Developing sustainability in the Italian meat supply chain: an empirical investigation

Ruggero Golini, Antonella Moretto, Federico Caniato, Maria Caridi and Matteo Kalchschmidt

International Journal of Production Research, 2017, vol. 55, issue 4, 1183-1209

Abstract: Although sustainable supply chain (SC) management has been widely investigated in recent years, the focus has mainly been on the practices adopted by a single company, so missing the big picture at SC level. This study of the Italian meat industry considers the SC as a whole, identifying the critical points for each stage in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability. To this end, a first set of case studies was conducted of companies at different stages of the SC before turning to focus on the meat processing stage, which was identified as critical and highly relevant. A second set of case studies analysed how these companies leverage SC management practices to develop sustainable SCs. In so doing, specific attention was paid to drivers and contingent variables that foster the adoption of sustainable practices. The results of the two steps were then merged to illuminate how practices adopted by the meat processors can impact on the whole chain, confirming their pivotal role in driving sustainability. These results provide a holistic view of the phenomenon, encompassing the entire chain from end to end and highlighting the interdependences across various stages of the meat SC.

Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00207543.2016.1234724 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tprsxx:v:55:y:2017:i:4:p:1183-1209

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/TPRS20

DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2016.1234724

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Production Research is currently edited by Professor A. Dolgui

More articles in International Journal of Production Research from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().