Resistere alla crisi: un caso di resilienza nel mercato della liquirizia

This paper investigates the organizational resilience of the Amarelli company, a historic Italian family business that uniquely survived a profound crisis in the licorice market, outlasting 80 competitors. The primary objective is to identify the specific historical factors (entrepreneurial traits, strategic management, and human/social capital) that enabled Amarelli's survival. The secondary goal is to enrich the firm resilience literature by developing an applicable conceptual framework for long-lived, family-managed firms. The study uses a qualitative single case study method, analyzing historical documents and guided by an adapted framework (Portuguez Castro & Gómez Zermeño, 2021). Findings highlight that Amarelli's resilience is built on three interconnected factors: 1) A clear, adaptive strategic vision; 2) Specific entrepreneurial and managerial characteristics across generations; 3) The strategic use of human and social capital, particularly a strong relationship with the local workforce and community. The research proposes an empirical framework tailored for heritage family businesses. It offers a twofold contribution: from a theoretical perspective, it refines organizational resilience models, while from a practical perspective, it highlights how strategic foresight, managerial consistency, and social embeddedness are key factors in ensuring the sustainable survival of organizations in turbulent environments.