Economia Agro-Alimentare最新文献

{"title":"The network contract in the agrifood industry: An exploratory study on collaborative drivers in central Italy","authors":"Lorenzo Compagnucci, A. Cavicchi, F. Spigarelli","doi":"10.3280/ECAG2019-002009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ECAG2019-002009","url":null,"abstract":"In 2008, the European Union (EU) started promoting the development of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of Think Small First - Small Business Act (sba). As SMEs represent 99% of all European businesses, they are the backbone of Europe. This phenomenon is even more clear in the Italian agrifood industry where, in 2016, SMEs were about 1,5 million. Nevertheless, most of the Italian SMEs show unsatisfactory economic performances compared to European competitors. Indeed, the small size of firms is a challenge in terms of design and production capacity. To support inter-firms’ cooperation and to enact the principles of the sba, the Italian parliament introduced the network contract (NC) as industrial policy under Law n. 33 of 2009. The NC allows entrepreneurs to collaborate in order to improve, individually and collectively, their innovation capacity and/or their competitiveness. On one side, there is a positive economic return from cooperation. On the other hand, a deeper understanding of networks should be achieved by examining how networks operate and what is the content of the links. Indeed, one of the most challenging issue lies on the disposition of network members to be cooperative. This exploratory study aims to improve the understanding of the NC and its collaborative drivers, by analyzing whether, why and how features related to network characteristics and management perceptions affect companies’ collaboration, competitiveness and innovation capacity. To do this, we perform a multiple case study analysis by interviewing six key informants who have subscribed the NC in the agrifood industry. The study has managerial and policy implications. Findings highlight some keyelements that characterize a network approach and its related advantages, which can bring benefits to companies, while triggering competitiveness, innovation and sustainability at local level. .","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85850252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Community-Based Cooperatives as an innovative partnership to contrast inner areas decline","authors":"L. Mastronardi, V. Giaccio, L. Romagnoli","doi":"10.3280/ecag2019-002002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2019-002002","url":null,"abstract":"The paper aims to describe the main characteristics of CBCs, and to highlight their outcomes in economics and social terms. The data, referring to year 2016, originates from the aida database of Bureau van Dijk. However, the sample construction took a number of steps: 1) interviews with privileged witnesses, 2) web search, 3) aida database interrogation; selection of the cooperative enterprises and checking their features, and 4) final database implementation. Our sample, consisting of 32 observations, has been segmented by means of a cluster analysis, with the aim of subdividing the CBCs in homogeneous groups on the basis of the variables under consideration. The results show that CBCs may contribute to prevent inner areas decline, mainly by the provision of essential services to the whole community; this is a benefit created by means of business activity and the participation of its members to its management. Nevertheless, the results also show a limited ability of CBCs to make investments on the areas in which they operate. As a consequence, CBCs have a low employment capacity. In every case, uncertainty on the real CBCs number and the limited sample size do not allow for a generalisation of these results.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"2009 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89516670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Agri-environmental collaborative projects: Challenges and perspectives in Italy","authors":"F. Cisilino, F. Vanni","doi":"10.3280/ecag2019-002014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2019-002014","url":null,"abstract":"One of the main limitations of traditional agri-environmental policies is that the related measures are usually targeted to individual farms, leading to single and disconnected actions. In order to increase the effectiveness of its environmental action, the CAP 2014-2020 has tried to stimulate collective approaches in different ways, both in the context of the greening of direct payments and of the voluntary agri-environmental schemes (AES) of rural development policies. Nevertheless, in Italy so far there have been only a very limited number of attempts to implement collective agri-environmental strategies. The overall objective of this paper is exploring and analysing the attitudes of the Italian stakeholders towards the implementation of agri-environmental collective actions, in order to identify, on one side, the main limitations that are preventing their adoption and, on the other side, to co-design possible solutions and practical actions to stimulate collaborative projects. Data were collected during the first National Forum dedicated to environmental agri-environmental issues, organised by the Italian National Rural Network, by using the European Awareness Scenario Workshop (EASW) method. The research has identified three main challenges that the Italian agricultural system needs to face in order to enhance and spread the adoption of collective agri-environmental projects: (i) designing policies that are more effective in supporting the early stages of collective actions (network setting and project development); (ii) a better identification and involvement of intermediate institutions in project coordination and implementation; (iii) improving specific assistance to local farmers for collective projects as well spreading knowledge amongst other rural stakeholders.