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While several studies have focused on the initial phases of new ventures and their first customer and supplier relationships, we have a limited understanding of how the new venture’s portfolio of customer relationships emerges. This paper aims to explore the emergence of the customer relationship portfolio of a new venture and to investigate the effects of early relationships on subsequent ones.

Methodologically, the authors rely on a longitudinal single case study of a new venture which develops, implements and sells customized cost-management software. The study is exploratory and based on 24 in-depth interviews.

The findings show that the development of a customer portfolio depends on the cumulative effect of heterogeneous elements and network connections. These include the initial link between the new venture and the first customer and a subsequent series of interconnections that develop with the emerging network capability of the new venture.

As one of the few studies that explore the emergence of new ventures’ customer relationship portfolio, this study demonstrates the value of applying a relational/network approach for studying relationship portfolio dynamics.

This paper aims to gain insights into the paradoxical tensions emerging from circular business model innovation (CBMI) and how to overcome them by developing a theoretical framework drawing on two theoretical streams: firstly, the paradox theory for shedding light on the often “invisible” contradictions generated by the implementation of circular economy (CE) principles in business model transformation; and secondly, the dynamic capability theory that can contribute to the investigation of how to manage these contradictions.

The study uses a longitudinal case study approach to gain an in-depth understanding of the transformation and challenges faced by an incumbent firm in adopting a circular business model. Qualitative research methods are used to explore the paradoxical tensions and dynamic capabilities involved in the process.

The study finds that incumbent firms face numerous challenges and paradoxical tensions in the CBMI process. These tensions arise from difficulties in implementing organizational changes, balancing competing priorities and managing conflicting goals. Dynamic capabilities are crucial in managing these tensions and facilitating the transition to a circular business model.

This paper contributes to the theoretical development of paradox theory by applying it to the new field of CBMI which is currently slightly investigated and responds to the call for studies looking at more fine-grained types of sustainable business models. The study adds to previous literature that how the firm handles paradoxes and tensions influences the pace and results of the process. If the firm becomes discouraged during the early stages of identifying new opportunities, the pace slows down, and the firm becomes hesitant to collaborate more with partners. Furthermore, the ability to capitalize on these opportunities is affected by these tensions and contradictions.

This paper contributes to the literature by empirically investigating the process of CBMI in incumbent firms. It fills the gap in existing research by examining the existence of paradoxical tensions in a real-life setting and exploring the role of dynamic capabilities in managing these tensions. The findings provide practical insights for firms seeking a transition towards a CE and highlight that the ability to sense the external context should be developed as the new business model entails a central role of external actors.

Starred restaurants, as significant outlets for small wineries, present a unique business opportunity. In this context, the sommelier, as a third actor, assumes a pivotal role in shaping the business relationships between these entities. This study, employing a grounded theory approach, delves into the sommeliers’ roles and activities in the initiation of relationships between small wineries and starred restaurants.

A qualitative methodology was adopted. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews, direct observations, and informal conversations with starred restaurants, small wineries, and sommeliers were collected and analysed using an abductive approach.

The findings suggest that the sommelier acts as a contributor to the business relationship initiation between the small winery and the starred restaurant, performing several continuous, simultaneous, and bilateral roles toward both actors.

The study sheds light on the role of wine stewards in the B2B context and provides useful insights to close the theoretical gap between business relationship initiation and the role of third actors.

This paper aims to explore how customer involvement unfolds in the development of a smart product. Smart product development poses new challenges to firms. In particular, the buyers’ and users’ involvement has shown novel dynamics in smart product development. These peculiarities are linked with the specific characteristics of the digital technology embedded into the smart products. This study’s rationale is to analyse the frictions arising from potential divergent objectives between the focal firm and its customers when digital technologies are embedded in traditional products.

This study adopted an explorative and qualitative approach to investigate new emerging dynamics of customer involvement during technological development. A coffee machine producer is selected as a case study to uncover new insights and a novel perspective on the phenomenon of customer involvement in smart product development. Data analysis followed an abductive approach that allowed to identify the dimensions of friction emerging during the technological development process.

The case study analysis depicts that smart product development presents novel customer involvement dynamics. In particular, this study abductively identifies dimensions of friction emerging between the focal firm and buyers/users. Friction arises in the technological interface between the actors involved. These dimensions of friction address the complexities of developing technology in terms of smart products with customer involvement. This study suggests that embedding of technology into an existing product might change how customers are involved.

Even though customer involvement in product innovation has been extensively studied in management literature, this paper focused on a new type of innovation, smart products. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have yet empirically explored customers’ involvement while embedding digital technologies into existing products to create smart products. In particular, this study sheds light on the dimensions of friction emerging between the focal firm and the actors of the business network. This study unfolds novel contributions to the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing literature on technological development.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how sustainability is integrated into a new venture’s business network initiation. This study unpacks sustainability in business network initiation using temporal bracketing and identifying its main processes. Temporal bracketing supports the understanding of the evolution of sustainability in network initiation. The processes help explore the sustainability patterns that emerge from the new venture’s attempt to integrate sustainability into network initiation.

The exploratory case study of an Italian pasta maker draws on industrial network theory to focus on the business network initiation of new ventures. The novelty is the integration of sustainability into the business network initiation literature. This paper adopts a single case study methodology and an abductive approach to analysis.

This study finds that sustainability in network initiation is achieved through three periods of initiation and through five processes that are overlapping, intertwined and reciprocal. This study suggests that sustainability can have a positive or negative impact when integrated into the initiation process.

