Sustainability assessment in the food supply chain: study of a certified product in Italy

The assessment of sustainability practices in the supply chain involves not only defining the measures or indicators, but also implementing, using and updating them according to driving elements that motivate companies to opt for sustainability. The aims in this study are to investigate if, how and why firms in different stages of the food supply chain assess their sustainability, and the alignment of the supply chain sustainability (SCS) assessment with the SCS practices and drivers. This paper studies the case of Grana Padano cheese, one of the major Italian PDO (protected designation of origin) products. The case comprises eight companies in the main three supply chain stages; plus, the Consortium that manages the PDO label. The Grana Padano supply chain opts mainly for a loose-coupled approach in their SCS performance management. The study contributes to the SCS literature by providing a typology of assessment approaches, in terms of alignment among drivers, practices and measures, and provides insights for understanding the reasons why companies adopt a certain approach.