Alberto Sardi, Enrico Sorano, Alberto Ferraris and Patrizia Garengo
The literature highlights the relevance of performance measurement and management system in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to face the current competitive environment…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature highlights the relevance of performance measurement and management system in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to face the current competitive environment. However, a number of studies investigate how performance measurement and management system is effective for evolving and how contingency factors could influence this change. Newer experiences are sporadic and rarely investigated by researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this study is to identify the feasible evolutionary path of performance measurement and management system in leading SMEs to respond to current business challenges. Furthermore, it aims to contribute to the understanding of the role of key contingency factors influencing this evolution.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal case study, based on retrospective and real-time investigations, is performed to investigate the primary evolutions of the performance measurement and management system and its key determinants.
Findings
The findings highlight two evolution paths, increasing the maturity of performance measurement. The first path highlights a strong command and control of performance management; the second path shows a democratic and participative of performance management. Moreover, management information system, organizational culture and management style are highlighted as key contingency factors in the change of performance management.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to knowledge in performance measurement field, showing how the efforts for developing performance measurement and management system in a leading SME could determine two different evolutionary paths. Furthermore, the paper describes the increasing role of organizational culture, management style and management information system in performance management evolution, as well as the relevance of online chats and social media in performance management activities.
Details
Keywords
Leonardo Corbo, Shadi Mahassel and Alberto Ferraris
This paper aims at proposing knowledge translation as an element of business model design that can support entrepreneurs in achieving alignment and collaboration between…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at proposing knowledge translation as an element of business model design that can support entrepreneurs in achieving alignment and collaboration between entrepreneurial teams and external stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual model presented in the paper is developed from the literature review and draws mainly on two streams of work as follows: first, the contributions related to the lean start-up methodology initially developed by Blank and Ries and second, the work of Osterwalder and Pigneur on business models and its subsequent developments. In addition, we draw on key insights from the entrepreneurship and organizational learning literature, such as discovery-driven planning and disciplined entrepreneurship.
Findings
The continuous validation framework (CVF) is introduced, posing the attention on underlining knowledge-translation mechanisms to decode complex concepts related to new venture creation.
Originality/value
The authors propose a new framework (the CVF) as an effective translational tool because it is a visual diagram that allows entrepreneurs to translate complex and technical ideas into a format that is more understandable for external audiences. Additionally, for each step of the CVF, specific translational mechanisms are defined and discussed, as each stage of the CVF presents specific translational challenges that result in outcomes that differ from stage to stage.
Details
Keywords
Augusto Bargoni, Jacopo Ballerini, Demetris Vrontis and Alberto Ferraris
This paper aims to explore the impact of brand authenticity dimensions (i.e. aesthetic, symbolism, heritage, originality, quality commitment and virtue) on consumer engagement in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the impact of brand authenticity dimensions (i.e. aesthetic, symbolism, heritage, originality, quality commitment and virtue) on consumer engagement in the context of social media. This study answers to the need of scholars to understand consumer behaviour towards family and non-family firms’ brand authenticity constructs and for practitioners to find the correct levers to increase consumer engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Top 10 European family firms with a retrievable Facebook (FB) page from the Global Family Business Index have been selected. Then, the study analysed family firms’ social media consumer engagement versus their non-family business direct competitors on a sample of 21.664 FB posts over a four-year period, leveraging multi-group analysis.
Findings
The results outline that three out of six brand authenticity dimensions posted on FB are statistically arousing more interactions respect to non-authenticity-related contents when posted by family firms. However, there are no statistically significant findings when brand authenticity content is posted by the non-family competitors.
Practical implications
This research is helpful for practitioners and entrepreneurs who might want to strengthen their social media brand strategies. With this regard, the study provides insights on which elements of brand authenticity are perceived by consumers as more engaging and which levers to use when communicating the familiness of the company.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is one of the earliest studies crosscutting the family business and brand authenticity literature streams to conduct an empirical analysis based on official FB data with a data set of over 20,000 observations. Moreover, this study assesses that not every dimension of the brand authenticity construct is relevant in the context of social media and that its effectiveness depends on the firms’ familiness.
