Importazioni, esportazioni e strategie green: il caso di studio della chimica in Italia

The Italian manufacturing industry is facing a deindustrialization process due to imports from extra-UE countries, new retail organizations, production relocation to extra-EU countries, and competition from big EU companies. In addition, the EU Green New Deal approach asks for a new stringent environmental regulation, such as reduction of non-renewable resources (water, raw materials, energy, etc.), circular transition, traceability of production processes, and reduction of CO2 emissions. For these reasons, the Italian manufacturing sectors are even more involved in sustainability issues, due to an increased interest of European Commission to environmental safeguard, but also to a more conscious consumption by consumers. As quality of environmental sustainability of the production process, firms can adopt ISO14000 certifications that represents a strong commitment of organization to improve firm environmental performance. The present paper is an exploratory study focusing on chemical industry aiming at analysing the relationship among the propensity of certifying, the internationalization strategy, the performance of firms, and the institutional national and international quality.