Marketing and value added effects for whitefish and pelagic industries of different ecolabeling schemes

Project design and implementation
The object of the planned research may be expressed as a matrix of two main factors. These are geographical markets (UK and Sweden) at the one hand and fish “species” (whitefish and Mackerel) at the other hand. The matrix represents, thus, a kind of task-related outline that has a strong bearing on the extent of the research project.  Further it has been suggested that the research should pursue some kind of longitudinal design – which in turn also would have implications for the extent of the project work. Considering the task as communicated from the FHF the research I suggested comprising two measuring points (as opposed to three) which will keep the over-all budget lower than a three step design would suggest.

It is proposed that the UK will be the initial market for exploration. There are several reasons for this. First, the UK market is the most mature in respect of the MSC label in terms of history and the number of eco-labelled products present. The UK retail sector is regarded as a leader in respect of product innovation and diversification and is also seen as an industrial opinion leader within the retail sector.

The research team is well-connected to central actors in the UK market through the linkage with the University of Stirling. Through its network the team has access to key resources and market intelligence on both the retail and foodservice sectors in the UK, and elsewhere. Another market to be studied is Sweden, where the environmental issues are very high on the public agenda.

The proposed study at hand is characterised by task of generating new insights on a particular topic that has not been submitted to substantial prior research. Thus, the research work will be investigating, analysing and evaluating a phenomenon that will affect the Norwegian seafood industry today and in the future. By recognising these issues, the natural choice of research design is an exploratory study.

Briefly, this would entail an initial desk research to reveal and systematise existing knowledge on the field. At the second stage an interview guide will be developed that will secure a systematic and comprehensive instrument for collection of relevant data from key informants; that is primarily industrial actors and experts on the topic. Given the potentially commercially-sensitive nature of the data and the implications of the related findings different instruments will enable deeper exploration and cross-checking of the information gathered. In addition we plan to support the information with quantitative data when this is available.

In-depth Interviews
The study team has access to an extensive network of key actors throughout fish products value chains. This has been maintained through a number of recent and ongoing projects related to wider aspects of sustainability, product differentiation, branding and various sectoral perspectives. These contacts have generated a valuable contemporary data set that can be interrogated for the purposes of this project and will help create a platform from which further questions and lines of enquiry can be developed.

Where necessary, in-depth interviews will be undertaken on a face-to-face basis, but the established relationships also enable more efficient electronic and telephone interviews to be employed. Interviews will explore factors and trends identified from the secondary data and previous work and will be used to gain insight into reflective assessments and prospective scenarios. Interviews also contribute to the creation of a reference framework of factors such as pricing, positioning and market appearance which can be checked with other techniques.

Observation
Through the course of other projects the team has developed a framework to aid analysis of products as they are presented to consumers within the market. This is significant because it provides some check on whether or not the strategic and tactical claims of decision-making actors elsewhere in the chain are delivered. A framework tailored to the needs of this enquiry will be developed and completed through two routes. One will involve a more systematic coverage from a predetermined sample of supermarkets; the other route will consist of more ad hoc observations from a sample of purposively selected retail stores and foodservice outlets. 

These techniques have the particular advantage of capturing additional qualitative data (including photo data), for example packaging types, cabinet juxtapositions with competing products, price promotions etc,  that are commonly unavailable from other sources but which do arguably represent a significant component in the consumer’s product choice. In addition systematic observation gives a greater understanding of the dynamics of the market and how it responds with varying emphasis to changes within the market.

Research related to questions 1–3 will be in close collaboration with the “Etterspørselsforhold knyttet til bærekraft og miljø”-project. On the industrial buyer level, the first round of interviews will be conducted in October/November 2010. The interviews in Sweden will be conducted in fall 2011. We seek to expand the already planned interviews with some of the issues mentioned here, and will pool some of the funding in order to obtain synergy effects of the existing and new projects. Some of the data sampling needs, however, are additional and specific to this project (observation, repeated studies, experiments and studies of existing material from other projects).

Activities and milestones
Phase 1:
December 2010–March  2011:
• Desk research and literature review
• Determine the measurement instruments for the research; refine and plan the detailed methodology.
• Interview with the Icelandic sustainable fisheries organisation
• Report on Phase 1; no later than March 2011

Phase 2:
January 2011–December 2012:
• Assessment of the implementation practice of eco-labels (focus on MSC): Spring 2011
• Observations in shops: continuous activity
• In-depth-interviews with industrial buyers (retailers, processing companies, food service): Spring/ summer 2011 in UK; autumn 2011 in Sweden
• Analysis and dissemination of the results: Autumn 2011-December 2012
• Writing up one Scientific publication
• Publications in industry journals.
• Oral presentations at industry seminars and conferences

Phase 3: 
2013
• Repeated measurements of attitudes and awareness among industrial buyers. Spring 2013
• Analysis and dissemination of the results.
• Writing up one Scientific publication
• Final report: Advice to the Norwegian industry: December

Project team
The project will be carried out by researchers at Nofima Marked and the University of Stirling. The institutions have a long record of conducting joint research (since 1994). The University of Stirling has good connections with the UK retail and food service sectors as well as seafood processors. Professor James A. Young has also chaired the Fish Sustainability Information Group which published a report on different sustainability schemes in 2009. Professor Young will be leading the work in UK. Nofima Marked has been working with environmental, sustainability and fish welfare related projects for many years, and the theme is one of the main research areas in the group. Nofima Marked has the overall project lead and will be responsible for the work in Sweden and participate in the UK work as well.