Supporting pervasive digitization in Italian SMEs through an open innovation process

In the last two decades, the emergence of a diverse set of novel and powerful digital technologies, platforms, and infrastructures has transformed both innovation and entrepreneurship in significant ways with broad organizational and policy implications (Nambisan, 2017; Nambisan et al., 2017; Yoo et al., 2010). Indeed, the phrase digital transformation has come into wide use in contemporary business media to signify the transformational or disruptive implications of digital technologies for businesses (eg Boutetiere et al., 2018), and more broadly, to indicate how existing companies may need to radically transform themselves to succeed in the emerging digital world (eg, McAfee and Brynjolfsson, 2017; Rogers, 2016; Venkatraman, 2017). Technological development is often recognized as a prerequisite for deploying innovation efficiently because it enhances inter-organizational collaboration, which better provides access to external resources and new markets, as well as a source of new knowledge, especially when referring to SMEs (Narula, 2004; Nooteboom, 1994)

Towards the twin transition in the agri-food sector? Framing the current debate on sustainability and digitalisation

A significant weight on the environment is created by the agricultural processes starting from the exploitation of the soil and production to the physical distribution of goods, the retailers’ operations and consumption. Agriculture and particularly agri-food is imperative to contribute to solving such global challenges as climate change and food security through cleaner and greener supply chains, where the implementation of smart technologies is one of the major ways to create an impact. The pairing between the potential of digital technologies and sustainability inputs, called twin transition, is currently one of the EU policy’s priorities. This research focuses on linking digitalisation and sustainability in the agri-food sector through applications of various digital technologies and the associated contributions to sustainability through the three – environmental, economic, and social - dimensions. To analyse the current debate on sustainability and digitalisation, we have utilised a systematic literature review and qualitative analysis of (policy) documents. The discussion presents a conceptual framework, which follows the process of the integration of a digital technology from its reasoning to the associated sustainability outcomes. The research identifies uneven representation of digital technologies and the structural imbalance of applications towards farming as the agri-food supply chain node and farmers as the major actors’ group. The scale of these applications frame the associated contributions to the sustainability dimensions. The analysis of the sustainability outcomes brought by digitalisation through classification of their aspects can advise not only a choice of technology but also managerial and policy directions leading to the transformation. One of the ways to manage twin transition and support competitiveness on both firm and sector levels is development of a strategy, which can be supported by policy making

Innovation in Creative Industries: From the Quadruple Helix Model to the Systems Theory

Knowledge and creativity have always played a key role in the economy. Since the 2000s, the relevance of the creative industries, a high growth sector, has been pointed out as long as its strong and positive effects on jobs and economic growth. In the current context of rapid globalization and technological development, the innovation system is getting even more complex because it implies a shift in research focus from the supply to the demand side environment (consumption-driven economy). The authors focus on theoretical approaches coming from management and media studies able to explain the current paradigm shift in innovation and knowledge production and use: the Triple Helix model (and its developments) and Systems Theory. As an interesting case study, the Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA) is analyzed according the theoretical approaches shown. The paper tries to shed new light on the evolving role of knowledge pointing out the overlapping relationships between all the actors involved and the interpenetration of systems, and the prominent appointment of the media as an interpretative framework of the convergence of the depicted theories

Digital TV policies in the UK, US, Australia and Italy.

Many countries are in the process of converting their terrestrial television services from analog to digital transmission. Several different approaches have been adopted for the switchover with different apparent results. Spectrum is a scarce resource and delays in the switch off can have major effects on economic welfare as the spectrum tied up in analog transmission cannot be released for other uses. In this paper we examine the digital TV conversion policies and progress in the UK, USA, Australia and Italy, which have adopted different processes to achieve the desired switch-off. Each of the four countries decided to mandate the conversion of terrestrial television services from analog to digital transmission late in the last decade adopting policies with similar planned periods of transition and similar targets to complete the process. We look at the policies of each and the progress achieved to date to see what features appear to be enhancing or slowing down the achievement of the switch-over target

Dynamics and Motivations of Media Marketing: The Role of Globalization and Empowerment

Audience fragmentation, convergence, and technology development have changed consumption patterns and brand communication. Media companies should consider TV series and movies as brands to be exploiting at national/international level. Using a dynamic diffusion model, we analyze the evolution of popularity in a specific country under different hypotheses. Then we propose an optimal decision model which describes the decision maker’s point of view in a two-sided market

Modeling Shock Propagation on Supply Chain Networks: A Stochastic Logistic-Type Approach

Supply Chains have been more and more suffering from unexpected industrial, natural events, or epidemics that might disrupt the normal flow of materials, information, and money. The recent pandemic triggered by the outbreak of the new COVID-19 has pointed out the increasing vulnerability of supply chain networks, prompting companies (and governments) to implement specific policies and actions to control and reduce the spread of the disease across the network, and to cope with exogenous shocks. In this paper, we present a stochastic Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible (SIS) framework to model the spread of new epidemics across different distribution networks and determine social distancing/treatment policies in the case of local and global networks. We highlight the relevance of adaptability and flexibility of decisions in unstable and unpredictable scenarios

A two-stage model for diffusion of innovations

The objective of this paper is to provide an analytical framework to study the whole process of diffusion of innovations, new products or ideas: we take into account knowledge transfer in a complex society, decisional process for adoption and key features in the spread of new technologies. For this purpose, we propose a probabilistic model based on an interacting population connected through new communication channels (such as social media) where potential adopters are linked with each other at different connection degrees. Our diffusion curve is the result of an emotion driven decision process following the awareness phase. Finally, we are able to recover stylized facts highlighted by the extant literature in the field

The hidden costs of going global: insights from firms' entry into foreign markets

Recent literature on strategic decision-making highlights the role of hidden costs, i.e. costs that firms are not able to predict ex-ante (Larsen et al., 2012). This paper analyses the hidden costs of going global, i.e. unanticipated costs that emerge in the implementation of market entry strategies. Foreign market entry requires firms to assess the potential attractiveness of different locations, select an appropriate entry mode, and organize their international value chain. When taking such decisions, firms can make evaluation mistakes. We propose that cultural distance is one factor that generates “blind spots” in a firm’s strategic analysis, thus affecting its ability to evaluate the actual challenges of entering foreign markets. Firms can offset distance-driven hidden costs by building international experience and relational capability

How the innovation diffusion models from the past can help us to explain marketing in the new media era

Even if the rhetoric of the Internet and the new digital media seems to have radically changed our technological environment, historical recurrences are relevant tools in order to analyze the future marketing. We propose a new multi-stage model able to bridge two different approaches, namely the adoption models à la Bass and the recent line of research concerning agent-based innovation diffusion models. Our technology allows us to find a closed form equation for awareness and adoption, taking into account heterogeneous population