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Strong agreement in the extant business literature emphasizes that digital developments are key to economic growth internationally. This is in spite of the recorded high levels (up to 50 percent) of failure among digital companies and entrepreneurs. The purpose of this paper is to identify the digital debates in Italy, explore current policies and develop a typology that characterizes digital entrepreneurs (DEs) and their start-up companies in Italy.

The digital debates and policies are explored through an extensive telephone survey of the self-perceptions and identified supports required by 348 Italian active DEs. Quantitative statistical techniques were used including factor analysis, cluster analysis and ANOVA, to identify motivations, profiles and critical success factors relevant to the sample.

The study identifies three main clusters among the DEs: emerging very young; emerging business focused and experienced. These clusters vary with the entrepreneurs’ background and competence base, motivation and satisfaction factors. The different kinds of profiles require specific kinds of supporting policies identified by the sample that focus on financial, educational and/or networking provision.

The paper affirms the central role of digital entities in modern economies expressed in the current literature and increases knowledge of the perceived success factors identified by DEs. The identification and classification of self-reported characteristics of Italian DEs and to what extent these characterizations might be useful for tailored interventions to support their success are the main contributions of this study. Accordingly, an authentic, original and self-reported portrayal has been constructed of the self-perceptions of Italian DEs. Finally, the study explores the implications for actions and new policies considering self-perceived profiles, needs and expectations of DEs.

The paper examines the conditions under which the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) innovation is justified by business purposes. The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology capable of guiding prudent and successful investment in the IoT. The paper identifies enabling conditions to maximize the success of IoT security innovation adoption projects in Italian banks.

The methodology proposed is constructed from two key sources: first a literature review and second through impressions gleaned from an informal survey and in-depth interviews with a sample of convenience of six managers of Italian bank security systems. A key purpose of the literature review is to identify enabling conditions for a successful IT innovation adoption project which is then synthesized into an “innovation adoption model” capable of illustrating an IoT adoption decision. Second, the authors identify business process reengineering (BPR) steps required to establishing an appropriate organizational and technical framework to successfully undertake the adoption of the IoT for bank physical security purposes. The resulting methodology refers to a typical BPR project approached from an information system development perspective capable of fusing IoT services with human-based services at best performance values.

The literature review and proposed BPR framework give indications of possible support for the conclusion that the banking sector is ready for the IoT innovations and transformation of traditional bank branch worksites into smart environments. The tentative nature of these findings give sufficient justification for trialing the IoT for banking physical security by introducing an Intelligent Protection System to manage security management processes. Although the authors do not generalize the findings from examining the Italian banking security system, the literature review and the paucity of studies available encourages us to investigate the use of the IoT for bank physical security more broadly.

Adoption of the IoT represents the third wave of IT-driven competition and introduces a methodology applicable to the security domain which represents, globally, an area that is becoming a domain of major economic and social concern. The IoT adoption model proposed reflects the current state of knowledge in the field and could be extended to other organizational at-risk areas requiring continuity of highly effective protection. The authors are encouraged by the results that indicate a high likelihood of success to trial an IoT introduction to banking security.

Most recent developments in the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can boost the efficacy of business process management (BPM) to improve process performance. The purpose of this paper is to describe a method for redesigning bank branch (BB) protection systems contributing to make BBs “smarter.”

Based upon a multiple case study approach, the paper deployed a four-step business process reengineering design from an information system development perspective. To overcome limitations of information scarcity required for modeling activities, a multimethod approach to data gathering and results validation was adopted. The approach was based on a comprehensive literature review and an in-depth qualitative survey involving a sample of six security managers of primary Italian banking groups.

The intelligent protection system resulting from the application of the methodology to the Italian BB sector was able to improve the security management process. Lead time and actors’ workload were reduced; running costs decreased; quality of information improved as well as the overall effectiveness of the protection system against criminal attacks.

The specific IoT technologies proposed are new. Additionally, to date, their application to BB security management has not been analyzed in the BPM literature. The value resides in the highly applicable results of the methodology to the BB network of a banking group both inside and outside of Italy.

The purpose of this paper is to identify from the literature the successful R&D management cooperation factors and then examine their relevance to R&D management cooperation efforts between China and Australia.

The case study method is used to encourage a deeper appreciation of the dynamics of R&D management projects. A theoretical framework is constructed based on the literature to highlight factors of successful R&D management, and this framework is then applied to a case study involving the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

The result is a hybrid multi‐dimensional model incorporating cultural and social capital variables. Several critical success factors were found to exist: funding, government support, institutional support, complementary technology and expertise, mutual respect and strong commitment from leadership. One additional critical success factor was the bilingual expertise of facilitators who manage to help bridge the gaps between both intellectual capital (technical expertise) and cultural differences.

The framework of successful R&D cooperation identified in this study can act as a springboard for applying the successful principles in broader cases of R&D management cooperation.

