ECN263 Food Industry Economics

• Food supply chains: Horizontal and vertical relations and structural characteristics, types of ownership, market power and competition, strategy formation and sources of competitive advantage in food markets.
• Food sector as industrial clusters: Agglomeration effects in food industries, the Norwegian bio-economy in a global perspective, innovation systems in the food sector.
• Food sector policies: From private to social value added, national competitiveness, the case for regulation, food safety, food security, trade policy, intellectual property rights.

Knowledge:

• Overview of structures, competitive conditions and regulations in the food value chains.
• Insight into framework conditions and central instruments for regulation of the Norwegian food sector (import protection, competition policy, market arrangements).
• Knowledge of strategic market behavior in the value chain for food (vertical integration, market segments, product development, branding, business system, etc.)
• Knowledge of results in the food sector (value creation, employment, consumer welfare, food safety, etc.)

Skills:

• Be able to analyze and understand the food sector as a market and discuss structural development, strategic positioning and regulatory needs in the food markets.

General competence:

• Have insight into the interrelationship between political and structural framework conditions and the actors' room for action and behavior in the food sector, and the social consequences of this.