Relationship between ethics and Fair Trade supply chain organisation and performance: the case of Italian Alternative Trade Organisations (ATOs)

Fair Trade related import from developing countries is quickly growing although it still represents a small share of the total import. Its influence on the development of rural areas in developing countries is related to both quantitative growth and the respect of its ethical code. Large food multi-national companies are increasingly interested in Fair Trade; part of the Fair Trade movement considers the risk of a related loss in the products identity; others consider the refusal of a more "professional" approach to Fair Trade management as a constraint to its growth. This debate is particularly felt in Italy. The goal of this paper is to evaluate how the most important Italian Fair Trade importers (ATOs) business models influenced their growth strategies; transaction costs analyisis and logistics performance indicators were adopted to measure the supply chain coordination efficiency and performance. The results showed that the ATOs growth strategies, and logistics performances, seemed more influenced by their value propositions, than the lack of managerial skill.Fair Trade, Logistics, Alternative Trade Organisations, Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

Commercio elettronico per la dinamica delle catene agro-alimentari internazionali: un’analisi del potenziale [E-commerce for the dynamics of international agri-food chains: an adoption potential analysis]

Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce is an innovative use of information and communication technologies and refers to the exchange of goods and related information between companies supported by Internet-based tools such as electronic marketplaces (also called electronic trade platforms) or online shops. It provides opportunities for cost-efficiency in supply chain management processes and access to new markets. With regard to the food sector with its chain levels input – agriculture – industry – retail – consumer, B2B e-commerce would take place in the exchange of food products between all levels except retail to consumer (business-to-consumer e-commerce). It is evident and widely known that B2B e-commerce brings key advantages and potentials for European consumers and the European food sector: - The affordability of high quality, traceable food for European consumers is supported as the innovation potentials from e-commerce technologies for cost-efficient processes along the food chain. The healthy choice of quality food will become the easy and affordable choice for European consumers. - The competitiveness of the European food sector with the majority of SMEs increases as B2B e-commerce technologies support cost-efficient transaction processes in food supply chains. In recent years, the availability of sophisticated B2B e-commerce technology has improved tremendously. The “European e-Business Market Watch” initiative from the Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry from the European Commission has shown that only large multinationals exploit the potentials of B2B e-commerce in the food sector for their supply chain management with their business partners. SMEs however, which create the majority of turn over in the European food sector and therefore create jobs and welfare in Europe, are reluctant to take up existing B2B e-commerce technologies into their food supply of selling. The crucial barrier to adoption is that trust between companies is not mediated appropriately by existing e-commerce technology. Currently, the barrier for food sector SMEs towards B2B e-commerce come from - the difficulty to examine the quality and safety of food products. This refers to all kinds of transactions in the food sector, whether supported by e-commerce or not. However, when it comes to e-commerce, the difficulty of physical product examination plays a much larger role as physical product inspection is not possible; - the (perceived) risk of performing a transaction via e-commerce. This includes concerns regarding secure transfer of data, or the possibly unknown transaction partner. Elements for the generation of trust between companies in the food chain and therefore of trustworthy B2B e-commerce environments for the food sector include guaranties regarding food quality, multimedia food product presentations to signal their quality, secure e-commerce technology infrastructures, third-party quality signs to be provided. As trust is highly subjective and depends on culture, food chains in different European countries with a different cultural background require different combinations of trust generating elements regarding the quality and safety of food. Different food chain scenarios with their transaction processes and risks regarding food quality and food safety and related trust elements need to be analysed and differences in trust in different European food chains need to be considered. It is the objective of this paper to identify food chains with trans-European cross-border exchange of food and international food chains in order to analyse the transaction processes and typical risks regarding food quality and food safety. The analysis focuses on trans-European cross-border and international food chains with their chain levels (e.g. production to wholesale trade, wholesale trade to industry, or wholesale trade to retail). In particular, it regards the food categories meat, grains, fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits and the particular risks regarding food quality and safety along the chains.e-commerce, B2B transactions, agri-food trade

E-COMMERCE IN SICILY: SICILIAN OIL AND WINE

The expectations about the growth of e-commerce are often discrepant, because it’s not easy to qualify the importance of such a fast developing phenomenon. Beside estimations in which the number of the e- trading sites is constantly growing, we witnessed the failure of many successful companies that were trading by the web (dotcom crash). According to the recent report made by the Tagliacarne Institute about the level of information technologies of Italian small and medium sized enterprises, Sicily is first due to the percentage of companies owning Internet sites and used ecommerce. Our purpose was essentially to 'record' the 'state of e-commerce” concerning some agri-food products in a certain period of time, both between Sicilian enterprises and in a wider context in which Sicilian products can be sold. We operated directly through a simulation on the web, identifying ourselves with a potential user endowed with average capabilities. This study pointed out a cautious and gradual approach by those enterprises operating in the agri-food system respect the new economy.e-commerce, agro-food products, search-engines

Estimating regional GDP in Italy (1871-2001): sources, methodology and results.

