Barilla

Abstract: This article investigates a social media-enabled customer co-creation project at the front-end of innovation (FEI) in a well-known, large-scale food manufacturer. It sheds light on the role of social media technology in transforming the characteristics of FEI in terms of boundaries and knowledge distance. What type of exploratory or exploitative innovation ideas does a project of this sort enable? How did the project evolve? What lessons can be learned from this project? A longitudinal case study of Barilla was carried out through two rounds of interviews with Marketing, Business Dev. & Innovation, and Digital Communication managers. The evidence gathered highlights the emergent evolution of this customer co-creation project from an initial stage of idea exploitation to a more complex and fruitful stage in which both exploitation and exploration were simultaneously accomplished.

Abstract: In this paper, we link three theoretical perspectives – organizational knowledge, ecological knowledge and social–ecological systems – to derive new conceptions of multi-disciplinary, multi-tier, sustainability-oriented knowledge. Our study examines how collaboration between pasta-producer Barilla, the farmers/smallholders supplying the firm and scientists generated sustainability practices in the agri-food industry by creating transformative ecological, technical and scientific knowledge. In 2010, Barilla initiated a sustainable farming project to significantly reduce the environmental impact of cultivating durum wheat, its most important raw material. Core components included replacing monoculture with crop rotation, collectively creating innovative approaches that support farmers’ decision making and generating widely accessible guidelines for sustainability-oriented cropping knowledge and practices. These collaborative efforts initiated profound transformations within and beyond the organization's boundaries via increased production yields, reduced environmental impacts and improved sustainability of farming practices, which generated economic, social and ecological benefits for farmers, surrounding communities and the firm. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Abstract: The objective of the paper is to understand the process of designing a multi-stakeholder partnership in the adoption of sustainable innovations in value chains. More specifically, the focus is on the design of feasible types of horizontal agreements and contractual formulas to be implemented in the agri-food supply chain in order to introduce sustainable agricultural practices. To this purpose, the Barilla Sustainable Farming initiative, which is currently in the first phase of designing an MSP, is used as a case study.