Agro Business in a Changing Competitive Environment Campania firms strategic, marketing and financial choices

Over the last few years, the agro food industry has been undergoinga process of accelerated change. This exploratory research analyses thestrategic choices of Campania (Italy) agro food firms and focuses oncompetitive issues; issues that are largely affected by the mono-product natureof the SMEs, which characterise the economy of Campania. In this context, thepaper investigates the critical factors of success and/or failure of the Campaniaagro food industry, the strategies adopted by firms, their resulting performance,their capital structure and the actions necessary to increase competitiveness.The methodology is based on secondary data research, literature review, and asurvey of 97 firms and 12 experts’ interviews. The research demonstrates somestrategic problems of Campania firms, relating to competition, decision makingand financial performance. Some firms were found to implement winningstrategies, with their most important characteristic being their marketingorientation.