The value of this study lies in the development of a model for successful cross‐cultural application of R&D management cooperation between China, Australia and (by extension) other countries that may foster successful cooperation, build global empathy and create inclusive competitive advantage.

There are continuing efforts by Chinese institutions to improve their approach to the management of research and development (R&D) within the national and global arenas. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for managing R&D in China.

The framework is derived from a review of two OECD reports, three books and 15 recently published articles in scholarly journals (1977‐2008) all of which are mainly related to the structure and organisation of research in foreign‐owned and Chinese research institutes.

In this paper, issues in the literature are identified and arranged in themes in order to discover key lessons about the management of R&D. The result of the analysis is a hybrid six‐dimensional model incorporating open innovation, connecting with the world, knowledge management, a public approach, balanced development and communities of inquiry.

The framework emphasises a base of shrewd economic expansion supported by intelligent fiscal policies used as a basic building block that can be emulated within R&D in China and more broadly.

Practical applications include a structure for cross‐cultural analysis of R&D management to identify the mix of key elements and how this might augment success, build global empathy, foster deeper cooperation in R&D management and create inclusive competitive advantage.

This paper provides a new framework emanating from the synthesis of elements identified in the literature as being important to R&D management that can be applied by Chinese and foreign owned firms at a global level.

The purpose of this paper is to review the focus and practice of Adult and Community Education (ACE) as well as its conceptualization and delivery and to suggest parameters for an approach based on excellence, a balanced scorecard and performance to meet community needs.

The review examines key aspects of the field of ACE and its strategic shaping, especially towards professionalization and a masculine‐oriented approach portrayed through Australian tertiary ACE courses.

A new understanding emerged that sees the practice of ACE in tertiary institutions already leading to the professionalization of work roles such as community educators, developers and counsellors. Through universities, ACE has embraced developments in information and communication technology and new productivity agendas without losing its caring approach. A proposed framework suggests that it is time for ACE to be transformed in the modern era, to become more systematized, to collaborate more deeply with universities and to strengthen its ability to balance a nurturing focus with a stronger masculine strategic approach.

A new ACE game of hitting winners is being played by Australian universities engaged in the professionalization of ACE through their accredited programmes. These tertiary strategies are fusing the feminine aspects of ACE such as social connectedness and caring with the masculine characteristics of performativity, strategic policy agendas, standards and scientific approaches to quality. ACE should be fully reviewed, improved and integrated better with the new higher education performance approach.

The purpose of this paper is to show that cartel conduct is a common example of non‐compliance with competition laws and, in order to generate insight and lessons regarding aspects of corporate governance, two areas of cartel behaviour are to be analysed. The first is the extent to which employees of organisations were aware of the seriousness and illegality of their cartel conduct, and the second is the extent to which determining bodies acknowledged the presence or absence of compliance strategies within corporations being prosecuted for cartel conduct.

A measurement matrix devised from the literature was used as a methodological framework through which content analysis was conducted to explore whether cartel offenders were aware of the illegality of their behaviour and whether the presence or absence of compliance strategies was acknowledged by the court. In total, 69 publicly available investigatory outcomes sourced from 11 different jurisdictions were analysed.

The findings suggest a need for competition regulators to educate and raise the awareness of business people to improve understanding of the deleterious effects of cartels and of the provisions of relevant legislation in order to achieve better corporate governance and observance of enacted laws.

In 71 per cent of matters examined, cartel participants were found to be aware of the illegality of their behaviour and, whilst 45 per cent of Australian companies had no compliance programme in place to begin with, some other companies had established compliance programmes which were blatantly ignored by employees.

Effectively handling knowledge is crucial for any organization to survive and prosper in the turbulent environments of the modern era. Leadership is a central element for knowledge creation, acquisition, utilization and integration processes. Based on these considerations, this study aims to offer an overview of the evolution of the literature regarding the knowledge management-leadership relationship published over the past 20 years.

A bibliometric analysis coupled with a systematic literature review were performed over a data set of 488 peer-reviewed articles published from 1990 to 2018.

The authors discovered the existence of four well-polarized clusters with the following thematic focusses: human and relational aspects, systematic and performance aspects, contextual and contingent aspects and cultural and learning aspects. The authors then investigated each thematic cluster by reviewing the most relevant contributions within them.

Based on the bibliometric analysis and the systematic literature review, the authors developed an interpretative framework aimed at uncovering several promising and little explored research areas, thus suggesting an agenda for future knowledge management-leadership research. Some steps of the paper selection process may have been biased by the interpretation of the researcher. The authors addressed this concern by performing a multiple human subject reading process whose reliability was confirmed by a Krippendorf’s alpha coefficient value >0.80.

To the best knowledge, this is the first study to map, systematize and discuss the literature concerned to the topic of the knowledge management-leadership relationship.