UK prime minister will likely remain in power for now

Significance As many as a dozen lockdown parties are now alleged to have been held at Downing Street, significantly damaging Johnson’s support among the public and his Conservative Party. His position as party leader and prime minister is gravely threatened. Impacts Johnson’s domestic troubles, coupled with rising economic concerns, increase the chance of an agreement with the EU over Northern Ireland. Disillusionment with Johnson, opposition to net-zero and culture wars open the door for Nigel Farage’s Reform Party to revive its appeal. Rising inflation threatens to undermine consumer confidence and slow the economic recovery over the coming year.

PENGARUH CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) TERHADAP CORPORATE REPUTATION, WORD OF MOUTH DAN CUSTOMER TRUST (STUDI DI PT PETROKIMIA GRESIK)

At the end of 2019, a global pandemic began to hit the whole world, including Indonesia. This seems to have influenced the consumer confidence index. Consumer confidence in current economic conditions has weakened due to weakening incomes and reduced job availability. The existence of problems related to the decrease in the level of consumer confidence will be very detrimental to the company if the solution is not immediately considered. The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze the effect of corporate social responsibility on corporate reputation, word of mouth and customer trust as well as the effect of corporate reputation and word of mouth on customer trust. This research applies a quantitative approach with the type of research applied is causal research. The population in this study were 344 consumers of PT Petrokimia Gresik (PG), while the sample used in the study was 185 people.Data analysis in this study uses inferential statistics, which is an analysis aimed at proving the hypothesis using structural equation modeling - AMOS. The results of this study found that corporate social responsibilityprovides a significant effect on corporate reputation, word of mouth and consumer trust. Then corporate reputation and word of mouth are also proven to have a significant effect on consumer trust.

Analisis Ketahanan Usaha Pengolahan Petis Ikan Sebelum dan Selama Masa Pandemi Covid-19 di Desa Prenduan Kecamatan Pragaan Kabupaten Sumenep

This study aims to determine the condition of the fish petis processing business before and during the covid-19 pandemic, and to find out the efforts made by fish petis entrepreneurs in surviving the covid-19 pandemic. One way to empathize and maintain communication with customers, with current conditions it is very important to maintain health, can actively inform that this fish petis business is implementing according to government regulations by preventing virus transmission such as spraying disinfectants, checking the body temperature of workers. This is done in order to maintain consumer confidence that this fish paste business can be marketed as before

Trust and consumer confidence in the safety of dairy products in China

PurposeThis study aims to explore the degree of Chinese consumers' trust and confidence in the Chinese dairy products supply chain and the relationships between trust and overall confidence in dairy products safety and quality.Design/methodology/approachThis study collected data from 1,278 respondents by field survey from five provinces of China. The data were analyzed using ordered logit model.FindingsThis study shows the following results: (1) Chinese consumer confidence in domestic dairy products and trust in actors of the dairy chain are at a moderate-to-low level. (2) Government regulators are considered to take the most responsibility, with both an optimism-enhancing and a pessimism-reducing effect (the former effect is greater), while perceived trust in dairy farmers and retailers has little effect. (3) Perceived care has both an optimism-enhancing and a pessimism-reducing effect, and the former effect is stronger. Competence and openness have an optimism-enhancing effect and a pessimism-reducing effect, respectively. (4) The importance of the three dimensions of trust related to optimism-increasing and pessimism-reduction is limited, except in the case of government regulators.Originality/valueThis study contributes to a better understanding of consumer trust in food safety and also help demonstrate to the actors and institutions involved in the dairy supply chain the best way to improve the performance of their duties to meet the consumers' needs for safe and quality dairy products.

Conflict and chaos: A case study of Ireland’s COVID-19 outbound travel market

During the COVID-19 pandemic the international outbound travel market from Ireland collapsed, declining at one point by 94%. This case study paper explores the environment which framed the collapse in travel, positioning it as one of conflict and chaos. The main objective is to document and analyse the legal, industry and societal factors which may have contributed to the collapse, identifying the key regulations, decisions, metrics, and societal responses, and exploring their intersection with outbound tourism. Three areas of inquiry are explored, namely: 1) the legal instruments used by government to restrict travel, 2) operational decisions made by industry, and 3) societal and media response to the pandemic. Three findings are presented from the desk research. First, it is suggested that the conflicting agendas of government and public health, the mainstream media and the travel industry would be more effectively dealt with in private as opposed to via news articles, social media arguments, and openly published letters. Second, clarity of communication from all three bodies needs improvement due to its impact on consumer confidence. Finally, the article proposes lessons for government in relation to future crisis management situations regarding outbound travel.

