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Article
Publication date: 28 October 2014

Armando Calabrese and Federico De Francesco

Demand-based pricing fixes price according to customers’ perceptions of service value and to their resulting willingness to pay. This pricing approach enables service companies to…

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Abstract

Purpose

Demand-based pricing fixes price according to customers’ perceptions of service value and to their resulting willingness to pay. This pricing approach enables service companies to align their prices to customers’ preferences and to their expenditure propensity. Accordingly, it can generate higher margins than other pricing approaches. Nevertheless, this approach is difficult to implement operationally. Consequently, in order to overcome these implementation difficulties, the purpose of this paper is to provide a demand-based pricing approach based on the user-friendly technique of service blueprint (SB).

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology relies on the design science leads. Design science deals with creating artefacts or models for supporting human or organizational purposes; such artefacts have to be assessed against criteria of utility or value for users. Accordingly, an experimental action research is performed for both implementing and testing the proposed pricing approach.

Findings

Starting from the main difficulties hindering implementation of demand-based pricing, SB is proved to enable companies to overcome such difficulties and to support its implementation. Moreover, by employing SB, an innovative approach for fixing service prices is provided.

Practical implications

The proposed approach enables managers of service companies to overcome difficulties of demand-based pricing and to employ pricing strategies according to demand-based drivers.

Originality/value

In line with a recent call for research on service pricing, this paper develops a new pricing approach, which is able to promote demand-based pricing.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 20 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

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Article
Publication date: 3 April 2017

Luigi Lepore, Francesco Paolone, Sabrina Pisano and Federico Alvino

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance, including judicial system efficiency as a moderator to investigate the…

2332

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance, including judicial system efficiency as a moderator to investigate the joint effects of both explanatory variables. Although prior studies have considered judicial system efficiency by examining de jure investor protection, this study identifies another useful proxy and explores de facto legal protection.

Design/methodology/approach

Ordinary least square multiple regression models were used to examine the influence of judicial efficiency, which was measured using the disposition time (DT) and legal origin, as a moderator of the relationship between ownership concentration and firm performance for a sample of 565 non-financial companies listed in Italy, France, Germany and Spain in 2013.

Findings

This paper shows that de facto investor protection ensured by an efficient judicial system is relevant to the relationship between firm performance and ownership structure. As a moderator variable, DT strengthens the intensity of this relationship in countries with low judicial efficiency, showing that ownership concentration leads to a better enhancement of firm performance and is, therefore, a more efficient governance mechanism in countries in which investor protection is weak.

Originality/value

The evidence presented expands the understanding of the link between firm performance and ownership structure. The institutional deficiencies suggest that internal governance mechanisms may substitute for external mechanisms in facilitating efficient governance. This study corroborates policymakers’ concerns regarding the efficiency of judicial systems and their role in protecting the rights of minority shareholders. The results suggest a need for more efficient external mechanisms of investor protection to facilitate investment in equity capital. Moreover, this study shows that DT is a more accurate measure of investor protection than the traditional measure of de jure legal protection.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

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Publication date: 8 July 2010

Carlo Salvato, Francesco Chirico and Pramodita Sharma

In this chapter we investigate the role of family-specific factors in facilitating or constraining business exit in family firms. Family business literature seems to have an…

Abstract

In this chapter we investigate the role of family-specific factors in facilitating or constraining business exit in family firms. Family business literature seems to have an implicit bias toward continuity and persistence in the founder's business. This is explained by heavy emotional involvement and development of path-dependent core competences over generations. However, several long-lived family firms were able to successfully exit the founder's business. Exit allowed them to free significant strategic resources, which were later reinvested in exploiting novel entrepreneurial opportunities. Our aim is to investigate the process of exit from the founder's business in family firms, to explain both triggers and obstacles to decommitment and de-escalation. We address this issue through the study of the Italian Falck Group's exit from the steel industry in the 1990s, followed by successful startup of a renewable energy business. By carefully triangulating different data sources and different voices within and outside the controlling family, we develop a framework describing family-specific facilitators and inhibitors of business exit, and subsequent startup of a new business. Three types of family-specific factors emerge as relevant in shaping a family firm's likelihood and speed of exit from a failing business: family-related psychological triggers and obstacles to business exit; family-specific components of the structural de-escalation context; family responses to ensuing de-escalation and exit needs. The emerging framework offers a more nuanced interpretation of decommitment activities in family firms, pointing to the differential role family-specific factors may play as facilitators or inhibitors of business exit. We also suggest how these family-specific results may contribute to a deeper understanding of exit in nonfamily firms. Our results also have practical implications for family business entrepreneurial management. Actively managing the different determinants of exit choices that emerged from our study will set the stage for de-escalation from a failing course of action – a dynamic capability all family firms should learn and practice if they intend to transfer their entrepreneurial orientation to next generations.