This paper presents new estimates of Italian regional GDP for the years 1871, 1881 1891, 1901, 1911, 1938 and 1951. This allows us to draw a long term picture of regional development of the country, from the years following national unification to the advent of Euro in 2001.Industrialization; Regional inequality; Regional income; Economic growth;

Commercio e Produzione Internazionale: unanalisi sul caso italiano

Il presente lavoro vuole essere un momento di sintesi dei fattori che stanno caratterizzando il processo di internazionalizzazione delleconomia italiana, alla luce delle recenti vicende economiche che hanno sollecitato una rivisitazione delle pi moderne teorie del commercio internazionale. Nello specifico, attraverso unanalisi puramente descrittiva, si e' provveduto a misurare il livello di commercio intra-industriale dellItalia nei confronti dei paesi OCSE relativamente al periodo 1996-2001. Inoltre, in un quadro unitario, e' stata analizzata la rilevanza della produzione internazionale nella spiegazione dei flussi di commercio intra-industriale. I risultati ottenuti mostrano come, nellinterpretazione dei flussi bilaterali di commercio intraindustriale nellattuale scenario delleconomia mondiale, non si possa ignorare il ruolo assunto dalla produzione internazionale effettuata dalle imprese multinazionali.intra-industriale, produzione internazionale, commercio di beni intermedi.

Pre-packaged food products business to consumer (B2C) distance selling and information obligations in Italian mass market retailers

The supply and sale of food online are on the rise. The value of e-commerce in Europe has been estimated in 602 billion euros in 2017, 324 million people in the old continent purchase online. In the European area, the Netherlands and Italy are the countries where the e-commerce market grew faster in the last five years. Nevertheless, in Italy the spread of online shopping has reached the 89.9% of the population between 11 and 74 years old. The access to the Internet, as declared by 43 million Italians, it is carried out from fixed or mobile locations. In terms of revenues the food sector recorded a +24% among the different sectors facing one of the higher grows in terms of percentages. The regulatory framework that disciplines the food products distance selling can be traced back to two fundamental pillars: the European legislation on e-commerce on the one side and the food information to consumers on the other side. Under article 14 of the Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011, the European legislator states that the mandatory information, as indicated in article 9, shall be available to the consumer before the purchase is concluded and when the product is delivered. The study aims at verifying: the level of compliance by Italians MMR with the information regulation about food products distance selling in relation to (a) the fulfillment of the obligation concerning mandatory provisions and (b) the fulfillment of the obligations concerning availability and readability of the information provided. The research has been conducted analyzing the websites of the ten largest Italian MMR and in particular: if the mandatory information were provided, the availability of the information according to the Regulation (EU) 1169/2011; the number of clicks needed to identify the food product in the website and the number of clicks Non required to obtain all the information. The observation testified a substantial compliance with the information obligations according to the European regulation. Differently, when considering the availability and readability of the information, from the analysis emerged that consumers have to follow a path that is not immediate and intuitive. Conclusions are provided in relation to the presented research

The Impact of Social Capital on the Implicit Price Paid by the Italian Consumer for Fair Trade Coffee

Consumers in developed countries are increasingly interested in the consumption of food products incorporating ethical aspects, particularly fair trade products. These products are usually distributed in a network of World Shops and, more recently, in supermarkets and shopping centres. The fair trade product with the highest market share is coffee. This study aims to ascertain the implicit price paid by Italian consumers for the fair trade content of coffee and how this implicit price is influenced by the level of social capital of the territory where consumers live. The data utilised are scanner data, based on the purchase at supermarkets and shopping centres observed from 2005 to 2007, referred to a territorial unit that is the province. Since scanner data are used, the analysis can allow for the coffee attributes described by the labels: branded, organic, decaffeinated, fair trade, espresso, and so on. The approach followed is the application of an hedonic regression where the dependant variable is the coffee price while the regressors are coffee characteristics (fair trade content and coffee other attributes) and several indicators of provincial social capital, alternatively included.hedonic price, coffee, fair trade, scanner data, Italian consumers, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, C50, D12, L66, Z13,