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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.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop a numerical framework to predict the time-dependent probability of failure of a bridge subjected to multiple vehicle impacts. Specially, this study focuses on investigating the inter-relationship between changes in life-cycle parameters (e.g., damage size caused by vehicle impact, loss of initial structural capacity, and threshold intervention) and bridges probability of failure.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The numerical procedure using MATLAB program is developed to compute the probability failure of a bridge. First, the importance and characteristics of life-cycle analysis is described. Then, model for damage accumulation and life cycle as a result of heavy vehicle impacts is discussed. Finally, the probability of failure of a bridge subjected to vehicle impacts as a result of change in life-cycle parameters is presented.

Findings – The results of study show that damage size caused by both vehicle impacts and loss of initial structural capacity have a great impact on the long-term safety of bridges. In addition, the probability of failure of a bridge under different threshold limits indicates that the structural intervention (e.g., repair or maintenance) should be undertaken to extend the service life of a bridge.

Research Limitations/Implications – The damage sizes caused by heavy vehicle impacts are based on simple assumptions. It is suggested that there would be a further study to estimate the magnitude of bridge damage as a result of vehicle impact using the full-scale impact test or computational simulation.

Practical Implications – This will allow much better predictions for residual life of bridges which could potentially be used to support decisions on health and maintenance of bridges.

Originality/Value – The life-cycle performance for assessing the time-dependent probability of failure of bridges subjected to multiple vehicle impact has not been fully discussed so far.