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1 – 10 of 31Giulia Monteverde and Andrea Runfola
This paper aims to integrate the consumption perspective within the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) debate. The study delves into how consumer communities can be…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to integrate the consumption perspective within the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) debate. The study delves into how consumer communities can be conceived like other network business actors. The perspective of sustainable new ventures (SNVs) in the fashion industry is adopted, considering their specific connection with consumer communities.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a multiple case study methodology, this paper uses a qualitative approach. Data collection mainly relies on interviews conducted with 10 SNVs in the fashion industry; this sector is a fertile ground for studying sustainability and consumer communities. For data analysis, the abductive approach of systematic combining is applied.
Findings
The paper identifies four distinct types of consumer communities and four roles that they can assume as business actors in the business network. Owing to their engagement in these specific roles, consumer communities become part of the SNVs’ network, akin to other business-to-business players.
Originality/value
This study represents one of the initial endeavors to introduce consumption into the IMP theoretical framework. In this paper’s conceptualization, consumer communities are groups of consumers and collective actors in the business network. Additionally, this study advances the research on sustainability as a network concept by including consumer communities’ roles in business networks.
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Simone Guercini, Andrea Runfola, Andrea Perna and Matilde Milanesi
Matilde Milanesi, Andrea Runfola and Simone Guercini
The paper delves into the international expansion of luxury SMEs to investigate their internationalization pathways, namely how the internationalization process unfolds in terms…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper delves into the international expansion of luxury SMEs to investigate their internationalization pathways, namely how the internationalization process unfolds in terms of timing of entry into foreign markets, the geographic scope of operations and the scale. The paper examines also the determinants of the internationalization pathways as a set of factors that contribute to developing an asset of foreignness.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a multiple case study approach and reports findings from four cases of Italian SMEs operating in the luxury fashion industry.
Findings
SMEs’ specific characteristics at the firm and entrepreneurial levels (i.e. craftsmanship, quality, product creativity, entrepreneurial mindset), country of origin attributes (e.g. Italy’s positive image) and the inherently global nature of the luxury industry, can turn foreignness into an asset of foreignness that allows luxury fashion SMEs to pursue internationalization pathways of born globals.
Originality/value
The paper highlights that the global luxury market is not the exclusive domain of MNEs and sheds light on luxury SMEs, overlooked by extant literature. The paper also contributes to understanding early internationalization by highlighting a potential link between internationalization pathways and foreignness and discussed the asset of foreignness by extending it to SMEs.
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Andrea Runfola, Matilde Milanesi and Simone Guercini
This paper aims to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the interaction in a business-to-business (BtoB) setting and the emerging relational dynamics. The COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the interaction in a business-to-business (BtoB) setting and the emerging relational dynamics. The COVID-19 pandemic is having a strong impact on BtoB markets in terms of the stop of production, the difficulty of coping with payments, restrictions on the flows of people and goods within national and international markets. The paper discusses that the effects of worldwide lockdowns, social distancing and other related restrictions undermine one of the salient features of business relationships, namely interaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies on a qualitative interpretivist approach based on the data collected from in-depth interviews with key informants and secondary sources. The fashion industry is taken as an emblematic case, given the relevance of BtoB relationships, especially those between global fashion brands and their suppliers, and the dramatic impact of the pandemic.
Findings
The paper shows four effects in terms of relational dynamics. The freezing effect is the maintaining of interaction at minimum operating levels capable of ensuring survival for both interacting actors. The ripple effect can be conceived as a negative effect of the pandemic related to the weakening of the freezing effects in interactions along the supply chain. The rebound effect is a sudden increase in interactive processes among existing relationships. The vicious effect is a negative effect of the pandemic on the interaction that refers to the decay of existing interaction and their ending.
Originality/value
This study fits into the current period of the COVID-19 pandemic to stress the role of interaction involving people and businesses as a key to restart. The paper suggests managerial implications to respond to the pandemic in the short term and to set the basis for future opportunities.
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Tommaso Pucci, Andrea Runfola, Simone Guercini and Lorenzo Zanni
The purpose of this paper is to study the role of the actors (especially firms) in interactions between contexts defined as “innovation ecosystems.”
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the role of the actors (especially firms) in interactions between contexts defined as “innovation ecosystems.”
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a conceptual framework. A review of the literature to frame the concepts of innovation ecosystems and the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) approach is presented. A possible integration of the two concepts is then discussed.
Findings
The paper adds new discursive inputs to the concept of innovation ecosystem that validate its use in the context of the knowledge economy and extends the theories of knowledge, by analyzing the role that various actors who populate an innovative ecosystem play in the creation, learning, use, and dissemination of knowledge.
Originality/value
The paper furnishes an approach to the research on knowledge management and innovation, in the attempt to relate the IMP Group approach with the perspective of the “innovation ecosystems” concept.
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Simone Guercini and Andrea Runfola
This paper aims to deal with the issue of business model change in industrial markets. It considers the fast-fashion supply chain by addressing the following research questions…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to deal with the issue of business model change in industrial markets. It considers the fast-fashion supply chain by addressing the following research questions: What are the paths of change of the supplier’s business model to match the business model of fast fashion customers? How can a supplier’s business model be adapted to customer’s requirements in these paths of change?
Design/methodology/approach
Empirically, the paper presents a multiple case study of 10 semi-finished textile suppliers, carried out through a long-term research programme in the Italian textile industrial district of Prato.