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78907709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An exploratory study on the construction of networks in social farming","authors":"P. Borsotto, Marco Gaito, A. Papaleo, C. D. Vivo, Michela Ascani, G. Ricciardi, G. Guccione","doi":"10.3280/ecag2019-002015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2019-002015","url":null,"abstract":"Social farming is a complex activity that requires, for its development, the contribution of different skills and competences and, therefore, the creation of networks and complex relationships among several actors. According to the Report on Social Farming (RRN, 2017), networks that are built around social agriculture are complex both in terms of agreements and of the plurality of stakeholders involved. The paper aims at presenting the results of the research activity carried out on a group of Italian social farming operators that participated in information and training activities organized by the Italian National Rural Network (NRN) (summer schools and/or study visits) between 2016 and 2018. Aim of the research is to understand the relationships that have been created after participating in these moments and how much these activities improved the strengthening or the creation of territorial networks. The survey was conducted with qualitative methods and the tools used are the interview by questionnaire and social network analysis. All participants at the end of the events were invited to respond to a questionnaire aimed at identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the activity and subsequently they were given a questionnaire with CAWI methodology aimed at understanding the social farming activities developed after the training. Then a sample of respondents was selected, among those who actually started new projects or implemented the existing ones. At this stage, data were gathered from an in-depth questionnaire and direct interview., Through the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) the formal and informal links between the participants have been mapped and described. The analysis of the actors has highlighted the high heterogeneity of the subjects involved, which in the majority of cases is constituted by farmers. The network is not very cohesive due to the lack of links between many actors. However, it is an active and inclusive network characterized by redundant links that may be poorly efficient and an obstacle to its further expansion. In particular, within the network, there are actors who simultaneously hold multiple roles representing multiple interests; the NRN no longer appears as a stand-alone unit that only performs an “institutional function” but as a social subject.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86010896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does Food Public Procurement boost Food Democracy? Theories and evidences from some case studies","authors":"Giampiero Mazzocchi, D. Marino","doi":"10.3280/ecag2019-002011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2019-002011","url":null,"abstract":"The paper analyses some Italian virtuous experiences of Food Public Procurement, connecting them with the issue of food democracy. In particular, the first paragraphs provide an outline of the main challenges and distortions afflicting today’s food systems, pointing out how and to what extent they are strictly tied to the problems of access to food and participation to food governance. In diets and food consumption behaviours, being them the main driver of the trajectories of food systems, rely the most part of the future of sustainability of agricultural productions and distribution. Food Public Procurement, defining features and quality of an impressive number of meals (18.5 billion per year in 15-member Europe), has the chance to drive and orient a large amount of the food productions towards more sustainable patterns. The results deriving from the critical examination of the four practices of Food Public Procurement in Italy, put into evidence the impacts in terms of parents participation, healthy of meals, agricultural sustainability, local development, distribution of food value chain and workers’ rights. Finally, it is stressed the importance of local food policies and urban Food councils in boosting and favouring the spreading of sustainable Food Public Procurement practices.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73181759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contractual arrangements in the Italian durum wheat supply chain: The impacts of the \"Fondo grano duro\"","authors":"S. Ciliberti, G. Martino, A. Frascarelli, G. Chiodini","doi":"10.3280/ecag2019-002004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2019-002004","url":null,"abstract":"In Italy, the use of contracts is restricted to a small share of the durum wheat production used to obtain high quality pasta in order to ensure the origin of durum wheat. In response to the permanent crisis of this strategic sector, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture introduced the so-called \"Fondo grano duro\" in 2016. It aims to give financial support to farmers who sign a contract with pasta producers to supply durum wheat. This paper represents a preliminary attempt to approach and investigate the impacts of the \"Fondo\" on coordination of decisions. Therefore, a case study design was used and several durum wheat contracts funded by the \"Fondo\" were analysed and classified according to the principles of Transaction Cost Economics (tce). To this regard, findings could pave the way for a discussion on the nature of the \"Fondo\" in the light of the recent developments of the tce concerning the meso-institutional layer.