소비자 선호를 반영한 등급표준화에 관한 연구 :사과의 사례

A Study on the Grading and Standardization Based on Consumer Preference: The Case of Apple

To increase marketing efficiency and quality competitiveness in the era of the WTO and FTAs, it is important to know the quality levels of agricultural products that consumers want. The grad-ing standards of Agricultural Products Standardization Management by the National Agricultural ProductsQuality Management Service is the official quality standards, which, however, are not utilized in the market at all. One of the main reasons behind this is that the existing grade s and standards do not reflect the consumer’s preference, but are mostly based on the opinions of scientists and practitioners. This study conducts an experiment to collect data about consumer preference and willingness to pay on important attributes of apple. The quadratic discriminant analysis(QDA) and nonlinear programming(NLP) model are then used to determine the number of grade and the standards for each grade using the optimal grade boundaries. The procedure adopted in this study can be a stepping-stone to the consumer-base d grading system.