Purpose – Food and beverage (F&B) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must diversify their markets and obtain predictable sources of revenues to withstand difficult and volatile periods such as the postpandemic geopolitical scenario, recently burdened by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. On the other hand, another strand of the literature suggests that public procurement could be considered a great source of income, enabling solid contracts, revenues and cash-flow stability. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the role of public procurement, the adoption of e-commerce platforms and their interactions in affecting the exporting performances of SMEs operating in the F&B sector. Design/methodology/approach – The study retrieves data from 2,186 Italian F&B manufacturing SMEs relying on Marg o by Cribis database. Therefore, it conducts a structured equational model (SEM) to test the developed hypotheses empirically. Findings – The findings reveal that digital selling platforms positively affect exports, whereas public procurement negatively affects F&B SMEs exports. Nonetheless, findings underline that the interaction between public procurement and the adoption of digital selling platforms dampens public procurement’s negative effects on exports. Originality/value – This study brings an original contribution to the F&B literature by conducting empirical research on an extensive sample of firms from one of the most influential countries in the F&B vertical, Italy, with officially registered data. More importantly, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study pioneers the investigation of the relationship between public procurement and e-commerce platforms in affecting F&B SMEs’ export performances.

Exports or public procurement to resist in the post-pandemic world? How e-commerce appeases this food and beverage SMEs ambidextrous dilemma

Jacopo Ballerini
Co-first
;
Daniele Giordino
Co-first
;
Francesca Culasso
2023-01-01

Abstract

Purpose – Food and beverage (F&B) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must diversify their markets and obtain predictable sources of revenues to withstand difficult and volatile periods such as the postpandemic geopolitical scenario, recently burdened by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. On the other hand, another strand of the literature suggests that public procurement could be considered a great source of income, enabling solid contracts, revenues and cash-flow stability. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the role of public procurement, the adoption of e-commerce platforms and their interactions in affecting the exporting performances of SMEs operating in the F&B sector. Design/methodology/approach – The study retrieves data from 2,186 Italian F&B manufacturing SMEs relying on Marg o by Cribis database. Therefore, it conducts a structured equational model (SEM) to test the developed hypotheses empirically. Findings – The findings reveal that digital selling platforms positively affect exports, whereas public procurement negatively affects F&B SMEs exports. Nonetheless, findings underline that the interaction between public procurement and the adoption of digital selling platforms dampens public procurement’s negative effects on exports. Originality/value – This study brings an original contribution to the F&B literature by conducting empirical research on an extensive sample of firms from one of the most influential countries in the F&B vertical, Italy, with officially registered data. More importantly, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study pioneers the investigation of the relationship between public procurement and e-commerce platforms in affecting F&B SMEs’ export performances.
2023
26
7
715
750
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EJIM-01-2023-0021/full/html
Public procurement, E-commerce, Resilience, E-commerce platforms, F&B, Export, Ambidexterity, Agility, Cross-border e-commerce, SMEs
Jacopo Ballerini; Daniele Giordino; Lubos Smrcka; Francesca Culasso
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1944931
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