Sustainability and Profitability in the Food Industry

Dear Colleagues,

The current socio-economic context, characterized by the disappearance of trade barriers between countries and increasingly large and homogeneous economic systems, improves business innovation and competitiveness. However, it has also resulted in the exponential growth of problems related to the bio-natural environment, such as global warming, air and water pollution, and land degradation. In this context, global concerns about the scarcity or depletion of natural resources, climate change, energy security and the loss of biodiversity are increasingly important in the business world.

With regard to food safety, vital for humans, the management of the value chain in the industry has been a subject of interest in recent decades, having developed a whole theory and practice on its analysis. Every day a greater effort is required from the economic agents participating in the sector to adapt their strategies and actions to the socio-economic environment in which they operate and adopt the new information and communication technologies. In today's developed countries, there is also a new challenge, health security. It is logical to think that all food products must go on the market with the proper sanitary hygiene guarantees and therefore this must be the common denominator. To this must be added the increase in environmental awareness and the growing demand for environmental products and services, which has increased the interest in environmental sustainability (popularly known as "green") among corporate managers and entrepreneurs and has taken a special importance in the food sector. However, the relationship between these aspects and the competitive results of companies has not been sufficiently investigated. Is it possible to create sustainable, responsible and circular models in the food industry while maintaining competitiveness? Does it contribute to aspects generating added value to the industry? These and other questions are the ones that are intended to be resolved in this Special Issue. We will accept papers with both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and analytical methodologies.

Prof. Dr. Sonia Benito-Hernández
Guest Editor

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• CSR
• Sustainability
• Food industry
• Supply chain
• Retail
• Circular economy
• Competitiveness
• Financial results
• Green economy
• Traceability