Business Legitimacy, Agricultural Biodiversity and Environmental Ethics: Insights from Sustainable Bakeries

Handbook of Business Legitimacy, Forthcoming

17 Pages Posted: 15 Dec 2020

See all articles by Riccardo Torelli

Riccardo Torelli

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Department of Economic and Social Sciences

Federica Balluchi

Parma University, Department of Economics and Management

Date Written: May 15, 2020

Abstract

The relationship between biodiversity and ethics is complex and concern the broader environmental ethics. In the agricultural industry, these issues are fundamental and, in the context of agro-biodiversity, bread production activity plays a primary role. Artisanal bread and its derivatives represent basic food products and a short supply chain, with only one intermediate step between the producer of the raw material (flour) and the consumer, represented by bakery. Furthermore, bakery industry is characterized by different needs, motivations, evaluations and ethical/moral values, as well as philosophical considerations towards nature, of producers and consumers. Through a multiple case study on four specific companies of the interesting and relevant natural and sustainable bakery industry, our aim is to understand what are the motivations and ethical-moral drives behind specific ideological and operational choices that have an impact on nature and its biodiversity. It is also intended to investigate how the different ethical-philosophical approaches to nature lead to economic and management choices that are also very distant from each other and have different impacts on the protection and promotion of agricultural biodiversity. This study has allowed to place the positions and choices of some entrepreneurs and artisans in the different ethical approaches to nature and therefore to biodiversity. It was also possible to highlight how the different behaviours of consumers and producers arise from the ethical conceptions through which they look at reality and the consequences of their choices on production and sales activities.

Keywords: Biodiversity; Agro-Biodiversity; Ethics; Environment; Bakery; Crops; Sustainability

JEL Classification: M14

Suggested Citation

Torelli, Riccardo and Balluchi, Federica, Business Legitimacy, Agricultural Biodiversity and Environmental Ethics: Insights from Sustainable Bakeries (May 15, 2020). Handbook of Business Legitimacy, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3720684

Riccardo Torelli (Contact Author)

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Department of Economic and Social Sciences ( email )

Via Emilia Parmense 84
Piacenza, Piacenza 29122
Italy

Federica Balluchi

Parma University, Department of Economics and Management ( email )

Via J.F. Kennedy, 6
Parma, 43125
Italy

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