Financial Sustainability in Agri-Food Companies: The Case of Members of the PDO Parma Ham Consortium
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Overall, I think that the authors have made an appropriate effort to analyze the data of the member companies of the PDO Parma Ham Consortium in Italy, and that the manuscript deserves to be considered for a possible publication with some improvements.
Though the authors dig the data of the member companies of the PDO Parma Ham Consortium in Italy and summarize them, the answers to the following essential questions are, however, missing in the end or not well explained. I would suggest, among other, to discuss the followings in an appropriate and clear manner to highlight the possible implications of this manuscript.
(1) So, what are the most important factors for the financial sustainability of the companies in the Parma PDO Ham sector?
(2) The results are Italian company specific. Can it be generalized to derive some general insights, and in what extent? Why may this case study be interesting for the general readers?
(3) Is the mechanism for the financial sustainability in agri-food companies different from that of the companies in other sectors? What kind of general implications can we derive from this case study?
Author Response
First, we would like to thank the anonymous referee for his or her helpful suggestions, which we have tried to implement in the revised article. We hope this version is improved as per the suggestions, corrections based on which are in cyan text.
New text that considers the reviewer's notes in cyan
All corrections by the authors, considering the notes of the reviewers and the Editor, in green (see article text)
Deleted text in red strikethrough
Before submitting the article to the reviewers with the required revisions, a proofreading of the text in English language was carried out to improve textual quality and lexical adherence to the covered topics.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
I. A summary
· Complete manuscripts discuss studies according to objectives, but the proportion of each section needs to be balanced, especially the Introduction and Theoretical Background sections.
II. General concept comments
a. In the Abstract Section, you can add a method for calculating financial sustainability.
b. The introduction section focuses on revealing phenomena related to financial sustainability issues in agri-food companies. State of the art can be added to get novelty from this study.
c. In the Theoretical Background section, it is made per sub-section so that theoretical support is more apparent for each variable tested about financial sustainability. In each sub-section, you can show the relationship between Financial Sustainability and the balance sheet statement (BSS), financial ratios (FRs), interest coverage ratios (ICRs), duration of the cash conversion cycle (CCC), and net working capital (NWC).
d. The Research plan sub-section of Results is more precisely part of the methods. But the proportion of the way of the total portion of the manuscript is quite large; part of the explanation can be drawn to the Theoretical Background.
e. In the discussion section, the results of financial sustainability calculations are better if there is a comparison with what has been done before so that differences and novelties are obtained from the studies conducted.
f. An adequate number of references, but some sources need to be updated. References that are relevant and up to date (last five years) need to be added. Some of the following references can be considered:
o Endri, E., Sari, A.K., Budiasih, Y., Yuliantini, Y., & Kasmir, K. (2020). Determinants of Profit Growth in Food and Beverage Companies in Indonesia. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics, and Business, 7(12), 739-748. https://doi:10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no12.739
o Kurniasih, A., Rustam, M., Heliantono., & Endri, E. (2022). Cost of capital and firm value: Evidence from Indonesia. Investment Management and Financial Innovations, 19(4), 14-22. doi:10.21511/imfi.19(4).2022.02
Author Response
First, we would like to thank the anonymous referee for his or her helpful suggestions, which we have tried to implement in the revised article. We hope this version is improved as per the suggestions, corrections based on which are in cyan text.
New text that considers the reviewer's notes in purple
All corrections by the authors, considering the notes of the reviewers and the Editor, in green (see article text)
Deleted text in red strikethrough
Before submitting the article to the reviewers with the required revisions, a proofreading of the text in English language was carried out to improve textual quality and lexical adherence to the covered topics.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
*Comments to the Author/s
Financial sustainability in agri-food companies: the case of 2 members of the PDO Parma Ham Consortium
The topic of the paper is interesting and relatively important and provides an insight into the emerging markets, especially on food typical product; agricultural finance selected sectors in Italy and other Countries. The current study empirically tests and applies assessment of financial sustainability to balance sheet 13 statement (BSS), financial ratios (FRs), interest coverage ratios (ICRs), duration of the cash conver- 14 sion cycle (CCC), net working capital (NWC) data..
