Managerial suggestions to sustainable market choices: A business profitability assessment on the adoption of voluntary certification in the wine industry of the Italian “Mezzogiorno” regions

Quality and environmental management systems have become prominent business strategic tools to address social and environmental problems. Several voluntary certification schemes have been developed in various economic sectors, as well as in the food one. Nevertheless, it remains unclear if a positive business profitability exists as a consequence of their adoption. Aims of this work was to compare two specific groups of firms operating in the wine industry, certified and non certified ones, in order to verify the existence of a positive impact directly belonging to the adoption of environmental and food safety proactive approaches. To this scope, a sample of 173 cellars located in the Southern Regions of Italy has been considered. Our findings demonstrate how the adoption of voluntary certifications positively influence some of the profitability ratios of firms. Moreover, a linkage of such profitability with firm size, leading to an interpretation mainly focused on specific trade channels managerial choices. This work suggests interesting inputs for academics as well as for wine managers, highlighting an environmental pro-active input typical of internationalization and trade channels strategies and policies in enabling not only the market diffusion of such kind of green tools but also the achievement of targeted positive profitability ratios. © 2016, SRAC - Societatea Romana Pentru Asigurarea Calitatii. All rights reserved.