The Corporate Social Responsibility in Agrifood System: An Integrated Methodological Approach to Assessing Corporate Integration and Communication

In recent decades, companies have developed innovative sustainable business management models capable of integrating green, resilient and inclusive approaches. Recently, partly as a result of EU and international regulatory guidelines, Corporate Social Sustainability (CSR) is becoming more diffuse in business models through which companies have attempted to integrate the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social and environmental). The CSR approach has directed companies to revise their “mission” and business functions, shifting the focus from operating income to environmental and social impact. Several studies have analyzed the relationship between CSR and firm performance, between CSR and value chain, but few studies in the literature investigate the mode to communicate CSR to stakeholders, particularly through websites and in livestock enterprises. The objective of the paper is to present the methodological approach of the research, which is currently in progress, focusing on the analysis of the processes of CSR integration into business management and the related online communication of implemented sustainable actions. The integrated methodological approach is based on the analysis of the websites of Italian agribusinesses, in particular in livestock companies, using the “7S” model of analysis, supplemented by specific Focus Groups, to acquire qualitative information about the motivations toward sustainable actions, directly from a sample of companies. In the paper, the methodological approach will be proposed, as the research is in progress and includes among the objectives, the identification of key drivers and the implementation of strategies for a CSR in line with the SDGs related to the corporate ecosystem. The paper will propose the methodological approach and initial results obtained by the analysis of the websites of a sample of livestock enterprises. The research, still in progress, will identify key drivers for the development of strategies for CSR in line with the SDGs related to the business ecosystem and could have operative developments for the application of recent European Union legislation (CSRD 2022).