Francesco Bimbo, Carlo Russo, Antonella Di Fonzo and Gianluca Nardone
The paper explores whether consumers' environmentally sustainable attitudes and behaviors (e.g. saving water, energy, etc.) are associated with high frequency of local food…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper explores whether consumers' environmentally sustainable attitudes and behaviors (e.g. saving water, energy, etc.) are associated with high frequency of local food purchases. The study uses a large sample of individual data collected across all Italian regions as well as accounts for the respondents' socioeconomic characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis uses a large sample of individual-level data (n = 21,081) collected by the Italian National Bureau of Statistics in the annual Italian Multipurpose Households Survey (MHS). Data contain individual information on the frequency of local food purchases as well as socioeconomic characteristics and environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviors. Data were analyzed using a multivariate ordered logit regression.
Findings
Results indicate that individuals sensitive to environmental issues and adopting sustainable behaviors are more likely to purchase local food products than others. Also, age, education and occupational status positively are associated with a high frequency of local food purchases. Reading food nutrition labels, living in small communities as well as buying organic products are strong predictors of a higher frequency of local food choices.
Originality/value
The role of individual sustainable attitudes and behaviors in local food purchases has been marginally investigated in the literature. We addressed the issue by jointly accounting for several individual-related characteristics potentially shaping such relation. To the best of authors’ knowledge, the authors use the largest sample ever used to explore the individual's local food purchases in Italy.
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Alessandro Muscio, Gianluca Nardone and Antonio Stasi
Technological regimes define the environment in which innovative and learning activities take place in each sector of the economy. In this paper, the authors argue that…
Abstract
Purpose
Technological regimes define the environment in which innovative and learning activities take place in each sector of the economy. In this paper, the authors argue that technological regimes must be interpreted and elaborated by each organisation operating within a sector in order to be implemented rationally, which leads us to the concept of perceived technological regimes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors tested the relevance of firms' perceptions of different technological regimes on a sample of wine companies in Italy. The authors run a questionnaire survey and obtained 334 clean responses. Data drawn from questionnaires were analysed via econometric analysis.
Findings
The authors present empirical evidence that this perception tends to vary across different wine technologies. Additionally, the authors find evidence that firms' technology adoption, absorptive capacity and external knowledge sourcing have a strong impact on their perceptions of the relevance of a given wine-making technology.
Originality/value
While individual technological regimes are characterised by systematic differences in the distribution of heterogeneous firm types, previous empirical studies have not explored whether the technological environment defining a given industry is differently interpreted and elaborated by each firm operating in it.
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Alessandro Muscio, Gianluca Nardone and Antonio Dottore
This paper aims to focus on understanding how demand for innovation is articulated in low‐tech industries, dominated by SMEs, where innovation is often based on informal processes…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on understanding how demand for innovation is articulated in low‐tech industries, dominated by SMEs, where innovation is often based on informal processes and uncodified knowledge, relying on intangible assets.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors hypothesize that the problems found in the innovation area are exacerbated in a traditional industry. SMEs might have difficulty understanding what their requirements might be, let alone finding the optimal provider of technologies. The authors therefore expect to find three main forms of demand: real, latent, and potential. The specific case is the food industry in Apulia, Italy. First, focus groups identified general business and technology needs. Then in‐depth interviews were conducted with 87 firms, stratified in order to be representative of food firms in Apulia.
Findings
The authors detected 285 different needs requiring an innovative solution. In most cases, firms understand the areas to be improved, but do not have a technological solution in mind. Demand for innovation is mostly latent.
Research limitations/implications
The study is narrow in geographic and industry scope. This limits generalizability, but the methodology is transferable and the results comparable. The authors studied the demand side, whereas interaction between supply and demand needs to be understood. Future studies into regional public research organizations (PROs) and intermediaries can therefore be useful.
Practical implications
The findings can be used to understand how PROs can engage with SMEs and what policymakers can do to facilitate the interaction.
Originality/value
This study applies thinking typically used in high‐tech sectors to a traditional sector, hence testing and extending the theoretical boundaries.
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Antonio Stasi, Gianluca Nardone, Rosaria Viscecchia and Antonio Seccia
Geographical indications (GIs) provide a strong differentiation tool for firms. Whether this statement is confirmed at aggregate level in terms of market independence of different…
Abstract
Purpose
Geographical indications (GIs) provide a strong differentiation tool for firms. Whether this statement is confirmed at aggregate level in terms of market independence of different GIs is not tested yet. The purpose of this paper is to provide demand estimates and elasticities (own‐price and substitution) in order to test this hypothesis and verify the differentiation effect of GIs at aggregate level.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis consists of the application of a quadratic almost ideal demand on a four equation system. Estimates are obtained through an iterated version of a generalized method of moments, which corrects for endogeneity determined by expenditure and prices in case of promotional activities.
