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Purpose – The paper aims at enriching current debate about human-technology dichotomy in socio-economic settings by decoding and systematizing the main phases through which it has been approached in managerial and social studies. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-interpretative framework is built thanks to the adoption of a qualitative approach inspired by the inductive logic and it is sed for analyzing the historical evolution of the approach to human-technology dichotomy and for explaining them through an innovative conceptual model. Findings – An innovative conceptual model is proposed for depicting connections and evolutions among the main four phases in the evolution of the approaches to human-technology dichotomy. Research implications – Reflections and conceptual model herein can support researchers in rereading the multiple theoretical and practical contributions provided with reference to human and technology relations in socio-economic settings. Practical implications – The paper can support managers and entrepreneurs in defining and evaluating managerial approaches for efficiently enhancing human-technology interaction. Value – The paper proposes an innovative conceptual model based on a multi-interpretative framework for decoding the historical evolution of the approaches to human-technology dichotomy in business settings. New variables are added to the current debate about the topic for building an original interpretive viewpoint.

This paper aims at analysing the link between business models and the institutional assets of firms operating in the tertiary sector, with a focus on the tourism industry. The hypercompetition of this sector, indeed, refers not only to the competitive choices but also to the governance decisions, connected to the overall strategies that firms intend to adopt

The recent dynamics of the wine industry have attracted much attention in the last years. An increasing scientific community spanning over economics, management, and innovation studies are paying much attention on the radical process of structural change that is affecting this specific sector. Radical changes are increasingly affecting both demand and supply conditions. Specifically, on the supply side, a remarkable process of professionalization, research and knowledge intensification is taking place; new professionals and specialized knowledge workers (e.g., oenologists and agronomists) holding university qualifications are introducing new scientific methods and practices in the vineyard and in the cellar, thus radically changing the wine-making process. Indeed, in a couple of decades the wine industry experienced a drastic revolution, moving from a traditional low-tech industry to a knowledge intensive, (applied) science-based and innovative industry. On the demand side, changes in preferences from large quantity bulk wine to small quantity premium wines are re-orienting companies’ market strategies, attaching a renewed importance to the different innovation dimensions (from product/process to marketing/organization up to external knowledge sources and systemic innovation). Furthermore, because of the development of a gourmet culture, firms strive for identifying market niches populated by highly sophisticated consumers demanding “hedonic and experience goods”. Starting from these premises, the current dissertation is articulated in four chapters. The first chapter presents a general overview to the study that introduces the core issues of the current dissertation. These ones pave the way to the definition of some theoretical reflections, which constitute a precious point of departure for the statement of the research problem. Indeed, in order to identify the literature gaps, by contributing to add value to this study, the starting point is to understand and deeply investigate on the main traits characterizing the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry, generally and wine sector, specifically. Overall, the added value of this dissertation is to test the research issue within a specific industry context. Starting from both the assessment of the literature gaps and the definition of the motivations supporting this study, the structure of the current dissertation is conceived according to the development of theoretical and empirical sections in order to address both the research scope and the research questions. As for the research design, this study follows a precise path that is composed of two main steps: 1) the first stage focuses on a review of the existing literature, paying particular attention to how small firms manage innovation, as well as a study of the specific innovation strategies implemented by small firms operating in wine industry; 2) the second phase relies on the empirical investigation aimed at carrying out the data analysis in order to answer the research questions and to achieve the research objective. The second chapter proposes a theoretical analysis on the literature background based upon the innovation concept within the strategic management literature. Since the focus of the current dissertation is on the innovation implemented by small firms, the attention shifts on the variables contributing to define the small firms’ innovative profile. In this regard, both external and internal variables are taken into consideration. The first ones regard the opportunities a small firm can seize from the environment: on the contrary, the internal variables refer to specific endogenous features characterizing a small firm. Nonetheless, in order to provide this dissertation with a more solid theoretical background, the main focus is on a deep understanding of the innovation practices implemented within the wine industry. In this sense, due to the relevance of this sector and the relative growing interest of the researchers in carrying out studies in this field, an up-to-date literature review on the theme of wine innovation is realized. In order to both have a more thorough picture of the world of wine and to understand how and to which extent innovation can be implemented in this specific sector, chapter three deals with the ‘state of the art’ of the globalization process affecting the wine industry, by particularly focusing on Italy, which is the leading country in terms of wine production. Than, a general overview of the wine industry guarantees a better and more deep understanding of the different aspects characterizing this specific sector, sheding light on the importance to introduce innovative patterns, remaining, at same time anchored to the traditional components and first of all to the terroir concept. In this perspective, the concept of terroir and wine as both cultural and luxury product is investigated, paying also particular attention to the development of the ‘wine tourism phenomenon’, which plays a key role with reference to both marketing activities and systemic collaboration. The interest of undertaking this study in Campania Region is twofold: firstly, top quality wines are a ‘flag product’ of Campania Region and, secondly, it is a region with a wine tradition of ancient origins (it is one of he first and most important centres of settlement, cultivation and study of wine in the world). Definitively, by taking into account the theoretical framework on innovation and the different facets characterizing the world of wine, chapter four deals with the empirical analysis that, in line with the research questions and the research scope, aims to verify if small wine firms implement innovation at different levels and, if yes, to test their inclination to adopt and implement some innovation practices rather than other ones. In order to answer to the second research question, the current dissertation carries out a hierarchical cluster analysis aimed at verifying how the sampled wine firms can be clustered according to their degree of implemented innovations. Finally, a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is implemented to test the theoretical model derived from the literature review. In this regard, the main purpose becomes to test if there is a positive relationship between the selected innovation dimensions (product/process, marketing/organizational, external knowledge and systemic innovation) and the wine firm’s perception to be innovative. Finally, conclusions explain the findings and the results of this study, highlight the limits and give some hints on the future research directions. Properly, as for the limitations and the relative future research horizons, among the principal research constraints, there is the lack of performance data contained in the data set. These ones could be useful for evaluating the effect of innovation predictors on performance. Secondly, this dissertation is based on a unique case study that is the Campania Region wine industry. Hence, caution should be taken in generalizing the findings, since not all regions and/or countries face similar wine growing and development conditions. In this sense, it could be useful to repeat the research through a multiple case study analysis. Another important limit derives from the fact that this study is not a longitudinal one, since the survey seeks to capture information on the topic of innovation, asking to the wine firms to state whether some kinds of innovation were introduced during the previous three years (OECD-EUROSTAT, 1997). In conclusion, conceptualizing a framework based on the different innovation dimensions with reference to the wine industry is helpful for supporting managerial decision-makers, since it can recommends tactical guidance and strategies to implement innovation at different firm’s levels.

