Strategie per acquisire e consolidare vantaggi competitivi sul mercato nazionale e internazionale del pesco

During the last decade the Italian peach sector suffered important crisis mainly linked to overabundant yields making the market heavy and depressing the quotes, the increasing competition from UE and extra-UE new producers characterised by cheaper or diversified productions. This paper has the objective to reflect on this situation from a strategic point of view trying to identify some possible solutions in order to stimulate the competitive capability of the Italian peaches and nectarines. The methodology considered the Five Forces model of M. Porter (Porter, 1985). Porter said that the performance of a firm (or a sector in an enlarged view) it is influenced by the pressure of five forces: the entry of new competitors, the intensity of competitive rivalry, substitute products or services, suppliers’ customers’ (buyers) bargaining power. After the study of the sector characteristics and forces, a firm must choose a competitive strategy among three possibilities: the achievement of the market through an action based on the price leadership; the product differentiation for earning above average returns in a specific business because the resulting brand loyalty lowers customers' sensitivity to price; the application of one of these strategies at a small area (at a geographical level as at a market level) through a segmentation strategy. This analysis offers large information for a reflection on the potential market performance of the sector and the Authors believe that an efficient strategy should be focused on the differentiation. At the end of the paper there have been predisposed some proposals for the Italian peach sector concerning the supply organization, trade agreements and the development of marketing actions.