Details
Keywords
Shahid Rasool, Roberto Cerchione, Jari Salo, Alberto Ferraris and Stefano Abbate
This study aims to examine the role of hunger, environmental, economic, landfill and water shortage concerns as significant dimensions of consumer social awareness marketing in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the role of hunger, environmental, economic, landfill and water shortage concerns as significant dimensions of consumer social awareness marketing in socially responsible plate food consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
To carry out their purpose, the authors validate the hypothesized model empirically through data from 1,536 households using structural equation modeling (SEM). In particular, the construct measures of the structural model have been tested by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
Findings
The outcome the authors came up with is coherent with the hypothesized model, and it proves a positive relationship of the five dimensions identified on consumer awareness. Moreover, the study results show the crucial role of landfill and water shortage concerns in measuring consumer awareness.
Practical implications
These findings may be of interest to practitioners, academics and policymakers for socially responsible food consumption guidance and training for planning consumer awareness programs. More in detail, this study offers the indication that the dimensions of the social consumer awareness construct are differing from commercial consumer awareness.
Originality/value
Even though several previous studies have addressed the concept of consumer awareness concerning product and service purchase decisions, this is one of the first research studies on consumer awareness as a multidimensional construct in social marketing studies domain.
Details
Keywords
Maria Teresa Trentinaglia, Daniele Cavicchioli, Cristina Bianca Pocol and Lucia Baldi
The goal of this study is to understand if ethnocentrism exists at the sub-regional level among honey consumers living in the same production area as a protected designation of…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this study is to understand if ethnocentrism exists at the sub-regional level among honey consumers living in the same production area as a protected designation of origin (PDO). Moreover, this analysis explores if ethnocentrism is influenced by individual economic conditions, among other socio-demographic characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 725 consumers was collected through the use of a questionnaire that was circulated in the province of Varese, one of the few honey PDO areas in Italy. The authors performed a principal component analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different PDO honey consumer segments, focusing on their interest for PDO attributes.
Findings
The authors identified four consumer segments, depending on socio-demographic, consumption habits, frequencies, preferred attributes and preferences for the PDO product. One cluster exhibited strong preferences for the PDO honey, in the spirit of ethnocentrism, and was characterised by low-income levels; ethnocentric preferences were also observed in another cluster that had a different socio-economic profile.
Research limitations/implications
Honey is a niche product and not universally diffused among consumers: further analyses should investigate sub-national ethnocentrism for more universal food products. Yet, through the inspection of the different profiles found, it was possible to devise marketing strategies to boost PDO honey purchasing and to bring consumers closer to PDO products.
Originality/value
This analysis considers ethnocentrism as a segmentation criterion for PDO honey consumers that live in the very same PDO honey production area and enriches the existing literature on the relationship between ethnocentrism and individual economic status.
Details
Keywords
Javier de Esteban Curiel, Arta Antonovica and Beatriz Rodríguez Herráez
Catering services play important role in the Spanish economy, accounting for 6.2% of GDP in 2021. To overcome the adverse economic impacts of COVID-19, catering services are…
Abstract
Purpose
Catering services play important role in the Spanish economy, accounting for 6.2% of GDP in 2021. To overcome the adverse economic impacts of COVID-19, catering services are considered one of the drivers to stimulate economic growth. Hence, the main aim of this paper is to analyse the sociodemographic profile of the family's main breadwinner who allocates most of his expenditure budget on different catering services before and during the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 in Spain.
Design/methodology/approach
The official Family Budget Survey in Spain was used. This offers information on expenditure by families in 2019 and 2020. CHAID multivariate analysis was employed. This has proved a valuable tool in predicting expenditure, as well as determining the cause–effect relationship of this expenditure.
Findings
Findings establish the main breadwinner's expenditure on catering services based on predictors such as “year” affected by the pandemic; “type of employment contract”; “gender”; and “age”. A gender “pub-gap” in consumption in bars and cafes has been revealed, and families with a male breadwinner, on a permanent contract, between the age of 40 and 60 spent the most on catering services.
Originality/value
This research presents a new interdisciplinary approach to family breadwinners as a company whose spend on catering is shaping the economic recovery and leading to new answers for hospitality management. Identified factors can lead to improved decision-making and contextualisation of economic models for food service providers in a post-pandemic future.
Details
Keywords
A number of literature contributions have underlined the importance of developing value-added logistics activities or VALS in order to help improve customers’ satisfaction…
Abstract
A number of literature contributions have underlined the importance of developing value-added logistics activities or VALS in order to help improve customers’ satisfaction. However, there is usually very little attention given regarding where to perform these VALS. This study aims to: (1) identify a comprehensive set of factors which may influence the location of VALS, (2) to analyze to what extent those factors influence location decisions, and (3) to distinguish the determinants behind the location choices for distribution centers and for the kind of VALS that will be developed in these distribution centers.
