Editorial of the Special Issue on “Competitiveness of Agro-Food Firms: Threats and Opportunities”

Over the last few years, the agro-food industry has been undergoing a process of deep change, consequent to incessantly changing food geography, both from the demand and the supply sides. Scholars analyse different aspects of agro-food firms: from the strategic choices of these companies to their strategic management processes and from financial performances to capital structures. Other studies examine the importance and role of local institutions in an international competitive context, and the impact of geographical attributes on the internationalisation process of agro-food SMEs. In this new context, protected designations of origin (PDOs) and protected geographical indications (PGIs) are important tools, but as underlined in different studies their effectiveness depends on several factors including the characteristics of the product, the production system, the individual firm’s characteristics and the destination market.