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Performance analysis and clustering of Italian SA8000-certified food and beverages companies

Tiziana De Cristofaro (Department of Economic Studies, University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy)
Lolita Liberatore (Department of Economic Studies, University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy)
Nicola Casolani (Department of Economic Studies, University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy)
Eugenia Nissi (Department of Economic Studies, University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy)

British Food Journal

ISSN: 0007-070X

Article publication date: 9 August 2022

Issue publication date: 21 March 2023

212

Abstract

Purpose

This work aims at discovering the multifaceted business performance of SA8000-certified companies operating in the Italian food and beverages manufacturing industry.

Design/methodology/approach

A clustering based on a principal component analysis considering 20 profitability, productivity and value-added distribution ratios was carried out on a sample of 105 Italian SA8000-certified food and beverages manufacturing companies.

Findings

Two clusters (CL1 and CL2) emerged from the statistical analysis, where CL1 represents 85.71% of the sample. Despite their general and some labour-related features being similar, they show very different performances. While CL2 performs better both within the food and beverage manufacturing industry than CL1, the latter performs similarly to industry, although even lower. Labour productivity pushes the gap between the clusters mostly through sales (generating revenues) and production (in the aspect of generating personnel costs). These findings suggest that a nonunique performance profile of firms SA8000 certified exists and that low performances do not prevent certification.

Originality/value

By focusing on SA8000 standard in the food and beverage sector, the study contributes to the research field by investigating the relationships between corporate social responsibility and firm performance in an important industrial sector for the Italian economy.

Keywords

Citation

De Cristofaro, T., Liberatore, L., Casolani, N. and Nissi, E. (2023), "Performance analysis and clustering of Italian SA8000-certified food and beverages companies", British Food Journal, Vol. 125 No. 4, pp. 1404-1419. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-12-2021-1288

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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