The aim of this study is to understand whether the current literature deals with the general issue of stakeholder value creation and of specific marketing activities for human resources and if they can generate value for different stakeholders. In order to achieve this goal, the paper uses a bibliometric analysis that determines the conceptual structure of the topic, highlighting its evolution over time. Accordingly, this study uses the precise context of the hospitality industry since human resources are of strategic importance in the world of hospitality. This paper opens up a series of considerations, extremely useful within the context of stakeholder value creation in orienting marketing research in the future. In particular, the main findings reveal that with regard to stakeholder value creation only open-to-society marketing can be useful and successful, in contexts of a win-win situation for the sustainable shared advantage

PurposeThis study aims to focus on inter-firm collaboration, exploring the main capabilities that can make a business more or less open to collaboration; it also considers the role of both firm-specific and relationship-specific capabilities. The paper proposes a model that can be used to study how the combination of the two categories of capabilities determines a firm’s approach to collaboration.Design/methodology/approachThrough a survey of high-end hotels in tourist destinations in Italy and the USA, this paper tests variable connected with firm-specific and relationship-specific aspects, using confirmatory factor analysis.FindingsFirms with greater capabilities are less open to cooperation; weaker firms with fewer resources appear to be more inclined to cooperate, probably to gain access to resources and competencies they do not possess.Research limitations/implicationsFrom a scientific perspective, this paper suggests an analysis based on both individual and relational capabilities when deciding whether to collaborate, while most studies based on a relational view just consider relational capabilities. The study could be enlarged to other countries and contexts.Practical implicationsFrom a practical perspective, it indicates the importance of accounting for different and sometimes diverging aspects when deciding to cooperate.Social implicationsIn terms of social implications, it shows that, apart from the relational capabilities they have, potential partners can decide not to collaborate.Originality/valueThe paper suggests a method of analyzing both individual and relational capabilities when deciding whether to engage in a collaboration. It shows that firms’ behavior does not necessarily depend on the firm’s relational capabilities.

