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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the entrepreneurship theory in family firms as it focuses on the relevance of an ambidextrous entrepreneurial strategy (Helfat and Peteraf, 2009), thanks to an effective combination between exploitation and exploration activities. The study refers to the food sector, characterized by established food traditions and changing consumption patterns.

After reviewing the topics, the authors referred to Goel and Jones (2016) for its representativeness for the research. The authors conducted an explanatory case study in which the authors identified the framework’s three sub-systems impacting the above family business systems. The case study is relevant because Eataly, a family-owned and -managed firm, is gaining recognition while applying a strong entrepreneurial strategy and it is unique in the world for the strength of its commercial strategy and dimensions.

Entrepreneurship strategies can be explained by combined organizational antecedent conditions, represented by three sub-systems: family, business and ownership. The sub-systems’ features and their interrelations play a relevant role in influencing entrepreneurial exploration and exploitation processes.

The study contributes to the actual entrepreneurship theory in family firms because it indicates the relevance of an ambidextrous entrepreneurial strategy, thanks to a combination of exploitation and exploration activities. In addition, it analyses the so-called antecedent conditions in organizations to achieve this favorable combination. Limitations involve the case study method and interview technique, both of which could be expanded.

Several practical implications follow for different stakeholder categories (food sector companies, investors and private/public entities) concerning the management of antecedent conditions, the consequences of entrepreneurial investment policy, and tourism and territorial development.

This research is novel because it combines an ambidextrous entrepreneurship approach (Goel and Jones, 2016) with the family firm’s sub-systems (Tagiuri and Davis, 1982), observing how these sub-systems are relevant to defining and managing effective entrepreneurship strategy in a family food firm. The value added is particularly relevant in the food sector, which is characterized by low research and development. In addition, it requires innovative approaches to stimulate customers’ perception of market demand, to satisfy their needs and to sustain family firms in a highly competitive environment.

This study aims at assessing entrepreneurial business performance (EBP) from dynamic capability (DC) and technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework perspectives, taking support from crowdfunding.

With the inputs from the literature, supported by TOE framework and the dynamic capability view (DCV), a model has been proposed. This model has been tested by the factor-based partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique through a survey and quantifying the responses of 406 respondents on a five-point Likert scale has been used.

The study has found that crowdfunding support (CFS) has an effective influence on the improvement of EBP. Also, the DC supports to improve the EBP. Environmental dynamism (END) has also a critical role in impacting business performance.

Crowdfunding involves investors who have a similar interest in the business, close friends, family members, venture capitalists, investment groups, etc. Thus, the proposed model can be used by these stakeholders for investment purposes as well as for improving EBP. This study is a cross sectional research work which has limitations. Moreover, the sample size of this project is limited and did not include global respondents, Thus, the findings of this study cannot be generalizable which is another limitation of this study.

Crowdfunding involves investors who have a similar interest in the business, such as close friends, family members, venture capitalists, investment groups, etc. Thus, the proposed model can be used by these stakeholders for investment purposes as well as for improving EBP. The study can help policymakers understand the importance of crowdfunding in promoting entrepreneurship activities in a region, which helps in the economic development of that region.

This research work enriches the extant literature in the fields of crowdfunding and investment, DC and entrepreneurship. Not many studies have dealt with the issues of CFS for the improvement of EBP. Hence, this study may be considered novel. Moreover, the proposed research framework related to crowdfunding possesses a high predictive power. This makes the study unique.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of external knowledge in the innovation process of firms in the food and beverage (F&B) industry and the effects of two external knowledge sourcing modes on new product development (NPD) performance.

The paper applies a quantitative approach, relying on data from 157 Italian firms operating in the F&B industry to test the hypotheses through OLS regression models.

Results suggest that the surveyed firms actively engage in open innovation with strong ties with market-based sources. Moreover, the authors found that market-based sources are associated with income from incremental innovation and time to market, while science-based sources are associated with income from radical innovation. Finally, the authors found that the R&D intensity enhances the benefits of the above external knowledge sourcing modes.

Despite the large amount of studies assessing the effects of external knowledge sourcing on performance in the open innovation field, few studies focused on a specific industry, especially with regard to F&B. Moreover, this paper considers different types of NPD performance measures given that different external knowledge sourcing modes exert different effects.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how big data collected from social media contribute to knowledge management practices, innovation processes and business performance.

The study used 418 questionnaires collected from firms that actively invest in marketing, advertising and communication in the Italian market. The hypotheses testing and analysis were conducted using structural equation modeling.

The results reveal that customers’ data gathered from social media produce different effects on knowledge management practices and firms’ innovation capacity. Furthermore, increased innovation capacity turned out to affect customer relationship performance directly, while it contributes to gain better financial performance only when it is used to gain relational outcomes.

