INTERNATIONALISATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SICILIAN WINERIES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY BASED ON THE RBV APPROACH

Strategies of internationalization, such as export, have a central role as well to safeguard the market position and survival for many enterprises, including small and medium ones. The aim of this study is to investigate, through a resource-based view (RBV) approach, the main firms' internal factors that affect the export propensity of sparkling wines producers in Sicily and their ability to insert into foreign market. Based on review of extant literature we have identified the main factors, related both to the firms and to the managers characteristics, that affect the firm performance in the export market. Using survey data of 94 Sicilian small and medium wineries export oriented, this pap…

Funghi in decisa crescita

Intensità degli scambi agroalimentari tra i Paesi del bacino del Mediterraneo

The Mediterranean has always been an area of strategic interest for the European Union (eu), which, since its establishment, has woven a compact network of relationships with its trading partners in the South and East of the Mediterranean, signing cooperation and then associative agreements with them. This study aims to present a view of how the agro-food trade network has evolved between the eu’s Mediterranean partner countries and their neighbors in North Africa and the Near East. To measure the extent of this trade specific indicators are used which are also widely used in economic literature, albeit to analyze trade in sectors unconnected to agro-food. In particular, analyses carried ou…

MARKETING AND INNOVATIONS IN CHEMICAL AGRI-INDUSTRY THROUGH THE SWOT AND PEST ANALYSIS

This paper is dedicated to the reflection of innovations in the mirror of marketing. The best way to do so is to consider specific product, company or market. The production of mineral fertilizers is one of the most important branches in the chemical industry. The potash market is exceptional in characteristics, which make it an interesting object for marketing analysis with emphasis on innovations. The comparative marketing analysis of main potash producers has been performed in order to delineate the best potash supplier for EU market. SWOT and PEST analysis as well as Porter's five competitive forces model were used. It has very important economic advantages aroused from Canadian tax sys…

Brands of protection of olive oil in Sicily: Economic Reflections and Marketing.

Lo scenario nazionale dei piccoli frutti e il ruolo della Sicilia

The Italian competitiveness in the international market of the small fruits sector

Recently, the markets globalization process has become increasingly intense leading to markets' hanges and a growth competition between companies operating on the international market. The agrifood sector among others has undergone several transformation characterized by the diffusion of modern New Technology, Information and Communication, the harmonization of regulations, and the reduction of technical barriers (Banterle and Olper, 2007). These last two changes were made due to the commercial bilateral signature or multilateral agreements. These changes have forced companies to rethink their strategies and organizational management. The Italian international agribusiness scenario plays an…

Determinants affecting consumers' attention to fish eco-labels in purchase decisions: a cross-country study

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate the role of consumer altruism and other socio-cultural factors in predicting how much attention consumers pay to seafood eco-labels.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical investigation was carried out by administering an online questionnaire to a sample of Italian and Spanish people from December 2019 to April 2020. After carrying out the principal component analysis procedure, the work made use of an ordinal logistic regression.FindingsBoth Italian and Spanish consumers with an altruistic attitude, who feel that food produced in a sustainable way can protect the environment and workers, appear more likely to take an eco-label into accou…

WEB-SITES QUALITY AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION IN THE SICILIAN WINERIES

In recent years, several enterprises in different sectors have adopted e- business models exploiting the potential offered by ICT and particularly by the internet. As many authors have highlighted, web presence offers enterprises important opportunities which are linked to overcoming spatiotemporal and cost limits which characterize traditional means of communication. This study aimed to analyze how the web marketing is used in Sicilian wineries, and the relationship between the quality of content and features of websites to their business revenue. results show a different approach to web marketing by wineries which use the net as a mere tool to promote their image, to increase their visibi…

Colture alternative: dai piccoli frutti nuove prospettive di mercato.

STUDY ON CONSUMERS' BEHAVIOR CONCERNING BERRIES CONSUMPTION IN ITALY

In Italy, the cultivated land of berries shows a positive trend, nevertheless berries still remain a productive segment of niche and luxury in the Italian agri-food system. In the world, the interest for these productions is high for their healthy aspects that have a strong appeal to the consumers. The objectives of this study are to know the consumers behavior of berries and the determinants of purchase in Italy in order to improve the management of the producing and retailers companies for increase the competitiveness of the supply chain. The results obtained through a multivariate analysis show some difference among the consumers interviewed. The most important results of this study is t…

L'agricoltura sotto la lente. i valori del settore primario.