This study might have a good potential to provide a proper case and arguments relative to the literature. The paper is an interesting piece of work to read and would provide an important contribution to a less explored area in the international research agenda on Italy and other countries. The manuscript is well reasoned and contains rich information about the topic. However, I have some concerns that I will be mentioned in the following part.
The paper is a well-established area of research which is in food typical product; agricultural finance; financial sustainability; working capital; interest coverage ratios; free cash flow; bankruptcy .
Firms especially Financial sustainability in agri-food companies and market value and adds to it by investigating the relation from a country perspective and the culture as a whole as well. The introduction and theoretical part of the study seems to be very long and need to summarized and follow a reasonable sequence. On the other hand, the methodology part has some drawbacks that need to be better explained by the authors to consider publishing the paper.
- Abstract needs update and make it short to the point, it should be including methodology and the main results, findings and recommendations’
- Introduction: seems to be long and contains some unnecessary repeated sentences that are already explained earlier.
-Please fully describe the source of the data, methods of data collection, and a scientific rationale for any selections in the methods section, the authors should be justifying, why the using sample consists select agri-food companies as the research sample.
- Explain. How was the sample chosen? Are the social, cultural, regulatory and political settings of these firms are located different from other settings across others firm and globe? Please explain.
- The authors should add and highlights the imports and objectives of the research.
- Literature review: The literature Review part has covered main issues regarding issues, but tow much long, the authors should justify in depth the relation between accounting theories and the topic of the research. However, some of the cited work was old and the author needs to use more recent references in order to be connected the current debates regarding the paper's main arguments. Authors may make use of the following updating and related papers: however, more studies related to some variable of study such as financial sustainability, financial ratios, working capital may be added to enrich this part: Authors may make use of the following updating and related papers:
Khatib, Saleh F. A. and Nour, Abdul-Naser Ibrahim, the Impact of Corporate Governance on Firm Performance during The COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Malaysia (2021). Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8(2), 0943–0952, Print ISSN: 2288-4637 / Online ISSN 2288-4645
https://doi.org/10.13106/jafeb.2021.vol8.no2.0943
Mohammad Najjar, Ihab H. Alsurakji, Amjad El-Qanni & Abdulnaser I. Nour (2022) The role of blockchain technology in the integration of sustainability practices across multi-tier supply networks: implications and potential complexities, Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, DOI: 10.1080/20430795.2022.2030663
- Results need more discussion and interpretation. It is useful to compare the results, including descriptive results, with what previous studies have observed either in Italy or in other countries that have similar environments.
- Improve the interpretation of results by highlighting the effect of cultural, political and institutional factors prevailing in Italy.
- The authors need to provide better discussions for the findings and conclusion; I found the results to be very interesting. However, discussion part did not reflect that properly.
- The authors should add study recommendations??The authors report that some of the studies included in the review lacked information about the specific steps involved in the methodological analysis and procedures around theoretical saturation.
- suggest the authors to provide a justification and in-depth of taking explanatory variables.
- Authors need to address what lessons can be learned from this piece of research. I recommend the author(s) need to send it to the expert or professional to enhance the level of writing language and develop the quality of paper’ communication, English proofreading is necessary.
I believe this piece of work provides an important and timely relative research that is a valuable contribution to knowledge about emerging markets and more specifically, knowledge about the subject).
Thanks
Author Response
First, we would like to thank the anonymous referee for his or her helpful suggestions, which we have tried to implement in the revised article. We hope this version is improved as per the suggestions, corrections based on which are in cyan text.
New text that considers the reviewer's notes in brown
All corrections by the authors, considering the notes of the reviewers and the Editor, in green (see article text)
Deleted text in red strikethrough
Before submitting the article to the reviewers with the required revisions, a proofreading of the text in English language was carried out to improve textual quality and lexical adherence to the covered topics.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
I have reviewed the revised manuscript and adjusted to the comments that have been given that the corrections made make the article much better and of high quality scientifically. I congratulate you that the recommended paper has been accepted for publication.
Reviewer 3 Report
After the researchers made the modifications requested by the reviewers to the research, I recommend that the research be accepted for publication in your respected journal, wishing everyone success.
