Antonino Castrogiovanni

Progetto di ricerca
Building a resilient agri-food sector: entrepreneurial and managerial strategies for facing disruptions

The agri-food sector is a critical arena for the promotion of food security and economic competitiveness, but it continues to face threats that come in the form of weather-related events, disease, markets, logistics, and government policies In this context, organizational resilience – understood as the capability to absorb shocks, restore operations quickly, and transform for the better – becomes a key requirement for enterprises operating in the sector.

Starting from these premises, the objective of this dissertation is to develop a dynamic capability (DCs) based explanation of enterprise resilience in the agri-food sector under recurrent environmental disruptions. The work adopts a multi paper structure composed of three related but stand-alone chapters. The first chapter offers a systematic literature review of DCs as antecedents of organisational resilience. The second chapter presents a qualitative study of agri-food enterprises, exploring how specific capabilities are developed and used by entrepreneurs before, during and after disruptive events. The third chapter adopts a configurational perspective, applying Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to identify combinations of DCs that are sufficient for reaching resilience. Overall, the dissertation moves from the synthesis of existing evidence to detailed qualitative analysis and finally to a configurational explanation, progressing from general patterns to more specific patterns.

The three chapters collectively represent a cohesive contribution to the existing bodies of literature on organisational resilience and DCs. The systematic review contributes towards understanding the field, articulating a model of capabilities for resilient outcomes. The qualitative contribution provides an example of a demonstration of enterprises’ use of DCs in a situation of real-world disruption. The fsQCA contribution provides evidence of equifinality and the complexity of causality regarding DCs and resilient outcomes.

The dissertation also produces integrated implications for agri-food entrepreneurs, managers, and policymakers. The findings emphasise that resilience cannot be built through isolated actions or single investments by enterprises. Resilient enterprises need to maintain coherent portfolios of capabilities.

The study also admits limitations about sample size and specific contextual factors, and suggests future studies for comparison evaluation, longitudinal analysis, and the use of quantitative method.

Pubblicazioni

•  Castrogiovanni, A., Martinelli, E., & Sarti, E. (2024). Country Image and Willingness to Buy: The Mediating Role of Green Product Image in Consumers Perceptions. In International Marketing. (Intervento presentato al convegno Brands and Purpose in a Changing Era tenutosi a Milano – Università IULM nel 17-19 ottobre 2024). ISBN: 978-88-947829-1-2-3. https://iris.unimore.it/handle/11380/1367170?mode=simple .

•  Martinelli, E., Castrogiovanni, A., & Sarti, E. (2024). DO CONSUMERS PERCEIVE A GREEN COUNTRY IMAGE OF A COUNTRY? ATTITUDINAL ANTECEDENTS AND IMPACT ON WILLINGNESS TO BUY. In Proceedings of 23rd International Marketing Trends Conference 2024 (pp. 1-9). Paris-Venice Marketing Trends Association. ISBN: 978-2-490372-18-8. https://iris.unimore.it/handle/11380/1336508?mode=complete

•  Castrogiovanni, A.,  Martinelli, E. (2024). Resilience of enterprises: A systematic literature review in a Dynamic Capabilities (DCs) perspective. Sinergie SIMA Conference 2024 – Management of sustainability and well-being for individuals and society – Conference Proceedings – To be released

•  Sarti, Elena; Martinelli, Elisa; Castrogiovanni, Antonino. – (2025), pp. 1-11.Leveraging a positive perceived image to boost social media usage in B2B companies /  (Intervento presentato al convegno International Marketing Trends Conference tenutosi a Venice nel 23/01/2025-25/01/2025). https://iris.unimore.it/handle/11380/138499