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The purpose of this paper is to investigate additive manufacturing (AM) phenomenon extending previous research results by studying in-depth the economic sustainability of AM technology and bringing out the contextual factors that drive its superior performances in comparison with conventional manufacturing, and justify its adoption in rapid prototyping (RP) from an economic point of view.

Data have been collected through a worldwide survey. Respondents were from 105 companies adopting the technology from 23 countries worldwide.

The results of this research show that although AM-based prototyping leads to significant cost reduction, it is not as good as conventional manufacturing in terms of the profitability of investment. It also demonstrates how cost reduction depends on production volume and payback period depends on the types of material and scope of AM implementation after controlling for firm size and experience.

The performance indicator is measured using a Likert scale; however, more reliable conclusion could be made by real amounts. The research also took into account the economic aspects of performance; however, to evaluate the AM technology more comprehensively, other performance measures such as those of social and environmental ones should be considered.

The paper provides insightful implications for the adoption of AM. In particular, it reveals the contingent performance of the technology in RP.

This paper contributes to expand the literature by demonstrating how different circumstances affect the performance of AM technologies for prototyping and by linking the operational and organizational factors with its performance.

This paper presents a contingency analysis of additive manufacturing's (AM) impacts, proposes a novel form of AM-enabled competitive capabilities and explores manufacturing contexts (including product-operation-organization-related factors) influencing those capabilities.

A theoretical model incorporating manufacturing competitive capabilities and contingency concepts is developed and validated using an empirical study on 105 manufacturing firms using AM. Structural equation modeling is applied for statistical data analysis.

The results indicate that the production volume and material type have contingency effects on AM-enabled product quality, cost reduction and green capabilities. Besides, it has been demonstrated that the degree of a country's economic development and the firm's experience have contingency impacts on AM's capabilities as well.

The contextual settings employed in this study are limited. A future contingency analysis requires further exploration of other factors (e.g. different AM technologies or application sectors) through in-depth case studies. Future studies can also be built upon the proposed framework to generalize the model for analyzing other emerging manufacturing technologies.

Uncertainties around AM implementation and its consequences place the context of evaluation as an essential facet. The derived insights aid practitioners in aligning the firm's internal characteristics (i.e. manufacturing and organizational contexts) with AM's promising competitive capabilities.

The study is among the first analysis to empirically and rigorously establishes the contingency effects of manufacturing and organizational factors on competitive capabilities related to AM, using a representative sample of manufacturers spanning different countries, firm sizes and other investigated manufacturing contexts.

Diverse cultures may make people behave differently and this, in turn, can impact project management. While the relationship between culture and project success has been widely explored, there is a need of addressing the gap in the relationship between culture and project management performance outcomes, that is, the performance in implementing project management processes and practices. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this gap by studying the role of cultural dimensions on project management performance.

An explorative survey including 200 observations relating to the experiences of project managers with a big experience on projects involving many different national cultures has been conducted to collect primary data on the relationship between the nationality observed and the project management performance outcomes shown. Nationality has been used as a proxy to link individual cultural dimensions and project management performance.

The results of this paper show that individualism impacts project dynamics and project control positively. Moreover, masculinity impacts project dynamics positively, and uncertainty avoidance impacts project control negatively. When recognized, different cultural dimensions can drive project management performance outcomes. The increasing awareness on this topic can be a valid instrument to control the cultural effect and take advantage of it to enhance project success.

This study contributes to the theory of project management by recognizing linkages between cultural dimensions and project management performance. Moreover, this study overcomes the concept of nationality, focusing on individuals and their unique set of cultural dimensions.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an in-depth analysis of online communities of practice that support the innovative development of web applications. The analysis is aimed at understanding the preeminent characteristics of communities of practice that can favour the process of innovation (conceptualisation and realization of a web application) and if these characteristics differ in the diverse phases of a software development project (requirement specification, design, implementation and verification).

The authors adopted a multiple case study research design, selected 29 communities of practice related to the development of web applications and classified them recognizing the different practices that refer to the different phases of the innovation process of web-applications software development. Finally, the authors focussed on seven communities comparing five important dimensions for each one.

