BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

A database of over 2,700 agri-food businesses in the region of Valencia, Spain was used to test the influence of internal characteristics of the firm and of external characteristics linked to local systems on the willingness to participate in R&D activities promoted by knowledge supporting institutions. A Probit model was estimated, correcting possible intragroup correlations when group variables are combined with individual data. Results show that R&D activities are enhanced in medium and large firms, co-ops, experienced firms and better physical access to technological centers., The authors gratefully acknowledge the support received from the projects AGL2012-39793-C03-01 and 02, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain).

It is often stated that farmers need to become more entrepreneurial to compete in modern agriculture and that their entrepreneurship generates positive spillovers. Much of the literature on agricultural entrepreneurship, however, has been focused on established farmers and little is known about new entrants. Furthermore, there is a need for a more in-depth understanding of the contextual factors that shape entrepreneurship among farmers. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to investigate the individual and contextual determinants of entrepreneurial behaviours among farmers, with a special focus on new entrants. In order to do so, agricultural entrepreneurship was studied in its multidimensional facets, including behaviour, opportunity identification, growth and innovation. A comprehensive approach was developed through five empirical studies addressing factors that influence these entrepreneurial dimensions.
The first study describes the entrepreneurship of the sector, analyzing the differences existing between new and established agri-entrepreneurs in relation to their counterparts in non-agricultural ventures. Results show that agri-entrepreneurs have weaker entrepreneurial capabilities than other sectors. However, new entrants into the agricultural sector are not less entrepreneurial in relation to other sectors, and show greater entrepreneurialism than established farmers. The second study examines the drivers of entrepreneurialism among new entrants. Results suggest that new farmers with confidence in their entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial experience tend to be more entrepreneurial. Likewise, farmers’ social ties with other entrepreneurs increase this behaviour. The third study focuses on growth-oriented new agricultural ventures and their context. Results reinforce the importance of the above capabilities and networks, as well as the capabilities to effectively offer new products. Institutional and industry contexts also influence them as they need social legitimation, and those operating in less agriculturally competitive countries have a greater probability of becoming growth-oriented. The fourth study focuses on entrepreneurial innovation providing evidence that different entrepreneurial innovations arise from different entrepreneurial assets and context configurations. Finally, the fifth study presents an innovative approach using Twitter data to analyse attitudes towards food innovations. We found a complex set of factors that may underlie positive attitudes such as cultural diversity and intensity of information flows.
This thesis contributes to the entrepreneurship field by contextualizing the entrepreneurial process and providing valuable insights for policy-makers to enhance farmers’ entrepreneurship. Our findings highlight the importance of entrepreneurial competencies as well as professional networks, which have consequences for tailoring education and training programs. This research enhances our understanding of how entrepreneurship is enabled and constrained by several overlapping dimensions of context, which has implications for policies aimed at improving entrepreneurial ecosystems., The research reported in this dissertation has been supported financially by the Project AGL2012-39793-C03-01 and AGL2015-65897-C3-1 (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness); co-financed by FEDER., Programa de Doctorado en Economía, Empresa y Derecho (RD 99/2011), Ekonomiako, Enpresako eta Zuzenbideko Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

A database of over 2,700 agri‐food businesses in the region of Valencia, Spain was used to test the influence of internal characteristics of the firm and of external characteristics linked to local systems on the willingness to participate in R&D activities promoted by knowledge supporting institutions. A Probit model was estimated, correcting possible intragroup correlations when group variables are combined with individual data. Results show that R&D activities are enhanced in medium and large firms, co‐ops, experienced firms and better physical access to technological centers., The authors gratefully acknowledge the support received from the projects AGL2012–39793-C03–01 and 02, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain).

In today's dynamic business environment, agri-food firms have attempted to achieve
greater supply chain collaboration (upstream, horizontal and downstream alliances) to leverage valuable
knowledge from university, public research institutions and clients. This finding corroborates
our understanding how firm¿s benefits from of these alliance for achieving new products. Results
indicate that an agri-food firm needs to have an adequate level of internal capability to benefit more
from their partner's alliances., The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding received through the AGL2012-39793-C03-01 research project.

