Life cycle flow analysis: Methodological improvement and application to the Parma PDO ham sector

The objective of this article is to improve the life cycle cost analysis (LCC) applied to food products of high quality certified with denomination of origin, in particular to the Parma PDO ham sector. The life cycle approach developed in the article does not take into account economic flows, as in the traditional literature of LCC, but considers cash flows, developing an approach called life cycle flow analysis (LCF). The LCF approach is innovative because it is designed to assess not only the convenience of management but also financial sustainability. Financial analysis is, in fact, often detected in the production of high-quality food, such as Parma PDO, because these productions are often characterized by high initial investment in facilities and equipment and are even characterized by a long aging period. For this reason, it is not sufficient to evaluate the cost of production in the long run, as does the LCC analysis, but also develop the analysis of cash flows, as does the LCF analysis that is proposed in the article. An LCF approach could be a useful tool for analysis of convenience-cycle management of companies not only in the short period but even in the long run, particularly those operating by producing high-quality food products. Moreover, it could be useful, for further research, to apply the suggested LCF approach to a larger sample, even in other sectors, particularly if related to high-quality production and characterized by investment in technology and R&D.