The results of the empirical analysis show that the best practices are different, considering the different phases of the project, and that these practices can be strategies directed at members to attract them and also, strategies directed at the community to permit collaboration.

The paper proposes an important and new insight into the management of virtual communities of practice (VCoP). The authors supposed that the ways to manage a VCoP could depend on project phases. In particular, the management practices of community should differ according to the different project phases, i.e. requirements specification, design, implementation and verification of the software. Literature in this sense presented only research focussed on the different effects of virtualness on teams depending on the length of team duration and on communication efforts.

This paper aims to explain and discuss the complex nature and value of knowledge as an exploitable resource for business.

The authors propose a conceptual explanation of knowledge based on three pillars: the plurality of its nature, understood to be conservative, multipliable and generative, its contextual value and the duality of carrier incorporating business knowledge, objects or processes. After conceptualizing the nature of knowledge, the authors offer a metaphor based on the classic transformation from “potential” to “kinetic” energy in an inclined plane assuming that the conservative nature of knowledge makes it act as energy.

The metaphor uses the concept of potential and kinetic energy: if energy is only potential, it has a potential value not yet effective, whereas if the potential energy (knowledge) becomes kinetic energy (products and/or services), it generates business value. In addition, business value is a function of the speed acquired and caused by the angle of inclined plan, namely, the company’s business model. Knowledge is the source of the value and can be maintained and regenerated only through continuous investments. Several years later the value extraction reaches a null value of the company (potential energy) which will cease to act (kinetic energy) for triggering both the value generated and the value extracted.

The paper proposes an initial attempt to explain the meaning of the transformation of knowledge using a metaphor derived from physics. The metaphor of the energy of knowledge clearly depicts the managerial dilemma of balancing a company’s resources for both the generating and extracting value. Similarly, future study should try to associate other knowledge peculiarities to physical phenomena.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the impacts of additive manufacturing (AM) in manufacturing, business strategies and business performance and to determine the contingent factors driving performance. Accordingly, this study also clarifies the relationship between these impacts and company and product characteristics.

The authors conducted an exploratory study using multiple case research methodology, sampling 16 heterogeneous companies based on the theoretical replication approach. The potential impacts of AM were identified by reviewing the previous literature. For the driving factors, the paper follows the literature on AM, as well as the theories arisen from technology management literature. The qualitative information was collected by means of semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis to measure the effectiveness of AM in these aspects.

The paper derives and provides empirical insights regarding how this technology affects the industry. This study reveals how the implementation of AM in the Rapid Manufacturing (RM) of products made of metal has boosted productivity. These findings also demonstrate an increasing competitiveness of the early adopter SMEs using RM.

This empirical research has been conducted by means of qualitative data. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the propositions by quantitative measures.

The paper provides insights for the adaption of AM and its impacts on business strategies and performance.

This paper contributes to expanding the literature by depicting explicit links between the implementation of this revolutionary technology and business strategies and performance.

The purpose of this paper is to widen the knowledge base on supply chain learning by exploring and explaining how an enterprise can compete and win in the international market by integrating quality management practices along its supply chain and, above all, by becoming the coordinator in a supply chain learning (SCL) network.

The authors conducted an exploratory case study on a group operating in the coffee market that is universally recognised for the high quality of its products: illycaffè.

This paper illustrates and explains how the illycaffè Group implements, competes and wins in the international market because of its exemplary business strategies, its focus on the competitive priority of quality, and consistent and integrated supply chain management practices that are sustained by an innovative approach: the diffusion of knowledge, know‐how and a culture of excellence in coffee quality along the entire value chain. The authors find that the diffusion of a culture of quality orients supply chain learning towards the continuous improvement of product and service quality, and above all, improves results by encouraging an emergent behaviour across different actors that creates a shared culture.

The exploratory nature and use of a single case study are the major limitations of this research. Nevertheless, this study may serve as a significant starting point for future research and analysis related to supply chain learning strategies.