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"93 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80469491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Interbranch organizations in the cap reform: Institutional nature, opportunities and limits","authors":"G. Martino, D. Toccaceli, A. Pacciani, Michela Ascani","doi":"10.3280/ecag2019-002008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2019-002008","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this study is to address the following research question: how could the Interbranch organizations (IBOs) support the implementation of the new cap regulatory approach sustaining the design and the implementation of private orderings in Agro-industry value chains? Our method is based on two steps. First we delineate a conceptual framework based on recent achievements of Transaction Cost Economics. This step is based on the illustration of a three institutional layers architecture which includes macro-, meso- and microinstitutional levels. The next step is to focus on the case study of IBOs and is dedicated to analysis of such arrangements in terms of meso- institutions. The study provides two basic results. First is pointed out that the cap reform calls for the identification of appropriate meso-institutional level. Secondly it is suggested that the efficiency of the micro-institutional level is increased by the integration of the scope of the meso-institutional level.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90187309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-Actor Platform as a tool to enhance networking of sustainable socio-ecological food systems","authors":"R. Salvia, G. Quaranta","doi":"10.3280/ecag2019-002012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2019-002012","url":null,"abstract":"The sustainability of food systems is a central issue in academic and political debate at a national and global level. Involving the various actors in food systems through a multi-actor platform approach is increasingly recognized as a way to promote sustainability because it is a strategy capable of ensuring resilience and an effective mechanism to guarantee the co-creation of knowledge and the definition and implementation of innovation. In order to ensure that the actors/ stakeholders involved are an authentic reflection of the food system, understood as a socio-ecological system i.e. the result of interactions between the socio-economic and ecological components, it is essential to use analytical tools that allow a multidisciplinary approach and that can act as devices for knowledge co-creation and promoting of collaborative approaches. This paper uses a modified version of the SES framework, designed to allow the integration of a range of collaboration behavioural factors for sustainable agri-food chains. The objective is to strengthen the analysis of the structural aspects of SES with assessment of the behavioural factors that can significantly influence the path of sustainable transformation that the SES could undertake. The study analyses the implementation of a good practice multi-actor collaboration and gives an ex ante evaluation of the adaptive mechanisms needed to activate an effective transfer, considering: - the structural characteristics of the agri-food socio-ecological systems involved in the \"re-use of good practice\"; - the quality and density of behavioural factors present in the socio-ecological systems involved in the \"re-use of good practice\". The \"re-using\" socio-ecological systems are all quite different, which makes the challenge of adapting the innovation more complicated. The wine producing systems involved show different levels of aggregation and capacity for adding value. There is a high risk that the costs of implementing the innovation will fall principally to the farmers, while the increase in value generated will not. For this reason, it is important to guarantee, through the initial design and subsequent implementation of the multi-actor platform, that the platform can express, recognize, and address these kinds of challenges.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77995337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The National Contact Points for the oecd Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises: A global \"network\" for a responsible agri-food supply chain","authors":"D. Branchini","doi":"10.3280/ecag2019-002017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2019-002017","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"58 2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83624990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Olfactory cues and consumers' purchase behavior in food products: A category management approach","authors":"K. Sandell","doi":"10.3280/ECAG2019-001005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ECAG2019-001005","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we examined the impact of olfactory cues on consumers’ food-product purchase behavior. Specifically, we applied a category management (CM) perspective. The theories of CM, cue congruence, and hedonic orientation for purchase behavior were applied using data collected through an experiment. These data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The presence of olfactory cues has a positive impact on purchase behavior, as measured by product category sales, and no significant cannibalization effect on spatially related product categories occurred. Hedonism and cue congruence explain category differences and intra-category development. This study is the first to address changes in cross-category and within-category behavior resulting from an olfactory cue. We compared two effectiveness moderator theories: cue congruence and hedonic orientation. As a methodological improvement, we measured actual sales (instead of consumer intent) and complementary data via qualitative interviews.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90856770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}