This work studies the viability of intermodal transport of horticultural products from southeast Spain to the rest of Europe. This sector has an exportation turnover of 4100 million € and accounts for 69% of total Spanish exports and 35% of the consumption of vegetables in the European Union. The transportation services for the sector are carried out entirely by refrigerated trucks. Due to increased cost, transit limitations, and the strategic dependence on only one transport mode, it is necessary to seek out alternative logistics formulas. In this sense, intermodal transport could be a good option as it can reduce cost and the environmental impact of transport. This paper analyzes the problems involved in using intermodality by conducting a survey among exporters with the additional goal of looking for viable routes using road + short sea shipping. The impact of the transport modal shift on exports is also analyzed using a gravity model. The results show that the route from southeast Spain to the United Kingdom is the most viable. What is more, this strategy can increase exports to this country by reducing transport costs. In general, intermodality can help improve the competitiveness of the Spanish horticultural export sector.
<p>This research provides a conceptual framework to analyse the concept of ‘crisis’ and its multiple origins in the Spanish horticultural sector, the largest horticultural exporter in Europe. For this purpose, this study provides a typology of crises and a classification according to their nature, reasons, and temporary impact. Consequently, this research reviews and chronologically classifies the harmful campaigns that have originated several of those crises. Additionally, the impact on the perceived product-country image is analysed through an empirical research based on the results of a survey of consumers in several European countries.</p>
Facing worldwide environmental and social concerns, manufacturing firms are trying to adopt effective environmentally friendly actions to mitigate their environmental impacts. Although the existent literature has provided many insights about the drivers of sustainable product innovation, little is known about the impact of firm growth. Thus, we intend to contribute to this gap in the literature by examining the impact that firm growth can have on sustainable product innovation. To achieve this goal, the partial least square (PLS) modeling technique was used to analyze a dataset of 3250 manufacturing firms from 39 different countries. The results reveal that firm growth exerts a positive effect on sustainable product innovation and that the relationship is partially mediated by the adoption of environmental practices. The findings also indicate that managerial barriers lessen the effectiveness of the adoption of environmental practices in facilitating the development of sustainable product innovation, while improving labor conditions increases it. However, operational barriers do not exert a significant moderating effect between the adoption of environmental practices and sustainable product innovation. These results prompt interesting insights related to theory development in environmental management and sustainable product innovation research.
The use of the term affinity has been gradually spreading in several disciplines from multiple viewpoints. Among all these approaches, the concept of consumer affinity, which explains how consumers' positive dispositions toward a particular foreign country affect their purchase decisions of products from that origin, has recently emerged in the marketing discipline. In addition to the scarcity of theoretical and empirical studies on this concept, the marketing literature lacks a systematic review detailing the origin, evolution, and relevance of this notion and the remaining gaps to be investigated in this field. This study aims to examine the complex nature of consumer affinity and the difficulties that arise in its analysis at a conceptual and methodological level to examine its nature, characteristics, dimensionality, and relationship with other variables. To this end, through a systematic review using the PRISMA protocol, this study provides an integrated framework of the existing literature, analyzing the etymological origin and conceptual foundations of consumer affinity, its publication trajectory, and the main contributions to its study. Finally, this paper provides a roadmap for future research based on the convergences, inconsistencies, and knowledge gaps identified in the literature.
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