Samarthia Thankappan

Major questions surround who, how, and by what means should the interests of government, the private sector, or consumers hold authority and powers over decisions concerning the production and consumption of foods. This book examines the development of food policy and regulation following the BSE (mad cow disease) crisis of the late 1990s, and traces the changing relationships between three key sets of actors: private interests, such as the corporate retailers; public regulators, such as the EU directorates and UK agencies; and consumer groups at EU and national levels. The authors explore how these interests deal with the conundrum of continuing to stimulate a corporately organised and increasingly globalised food system at the same time as creating a public and consumer-based legitimate framework for it. The analysis develops a new model and synthesis of food policy and regulation which reassesses these public/private sector responsibilities with new evidence and theoretical insights.

1. 1 Aims and Objectives The major aim of this research is to identify and weigh the importance of factors that promote and constrain, the adoption of environmental initiatives by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to inform how policy can overcome obstacles so as to promote the adoption of cleaner technology (includ­ ing environmentally sensitive products (Oosterhuis et al. 1996)) by industry. Cen­ tral to the research is the testing of a set of hypotheses, which, inter alia, relate the adoption of cleaner technologies to competitiveness, management culture and the importance of the provision of information. The manufacturing sectors consid­ ered are those dominated by SMEs where product and process environmental re­ sponse by the firm is important. Of these sectors, furniture, textile finishing, and fruit and vegetable processing were chosen. More specifically the focus is on European SMEs i. e. those employing less than 250 employees. ' Variations within the EU with respect to environmental regulation are exemplified by a study of firms (and plants) across four member states: Germany, North-east Italy, Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The adoption of clean technologies has been slow and uneven and action has mainly involved good housekeeping. Major changes involving large capital spend­ ing, or material substitution, process redesign or reformulation have been rela­ tively rare (OECD 1985, 1995; Ashford 1993). The problem is particularly acute amongst SMEs (and the majority of enterprises are SMEs; e. g.

Major questions surround who, how, and by what means should the interests of government, the private sector, or consumers hold authority and powers over decisions concerning the production and consumption of foods. This book examines the development of food policy and regulation following the BSE (mad cow disease) crisis of the late 1990s, and traces the changing relationships between three key sets of actors: private interests, such as the corporate retailers; public regulators, such as the EU directorates and UK agencies; and consumer groups at EU and national levels. The authors explore how these interests deal with the conundrum of continuing to stimulate a corporately organised and increasingly globalised food system at the same time as creating a public and consumer-based legitimate framework for it. The analysis develops a new model and synthesis of food policy and regulation which reassesses these public/private sector responsibilities with new evidence and theoretical insights.

1. 1 Aims and Objectives The major aim of this research is to identify and weigh the importance of factors that promote and constrain, the adoption of environmental initiatives by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to inform how policy can overcome obstacles so as to promote the adoption of cleaner technology (includ­ ing environmentally sensitive products (Oosterhuis et al. 1996)) by industry. Cen­ tral to the research is the testing of a set of hypotheses, which, inter alia, relate the adoption of cleaner technologies to competitiveness, management culture and the importance of the provision of information. The manufacturing sectors consid­ ered are those dominated by SMEs where product and process environmental re­ sponse by the firm is important. Of these sectors, furniture, textile finishing, and fruit and vegetable processing were chosen. More specifically the focus is on European SMEs i. e. those employing less than 250 employees. ' Variations within the EU with respect to environmental regulation are exemplified by a study of firms (and plants) across four member states: Germany, North-east Italy, Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The adoption of clean technologies has been slow and uneven and action has mainly involved good housekeeping. Major changes involving large capital spend­ ing, or material substitution, process redesign or reformulation have been rela­ tively rare (OECD 1985, 1995; Ashford 1993). The problem is particularly acute amongst SMEs (and the majority of enterprises are SMEs; e. g.