Lo scenario economico della realtà siciliana aspettando i risultati del VI Censimento generale dell'Agricoltura firmato dall'Istat

The dynamics of Italian competitive positioning in the Mediterranean Bluefin tuna industry

The bluefin tuna or Thunnus thynnus is one of the widely recognised fish species since ancient times. Italy is the most important players in the international arena, however, the introduction of a system of total allowable catches and other measures established by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, has deeply changed the competitive positioning of Italy. The aim of this study is to perform an analysis of the comparative advantage of Italy by using the relative trade advantage index. Findings reveal that Italy has gained a competitive advantage in the Maltese market and has suffered a loss of the historical competitive advantage in the Japanese one. Results …

PATTERNS OF COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES AND THEIR CHANGE FOR THE WINE INDUSTRY IN THE INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO

The aim of this study is to analyse the specialization patterns of the main wine world actors, consumers and traders, so as to verify whether or not the patterns of comparative advantages for the trade of this countries have experienced significant changes over the period 2003-2012. The analysis carried out through the estimating of Lafay index reveals deep changes in the global wine market. In particular Italy, France, and Spain, though keeping an unquestioned importance in the international scenario, are experiencing a progressive loss of competitiveness. Differently, new countries have reinforced their presence in the international market, and among them Chile for the bottled wines, and …

Website quality and internal business factors: An empirical investigation in the Italian wine industry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is dual. The first is to assess the quality of websites of Italian wineries, using the Web Assessment Index (WAI), and compare e-commerce and e-marketing websites. The second is to verify the existence of a relationship between the website quality and business revenue, on one hand, and the characteristics of managers, on the other. Design/methodology/approach A two-step survey was carried out to respond to the aims of the study. First, a sample of wineries was contacted to capture information on both the wineries and managerial characteristics. On the basis of the observed data, a second step of the analysis was performed taking into consideration 84 winer…

Competitiveness of short sea shipping: the case of olive oil industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic benefits of short sea shipping (SSS) in the shape of Motorways of the Sea (MoS) compared to road transport. The study cover a gap in agro-food economics and analyses the economic benefits of sea transport mode compared to road transport in the food trade between Spain and Italy for a specific product: olive oils. Design/methodology/approach – Three different transportation scenarios are considered (road only, road combined with accompanied SSS and road combined with unaccompanied SSS) linking the main olive oil production and consumption areas in Spain and Italy. In each scenario the cost per unit shipped have been calculated. …

L'economia dei funghi nel contesto siciliano

Limits and perspectives of sea shipping of agro-food products in the Mediterranean basin. The role of Sicily

In the process of the Euro-Mediterranean integration , and in prospect of the realization of the free trade area (FTA), motorways of the sea are one of the most ambitious initiatives. The agro food sector is worrying us in order to realize the free trade area. It offers many opportunities for the strong complementarity among the coastal countries’agriculture, that could see the countries of the Southern and Northern work together in a spirit of complementarity and cooperation. Sicily, in the middle of Mediterranean basin, is only marginally concerned by the agro food trade and by direct maritime trade between the two sides, due to the inadequacy of port logistics infrastructures. These, wit…

The impact of corporate characteristics on the financial decisions of companies: Evidence on funding decisions by Italian SMEs

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represent a large percentage of the corporate tissue of developed countries, but they do not have adequate attention. In fact, various researchers have focused their studies on larger and well-known companies. This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate characteristic on the financial choices of SMEs, with a specific focus on agro-food micro companies. Access to finance is vital in business start-up, development and growth for SMEs, all with very different needs and facing different challenges in terms of finance compared to large companies. The lack of equity invested in small enterprises makes them more dependent on other external sources (e.…

AGRI-FOOD TRADE INTENSITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SCENARIO

In recent years, a political, economic, commercial, social and cultural dialogue get intensified among the Mediterranean countries. In particular, the establishment in 2008 of the Union for the Mediterranean, under the impulse of the French Presidency, represents the last act of the Euro-Mediterranean integration process, that binds more strongly the EU and Mediterranean countries, in particular those of the Southern and Eastern shores. The agriculture is an economic activity of great interest in the Mediterranean area due to the weight of employment and the contribution to the richness it brings to certain countries. In this work we analyze the intensity of agri-food trade among the EU Med…

