What is quality? The propensity of foreign customers of U.S. pork to pay for pork quality attributes in select export markets.

详细信息   

• 作者：Murphy ; Ryan Gordon Leon.
• 学历：Doctor
• 年：2010
• 导师：Belk, Keith E.,eadvisorPendell, Dustin L.ecommittee memberTatum, Joseph D.ecommittee memberWoerner, Dale R.ecommittee member
• 毕业院校：Colorado State University
• Department：Animal Sciences
• ISBN：9781124403335
• CBH：3434050
• Country：USA
• 语种：English
• FileSize：4231616
• Pages：122

文摘

The objectives of this research were to: 1) Document the various factors that foreign customers of U.S. pork whole muscle cuts, pork variety meats and offal products, and processed pork products use to describe "quality," as well as identify quality attributes that are unique to individual countries. 2) Estimate the willingness of foreign customers of U.S. pork to pay for quality attributes. 3) Establish a ranking of the specified quality attributes. Research teams conducted interviews over two-week time periods in the countries of Hong Kong/China, Japan, Mexico, and Russia. In order to determine the willingness of foreign customers of U.S. pork to pay premiums for pork quality attributes, it was necessary to first establish what they understand "quality" to mean as it relates to imported pork products. To accomplish this task, "quality" was divided into seven attributes: i) Food Safety, ii) Customer Service, iii) Product Eating Quality referred to, hereafter, as Eating Quality), iv) Product Specifications Desirability and Conformity referred to, hereafter, as Product Specifications), v) Product Packaging and Condition upon Receiving referred to, hereafter, as Product Packaging), vi) Visual Characteristics of Product referred to, hereafter, as Visual Characteristics), and vii) Production History. Food Safety was the single most important quality attribute to Japan. The primary opportunities for improving Customer Service were improving service after the sale and/or customer relations, fulfilling contract requirements, and improving responses to complaints and questions. Good flavor/taste was the most common response for Eating Quality, which suggests the need for continued development of products with flavor profiles that are well-suited for each market. The primary opportunities for improving Product Specifications were consistent product size, consistent product weight, and reducing the level of external fat on some cuts. Improving box strength and integrity was the primary opportunity for improving Product Packaging. The primary opportunities for improving Visual Characteristics were to improve lean color quality and lean color consistency. For Production History, nearly 60% of companies in Hong Kong/China stated "brand" and/or "reputation" as being important. To satisfy objective 2, interviewed companies were asked to list the characteristics or attributes that are "required" in order for them to consider purchasing imported pork products. Their responses were categorized within the seven specified quality attributes. They were then asked if they would purchase the imported pork products, at a price discount, if the attributes they "require" could not be guaranteed. Once the discount questions were completed, the questions concerning remaining quality attributes were asked as "premium" questions) to ascertain whether or not any, or all, of the specified attributes are of great enough importance to merit a premium if they could be guaranteed. Japan had a significantly greater probability of requiring Food Safety than the other countries. Customer Service was the only attribute, common to all product types, with a significant probability for which companies would be willing to pay a premium. In three of the four countries, with the exception of companies in Mexico, Eating Quality had the highest likelihood of being a "required" quality for processed products. Overall, Hong Kong/China had low expectations or "requirements" for purchasing pork but had consistently higher probabilities of paying premiums as well as higher premium values than the other countries. Finally, a Best-Worst scaling task was employed to establish an objective ranking of the specified quality attributes. The scaling task showed that, on average, Food Safety was the most important quality attribute across all countries with the exception of Russia, which believed Product Specifications to be most important, albeit, just slightly. Averaging across countries, Food Safety was twice as important and Eating Quality and Product Specifications were one-and-a-half times more important than Production History. Based on the extensive amount of information and knowledge gained from this study, the results should be of tremendous benefit to the U.S. pork industry as it continues to grow its export potential. Abstract shortened by UMI.)