The outcomes of the study help firms to develop a clear understanding about which big data retrieved from social media can be useful to improve their knowledge management practices and enhance their innovation capacity. Moreover, by investigating the mediating role of big data knowledge management in the context of social media knowledge acquisition and innovation capacity, this study also extends the mediation variables used to understand the relationship between knowledge capabilities and practices and innovation constructs.

This study analyses how family-run businesses operating in the Italian food sector faced the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that affected the global economy, with the support of management accounting systems.

The methodology used is based on a survey questionnaire conducted on Italian family firms involved in food business. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed.

This study categorised the companies into three groups, according to their long-term orientation and the use of management accounting tools. The results highlight proactive versus passive companies that emphasise various recovery paths from the perspective of performance.

Limitations refer to the attention on a single country and the sample size.

The main practical implication refers to management at different levels that should better understand how a clear long-term orientation can maintain the competitive position and pre-crisis performance.

This study examines the measures launched by companies to address challenges originating from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how family firms execute open innovation strategies by managing internal and external knowledge flows (KF) to provide a deeper understanding of family firms’ ability to innovate through traditions and create value across generations.

Empirical evidence was collected using an online survey of a sample of 208 Apulian entrepreneurs, who were members of the association of young entrepreneurs of Confindustria in the Apulia region (southern Italy).

The study derives a model that explains the most relevant factors behind the innovation processes developed by young entrepreneurs in family firms: network membership benefits; KF; track record of innovation; and the entrepreneurial attitude of employees.

By integrating insights from different research streams, namely, innovation management, open innovation and family firms, the study provides a novel contribution to the open innovation process in family firms.

The study offers interpretative lenses for entrepreneurs and managers to understand the most suitable knowledge transfer process for encouraging open innovation in family firms, taking into consideration young entrepreneurs’ traditions and interpersonal skills, the KF in local ecosystems and network benefits as the main variables supporting the innovation process.

This study creates a link between open innovation and family firm research by providing an empirically grounded model illustrating how the innovation process is realized in family firms.

This research aims to find out the impact of knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge hiding (KH) on employee creativity (EC) and eventually on firm innovativeness (FI). The study also investigates the moderating roles of incentive focus, preventive focus and enterprise social networking (ESN) adoption on EC and FI.

The study used an empirical research approach and created a research model using resource-based view theory and literature. The model was validated using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique to analyze data from 347 respondents from Indian firms.

The authors found that there is a considerable moderating impact of all three moderators on EC and firms’ innovativeness. KS has a positive impact and KH has a negative impact on EC.

Knowledge can be shared within a firm by using an ESN tool. KS is the brighter side of the knowledge management process, whereas KH is the darker side of it. The study presents insights into and prescriptions for the bright and dark sides of knowledge management. The study results also imply that the firm managers must try to properly integrate the knowledge acquired from various stakeholders such as institutions, customers, competitors and suppliers as well as to focus on the tacit, precious and distinctive knowledge helpful to sustain long-term relationships with the valued external sources. The study empirically validates the model with the respondents from Indian firms, and thus the proposed model cannot be generalized.

Few research studies have examined both the bright and dark sides of the knowledge management process. There is a growing interest among researchers and practitioners to explore these sides of the knowledge management process using information systems and knowledge risk. Moreover, the proposed theoretical model has a high explanative power that makes the model effective and unique.

This paper aims to identify and elucidate the culinary territorial (regional) characteristics that may support the development of stakeholder relations with and perceptions of a territorial system. It further focuses on these support interactions between destination managers and stakeholders and how online technology can transform them into a word-of-mouth source.

The authors present a theoretical framework, stemming from a case study of a tour operator and its technological (social media, etc.) dynamics on the relational aspects between destination management and stakeholders. Through a combination of qualitative tools and secondary data analysis, this paper analyzes the interrelationships of authenticity and place-as-brand concept, considered as the set of human characteristics associated with a brand in a “living like” travel experience.

Culinary tourism is seen as a relevant and significant factor in facilitating interaction between the destination community and its stakeholders, and a meaningful element, which when technologically communicated and enhanced, strengthens both the perception and the brand image of a destination.

Such new technology-enhanced insights into tourists’ experience could be exploited to plan and implement destination management and development strategies in a way that would be expected, accepted and welcomed by stakeholders, including tourists themselves. In this context, this paper presents and prescribes the role of culinary characteristics and stakeholder relationship management to develop new culinary business models and different destination community approaches toward practical implementation at both the individual (business) and the collective (authorities) levels.

The proposed framework fills the gap in the role of culinary tourism resources particularly in those areas where food has no viable certification even if it essentially constitutes a manifestation of traditions.