Contribution to the Sustainability Challenges of the Food-Delivery Sector: Finding from the Deliveroo Italy Case Study

The food delivery sector is assuming increasing importance in the distribution of food products and meals as it is becoming an ordinary component of consumption habits. However, the growth of the sector has inevitably affected the demand for freight transport, especially in urban areas. The aim of this study was to investigate the main enabling factors affecting the adoption of sustainable strategies, among which the electro-mobility, in the food delivery sector and what obstacles to dissemination can be seen. Deliveroo s.r.l. was chosen as case study. Results show that Deliveroo undoubtedly represents a good example of sustainable logistics and the dissemination of good practices among the…

THE ROLE OF SICILY IN THE MARITIME TRAFFIC OF AGRI-FOOD PRODUCTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN

This paper shows the results of a survey on trade flows to agri-food products among Sicily and the non-EU countries of the Union for the Mediterranean, through maritime transport. The aim of this paper is to outline the role that Sicily plays in respect of trade in agricultural products through the maritime mode considering its strategic location in the Mediterranean basin. Political reference scenario is that of the Union for the Mediterranean and EU Mediterranean Transport Policy (motorways of the sea). The work contains an analysis of the evolution of maritime trade in agri-food of Sicily, in the main ports of departure and arrival, with non-EU countries of the Union for the Mediterranea…

La Redditività della Nocellara del Belice in Sicilia

Focus vendemmia verde 2010

Development and sustainable tourism as choice for the future: the city of Venice

Pac 2014-2020, che cosa cambierà per il nostro Paese?

Lo scenario economico dell'ortofrutticoltura in Sicilia. Un'indagine empirica sulle strategie organizzative e gestionali delle imprese

The fruit and vegetable industry has registered many transformations in recent years. Some of its determinants are the intensification of opening markets, the emergence of large-scale retail trade in distribution system, both domestic and international, the changes in agricultural policy. The horticultural sector has a great economic importance in Sicily, contributing significantly to the value added of the agro-food sector. The present study, funded by the Regional Department of Infrastructure, Transport and Mobility, arise from the recognition of this importance. It aims to outline the economic framework of the sector through the analysis of official statistics and an empirical investigat…

Intensity of Italy's agri-food trade with countries outside the EU Mediterranean

This paper aims to present a framework of trade relations between Italy and the countries of southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. More specifically, using the indicators proposed in the analysis of international trade, we want to analyse the intensity of trade in agri-food products and the strength of trade ties between the bordering Mediterranean countries. The analysis of the intensity of trade flows of food products from Italy and the partner countries of North Africa and the Near East has allowed us to trace a network of flows between the countries in the area. If we can see an overall weakening of the agri-food trade, the analysis for individual partner states, however…

Gli scambi marittimi dei prodotti agroalimentari nel Bacino del Mediterraneo: il ruolo della Sicilia

This work shows the results of a survey on trade flows to agri-food products between Sicily and the non-EU countries of the Union for the Mediterranean, through maritime transport. The aim of the work is to outline the role that Sicily plays in respect of trade in agricultural products through the maritime mode considering its strategic location in the Mediterranean basin. Political reference scenario is that of the Union for the Mediterranean and EU Mediterranean Transport Policy (motorways of the sea). This work contains an analysis of the evolution of maritime trade in agri-food of Sicily, in the main ports of departure and arrival, with non-EU countries of the Union for the Mediterranea…

CAN COOPETITION BE A WINNING STRATEGY FOR SMALL FRUITS PRODUCTION COMPANIES IN SICILY?

In the last few years the agriculture sector has shown a significant slowdown due to economic crisis. On the one hand, the reduction in the purchasing power of households has determined a decrease in the demand for food and agricultural products, on the other hand, there has been a reduction in the income of the farmers. This has inevitably led to implement business strategies to counter the exponential reduction in profitability required to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. The literature on corporate strategies is particularly large, however, the majority of authors identify competition and cooperation as "the driving forces" for economic and social progress (Hurta and H…

Focus vendemmia verde 2010, analisi produttiva ed economica della passata campagna di raccolta