Background Meat production has always attracted the attention of animal welfare organizations and production processes often raise ethical concerns. Scope and approach By conducting a bibliometric analysis of Kosher meat production according to deep-rooted Jewish tradition, the aim of this paper is to emphasize the sustainable aspects of the production process taking the main pillars of food security into consideration. The bibliometric analysis investigates numerous documents and authors that have focused on kosher meat production, their main content, and the extent to which these works contribute to scientific production on the topic under investigation. In particular, the paper seeks to explore the connection between kosher meat and the production process in order to map its conceptual structure. Key findings and conclusions The results identify the state of the art in the literature on this topic and provide practical guidelines to develop tailored strategies to target the non-Jewish population.

Purpose Increased awareness about the importance of a safe, healthy nutrition has changed human interactions with food and increased worldwide demand for high quality and ethical food. In this respect, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the concept of ethical food and the nature of kosher food production, assessing common traits and the main differences between the two. A literature review was undertaken in order to verify the direction in which further studies might proceed. Design/methodology/approach A research review on current literature was carried out exploring concepts of ethical food and food certification underpinning kosher businesses by means of an analysis of both producers’ and consumers’ perspectives. In order to proceed with an accurate analysis, the paper matches both the conceptual analysis and the bibliometric one. The overlap between these two forms of analysis makes results robust and useful for future research. Findings This review reveals common points between ethical and kosher food because attention is given to both processes and products and the way the market perceives them as expressions of trustworthy and safe production. Furthermore, the analysis reveals an under emphasis on kosher food in the academic world and the results reveal the importance of empirical analysis. Research limitations/implications The analysis is focused mainly on kosher food production as an expression of ethical food. It would be interesting, however, to expand the analysis to other types of ethical certification such as Halal food, for example, in order to perform comparative evaluations. Practical implications From a practical point of view, it is interesting to note that kosher food is conceived as very safe food and that non-religious people are sensitive to this, which opens new horizons for ethical food. It also offers the possibility that firms that have never considered entering the field of ethical food certification may do so to expand their businesses. This implication also reveals that there is a higher attention on sustainability and safety in agro-food market. Therefore there are great opportunities of expansion for ethical food. Social implications From a social point of view, this paper is of importance for several reasons. It deals with a relatively new and relatively unexplored issue; it points out the relevance of sustainability and safety in food market and consumer behavior, it presents the possibility of exploring knowledge interactions between different perspectives (multidisciplinary approach) and cultures which, in the opinion, will present significant challenge in relation to agro-food business research in the future. Originality/value The originality of this work is that of systematizing a literature review of ethical food, enlarging its scope and boundaries with specific reference to kosher food. It also highlights the need to focus on both management and marketing, since up to now there has been a lack of academic contributions to these areas of research. Directions for further research are outlined.

Over the years, literature on the topic of destination resilience has gained increasing attention in different fields (strategic management, sociology, etc.). Therefore, the potentiality of resilience in the tourism field has stimulated the definition and the implementation of strategies, policies, and activities addressed to mitigate risks and seize opportunities through open innovation attitudes in times of crisis. This work aims to contribute to the debate on tourist destination resilience by proposing a conceptual framework of destination resilience and open innovation based on a bibliometric analysis. Moreover, this article is intended as a starting point for a wider discussion of factors that contribute to destination resilience and therefore provides the basis to develop a toolkit of matrixes and approaches. Findings reveal that resilience assessment, as well as in terms of performance, remain undiscovered. Moreover, the present research poses some unresolved questions, shaping interesting future research directions.

The current book chapter examines how digital leaders cultivate opportunities and address risks in a fast-moving, digital market environment. The focal point is to understand if digital leaders are able to keep control over all mechanisms triggered by the turbulent business environment. The chapter's challenge is to verify how digital leadership works in the specific context of aerospace industry through the case of the Boeing Company.

The current book chapter examines how digital leaders cultivate opportunities and address risks in a fast-moving, digital market environment. The focal point is to understand if digital leaders are able to keep control over all mechanisms triggered by the turbulent business environment. The chapter’s challenge is to verify how digital leadership works in the specific context of aerospace industry through the case of the Boeing Company.

This paper aims at analysing conceptually spiritual leadership in the organizational field. First, we identify if a relation between spirituality and leadership can exist and then if and how this i...