Details

Entrepreneurship and Family Business
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-097-2

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Article
Publication date: 3 June 2022

Massimo Ciambotti, Federica Palazzi and Francesca Sgrò

This paper aims to investigate the link between accounting, religion and art to understand the managerial approach of the Confraternity of Corpus Domini of Urbino and the…

184

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the link between accounting, religion and art to understand the managerial approach of the Confraternity of Corpus Domini of Urbino and the phenomenon of art commissioning between 1465 and 1513.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on the interpretive historical method used to understand, through accounting, the managerial role of confraternities within the economic activity of art commissioning. To this purpose, the present analysis is based on a primary source, represented by the book of revenues and expenses, named B1 (1465–1513).

Findings

The analysis has provided evidence of the role of Urbino’s Confraternity in supporting art commissioning and its capacity to invest significant resources in favor of the social, religious and institutional environment of the time. Results show the connection between Urbino’s Confraternity and painters based on their commissioning agreements, the relation between painters and the Ducal Court and, finally, the role of the Duke of Urbino in funding the Confraternity’s initiatives for painters. Thus, this study highlights the major role played by Urbino’s Confraternity in art commissioning, an instrumental part of the Confraternity’s mission.

Originality/value

This paper presents a unique case study that brings out the managerial approach in art commissioning through accounting documents which make activities and links visible.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

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Article
Publication date: 22 March 2021

Angela Fedi, Francesco La Barbera, Annabelle De Jong and Chiara Rollero

The market of bottled water is one of the largest in the world. Paradoxically, the consumption of water in plastic bottles is highest in countries rich in the potable tap water of…

1229

Abstract

Purpose

The market of bottled water is one of the largest in the world. Paradoxically, the consumption of water in plastic bottles is highest in countries rich in the potable tap water of excellent quality. This paper aims to gain a better understanding of the factors that foster or hinder the intention to use refillable water bottles by university students and to determine whether their study program played a moderating role.

Design/methodology/approach

Within the framework of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB), this paper conducted this cross-sectional study to understand the influence of attitudes, norms and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on the intention to drink tap water from reusable bottles. Italian university students (n =540) majoring in the hard (42.4%) or the soft (57.6%) sciences completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire.

Findings

For both groups, there was a significant association between attitudes and intention to use a refillable water bottle. The intention to drink tap water was also influenced by PBC among the hard science students, whereas among the soft science students the descriptive norm exerted a significant influence.

Originality/value

This is the first application of TPB, a well-established theoretical and methodological framework, to understand the intention of university students to drink tap water from reusable bottles. Within the framework of TPB, this study is the first to address this specific pro-environmental behavior and explore the potential moderating role of university studies programs, which proved significant.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 March 2023

Marialuisa Saviano, Marzia Del Prete, Jens Mueller and Francesco Caputo

This paper aims to recall the attention on a key challenge for customer relationship management related to the role of human agents in the management of the “switch point” for…

3262

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to recall the attention on a key challenge for customer relationship management related to the role of human agents in the management of the “switch point” for ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency in a customer-machine conversation.

Design/methodology/approach

This study contributes to the discussion about the firms’ approach to artificial intelligence (AI) in frontline interactions under the conceptual umbrella provided by knowledge management studies.

Findings

This paper provides a theoretical model for clarifying the role of human intelligence (HI) in AI-based frontline interactions by highlighting the relevance of the actors’ subjectivity in the dynamics and perceptions of customer-machine conversations.

