COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES OF ITALIAN COMPANIES OPERATING IN THE RICE SECTOR

Competitive strategies are aimed to create an advantage for companies over its competitors, noting that "the basic problem for each firm is able to grasp the success factors alternative operating, aggregating its own effectively combination of competitive variables" (Canziani, 1984). This paper aims to analyze the competitive strategies adopted by Italian companies operating in the rice sector; starting from the identification of strategic groups operating in that sector, the analysis focuses on the distinctive features of the strategies adopted by each strategic group. Finally, the competitive strategies adopted by three Italian companies operating in the rice sector are compared, in order to assess competitive advantages, strengths and weaknesses and, therefore, the possible future prospects. The analysis is conducted either through a short but continuous examination of Italian literature, and through administration of questionnaires to the managers of Italian rice-growing companies analyzed in order to understand their competitive strategies. In conclusion of the above analysis, it was possible to assess what are the perspectives for the rice sector in question, noting a lag in the evolution from a fragmented competitive structure in a system more focused, a factor that in turn has greatly influenced trends in the competitive strategies in place. It was therefore sought to show, as much as possible, the causal factors and reasons attributable to the delay, concluded that some of them related to the characteristic features of the sector, while others have, within them, elements that affect evolutionary on market structure, but whose effects will only be verified in future years.