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Abstract
The aim of the paper is to analyse patterns of value system sharing along food chains, so to explore the
agro-food enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The research focused on three food chains: potato,
fruit, and Grana cheese of Emilia Romagna region. The paper adopts the value system approach. The methodology is
aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to re-create the chain operating profit
and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on 189 enterprises
for the potato chain, 187 for the fruit chain and 203 for the cheese chain. The number of enterprises was invariable
over the 5 year 2003-2007, leading to some 2,900 financial statement analysis. The chains analysed show
differences. In the potato and fruit chains 35% of value is created by distribution, whereas in cheese chain only
13.6%. Over the five years value decreases 5% in fruit and potato and 9% in cheese. The lack of adequate strategic
food chain partnership allows an increasing retail market power over the whole chain at the expenses of the primary
sector entailing a declining sustainability for all chain actors.