(15 March 2016) After Expo2015, the Italian Government decided to increase exports in the food sector €50 billion by 2020. And thanks to an 8% increase in 2015, Italian food exports are worth €36.9 billion. The upcoming Cibus food fair (scheduled in Parma this May) is expected to welcome thousands of buyers from every continent. The fair will give a first sign of the 2016 export trends towards the US, Europe, Asia and in new markets such as Iran and Argentina. Behind the success of the sector, one of the best performing in Italy with sales amounting to €133 billion spread among 58 thousand companies there is the innovation of production processes, new product development, the promotion of tradition and attention to foreign markets. These are the key ingredients identified by the research team of Università Cattolica, who today presented the book “Strategies and food industry performance”, published by McGraw-Hill. The book analyzes, for the first time and in a systematic way, the economic and business performance of the sector, through the revision of 448 financial statements released by as many companies and a questionnaire given to the 120 most competitive firms analyzed. “Before we even began our research, we sensed that the food industry had responded well to the crisis, and our goal was to discover the causes of this success – explains Professor Lorenzo Ornaghi, President of the High School of Economics and International Relations of Università Cattolica – We knew we would have to look at the economic data, but we also decided to focus on the entrepreneurs, their personal journeys, their ability to exploit the founding experience of the companies they worked for, and, not least, the manner in which the companies addressed the issue of leadership renewal.” “Internationalization – described instead Fabio Antoldi, Director of the Research Center for Entrepreneurial Development (Cersi) of Università Cattolica, and author of the book along with Daniele Cerrato and Antonio Campati – unequivocally highlights the DNA of successful businesses, in a not-so-recent process that is still expanding, as new export routes emerge mainly towards the United States, Canada and Asian markets. This is often associated with a remarkable capacity for innovation, incremental rather than radical, especially in the packaging sector, in new formats and new product launches. On average, the best performing companies present three/four innovations per year, focusing on quality and tradition, because in the majority of cases we’re talking about family-run businesses where continuity is key.” (Red)