In this paper, we will present a conceptual framework on the locations of VALS in view of the identifying determinants for assigning VALS to logistical centers. We argue that the optimal location of VALS is determined by complex interactions between the determinants at the level of the choice of a distribution system, distribution center location factors, and different logistical characteristics regarding products.
Details
Keywords
Hitalo Alberto de Souza Faria Castilho, Matheus Souza De Resende, Eduardo Ramos de Oliveira Franco Montoro, Vinicius Akio De Almeida Shotoko, Michele Nascimento Jucá and Eli Hadad Junior
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether greater participation of venture capital/private equity (VC/PE) funds in the companies’ capital structure at the moment of initial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether greater participation of venture capital/private equity (VC/PE) funds in the companies’ capital structure at the moment of initial public offering (IPO) contributes to the reduction in the underpricing of their shares.
Design/methodology/approach
Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, mean difference test and cross-sectional regression were used. The final sample consisted of 89 companies making IPO in Brasil Bolsa Balcão between 2007 and 2017.
Findings
The participation of VC/PE funds was shown to mitigate the effect of information asymmetry on managers and shareholders, thus reducing the underpricing of companies at the moment of IPO (H1). However, the expectation that a greater participation of these funds promotes further reduction in a potential underpricing (H2) was not confirmed.
Research limitations/implications
One can highlight the small amount of IPOs during the sampling period due to the occurrence of international and national economic crises, as well as the difficulty in obtaining information on the participation of VC/PE funds in the companies’ capital structure.
Practical implications
It was observed that information asymmetry had a mitigating effect from the presence of these funds in the companies, which can improve the pricing of their shares, decrease the costs and make volume captions viable for investments, in addition to giving credibility to the market information effectiveness.
Originality/value
This study differs from others in that it assesses not only the influence of VC/PE funds on the reduction of the underpricing of IPO shares, but also the participation of these funds in the capital of these companies.
Details
Keywords
Patrizia Garengo, Alberto Sardi and Sai Sudhakar Nudurupati
The literature highlights the key role of human resource management in developing effective organizational performance measurement and management. To understand the state of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature highlights the key role of human resource management in developing effective organizational performance measurement and management. To understand the state of the art of this role, the paper reviews the literature on human resource management in the performance measurement and management domain.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper conducts a bibliometric literature review on 1,252 articles to identify the prevailing research trends and the conceptual structure of human resource management in the performance measurement and management domain.
Findings
The study highlights a growing number of publications and four themes related to human resource management in performance measurement and management. It also underlines the shift from static to the dynamic performance measurement and management systems within organization which is expected to be more suited to current and future contexts.
Practical implications
The paper highlights the need to manage the identified themes as strategic organizational assets and further develop the strategic dimension of human resource management practices leveraging on project management and information systems.
Originality/value
The paper goes beyond the traditional focus on performance appraisal of human resource management studies and assumes the challenge of connecting two research fields: human resource management and performance measurement and management.
Details
Keywords
Alberto Cavazza, Francesca Dal Mas, Paola Paoloni and Martina Manzo
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a growing technology impacting several business fields. The agricultural sector is facing several challenges, which may be supported by the use of…
Abstract
Purpose
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a growing technology impacting several business fields. The agricultural sector is facing several challenges, which may be supported by the use of such a new advanced technology. The aim of the paper is to map the state-of-the-art of AI applications in agriculture, their advantages, barriers, implications and the ability to lead to new business models, depicting a future research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured literature review has been conducted, and 37 contributions have been analyzed and coded using a detailed research framework.
Findings
Findings underline the multiple uses and advantages of AI in agriculture and the potential impacts for farmers and entrepreneurs, even from a sustainability perspective. Several applications and algorithms are being developed and tested, but many barriers arise, starting from the lack of understanding by farmers and the need for global investments. A collaboration between scholars and practitioners is advocated to share best practices and lead to practical solutions and policies. The promising topic of new business models is still under-investigated and deserves more attention from scholars and practitioners.
Originality/value
The paper reports the state-of-the-art of AI in agriculture and its impact on the development of new business models. Several new research avenues have been identified.