Este estudio buscó determinar la importancia relativa del país de origen en la elección
de cuatro alimentos (arroz, azúcar, carne de pollo y aceite); identificar segmentos de
consumidores, y evaluar qué variables sociodemográficas afectan el etnocentrismo en
el consumo de alimentos, a través de una encuesta respondida por 800 compradores
habituales de supermercados en el sur de Chile. Se obtuvo que el país de origen fue el
atributo de mayor importancia en la elección de los cuatro alimentos. Se distinguieron
tres segmentos de consumidores que asignaron diferente importancia al país de origen,
aun cuando en dos de ellos el país de origen tuvo elevada relevancia en la elección. Los
consumidores de los tres segmentos prefirieron los alimentos chilenos y expresaron
una menor preferencia hacia los alimentos importados desde países más lejanos y
diferentes culturalmente de Chile. Los segmentos difirieron significativamente según la
frecuencia de compra de alimentos importados, razones para preferir comprar alimentos
importados y etnocentrismo. Se obtuvo que si la persona es mujer, si es de mayor edad,
pertenece al nivel socioeconómico medio o alto y posee un estilo de vida conservador,
aumenta la probabilidad de que sea etnocéntrico en el consumo de alimentos., This study sought to determine the relative importance of the country of origin in
the selection of four foodstuffs (rice, sugar, chicken meat and oil); to identify consumer
segments; and to evaluate which sociodemographic variables affect ethnocentrism in
food consumption, through a survey responded by 800 habitual supermarket shoppers
in southern Chile. It was determined that the country of origin was the most important
attribute in the selection of the four foods. Three consumer segments were distinguished
which assigned a different degree of importance to the country of origin, although
in two segments the country of origin was highly important in the purchase choice.
The consumers of the three segments preferred Chilean foods and expressed a lower
preference for food imported from countries that were farther away and more culturally
different from Chile. The segments differed significantly in the frequency of purchase
of imported foods, reasons for preferring to buy imported foods, and ethnocentrism. It
was found that if the respondent was a woman, of older age, belonged to the medium
or high socioeconomic level, and had a conservative lifestyle, the probability of being
ethnocentric in food consumption increased., The results presented correspond to Fondecyt Projects 1080146 and 1100611.
The authors also acknowledge the financial support from Project AGL2012-39793-C03-01
(Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness); co-financed by FEDER.

This study analyzes differences existing between new and established agri-entrepreneurs as well as differences in relation to their counterparts in non-agricultural ventures. This study uses the resource-based view and institutional economics as conceptual frameworks and focuses on the analysis of the resources and capabilities, entrepreneurial orientation (risk-taking, proactiveness and innovativeness) and legitimation affecting the entrepreneurial process. The literature points out that the specific characteristics of the sector (strong family links and institutional support) can condition the entrepreneurship process. Thus, hypotheses are developed to test these relationships. We use random effects models to test our hypotheses with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for 20 European countries. Results show that agri-entrepreneurs have weaker entrepreneurial capabilities than other sectors. However, new entrants into the agricultural sector are not less entrepreneurial in relation to other sectors. On the other hand, established agri-entrepreneurs are less proactive than other sectors. Results suggest that new entrants into agriculture are more entrepreneurially oriented than established ones. Our study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by contextualizing the entrepreneurship process and providing valuable insights for policy-makers to enhance farmers’ entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial orientation., The authors acknowledge the financial support from Project AGL2012-39793-C03-01
and AGL2015-65897-C3-1 (Spanish Ministry of Economy and
Competitiveness); co-financed by FEDER.