PENGARUH WORD OF MOUTH TERHADAP KEPERCAYAAN KONSUMEN DALAM BERBELANJA SECARA ONLINE

This study wants to describe the marketing communication strategy widely used today, namely word of mouth where this form of communication purely relies on the ability of consumers to hear and convey messages or news through conversation. Through word of mouth, consumers can feel a more personal relationship with the company. The word-of-mouth communication strategy is considered quite capable in building consumer confidence in shopping, especially shopping online. This research took a sample of 100 respondents in Bandung City who actively visit the marketplace and make purchases at least twice a month. The results showed that there was an effect of word of mouth on consumer confidence of 0.263 or 26.3 percent.Penelitian ini ingin menggambarkan mengenai strategi komunikasi pemasaran banyak digunakan pada masa sekarang yaitu word of mouth dimana bentuk komunikasi ini secara murni mengandalkan kemampuan konsumen dalam mendengar dan menyampaikan pesan atau berita melalui percakapan. Melalui word of mouth, konsumen dapat merasakan hubungan yang lebih pribadi dengan perusahaan. Strategi komunikasi word of mouth dinilai cukup mampu membangun kepercayaan konsumen dalam berbelanja, khususnya belanja online. Penelitian ini mengambil sampel 100 responden masyarakat di Kota Bandung yang secara aktif mengunjungi marketplace dan melakukan pembelian minimal dua kali dalam sebulan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat pengaruh word of mouth terhadap kepercayaan konsumen sebesar 0,263 atau 26,3 persen.

Kualitas Produksi dan Loyalitas Konsumen

Pengabdian pada Masyarakat ini bertujuan untuk menyempurnakan 7 dimensi yang harus ada dalam sebuah kualitas produk pada produk camilan makanan olahan Canoi produksi dari IKM Arfifood Jl. Kenjeran Surabaya Jawa Timur sebagai mitra kegiatan ini. Target kegiatan yang harus terlaksana dalam pendampingan terhadap mitra guna meningkatkan kualitas dan kapasitas produksi Camilan Makanan Olahan Canoi adalah dengan pendampingan pembelian alat produksi yang dibutuhkan berupa mesin spinner yang berfungsi untuk menyerap kadar minyak dalam produk sehingga dapat bertahan lama dan cita rasa produk dapat terjaga. Pemberian pelatihan berupa proses produksi juga perlu dilakukan karena produsen ini masih dalam sekala Industri Kecil Menengah guna membantu dalam peningkatan kapasitas usahanya menjadi lebih besar. Berdasarkan monitoring dan evaluasi setelah diberikan bantuan, IKM Arfifood mampu menghasilkan produk yang sesuai dengan tuntutan 7 dimensi tersebut dan mampu memproduksi dengan volume yang lebih besar. Hal ini menunjukkan adanya peningkatan dan mulainya kepercayaan konsumen terhadap produk. This Community Service aims to improve the 7 dimensions that must exist in a product quality in Canoi processed snack products produced by IKM Arfifood Jl. Kenjeran Surabaya, East Java as a partner of this activity. The target of activities that must be carried out in mentoring partners to improve the quality and production capacity of Canoi Processed Snacks is to assist in purchasing the required production equipment in the form of a spinner machine that functions to absorb the oil content in the product so that it can last a long time and the taste of the product can be maintained. The provision of training in the form of production processes also needs to be carried out because these producers are still on the scale of Small and Medium Industries to assist in increasing their business capacity to become larger. Based on monitoring and evaluation after being given assistance, IKM Arfifood can produce products that meet the demands of the 7 dimensions and are able to produce in larger volumes. This indicates an increase and the start of consumer confidence in the product.

Portable vibrational spectroscopic methods can discriminate between grass-fed and grain-fed beef

The present study analysed the ability for portable near infrared reflectance (NIR) and Raman spectroscopy sensors to differentiate between grass-fed and grain-fed beef. Scans were made on lean and fat surfaces of 108 beef steak samples labelled as grass-fed ( n = 54) and grain-fed ( n = 54), with partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) used to develop discrimination models which were tested on independent datasets. Furthermore, PLS-DA was used to predict visual marbling score and days on feed (DOF). The NIR spectra accurately discriminated between grass- and grain-fed beef on both fat (91.7%, n = 92) and lean (88.5%, n = 96), as did Raman (fat 95.2%, n = 82; lean 69.6%, n = 68). Fat scanning using NIR spectroscopy moderately predicted DOF (r2val = 0.53), though Raman and NIR spectroscopy lean prediction models for DOF and marbling were less precise (r2val < 0.50). It can be concluded that portable NIR and Raman spectrometers can be used successfully to differentiate grass-fed from grain-fed beef and therefore aid retail and consumer confidence.