Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Value Based Marketing For Fed Cattle: A Discussion Of The Issues, Scott Fausti, Steve Schamber, Dwight Adamson

Economics Staff Paper Series

Beef demand in the United States began to weaken relative to the demand for pork and poultry in the 1970s. The literature offers two possible explanations: 1) the lifestyles explanation; and 2) the relative-price explanation. Barkema and Drabenstott (1990) review the literature concerning the market share issue and concisely outline the two possible explanations: "The lifestyle argument suggests that consumers chose to eat less beef due to health concerns and changes in lifestyles. The relative-prices explanation suggests consumers switched from beef to poultry because beef became relatively more expensive than poultry." The issue of improving beefs competitiveness against other domestic …