Gaetano Marino, Giulio Zotteri and Francesca Montagna
Short delivery time is a feature that can influence consumers’ purchasing decisions and that retailers compete over fiercely. Accordingly, evaluating the effect of delivery time…
Abstract
Purpose
Short delivery time is a feature that can influence consumers’ purchasing decisions and that retailers compete over fiercely. Accordingly, evaluating the effect of delivery time on demand and identifying marketing-mix variables that alter this relationship may influence retailers’ strategies and impact supply chain (SC) performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was performed in collaboration with the largest furniture retailer in Italy, which provided its sales and inventory data for 19,000 units sold over a six-month period in 32 stores throughout Italy. Data were analysed using logistic regression with fixed effects.
Findings
The value of delivery time for consumers, even in an industry generally characterised by long delivery lead times, is surprisingly high. The evidence reveals that when the delivery time changes from two days to seven days, demand is reduced by 37.5 per cent, although variables related to location and the marketing mix moderate this relationship.
Practical implications
Retailers can use the findings presented herein to drive their inventory and facility planning decisions and support investments in SC integration.
Originality/value
Supply chain management (SCM) studies consider the value of delivery time anecdotally and have neglected empirical estimations of the magnitude of the effects of delivery time on consumer demand. Further, SCM studies have not explored the factors moderating this relationship, although intertemporal choice and service management studies have demonstrated the existence of such factors.
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Marco Cantamessa, Francesca Montagna and Paolo Neirotti
The implementation of product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies poses different challenges in comparison to the ones faced by companies using other information systems…
Abstract
Purpose
The implementation of product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies poses different challenges in comparison to the ones faced by companies using other information systems. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of PLM on both new product development (NPD) process and on users' individual work, and also to analyse the linkages between PLM's organizational impact and users' attitudes towards technology.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is based on a survey of PLM end‐users in an aerospace company.
Findings
This paper shows that in the NPD process, PLM favoured a tighter workflow logic, easier product carryover, and more efficient product data retrieval. At the individual level, this has led users to spend more time on technical work, without impacting their productivity. This was true in the product design department and for older workers with low job seniority in particular.
Research limitations/implications
Although the findings were drawn from a single case, this paper highlights the contribution made by technology acceptance models in explaining the organizational impact of technologies that support complex knowledge‐intensive tasks.
Practical implications
This paper points out that for a technology like PLM, each user needs different supporting mechanisms depending on his/her role and age. Young workers primarily need adequate sponsorship by top management and compatibility of new technology with their job. Older users, given their higher initial scepticism, need more training in the early phases of a new technology's introduction.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to existing literature by providing empirical evidence of both the impact of PLM systems and the determinants of their acceptance among end‐users.
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Maria Anacleta described her life in Milan as follows (Maria Anacleta dictated the text in English, and the words in italics refer to Italian terms she used):I am a Filipina, I am…
Abstract
Maria Anacleta described her life in Milan as follows (Maria Anacleta dictated the text in English, and the words in italics refer to Italian terms she used):I am a Filipina, I am [Maria Anacleta]. I came to Italy (…) with two of my friends. (…) I saw Rome, France, the Eiffel tower. My brother met me in Rome. Then I visited my Mom. My Mom was here in Milano [Milan], I saw her, I have been in the house with my mother and brother for seven months.When I found a job, I worked in _ [a city a few hours south of Milan]. My employer in _ died, but my soggiorno [work and resident permit] was ready. I met many Filipino people here and when I have no job, I work as a parrucchiere [hairdresser]: I cut their hair, and manicure them, to earn money.Now, after 3–4 years, I am very lonely, I remember my family, I want to return, but I have to wait for the renewal of my soggiorno. I cannot go home without my soggiorno because without it I cannot come back anymore.(…)When I was in the Philippines, cutting hair was really my job. That was what I did. And I made my children study. (…) One of them is a nurse, one studied in the hotel business, and one is in computer. (…) My husband worked in Saudi Arabia for 5 years. I am in the Philippines, I am in my shop, I am cutting hair, together with my children. They are still very young. He worked in an oil factory in maintenance, as a power plant operator. When he finished, he came to the Philippine and I told him “ok, you are finished working, so I will be the one to work, I will be the one to go abroad because I haven’t been.”
Francesca Teston and Alberto Bramanti
“Wide area cooperation” may be the ultimate challenge within transnational cooperation processes. Although the Alps share a remarkable history of mutual collaboration, they are…
Abstract
Purpose
“Wide area cooperation” may be the ultimate challenge within transnational cooperation processes. Although the Alps share a remarkable history of mutual collaboration, they are facing the challenge of a new sustainable-coordination paradigm. The Alpine territories are at a turning point. They are striving for a new governance arrangement and trying to avoid both the Scylla of top-town dirigisme and the Charybdis of poor local governments. This paper aims to address the recent literature on the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) macro-regional strategy; provide some insights into the role that EUSALP could play as ultimate coordinator of the numerous networks operating in the Alpine space; and discuss a workable division of labour among the different actors that can ensure a renewed focus on sustainable development.
