L’attitudine delle imprese al cambiamento durante le crisi sistemiche. Spunti dal settore agroalimentare

The recent pandemic has changed the reference context of companies and imposed sig- nificant changes on them to react to the crisis and contain its effects. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the organizational, managerial, and relational changes small and medium-sized enterprises face during the COVID-19 pandemic and also the support offered by relational capital. The authors aim to identify possible strategies for resilience that can be applied at a macro-economic level. To achieve the research objectives, a qualitative method based on the analysis of two Italian agri-food companies is used. This approach is according to the interpretative model of CAOS (characteristics, envi- ronment, organization, survival/resilience) (Paoloni, 2011; 2021). CAOS is part of stra- tegic management studies dedicated to relational capital. The findings show that the pandemic has changed the behaviour and habits of individu- als and businesses, that it has dematerialized the concept of the company, and that it has brought about new roles and responsibilities.