consumer approaches vegetable consumption emotionally. Fresh veg-
etables are perceived on the one hand as the best product in terms of
health, quality, nutrition and naturalness. On the other hand, the prepa-
ration of fresh vegetables is increasingly considered as too time-con-
suming, especially by working people. Under these circumstances, the
consumer looks for an alternative under the form of processed vegeta-
bles: frozen, canned or glass. To justify this choice to other people such
as family members, the consumer looks for rational support. Much of
this rational support is identified by the elements provided during the
description of the ideal product in terms of the ideal vegetable produc-
tion process. Consumers’ search for rational support offers great oppor-
tunities for chains that manage, first, to guarantee integrated quality and
chain management, and second, to work out the realized consumer
driven chain improvements as an effective communication tool. It is up
to the processed-vegetables chain to translate these opportunities into
adapted processes and institutional adjustments in order to realize and
implement the consumers’ ideal chain perception.
This chapter focused on Integrated Quality Management in agri-food
chains, with application to the processed-vegetable chain. The research
illustrates how theoretical concepts can be applied in practice through
consumer research. The basic idea is to consider consumer satisfaction
as the ultimate goal of IQM. Hence, filling in IQM in practice is im-
possible without first questioning the actors at the final and ultimate
level: consumers. Further integration of consumer research in chain and
quality management deserves attention in the future. Such attention
should focus both on methodological research and analysis aspects in
empirical work as well as on the translation of findings to become use-
ful in practice from the marketing and management perspective of agri-
food chains.
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