Purpose The Italian legislature GAVE to the Italian Competition Authority has an increasingly prominent role for the consumer protection over the years, especially giving the possibility to impose fines against companies. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the Italian system of consumer protection, studying the impact of these fines on the Italian agrifood companies till 2012. Design/methodology/approach Grounded theory approach was used in order to formulate new hypothesis from emerging data. Information and data were collected through several sources: interviews with key informants of ICA, secondary data from ICA database, a survey run among companies that received a penalty from ICA during the period 2007-2012, companies website, LexisNexis database and National print and web media titles. Findings From the analysis it emerges that there is an accurate system planned for avoiding and limiting misleading practices. Firms in fact have been capable to adapt to the set of imposed rules and to reduce the efficacy of the proposed dissuasive system. Originality/value The originality of this study regards the way in which the consumer protection was investigated, in fact it takes into account the relationships between ICA and IAP, two of the most important players of consumer protection in Italy. Moreover, the study is focussed on the agrifood sector. The authors give some recommendations for future interventions focussing on the length of time of the process, which could have a positive impact on the effectiveness of sanctions.

The aim of this paper is to provide a review of the main roles HEIs can play in rural areas. A longitudinal case study about the civic engagement of the University of Macerata - UNIMC (Italy) is presented, by assessing its attempt to fulfil its third and fourth mission through the application of the Quadruple Helix and 3 Model and by implementing the Civic University’s dimensions. Furthermore, these aspects have been investigated through the university-business collaboration and the community-academic-collaboration frameworks. More specifically, the paper focussed on UNIMC’s commitment at a local level analysing its involvement in local and international projects for place and agri-food product marketing, place branding and rural development, promoted by a research team within the Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism.

Phenomena associated with globalization, the spread of the knowledge economy and the challenges of sustainable development are all contributing to redefining the role of the university. In addition to the traditional first and second missions of education and research, universities have been taking on a third mission to bring socio-economic benefits to the local and national economy through technology transfer. The first part of this study briefly outlines the theoretical framework of the third mission and the emerging function of co-creation of initiatives to support social sustainability. Next, the study describes the approach adopted by the University of Macerata (UniMC), a university focused on Social Sciences and Humanities (SSHs). Since 2013, UniMC has undertaken specific actions to boost entrepreneurship through a humanistic approach towards local development. This paper describes six initiatives out of the many that UniMC has established: the Office for the Valorisation of Research - ILO and Placement; CreaHUB; LUCI, Laboratory for Humanism, Creativity and Innovation; IMpresa INaula; Mangia Locale; and #SMARTMARCA.

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