Se realiza una caracterización de las empresas cárnicas de Castilla y León en el periodo 2009-2011 a partir de su información contable, con especial énfasis sobre la rentabilidad y los elementos internos y externos que se relacionan con ella. La aplicación de técnicas clúster conduce a 5 grupos en función de sus estrategias de diferenciación de producto (márgenes elevados) o de liderazgo en costes (rotaciones elevadas). Los tres primeros grupos incluyen empresas dedicadas a productos de calidad, con resultados diversos pues mientras algunas empresas obtienen altos márgenes en otras son negativos. Las empresas de elaboración de productos de calidad media, con márgenes y rotaciones intermedias, presentan mejores resultados y perspectivas. Por su parte el clúster correspondiente a procesado de carne, con los márgenes más pequeños y las rotaciones más elevadas, es el que se encuentra en peor situación, con resultados negativos en 2011. El modelo econométrico estimado muestra además cómo el tamaño y la ubicación son decisivos para explicar la rentabilidad de las cárnicas de Castilla y León. Una potenciación de ambos podría frenar el declive que se detecta en el periodo 2009-2011., A characterization of the meat companies of Castilla y León is performed in the 2009-2011 period from their accounting reports, with special emphasis on profitability and internal and external elements that relate to it. The application of cluster techniques leads to 5 groups according to their strategies of product differentiation (high margins) or cost leadership (high rotation). The three first groups include companies devoted to products of quality, with diverse results because while somefirms obtain high margins in others are negative. The companies that manufacture products of half quality, with intermediate margins and rotations, present better results and perspectives. Meanwhile the cluster corresponding to meat processing, with the smallest marginsand highest rotations, is the one who finds in worse situation, with negative returns in 2011. The estimated econometric model also shows how the size and location are crucial to explainthe profitability of the meat firms of Castilla y León. Potentiation of both could slow the decline is detected in the 2009-2011 period., Este trabajo forma parte del proyecto de investigación AGL2012-39793-C03-01 del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad.

A pesar de los esfuerzos realizados por las empresas, el índice de fracaso de los nuevos productos es muy elevado, debido fundamentalmente a una falta de entendimiento del consumidor. De ahí que el éxito
de un nuevo producto alimentario en el mercado se base en una mejor orientación al mercado. Tradicionalmente se ha relacionado la adopción de nuevos productos con las características socioeconómicas de los consumidores, sin embargo trabajos más recientes han mostrado la importancia de la innovativeness o tendencia innovadora del consumidor como un factor positivo en la adopción de innovaciones y aún más, la aceptación de nuevos productos se relaciona con las emociones percibidas en el momento de consumo. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar en qué medida el carácter innovador del consumidor determina
el consumo de nuevos alimentos, así como en qué medida las emociones ayudan a mejorar la predicción del consumo de nuevos alimentos. Se han utilizado modelos de ecuaciones estructurales para comprobar las relaciones causales, llegando a concluir que el nivel educativo y la percepción de emociones positivas influyen positivamente en el carácter innovador de los consumidores y que éste determina significativamente la frecuencia de consumo de cápsulas de café., Despite the efforts made by the firms, food innovations have a high failure rate, owing to a fault of understanding of the consumer. Hence, the success of the new alimentary product in the market is based
on a better orientation to the market. Traditionally, the adoption of new products has been related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the consumers, however more recent works have shown the importance of 'innovativeness' or the consumer’s innovative tendency like a positive factor the adoption of the innovations and, even more, the acceptation of the new products is related with the emotions felt in the moment of consumption. The aim of this paper is analyze in which way the consumers’ innovative tendency determine the consumption of the new aliments, as well as in which way the emotions help improving the prediction of the new aliments consume. Structural Equation Models have been used to check the casual relations, coming to the conclusion that the educative level and the perception of positive emotions influence
positively in the innovator character of the consumers and that determines significantly the frequency of the coffee capsules consume., Financiación recibida a través del proyecto de investigación AGL 2012-39793-C03-01.

Background. The globalization and expansion of financial markets and the current economic crisis are changing the rules. Innovation has ceased to be part of the business strategy in many companies. However, in other companies innovation still plays a fundamental role in the improvement of performance and in maintaining competitive advantages in today's global markets. This is particularly the case in the agri-food industry; we will see here how innovations have become an important instrument for companies in this sector. Scope and approach. The main purpose is to determine the impact of this global financial crisis on the probability of firms introducing technological and non-technological innovations as well as on radical and incremental innovations and the use of innovation inputs. The analysis is based on panel data from the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for Spanish firms between 2008 and 2012. We estimated random-effects Logit and Tobit models. Key findings and conclusions. This manuscript explores that the economic crisis has had a significant and negative impact on firms' innovative performance and on the effort made by the firms in assigning resources for R&D. A crisis affects technological innovations to a greater extent, as well as small companies, those which carry out less internal R&D and cooperation efforts. However, innovating firms are proved to obtain better results both in economic and productive terms. Further to that, the agri-food sector innovative behavior has been less affected by the crisis than the rest of the economic sectors., The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding received through the AGL2012-39793-C03-01 research project co-financed by FEDER, and they would also like to express their gratitude for the financial support received from the Public University of Navarre for the acquisition of the pre-doctoral scholarship (Modality typeB).