Coordination and integration among farms within agri-food chains are crucial to tackle the issue of fragmentation within the primary sector, both at the European and national level. The Italian agri-food system still complains about the need to aggregate supply to support market dynamics, especially for niche and quality products that characterize the Made in Italy. It is well known that the Italian agri-food sector is closely linked to the relationship between agriculture on one hand and culture/tradition on the other, which is reflected in the high number of quality products that have obtained EU PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) recognition. The development of vertical forms of coordination has found significant support in recent years from the integrated supply chain design approach, which is increasingly becoming an essential tool for implementing rural development policies. In this context, the study provides a comparison between companies that have joined the Integrated Supply Chain Projects of the Rural Development Program and those that have not applied. The aim is to highlight any differences in order to understand policy impact. The analysis is based on the Emilia-Romagna region Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data, and the sample consists of more than 2 thousand farms. The statistical analysis conducted compares treated and non-treated using the Welch-t-test for independent unmatched samples. The main results show higher values for treated farms when structural variables are analyzed, like the utilized agricultural area or the agricultural work unit. In general, higher balance sheet performances emerged for treated farms. In conclusion, this study shows that the Integrated Supply Chain Projects represent a worthwhile tool both to increase cooperation, food quality, and to enhance a competitive agricultural sector.

The research objective is to affirm the play of gender diversity and the role of leaders in promoting the concept among businesses for growth and long-term sustainability. The detailed literature search indicated that the culture of gender diversity can only be implemented if the leader practices three key leadership elements, which are effective communication (EC), emotional intelligence (EI), and better decision-making (DM). The paper strives to project the importance of gender diversity in managing market competition, the role of a leader in managing gender diversity, and how gender diversity impacts business growth and sustainability. The paper provides a different model for organizational leaders to instill and promote diversity. The study undertook a literature research approach to gain an in-depth understanding of the leadership role based on the current pool of literature to identify the factors that could promote diversity. The literature review concurred with the importance of implementing gender diversity in the business and assessing the long-term growth and the critical role of leadership as an enabler. The research concluded that leaders are required to play an active role in promoting gender equality to ensure it would directly impact business growth. The study provides a potential conceptual framework for future research to take over subsequently using a quantitative or qualitative method.

Smart cities incorporate fundamental aspects such as sustainability and citizens’ well-being. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the feasibility and effectiveness of the implementation of an evaluation model of the transformation processes towards smart cities as a strategy to improve the state of the transformation processes in Lima, Peru. The research is descriptive and basic. A questionnaire was administered to 80 municipal officials in Lima, focusing on the variable “smart cities evaluation model”, covering three key dimensions: open data, smart public transport and energy efficiency, with a total of 15 questions and the variable “state of the transformation processes”, analysed through the dimensions of educational level of the population and municipal budget, with 10 questions. The results revealed that 48% expressed a gap in terms of the availability and quality of accessible information. 53% argued that stronger energy conservation and sustainability strategies need to be implemented. In addition, 53% felt that the education level needs to focus on improving local education systems. In conclusion, transformation processes drive economic, social and environmental development, improving the quality of life and promoting equality among citizens. This study contributes to a broader understanding of how to address these challenges in order to build more sustainable and liveable cities in the future.

QR code transforms the way retailers offer their shopping experiences in the current context. In response, various retailers adopted innovative approaches such as QR code-based applications to attract their consumers. A QR code-based virtual supermarket refers to a space where goods or services are traded in a virtual space using a smart app-based QR code. To fully understand the opportunities of this type of supermarket applying QR-code technology, initial research is required to assess consumers’ use intention. This study has examined the antecedents of the adoption of QR code-based virtual supermarket among Vietnam consumers using the expanded Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and explored the moderating effect of perceived risk on the relationship between attitude and consumers’ intention to use QR code-based virtual supermarket. A questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 335 consumers in Vietnam. The findings revealed that the antecedents are effective in predicting consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward QR code-based virtual supermarket adoption. The results showed the negative moderation effects of perceived risk for the effect of attitude on consumers intention. In addition, practical implications are supported for the application of new shopping technology and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of virtual supermarket shopping.

Development of technologies and innovations encouraged companies to look for and implement innovative solutions in their practice seeking not only to increase the efficiency of activity but also towards sustainability. In this context, the aim of the research is to reveal innovative solutions for the improvement of the warehousing processes towards sustainability in the case of manufacturing companies. The methodological setup consists of two steps. First, a comprehensive literature analysis was conducted seeking to reveal and present a theoretical model based on the conceptual framework on this topic. Then, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 8 managers holding managerial positions in four Lithuanian manufacturing companies. The manufacturing companies were chosen for the research due to their durable experience in the market, which use advanced warehouse management methods in their operations. Main findings showed, that innovative solutions such as Big Data Datasets, smart networks, Drones, Robots, Internet of Things and etc., are important for the efficient warehousing processes. Furthermore, it is also necessary to emphasize the benefits of implementing of innovative solutions in warehousing processes not only in economic terms, but also for solving of social and environmental issues towards sustainability. The novelty of this study lies in its dual objective of filling a theoretical gap and of drawing the attention of companies and policy makers to the importance of innovative solutions implementation in the warehousing process towards sustainability.

Modern agricultural production technologies based on the widespread use of pesticides and mineral fertilizers have largely solved the problem of providing the population with food, and at the same time have generated multiple ecological, medical and environmental problems, problems of environmentally friendly and biologically valuable food products, land rehabilitation, restoration of their fertility, etc. Therefore, the emergence of new classes of pesticides with different mechanisms of action, high selectivity and low toxicity for warm-blooded animals is very modern. Currently, the development and application of new plant protection products that are not toxic to humans and animals is of global importance. Priority is given to research aimed at creating plant protection products based on microorganisms and their metabolites, as well as the search for plant substances with potential pesticide activity. In this regard, the question arose of finding new safe fertilizers that can also be economically profitable for production on an industrial scale. One of the current trends in this industry is the use of green microalgae. In this regard, the purpose of our research is the possibility of cultivating green microalgae on phosphorus production waste. During the work, traditional and modern research methods in biology were used. As a result of the work, several problems can be solved, such as the disposal of industrial waste and the production of safe biological fertilizer.