Findings
The multiple-case study shows some key drivers of change in the suppliers’ business models. Three main paths emerged from the interactions with fast fashion clients. Paradoxes in the supplier’s business model changes are identified and discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The paper proposes implications for suppliers interacting with fast fashion clients and discusses how the adaptation of business models may be interpreted. This study points out how matching the business model of the customers does not call for alignment of similar features.
Originality/value
The paper deals with an understudied topic within the literature: business models change in business to business markets, taking into consideration the perspective of the supplier. It considers buyers-seller relationships in industrial supply chains as being part of a chain of business models and the need for the supplier’s business model to adapt and match one of the clients. The paper proposes two potential interpretations of such adaptation.
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Andrea Runfola and Giulia Monteverde
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
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.
Social implications
This paper contributes to the debate on society’s sustainable development by emphasizing how networks can affect the growth of SNVs.
Originality/value
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.
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Matilde Milanesi, Giulia Monteverde, Andrea Runfola, Ivana Kursan Milaković and Simone Guercini
Fashion companies have been among the first to ride the new trend and develop projects for the Metaverse, considering Generation Z (Gen Z) as a relevant target. The paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Fashion companies have been among the first to ride the new trend and develop projects for the Metaverse, considering Generation Z (Gen Z) as a relevant target. The paper aims to investigate Gen Z consumers’ intention to use digital fashion items in the Metaverse.
Design/methodology/approach
The study relies on the technology acceptance model (TAM). The authors include specific aspects of the Metaverse: the user-avatar identification and the development of an alternative identity; fashion innovativeness is discussed as a moderator variable. The model is tested on Gen Z consumers, with 329 survey responses collected in 2022 and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
The paper shows that the two external and explanatory variables the authors added, i.e. user-avatar identification and alternative identity, positively and directly impact the individual attitude to use digital fashion items in the Metaverse. Moreover, according to the proposed research model, the moderating effect concerning fashion innovativeness has positive and negative consequences.
Originality/value
Using TAM, the authors explored consumers’ perceptions (perceived usefulness and ease of use), attitudes and intentions regarding the new technology context (digital fashion in the Metaverse). This study enriched TAM with new consumer marketing constructs (user-avatar identification and alternative identity) and their relationships with consumers’ intention to use digital fashion items in the Metaverse. This study also contributed to TAM by exploring the relevance of moderating the effects of consumer fashion innovativeness on consumers’ intentions and attitudes in the novel context of digital fashion in the Metaverse. The paper contributes to the academic debate by focusing on the individual and personal sphere of the consumer moving in the Metaverse digital environment. The marketing-focused study develops research on Gen Z consumers to provide new insights and possible opportunities for marketers in the Metaverse.
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Simone Guercini, Matilde Milanesi and Andrea Runfola
This paper aims to investigate the market access (MA) of ethical drugs, the underlying public-private interaction (PPI) between pharmaceutical companies and public actors, and the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the market access (MA) of ethical drugs, the underlying public-private interaction (PPI) between pharmaceutical companies and public actors, and the implications for the sustainability of the health system.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative interpretivist approach was selected. Interviews were carried out as the primary method of data collection: 27 interviews were conducted with 13 key informants from the pharmaceutical industry.
Findings
The perspective of MA evolves from formal negotiation with the public actor at various levels to PPI, which should include aspects of interactions with other actors in the network. Conceptualization in these terms is fundamental because it allows an understanding of the implications in terms of the sustainability of the health system.
Originality/value
The paper discusses MA by highlighting the shift from a “market access as formal negotiation” perspective to a “public-private interaction for market access” perspective, in which the focus is on the content of the interaction and the representation of the network of relevant actors for MA. It contributes to the debate on the sustainability of health systems by suggesting the adoption of a medium-to-long-term approach to economic and social sustainability based on PPI; it adopts an industrial marketing approach and contributes to the recent debate on PPI.
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Andrea Runfola, Simone Guercini and Matilde Milanesi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate pharmaceutical market access (MA) and the interaction between the pharmaceutical company and other business and non-business actors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate pharmaceutical market access (MA) and the interaction between the pharmaceutical company and other business and non-business actors (NBAs) involved in the MA of ethical drugs, to identify the main categories of actors, their role for MA and the content of the interaction, adopting an industrial marketing approach.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative interpretivist approach is adopted, with interviews as the primary data collection method: 36 interviews have been conducted with 16 key informants from the pharmaceutical industry.
Findings
The findings of this study reveal that (i) MA can be seen as a relational-driven activity with specific features owing to the highly regulated nature of the pharmaceutical industry, (ii) there is a multiplicity of business, and NBAs involved in the MA activities with whom pharmaceutical companies interact to acquire knowledge, legitimacy and make MA timely and effective, and (iii) the interaction with each category of actors has specific content.
Originality/value
This paper advances the debate on the marketing and management of pharmaceutical companies by emphasizing the importance of MA and the need to conceptualize it according to an industrial marketing perspective, revealing the interdependencies among actors for MA and the content of the interaction. It also contributes to the industrial marketing literature that has recently stressed the importance of NBAs as part of the extended business network of a company by identifying different categories of actors, their role in terms of knowledge and legitimization and the features and the trade-off of the extended business network in highly regulated markets.
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