Analyzing Open Sustainable Innovation in the Agri-Food Value Chain: The Cases of Tetra Pak, Barilla and Conad Centro Nord.

The growing urgency of the sustainability transition has made Sustainable Innovations a priority for companies. Yet, developing such innovations, because of their inherent multidimensional complexity, often demands resources and capabilities exceeding the scope of a single organization. In this regard, the Open Innovation (OI) approach can play a crucial role. This is particularly relevant for the agri-food sector, which today faces an urgent need for transformation as many of the current ways we grow, manufacture and consume food are causing a dual crisis of human and environmental health, a situation that is expected to intensify in the coming decades (World Economic Forum, 2024). Despite increasing interest, prior research still lacks a broad value chain perspective on OI in agri-food and provides limited insights into sustainability-oriented OI practices in this context. To address this gap, following an outline of the theoretical background on Open Innovation, Sustainable Innovation and Open Sustainable Innovation (OSI) in the agri-food sector, this study adopts a qualitative approach, and particularly a multiple-case study design, to analyse how companies at different stages of the agri-food value chain leverage Open Innovation for Sustainable innovation. Employing secondary data and primary data collected through semi- structured interviews, three companies located in Emilia-Romagna, a leading region in the field of agri-food strongly oriented towards innovation and sustainability, are analysed: Tetra Pak (for the supply stage), Barilla (for the manufacturing stage), and Conad Centro Nord (for the distribution stage). The research is guided by one main research question: how do companies at different stages of the agri-food value chain leverage Open Innovation for Sustainable Innovation purposes? This is addressed through five sub-questions, including: (1) Why do companies at different stages of the agri-food value chain pursue Sustainable Innovations and use Open Innovation to develop Sustainable Innovations? (2) Which Sustainable Innovations are created by the companies at the different stages of the agri-food value chain? (3) How are Open Sustainable Innovation activities realized at the different stages of the agri-food value chain? (4) Who and where are the key actors involved in Open Sustainable Innovation at the different stages of the agri-food value chain? (5) Which difficulties are encountered at the different stages of the agri-food value chain in such activities? The findings are discussed with a cross-case analysis to highlight patterns and differences across stages. While the limited number of cases prevents broad statistical generalization, this study contributes to the literature on Open Sustainable Innovation by offering a broad value chain perspective. It provides managerial insights on operationalizing OI for Sustainable Innovation purposes, and policy implications for promoting Open Sustainable Innovation, particularly in Emilia-Romagna, laying the foundation for future research.