Digitalization as driver to achieve circularity in the agroindustry: A SWOT-ANP-ADAM approach.

In the last decades, the agroindustry is facing environmental issues due particularly to food loss and waste, requiring a strong orientation towards sustainability and the circular economy (CE) paradigm. This study carries out an investigation of the role of digitalization in serving as a driver to achieve circularity in the agroindustry. A SWOT analysis was performed to assess the strengths and weaknesses (internal factors) and opportunities and threats (external factors) of digitalization in boosting circularity within agroindustry systems and identifying critical factors (CFs). Through the Analytical Network Process (ANP), an evaluation of these CFs was provided, while the Axial-Distance-Based Aggregated Measurement (ADAM) method allowed for the ranking of the strategic alternatives to better inform management decisions. This study provides valuable results that reveal the crucial role of digitalization in boosting circularity within agroindustry, highlighting the most impactful strategies driving the transition towards a circular economy. Linking the high sustainability performance of products to incentives and increasing consumer inclusion and awareness in business dynamics were found to be the most relevant strategies for making agro-industrial supply chains more circular. This study provides recommendations to lead managers' and practitioners' decisions towards the adoption of strategies, aimed at making the agro-industrial sector more adherent to the principles of circular economy and sustainability.

How Authenticity and Tradition Shift into Sustainability and Innovation: Evidence from Italian Agritourism.

This study investigates the topic of innovation strategies based on tradition in the wake of sustainability, in the agritourism sector, as derived from the phenomenon of multifunctionality in agriculture. The results reveal that the tangible and intangible resources that originate from tradition are drivers for innovation. The research highlights how tradition, as grounded on diverse foundations, is able to generate novel products and services stemming from an innovative arrangement of past events, particularly the identity of a place, which brings out its authenticity and makes it even more attractive. In this paper, we delve into the multifaceted outcomes that tangible and intangible traditions have on the innovation and distinctive standing of this rising accommodation offer with regard to post-productivism agriculture, and how this is accomplished while also looking for sustainability. The sourced dataset is based on a qualitative investigation of 10 cases in the Salento area of Puglia, a region of southern Italy. Tradition-grounded strategies proved to have several viable routes leading to innovation and bear positive impacts on the territory and the creation of value, yielding significant results both for scholars and practitioners.