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Sustainability reports are tools for disseminating information to stakeholders and the public, serving the organizations in the dual purpose of communicating CSR and being accountable. The production of these reports has recently become more prevalent in the food industry, despite the fact this practice has received heavy criticism on two fronts: The quality of the tool for communication, and the extent of accountability. In addition to these criticisms, organizations must overcome the additional challenge of publishing sustainability reports that successfully meet the demands of a multi-stakeholder audience. In light of the importance of this practice, this paper presents a method to assess the communication and accountability characteristics of Spanish food companies' sustainability reports. This method is based on the method Analytic Network Process (ANP) and adopts a multi-stakeholder approach. This research, therefore, provides a reference model for improving sustainability reports, with the aim of successfully meeting their communication objectives and the demands of all stakeholders.

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The aim of this research was to study the cuniculture industry in Spain, according to the Food Value Chain model, and analyse what its main operators are. Four components were identified in the rabbit meat production chain: input suppliers, producers, abattoirs and cutting plants and distribution. Distribution can follow 2 paths, the traditional channel and the modern or large-scale distribution channel. Rabbit feed, which represents the main input for producers, is a minority product, especially when compared to feeds formulated for other livestock species, as its manufacture calls for specialist companies. Rabbit production is linked to the rural environment and constitutes a significant economic option, not only for farms but also for the industry around it, such as feed producers and distributors, technicians, slaughterhouses or leather processors, among others. Rabbit farms are generally independent and not usually integrated, as found in other types of livestock. Slaughterhouses currently represent one of the main axes of the rabbit meat production chain and are either focused on traditional or large-scale distribution. The main strategic changes are apparent in slaughterhouses focused on large-scale distribution by seeking cooperative ways of working, using slaughterhouse groupings and vertical integration processes. This way, they manage to adjust margins by working with economies of scale and, ultimately, lower prices. Slaughterhouses whose strategies are based on traditional distribution may achieve higher margins than those focusing their efforts on large-scale distribution, but their growth is limited. In traditional retail premises, the majority of sales consist of whole carcasses in bulk, which are prepared and quartered as per consumer tastes. Large-scale retail distribution outlets sell both cut produce from the meat counters located in their own premises and pre-packaged products, more suited to self-service formulae. Brand presence is minimal, as is that of processed or semiprocessed products. This current situation requires support from the entire sector in order to provide rabbit meat with new features better adapted to consumers' needs, above and beyond price and with greater added value.

Abstract.Choosing where to open a new outlet is a critical decision for retail firms. Building on the multiplicative competitive interaction model from retail location theory, this paper develops a geomarketing model that can be used to devise supermarket location strategies. First, attributes that explain a supermarket's pull on consumers were determined. These attributes included objective (taken from databases and empirical observation) and subjective (based on managerial judgements) variables relating to the supermarket and its trade area. Then, geographic information system tools were used to analyse real data at a highly detailed level (road section). From a geomarketing viewpoint, the model shows that sociodemographic characteristics of the supermarket's trade area affect firms' location strategies. The paper also discusses improvements for calibrating and validating this model. Adding the spatial organization of supermarkets to the model yields a different consumer behaviour pattern. This geomarketing model can help managers to design supermarket location strategies according to shop features, competitors and environment, whilst estimating supermarket sales.

Despite the existence of a positive relationship between new firm creation and economic growth, a certain controversy still exists regarding the need for the public promotion of entrepreneurship. The recent surge of entrepreneurship policies encompasses a wide variety of instruments and goals that are mainly designed and implemented at a regional or local level, which allows for a more efficient use of public resources. Case studies are therefore a useful approach to assessing "good practices" in entrepreneurship policies. We adopt this approach to empirically analyse whether policies are targeting specific entrepreneurial projects or not in the region of Valencia. We identify the features (in relation to the entrepreneur, the sector and the characteristics of the project itself) that may influence greater access to public funding and are principally related to standard requirements for this means of financing. These variables do not address specific entrepreneurial profiles, sectors or applicant projects, thereby revealing a substantial degree of horizontal policy design. Other features, such as almost all entrepreneurial characteristics (previous experience, age, etc.), do not seem relevant in terms of receiving public funds.

Social media platforms have had a significant impact on the public image of sports in recent years. Through the relational dynamics of the communication on these networks, many users have emerged whose opinions can exert a great deal of influence on public conversation online. This research aims to identify the influential Twitter users during the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships using different variables which, in turn, represent different dimensions of influence (popularity, activity and authority). Mathematical variables of the social network analysis and variables provided by Twitter and Google are compared. First, we calculated the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient among all users (n = 20,175) in pairwise comparisons. Next, we performed a qualitative analysis of the top 25 influential users ranked by each variable. As a result, no single variable assessed is sufficient to identify the different kinds of influential Twitter users. The reason that some variables vary so greatly is that the components of influence are very different. Influence is a contextualised phenomenon. Having a certain type of account is not enough to make a user an influencer if they do not engage (actively or passively) in the conversation. Choosing the influencers will depend on the objectives pursued.

Purpose-This study aims to analyse the provision of knowledge-intensive services (KIS) by technology centres based on approaches used in the literature on trade areas. Design/methodology/approach-The techniques employed derive from the literature on trade areas (customer spotting and ring studies) and spatial analysis (nearest neighbour analysis, Ripley's K statistic and median centre). Findings-The research demonstrates that there is a geographic factor in the distribution of firms associated with a technology centre and some of their characteristics depend on their proximity to such a centre. Trade areas are determined and access facilities are detected. It has also been observed how geographic proximity is coupled with functional (sector) factors in the firm-technology centre relationship. Practical implications-These findings may contribute towards strategies for locating technology centres, and may be extended to future centre networks and to the development of more efficient marketing strategies aimed at attracting and acquiring client firms. Originality/value-To date, little is known about the spatial distribution of firms associated with technology centres, nor are there studies that relate the profile of user firms in relation to the distance from their premises to the technology centre. Using methodology previously applied to trade areas, this research has identified the spatial pattern of associated firms which may be of use for a variety of purposes.