The illycaffè case study contributes to the literature on quality management and on supply chain management suggesting how an enterprise can improve product and service quality using a sustainable SCL strategy based on knowledge/know‐how diffusion and a shared culture along the entire supply chain.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the implementation process on the ERP’s success in the post-adoption stage, measured as system’s acceptance, reliability and utility perceived by users, inside the organizations.

The authors adopted a multiple case study research design. The data collected, provided by IT managers and 120 key-users from four companies, has been used to investigate the impact of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation phases on selected constructs of the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The empirical evidences highlight a direct relation between the effectiveness of the implementation phases and the ERP’s success.

The research results emphasize the importance of the quality of the software, but especially the importance of the implementation phases’ management, which require technical and managerial ability of the team made up of people from the system integrator and the company’s key-users. Evidences suggest that the higher will be the organizational diffusion of an ERP implemented during a successful implementation project, the higher will be the perception of ERP success in the post-adoption stage. Moreover, the users’ perception of ERP quality will be maintained over time.

The research has some limits due to its exploratory nature and to the chosen research approach, so the results may lack generalizability; consequently future research will concern with enlargement of the sample that will allow a better generalization of the results.

This exploratory study suggest that companies’ managers should be aware that a correct methodology of implementation, strongly influenced by the team, impacts on the technology consistency and therefore, on the ERP system success. So an appropriate choice is to invest more in the creation and development of internal and external project team than in the ERP’s brand.

This paper fulfils an identified need to clarify the explicit relationship between the quality of implementation phases and the subsequent ERP success in the post-adoption stage measured in terms of users’ perception of information system quality.

The paper seeks to investigate empirically the criticalities of a production system constrained by distribution, in order to propose a model capable of integrating production and distribution planning for a simultaneous improvement in terms of efficiency and efficacy.

Starting from an overview of previous works about integrated analysis of a production‐distribution system, an exploratory case study in the Italian industry of modular kitchens has been used, with multiple levels of analysis and multiple data collection methods.

Three solutions for a better integration of production‐distribution systems are proposed; the solutions are characterized by increasing levels of benefits and complexity. The article focuses on the implementation of the less complex scenario, called “overlapping of selling areas”, proposing a series of algorithms used for the implementation of a software prototype.

The case study has been chosen because it is representative of the assemble to delivery logic, where production is pulled and constrained by distribution, but it may not necessarily reflect all the firm's experiences in the furniture market.

The software prototype, developed on the basis of the proposed algorithms, allows a firm with production planning severely constrained by the distribution process to achieve better performance in terms of level of accomplishment in the delivery date promised and reduction of the lead time of delivery.

This paper proposes effective solutions for customer order‐driven‐production constrained by the distribution process, also offering practical help for managing and automatically assigning orders to transport carriers and for informing customers of the product's delivery date.

This study sets out to introduce an innovative performance measurement system (PMS) for business process outsourcing in facility management (FM) industry and analyse, comprehend and explain the main criticalities in the relationship among the actors involved in an outsourcing non core services contract, which is typical of the FM business sector. The aim of the tool is to improve performances and enhance their integration towards a partnership.

A case study research has been carried out on a medical service authority and on its FM service provider in order to investigate, understand and explain the main criticalities in their relationships. Starting from a literature analysis on empirical applications of PMS, an adaptation of a balanced scorecard (BSC) has been realized to exceed the criticalities of the case study and to propose a PMS for facility management.

As highlighted in the case study, the need for an improved actors' partnership has been fulfilled through an innovative approach, i.e. a performance measurement system which shares some indicators among FM service provider and customer.

The limitation of this research lies in the fact that PMS has been designed from a single case study. Despite this fact, the PMS can be easily adapted for wide applications inside the FM business sector.

The PMS allows a better integration and coordination of the actors involved in an outsourcing services contract. It could be implemented in FM software tools.

The proposed performance measurement system is an innovative integration between the balanced scorecard and service balanced scorecard (SBC) for the facility management service industry. Furthermore, it shares some indicators which solve the main criticalities in the relationships among the actors involved in an outsourcing services contract and enhance partnership.