Design/methodology/approach
The review addresses two main strands of literature related to “wide area cooperation” and “multi-level governance” to synthesise the debate on the most appropriate governance structure for the Alps. The paper examines, dating back to 2000, the recent history of bottom-up projects related to sustainable tourism in the western arc of the Alps. The study uses a subset of best practices to evaluate the emerging governance frame.
Findings
The main outcomes of this study are a framework for a theoretical debate on the most appropriate governance structure for the Alps, guidance for policymakers on a division of labour among different stakeholders that can promote sustainable tourism in the Alps and a set of suggestions for practitioners. Further, the study acknowledges “sustainable tourism” as a highly relevant field to the emergence of bottom-up arrangements aimed at developing workable governance agreements.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides a state-of-the-art framework for “wide area cooperation” in the Alps and serves as a basis for discussion between academics and practitioners. As EUSALP is still in its infancy, its success will depend on the pro-active involvement of national stakeholders. In the case of Italy, this is all but granted because of the current unstable political situation.
Originality/value
This paper provides a rigorous framework for addressing top-down strategies and bottom-up planning in the Alpine space. The study also makes a practical contribution by addressing some topics of interest to policymakers.
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Valeria Borsellino, Francesca Varia, Cinzia Zinnanti and Emanuele Schimmenti
The purpose of this paper is to verify whether, besides the traditional organisational models mainly implemented by wine-making cooperatives, more modern and hybrid organisational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to verify whether, besides the traditional organisational models mainly implemented by wine-making cooperatives, more modern and hybrid organisational forms can be profitably applied within an increasingly competitive wine market.
Design/methodology/approach
The study outlined in this paper deployed a mixed method. Specifically, an archived analysis, a survey and a descriptive case study (including visits, interviews and documentary analysis) were the methodological techniques used in this study, which were “in series but integrated” between themselves. In this paper, the landscape of Sicilian wine cooperatives is described by collating and processing different types of statistical sources, which have been integrated by direct surveys undertaken in 2017. Thereafter, the study focussed on a wine cooperative with a specific business model and a strategic edge by analysing its strategic choices and main structural and governance characteristics. Within this case study, a financial ratio analysis, which was based on 2011-2017 financial statements, was conducted to analyse the profitability, financial balance, capital structure and debt relationships of the wine cooperative.
Findings
The Sicilian wine cooperative system is still predominantly characterised by partial and vertical integration, implemented by cooperatives which elect to sell mainly bulk wine to wine merchants. In such a context, there is scope for other degrees of integration and strategic inter-firm alliances; the latter includes “vertical quasi-integration”. The study demonstrated how the wine cooperative under investigation is overcoming the structural problems of the regional wine sector and why it is retaining such a strategic alliance with one of the most important Italian wine conglomerates. Indeed, it has acquired greater strength and reliability since its collaboration with the aforementioned wine company. Thus, total revenue and the company’s market share of packaged wine have increased. However, there are still margins for improving sales’ profitability.
Research limitations/implications
This study has territorial limitations but Sicilian wine cooperatives generally play an important role in the regional, Italian and European wine industries. As such, this research should be considered as an exploratory study, deserving further investigation into different strategic choices within the wine cooperative system by performing cross-case comparisons. Results may also be useful in orienting cooperative strategies in Sicily (or further afield) to small-to-medium wine cooperatives, often lacking specific abilities relating to the distribution, marketing and selling of their wine. Public agricultural policies may also be enlightened by these research pathways.
Originality/value
The authors contend that their study provides hitherto missing information relating to inter-firm strategic alliances, which wine cooperatives might implement to enhance their competitiveness and survive in the long-run.
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Francesca Dal Mas, Helena Biancuzzi, Maurizio Massaro and Luca Miceli
The paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning the use of knowledge translation for implementing co-production processes in the healthcare sector. The study investigates a…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning the use of knowledge translation for implementing co-production processes in the healthcare sector. The study investigates a case study, in which design was used to trigger knowledge translation and foster co-production.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a case study methodology by analysing the experience of “Oncology in Motion”, a co-production program devoted to the recovery of breast cancer patients carried on by the IRCCS C.R.O. of Aviano, Italy.
Findings
Results show how design could help to translate knowledge from various stakeholders with different skills (e.g. scientists, physicians, nurses) and emotional engagement (e.g. patients and patients' associations) during all the phases of a co-production project to support breast cancer patients in a recovery path. Stewardship theory is used to show that oncology represents a specific research context.
Practical implications
The paper highlights the vast practical contribution that design can have in empowering knowledge translation at different levels and in a variety of co-production phases, among different stakeholders, facilitating their engagement and the achievement of the desired outcomes.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature on knowledge translation in co-production projects in the healthcare sector showing how design can be effectively implemented.