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PurposeRelational aspects between actors in a chain have been found to influence innovation capacity. Yet, many studies focus rather on groups of chain members, without investigating personalized links between the chain members. Other research involved case‐studies on a limited number of individual chains. The purpose of this paper is to examine quantitatively how the perceived relationship quality among three relational linked chain members affects the innovation capacity in traditional food chains beyond the dyad.Design/methodology/approachEvidence is drawn from a survey of 90 triplets of firms (three interlinked chain members), with each triplet belonging to a single individual traditional food chain. Research was conducted in three European countries and six traditional food product categories. Heterogeneity across these chains is examined based on cluster analysis. Binary logistic regression is used to examine the influence of relationship quality on the innovation capacity in the chains.FindingsThree distinct clusters are identified and interpreted as reflecting three levels of innovation capacity: high, medium, and low. Relationship quality is defined through characteristics such as trust, social satisfaction, non‐coercive power, and reputation. Results suggest that the characteristics of the chain relationship quality may be important factors for the improvement of the innovation capacity in chains.Research limitations/implicationsAs chain relationship quality fosters sharing of resources necessary for innovation as well as the distribution of incentives, these results further strengthen the emerging conclusion from the literature that innovation can be catalyzed by collaboration strategies and building strong relationships.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on widening the supply chain approach from dyads to triads, as it is argued that a dyad of firms is intensively influenced by the network they are imbedded in. In this case, the paper explores the influence of the relationship quality among the food manufacturer and its main supplier and customer (and vice versa) on the innovation capacity of the whole chain.

Bread contains a wide range of important nutritional components which provide a positive effect on human health. However, the consumption of bread is declining during the last decades. This is due to factors such as changing eating patterns and an increasing choice of substitutes like breakfast cereals and fast foods. The aim of this study is to investigate consumer's quality perception of bread towards sensory, health and nutrition attributes. Four consumer segments are identified based on these attributes. The different consumer segments comprise consumers being positive to all three quality aspects of bread ("enthusiastic") as wells as consumers perceiving bread strongly as "tasteless", "non-nutritious" or "unhealthy". Moreover, factors are identified which influence the consumers' quality perception of bread. The results of our study may help health professionals and policy makers to systematically inform consumers about the positive effects of bread based on its components. Furthermore, firms can use the results to build up tailor-made marketing strategies.

This paper aims to explore innovations implemented by SMEs in the traditional food sector and how chain network members are contributing to this process. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with suppliers, food manufacturers and customers in three European countries with different cultural backgrounds (Italy, Hungary and Belgium). The results show that the members of traditional food chain networks focus mainly on product innovation and least on organisational innovation. Collaboration between the chain network members is an important factor for enhancing the innovation competence of the firms. However, the collaboration intensity depends on the position of the members in the chain network. Further studies could focus on quantitative research to determine whether a higher level of collaboration among all chain network members leads to a higher level of innovation competence in SMEs. Moreover, the direction of the relationship between innovation competence and collaboration should be explored

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the market orientation and the marketing management capabilities of SMEs that produce traditional food products, by identifying their critical points in marketing activities. Design/methodology/approach - The theoretical framework of this analysis relates to market orientation approach. Marketing management capability was evaluated through a questionnaire using proxies to study the different stages of marketing management. The survey involved 150 firms of which 118 are SMEs producing traditional food products, located in Hungary, Belgium, and Italy. The data were collected by a self-administered internet survey and were analysed using multivariate analyses. Findings - Cluster analysis resulted in four clusters with different marketing management capabilities. Most of the SMEs in the sample lack marketing management capabilities, even if a considerable proportion of the firms considered report good marketing capabilities that lead to a market orientation. The weakest step of market orientation is the dissemination of generated intelligence. Indeed, SMEs lack marketing organisational activities, namely in planning and implementation of marketing strategy. Moreover, SMEs with better performance check that their objectives are reached but do not compare their strategy with that of competitors. Hence, they could miss opportunities to keep up to date with market development. Originality/value - This paper provides interesting insights. about the marketing capabilities of food SMEs, which usually find it difficult to stay in the market beside large firms. Moreover, there are not many contributions in the literature about the application of market orientation approach on traditional food producers

Across many sectors, the locus of innovation has shifted from the individual firm to networks of collaboration. Networking is one way for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food sector to cope with the many challenges they face with regards to innovation. In this article, we investigate the influence of different types of networking on the innovation capacity of chain networks in the traditional food sector. Our results highlight that networking among the vertical network members contributes most to the enhancement of the innovation capacity of all members. We also find that, horizontal or third‐party networking can enhance the innovation capacity of each member of a vertical network. Managerial implications include a prescription for network engagement through a set of joint activities and effort.