Originality/value

An AI-HI complementarity matrix is proposed in spite of the still dominant replacement view.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 27 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

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Article
Publication date: 10 April 2024

Francesco Tajani, Francesco Sica, Pierfrancesco De Paola and Pierluigi Morano

The paper aims to provide a decision-support model to ensure a proper use of the limited resources, financial and not, for the enhancement of the cultural heritage and…

38

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to provide a decision-support model to ensure a proper use of the limited resources, financial and not, for the enhancement of the cultural heritage and comprehensive development of small towns from sustainable perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The assessment model is set up using a multi-criteria method that combines elements of linear planning with a performance indicators system that may represent the complexity of the territory’s cultural identity as a result of existing cultural-historical assets.

Findings

The model reliability is tested in a case study in a Municipality in southern Italy. The case study’s findings highlight the advantages for the public/private operators, who can consciously choose which preservation and restoration projects to fund while taking into account the effects those decisions will have on the economic, social and environmental context of reference.

Research limitations/implications

Due to the suggested operational approach and the selection of variables for accounting economic, social and environmental impacts by the renewal project, the research findings may not be generalizable. Therefore, it is recommended that researchers look into the suggested theories in more detail.

Practical implications

The study offers implications for designing a user-friendly tool to help decision-making processes from a private–public viewpoint in a reasonable allocation of financial resources among investments for cultural property asset enhancement.

Originality/value

The suggested operational approach provides a reliable information apparatus to depict the decision-making process under small-town development in accordance with sustainability dimensions.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

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Article
Publication date: 24 March 2023

Francesco Caputo, Barbara Keller, Michael Möhring, Luca Carrubbo and Rainer Schmidt

In recognising the key role of business intelligence and big data analytics in influencing companies’ decision-making processes, this paper aims to codify the main phases through…

634

Abstract

Purpose

In recognising the key role of business intelligence and big data analytics in influencing companies’ decision-making processes, this paper aims to codify the main phases through which companies can approach, develop and manage big data analytics.

Design/methodology/approach

By adopting a research strategy based on case studies, this paper depicts the main phases and challenges that companies “live” through in approaching big data analytics as a way to support their decision-making processes. The analysis of case studies has been chosen as the main research method because it offers the possibility for different data sources to describe a phenomenon and subsequently to develop and test theories.

Findings

This paper provides a possible depiction of the main phases and challenges through which the approach(es) to big data analytics can emerge and evolve over time with reference to companies’ decision-making processes.

Research limitations/implications

This paper recalls the attention of researchers in defining clear patterns through which technology-based approaches should be developed. In its depiction of the main phases of the development of big data analytics in companies’ decision-making processes, this paper highlights the possible domains in which to define and renovate approaches to value. The proposed conceptual model derives from the adoption of an inductive approach. Despite its validity, it is discussed and questioned through multiple case studies. In addition, its generalisability requires further discussion and analysis in the light of alternative interpretative perspectives.

Practical implications

The reflections herein offer practitioners interested in company management the possibility to develop performance measurement tools that can evaluate how each phase can contribute to companies’ value creation processes.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the role of digital technologies in influencing managerial and social models. This paper provides a conceptual model that is able to support both researchers and practitioners in understanding through which phases big data analytics can be approached and managed to enhance value processes.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 27 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 August 2017

Raffaele Barretta, Luciano Feo, Raimondo Luciano, Francesco Marotti de Sciarra and Rosa Penna

This study aims to model scale effects in nano-beams under torsion.

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to model scale effects in nano-beams under torsion.

Design/methodology/approach

The elastostatic problem of a nano-beam is formulated by a novel stress-driven nonlocal approach.

Findings

Unlike the standard strain-driven nonlocal methodology, the proposed stress-driven nonlocal model is mathematically and mechanically consistent. The contributed results are useful for the design of modern devices at nanoscale.

Originality/value

The innovative stress-driven integral nonlocal model, recently proposed in literature for inflected nano-beams, is formulated in the present submission to study size-dependent torsional behavior of nano-beams.

Details

PSU Research Review, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2399-1747

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 1 December 2001

Martha Zarate

Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference…

2928

Abstract

Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference works, histories, themes, theory and criticism and articles in journals.

Details

Collection Building, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0160-4953

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