding. The Science of Alliance, London: Macmillan Press.
9. Williamson, O.E. (1985) The Economic Institutions of Capitalism, London: Macmillan. pp.47-48.
10. Akerlof, G. (1970) 'The market for lemons: qualitative uncertainty and the market mechanism', Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 84, pp.488-500.
11. Nelson, P. (1970) 'Information and consumer behavior', Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 78, pp.311-329.
12. Darby, N.R. and Karni, E. (1973) 'Free competition and the optimal amount of fraud', Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 16, pp.67-88.
13. Edwards, C.D. (1968) 'The meaning of quality', Quality Progress, October, pp.35-40.
14. Crosby, P.B. (1979) Quality is Free, New York: New American Library, p.15.
15. See Klein and Leffler [16] and Shapiro [17] for two pioneer models of this process.
16. Klein, B. and Leffler, K.B. (1981) 'The role of market forces in assuring contractual performance', Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 89, pp.615-641.
17. Shapiro, C. (1983) 'Premiums for high quality products as returns to reputations', Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 98, pp.659-679.
18. Williamson, O.E. (1991) 'Comparative economic organization: the analysis of discrete structural alternatives', Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp.269-296.
19. Milgrom, P. and Roberts, J. (1990) 'The economics of modern manufacturing: technology, strategy, and organization', American Economic Review, Vol. 80, No. 3, pp.511-528.
20. Milgrom, P. and Roberts, J. (1992) Economics, Organization, and Management, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, pp.91-92.
21. See, for instance, Keller [22, p.455] and Ambler and Styles [23, p.224], and their references to empirical studies on the matter.
22. Keller, K.L. (1998) Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
23. Ambler, T. and Styles, C. (1997) 'Brand development versus new product development: toward a process model of extension decisions', Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp.222-234.
24. The analysis of asset specificity was pioneered by Williamson [25,26] and Klein et al. [27].
25. Williamson, O.E. (1975) Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications, New York: Free Press.
26. Williamson, O.E. (1979) 'Transaction-cost economics: the governance of contractual relations', Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 22, pp.233-261.
27. Klein, B., Crawford, R.G. and Alchian, A.A. (1978) 'Vertical integration, appropriable rents, and the competitive contracting process', Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 21, pp.297-326.
28. Fama, E.F. and Jensen, M.C. (1983) 'Separation of ownership and control', Journal of Law & Economics, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp.301-325.
29. Barton-Gade, P.A., Cross, A.R., Jons, J.M. and Winger, R.J. (1988) 'Factors affecting sensory properties of meat', in H.R. Cross and A.J. Overby (Eds.) Meat Science, Milk science and Technology, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, pp.141-171.
30. Monin, G. (1991) 'Facteurs biologiques des qualités de la viande bovine', INRA Prod. Anim., Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.151-160.
31. Love, J. (1994) 'Product acceptability evaluation', in A.M. Pearson and T.R. Dutson (Eds.) Quality Attributes and Their Measurement in Meat, Poultry and Fish Products, Glasgow: Blackie Academic & Professional, pp.337-358.
32. Campo, M.M., Sañudo, C., Alberti, P., Olleta, J.L., Panea, B. and Guerrero, L. (1997) 'Efecto de la maduración sobre la calidad sensorial de la carne de siete razas bovinas españolas', ITEA, Vol. extra 18, p.387, pp.775-777.
33. See Fernández [34] and Sañudo et al. [35]. According to these studies, the belief that older animals have more red meat is inaccurate.
34. Fernández, P.P. (1991) 'Calidad de carne de vacunos: concepto España', Mundo ganadero, No. 5, pp.35-39.
35. Sañudo, C., Alberti, P., Franco, J., Olleta, J.L., Campo, M.M., Panea, B., Lahoz, F., Jaime, J., Pardos, J.J. and Tena, R. (1999) 'Calidad instrumental de la carne de siete razas bovinas españolas', Eurocarne, No. 73, pp.37-54.
36. We have estimated that ail labelled beef is around 8.2% out of total beef consumption in Spain in 1999. EASA, a Spanish agricultural consultant firm had estimated 5% in 1998.
37. Based on the Sylvander's Classification [38], we have left only one aspect uncovered, specifically the UNE, ISO, NE standards or the health and industrial standards. However, these brands are present in the majority of the main economic agents that take part in the sample brands.
38. Sylvander, B. (1995) 'Origine géographique et qualité des produits: approche économique', Revue du Droit Rural, No. 237; pp.465-474.
39. Source: personal interviews with product managers of the companies.
40. Sources: Regulatory Council of the Geographical indicators and www.mapya.es (accessed March 19, 2002).
41. Quasi-integration is based here more on the length and duration and interaction of the transaction, as in Blois [42], Dietrich [43] and Fernandez et al. [44], than on asset ownership, as in Monteverde and Teece [45] and Masten et al. [46]. Both dimensions of quasi-integration refer to a kind of hybrid form for Williamson [18].
42. Blois, K.J. (1972) 'Vertical quasi-integration', Journal of Industrial Economics, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp.253-272.
43. Dietrich, M. 'The economics of quasi-integration', Review of Political Economy, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.1-18.
44. Fernández, A., Arruñada, B. and González-Díaz, M. (2000) 'Quasi-integration in less-than-truckload trucking', in C. Menard (Ed.) Institutions, Contracts and Organizations: Perspectives from New Institutional Economics, London: Edward Elgar Publishing Co, pp.293-312.
45. Monteverde, K. and Teece, D.J. (1982) 'Appropriable rents and quasi-vertical integration', Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp.321-328.
46. Masten, S.E., Meehan Jr., J.W. and Snyder, E.A. (1989) 'Vertical integration in the US auto industry', Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.265-273.
47. Carrefour buys all the marked animals to its suppliers, but not all of them for CTC brand. If the animal overpasses the adequate age it is bought as a yearling at a lower price than if it was a CTC product.
48. This is similar to the way cooperatives and professional firms solve their collective action problem [28].
49. Bibliography COMICAR (1997) Reglamento Técnico 'Carne de Asturias, Calidad Controlada', Oviedo: Mimeografiado.
50. Orden de 10 de enero de 1994 de la Consejería de Agricultura y Ganadería de la Junta de Castilla y León, por la que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Denominación Específica Carne de Morucha de Salamanca, Boletín Oficial del Estado, July 11, 1995, pp.21279-21286.
51. Orden de 18 de abril de 1995 por la que se ratifica el Reglamento de la Denominación Específica 'Ternera Gallega' y su Consejo Regulador, Boletín Oficial del Estado, April 26, 1995, pp.12349-12356.
52. Reglamento (CE) no. 1107/96 de la Comisión de 12 de junio de 1996 relativo al registro de las indicaciones geográficas y de las denominaciones de origen con arreglo al procedimiento establecido en el artículo 17 del Reglamento (CEE) 2081/92 del Consejo, OJCE L 148 de 06/21/1996 pp.0001-0010.
53. Resolución de 14 de febrero de 1996, por la que se aprueba el Reglamento de uso de la marca 'Carne de Asturias calidad controlada', Boletín Oficial Principado de Asturias, February 26, 1996.