This paper provides a conceptual framework for understanding how a new venture integrates sustainability in its network initiation. The framework comprises periods and processes of network initiation which show how a new venture can integrate sustainability in its business activities and resources through interaction with network actors.

This paper aims to investigate which network relationships foster the early development of a sustainable new venture (SNV) and how sustainability as the core characteristic of the new venture shapes those network relationships.

This paper relies on a qualitative approach. The primary data source is 25 interviews with 18 key informants of 15 Italian SNVs. The fashion industry is the empirical setting due to its negative environmental and social impacts and shifts toward sustainability during the past decade.

The paper identifies six types of network relationships that affect the development of fashion SNVs. It proposes sustainability-enhanced and sustainability-enabled network relationships and relates them to trust and legitimation in the network.

The study enriches the theoretical debate on networks, new ventures and sustainability by dealing with the case of SNVs in a traditional sector. This paper presents managerial implications for entrepreneurs and policymakers.

This paper contributes to the debate on society’s sustainable development by emphasizing how networks can affect the growth of SNVs.

This paper fills a research gap in a novel manner. The paper contributes to the recent debate on new ventures and sustainability from the market as network approach. It identifies relevant networks, their contribution and the role of sustainability. The study refers to SNVs in traditional nontechnological industries.

This study aims to question the fact that density has been considered only as an instrument of calculation to be used on regulation mechanisms, without taking into consideration other variables related to density. The paper proposes a framework consisting of four determining factors for urban analysis that have to be considered before starting a densification process: connectivity and permeability of network, mixture of uses, relation to urban morphology and public spaces for each district. The methodological analysis was carried out for the case of the district of Gruta de Lourdes, Quinta Normal, located in northwest Santiago, which has started a densification process the recent years.

The present discussion aims to obtain objective parameters to determine if urban development allows livability and a balanced relationship with actual urban form and diversity. There appear to be four determining factors of urban analysis: connectivity and network permeability, the mixture of uses, public spaces and urban form development. The district of Gruta de Lourdes will be used to delve into these parameters to place the debate around density in objective terms. To look in depth at each of the criteria for evaluating densification processes, various methods were selected for quantifying the observed variables: to evaluate connectivity and integration of a neighborhood with the rest of the city, the spatial configuration analysis “Space Syntax” will be used; to evaluate mix of uses, mixed-use index, or ratio of non-residential use will be used; urban morphology, plot size, housing density (dw/ha), lot coverage and floor area ratio will be used; public spaces, the percentage dedicated to each of these in m²/inhab.

The results allow us to conclude that it is necessary to plan densification processes via an analysis that promotes connectivity, mixture of uses, urban morphology and the available public spaces to understand density as a multivariable phenomenon. In addition, we conclude that the case study district, Gruta de Lourdes, can withstand greater demand for housing as long as the context is taken into account. A possible option to asset the densification potential could be the “infill” strategy, which aims to be a type of intervention that does not change the structure of the neighborhood as new buildings are positioned among existing ones, maintaining the form of the streets and the structure of plot divisions.

The value of the paper is to contribute to the discussion on how to renovate central areas in Latin American cities looking at variables such as connectivity, mixture of uses, urban morphology and public spaces, which are directly related to density. Moreover, the paper contributes to discuss new ways to analyze and measure densification, toward planning a district’s renovation. In addition, the quantitative methodological approach to the densification processes gives a new understanding of how to determine density. Finally, the paper reveals an opportunity to rethink the inner city toward new approaches to renovation developments.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the conditions underpinning the cooperative relationships between family businesses. The role of trust is also explored, given the focus on informal conditions nested within the cooperation between firms.

A case study research method is adopted in this paper. This research is conducted within a cooperative association in Cyprus where 40 retail family businesses trade under the same brand.

The findings suggest that cooperation between family businesses emerges and unfolds as a result of the presence and interrelationships between a number of critical conditions: trust, altruism, collective thinking, stewardship, friendship, and family values congruence. The work illustrates that trust becomes a catalyst to the emergence and maintenance of cooperative relations between family businesses. Trust between family leaders is important in building altruism, collective thinking, and stewardship norms amongst them, and helps in sustaining the cooperation between their respective firms. At the same time, trust (stemming from past friendship and values congruence between diverse family leaders) becomes important in bringing family businesses to cooperate together at first instance. Further, the findings stress the role of critical events and self-interest in moderating the role and influence of trust on the cooperation between family businesses.

This paper contributes to the family business field through new knowledge on the relations between family businesses and the unique conditions that shape their long-term cooperation.

Aircraft assembly is the crucial part of aircraft manufacturing, and to meet the high-precision and high-efficiency requirements, cooperative measurement consisting of multiple measurement instruments and automatic assisted devices is being adopted. To achieve the complete data of all assembly features, measurement devices need to be placed at different positions, and the flexible and efficient transfer relies on Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and robots in the large-size space and close range. This paper aims to improve the automatic station transfer in accuracy and flexibility.

A transferring system with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and markers is established. The map coupling for navigation is optimized. Markers are distributed according to the accumulated uncertainties. The path planning method applied to the collaborative measurement is proposed for better accuracy. The motion planning method is optimized for better positioning accuracy.

A transferring system is constructed and the system is verified in the laboratory. Experimental results show that the proposed system effectively improves positioning accuracy and efficiency, which improves the station transfer for the cooperative measurement.

A Transferring system for collaborative measurement is proposed. The optimized navigation method extends the application of visual markers. With this system, AGV is capable of the cooperative measurement of large aircraft structural parts.