Preferences for Attributes of Industrial Potatoes: An Empirical Investigation of the Swiss Market

Abstract

Managing the transition from a commodity to a differentiated good in an increasingly liberalized, pricedriven world is a challenge for Swiss producers of potatoes. To facilitate this process at the production level, knowledge about preferences in terms of product attributes is needed. We evaluate processor preferences regarding potato product attributes such as price and country of origin. Attributes are selected according to their influence on the buying decision of the processors. Additionally, we quantify the relative importance of product attributes for the main market segments chips, fries, and flakes. By applying a discreet-choice experiment with Bayesian estimation of individual partworth utilities and randomized first-choice models for scenario analysis, we find that color, size and producer price determine 46 % of the buying decision. However, while price is an important decision criterion, product and supplier criteria can be used to segment the market if the price premium is held within limits and size and color requirements are met.Resumen El manejo de la transición de un producto básico a un bien diferenciado en un mundo liberalizado en aumento, orientado hacia precios, es un reto para los productores Suizos de papa. Para facilitar este proceso a nivel de producción, es necesario el conocimiento acerca de las preferencias en términos de los atributos del producto. Evaluamos preferencias de procesamiento relacionadas a los atributos del producto papa, tales como precio y país de origen. Los atributos se seleccionan de acuerdo con su influencia en la decisión de compra de los procesadores.Adicionalmente, cuantificamos la importancia relativa de los atributos del producto para los principales segmentos del mercado, papas fritas, a la francesa y hojuelas. Mediante la aplicación de un experimento de selección a discreción, con estimación Bayesiana de utilidades de partes individuales valiosas y de modelos al azar de primera selección para análisis del escenario, encontramos que el color, tamaño y precio del productor, determinan el 46 % de la decisión de compra. No obstante, mientras que el precio es un criterio importante de decisión, los criterios del producto y de su proveedor pueden usarse para segmentar el mercado si se mantiene el precio de cotización dentro de los límites y se cubren los requerimientos de tamaño y color.

Preferences of processing companies for attributes of Swiss milk: A conjoint analysis in a business-to-business market

“…Bech-Larsen 2001and Boesch (2012) found, in similar studies conducted in the potato and grain markets, that price and technical attributes dominate the buying decision of primary agricultural products. Environmental effects are of little concern to the buyers.…”

“…According to the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture, over 40% of Swiss farms are dairy farms and 21% of total agricultural production value is produced through dairy products SMP, 2011), making dairy the most prevalent farming system in Switzerland and more prevalent than in the European Union, where 14% of agricultural output is produced through dairy farming (European Communities, 2006). Of the 27,131 Swiss dairy farms, 58% produce industrial milk; that is, milk that is processed into products other than cheese, such as fresh milk, butter, or milk powder (Boesch et al, 2012).…”

“…The current research was carried out through a concept based on conjoint analysis in the general framework of feedback-driven exploration (Boesch et al, 2012). Two iterative feedback loops between all research stakeholders (researchers, industry experts, survey respondents) allowed for improved validity and reliability of results.…”

Pathogenicity of Fungi Isolated from Atypical Skin Blemishes on Potatoes in South Africa and Zimbabwe

“…The well documented potato blemishes (typical) and a number of unknown (atypical) superficial tuber blemishes contribute to major economic losses (Gherbawy and Gashgari 2013). The loss is worsened by an increase in demand for high quality washed ware potatoes on the market (Tsror et al 1999;Fiers et al 2010;2012). This is because potato tuber colour, size and external appearance are the most relevant tuber attributes determining consumer decisions in potato purchasing (Jemison Jr. et al 2008;Boesch 2012).…”

Influence of the Addition of Flavoring on the Sodium Content of Fried Potato Chips and the Fatty Acid Profile

“…It is also essential for the maintenance of the osmotic pressure of the blood, plasma and fluids. However, excessive consumption of sodium is related to the development of arterial hypertension, one of the major diseases of modern society [2,3].…”