Impatti dell’adozione di Sistemi Gestione e Assicurazione Qualità: il caso del BRC Global Standard for Food Safety nelle imprese agroalimentari italiane

The adoption of private food standards (e.g. British Retail Consortium - BRC Global Standard for Food Safety , GLOBALGAP, IFS) recommended by European retailers is gaining importance and getting coverage all over the world. These standards are used to qualify food suppliers, such as food processors or primary producers and may improve the business to business relationships between food processors and retailers (Fulponi 2006; Karipidis et. Al., 2008). The literature review describes some qualitative and quantitative studies which suggest some research hypotheses (Arfini and Mancini, 2004; Gawron and Theuvsen, 2009). Nevertheless, literature is lacking in more valuable surveys which analyse the effect of private food standards on food operators. The aim of this research is to evaluate the implications of adopting private food standards in the food supply chain; in particular it focuses on the impact on Italian food processors of BRC Global Standards. The specific objectives are: to detect the factors (e.g. economics, management, cultural issues) involved in the analysis concerning the impact of the standard and to evaluate the impact of each factor, on the basis of Quality Managers’ perception; Firstly, we carried out a qualitative research based on seven in-depth interviews, adressed to Quality Managers (QMs) from Italian BRC certified food processing companies. The purpose was to extract the key variables to be used in the second stage of the research. Secondly, based on variables which emerged from the literature review and qualitative research, a survey questionnaire was created. The questionnaire has been sent out to 386 food processors (selected through probabilistic and random sampling methods) and a sample of 192 replied. Data was elaborated with descriptive statistical techniques (univariate and bivariate analysis). The descriptive analysis of the survey shows that QMs agree with the majority of the assumptions regarding the impact elements of the BRC food standard. The most important assumptions agreed on are: HACCP efficiency, traceability efficiency, control procedures, employee training, more effective management of process and product not compliances, and better implementation and understanding of other certified Quality Management Systems (QMSs). Some features of the interviewed companies, such as geographic location, size, type of processing and situation regarding ISO 9001 certification, seem to affect different perceptions between food companies. In conclusion, the BRC Food standard, initially adopted for purely trade purposes, has effectively brought some benefits. This information could help those involved in the certification process to design appropriate marketing strategies. Further analysis of this data may regard the segmentation of the Italian market according to their attitudes towards food safety certification.