In the EU market small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the greater part of the food industry, specially with regard to traditional food products (TFPs). However, the growth of competition, connected mainly to globalisation, is making it very difficult for SMEs to survive. On the...

Within the framework of European food safety measures, Reg. 1760/2000 and 1825/2000 have introduced mandatory traceability and relevant labelling into the beef sector. The paper analyses whether information on meat labels can be considered a useful instrument for consumers, facilitating the...

The purpose of this paper is to assess the marketing management capabilities of SMEs producing traditional food products in EU throughout the development of a benchmarking tool. SMEs represent the greater part of European food firms and they find it very difficult to adapt to market changes, and...

This paper analyses voluntary traceability effects on the coordination of the food supply chain from the transaction cost perspective. The analysis concerns Italian firms and makes particular reference to the meat sector. A survey was conducted by questionnaire to assess the changes in key...

SMEs, that represent the greater part of European food firms producing traditional food products (TFPs), meet difficulties in adapting their strategies to market changes, and in competing with big enterprises. Marketing management capabilities play a key role in good SMEs performance in the...

Diet-related chronic diseases, such as overweight and obesity, are worrisome not only from a medical point of view, but also in terms of monetary expenditures, these health problems are strictly linked to sizeable sanitary costs (Chou et al., 2004; Yaniv et al., 2009; Cawley and Meyerhoefer, 2012; Ruhm,...

In the context of progressive rise of the competition among firms, due to the increasing globalisation, it is interesting to understand the potential sources of competitive advantage in order to set up a successful strategy. The theory of Resource-based View used in this framework examines the...

The characteristics of the EU and Italian food market, dominated by evolving regulations, rise of new emerging countries, globalisation, advances in ICT and technology sector, increase of retailers’ bargaining power, and changes in consumer patterns, affect especially SMEs, which are forced to...

Labelling can support consumers in making choices connected to their preferences in terms of qualitative features. Nevertheless, the space available on packaging is limited and some indications are not used by consumers. This paper aims at analysing which kinds of currently labelled information...

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fighting for survival due to globalization, growing competition with big retailers, and strategies adopted by large industrial companies. Difficulties in pricing are also revealed in the literature. Therefore, appropriate activity is needed to be...