Firm and territory: in searching for a sustainable relation. Four cases study from Italian secular firms

The paper is focused on the relation among firm and territory and aims to identify the main features (cultural values, core competences and key organizational processes) of a sustainable business model. Wondering about virtuous (and vicious) firm behavior (par. 1), the paper starts with a deep literature review with the aim to delineate different relational models on the basis to which firms relate to their territory (par. 1); then, on the basis of an on field research, the paper describes four case studies related to Italian secular firms characterized by a sustainable relation with their own territory (par. 3); the on field research findings provide a model of an ideal-typical enterprise, sustainable and territorially virtuous –the arbor vitae model (par. 4); final remarks are then discussed in the last section (par. 5).