Agrifood Firms’ Responsible Initiatives in the Italian Regions

Firms are increasingly evolving corporate strategies into sustainable business practice, as well as environmental and social responsibility, to maximize values for their stakeholders, as a result of consumers’ new orientation. Agrifood firms are intensifying their efforts to develop corporate initiatives that are able to achieve economic, environmental and social goals. This is a consequence, among other factors, of the recent involvement of grocery large retailers in managing closer relationships with food suppliers whose strategies are oriented towards sustainable local development. The paper aims to offer an analysis based on an empirical research on sustainable strategies of agrifood Italian firms. The research was conducted through a desk analysis on the Italian Chamber of Commerce national database, in combination with a web metrics analysis. Then, a survey on geographic localization of sustainable strategies among agrifood Italian firms has been made in order to highlight the emerging strategic perspectives adopted by agrifood firms as regards sustainability. The survey revealed the high level of interest by Italian agrifood firms in promoting sustainable projects, with the objective of following a sustainable approach for all their operations, according with consumers’ pressure and large retailers’ new strategies.