Findings
Estimates prove the existence of a differentiation effect of GIs in terms of magnitude of elasticities and substitution effects. GIs corresponding to higher quality generate lower price sensitiveness and product substitution, contrarily to wine without GI. Controlled origin denomination (DOC) wine demand results are price sensitive and they substitute for wines of different GI. Controlled and guaranteed origin denomination (DOCG) is the most profitable GI. In fact, because of its inelastic demand, DOCG price could be potentially increased, to a certain extent, without having significant effects on volumes consumed.
Research limitations/implications
Foreign wine should also be included in the demand system in order to understand the whole Italian wine market. Data concern retail level demand. The whole market, including hotels, restaurants and catering, should be included to offer a wider set of implications.
Practical implications
Marketers and producers could use the information provided by the estimates in order to forecast Italian wine demand. Elasticities and substitution effect provide them with a precise measure of consumers' price sensitiveness, which would be beneficial for their pricing strategies.
Originality/value
The paper provides, for the first time, estimates of a demand system relative to GI differentiated Italian wine.
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Daniela Carlucci and Antonio Lerro
Organizations are increasingly aware that to face complexity and uncertainty in today's business landscape, it is important to properly exploit, combine, and continuously develop…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations are increasingly aware that to face complexity and uncertainty in today's business landscape, it is important to properly exploit, combine, and continuously develop their intellectual capital (IC). In this introduction to the special issue the aim is to develop some theoretical and managerial reasons explaining the importance of IC to achieve business excellence; then, to call for renewed analysis in the IC research stream aimed to investigate what are the new key intellectual capital dimensions and traits to be better developed and managed in order to deal with the fluidity of business, uncertainty, crisis, change, turbulence and high competitive pressure.
Design/methodology/approach
The approaches, evidences and insights discussed in this introduction are largely based on the discussion of the topics of the conference “International forum on knowledge assets dynamics” organized in June 2010 in Matera, Italy. At this conference, leading experts discussed the importance of intellectual capital for organizational business excellence in the twenty‐first century, the new IC key‐value drivers to manage in order to face emergent competitive scenarios, and research and management practices for addressing complexity, uncertainty and changes of today's business landscape.
Findings
The outcomes of this introduction and the contributions to the special issue reflect the emerging discussion about the role of IC management constructs. This discussion is largely focused on the importance of translating IC management within organizational components for achieving business excellence, highlighting approaches and tools in different contexts of analysis.
Originality/value
This introduction as well as all the contributions to the special issue deal with different aspects, which are important in the discussion of the role played by IC in achieving organizational business excellence as well as the approaches, tools, methods and techniques to better disentangle the mechanisms by which IC dimensions, separately or interdependently, contribute to improve companies' organizational performance.
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Junaid Siddique, Amjad Shamim, Muhammad Nawaz and Muhammad Farrukh Abid
Recent years have witnessed a rise in interest in neuromarketing from academia and industry, as it offers practical tools for determining consumers' subconscious reactions to…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent years have witnessed a rise in interest in neuromarketing from academia and industry, as it offers practical tools for determining consumers' subconscious reactions to marketing stimuli. Despite this, the current state of neuromarketing research is not well supported by empirical data. To offer a thorough overview of the studies conducted on this discipline in the past few years, a bibliometric analysis of neuromarketing is carried out, taking into account its techniques, key areas and publication patterns trends from several viewpoints.
Design/methodology/approach
This study searched 463 documents for the web of science databases published during the previous sixteen years and visualized them. The graphical display of data was created using the VOS Viewer software.
Findings
Electroencephalogram (EEG) appeared as a predominantly tool used in neuromarketing research. EEG is either used alone or together with Human Eye-Tracking (HET). “Emotions” was identified in the study as a crucial area of neuromarketing, among other pertinent concepts. The study's results also showed that authors from the United States produced the most articles on neuromarketing, followed by those from the United Kingdom and Spain. The publishing trend, sources and major contributors in neuromarketing are identified using Web of Science data from 2006 to 2021. Overall, the research provides insight into neuromarketing's past, present and future as well as the most widely utilized analytical techniques.
Originality/value
The study's conclusions will be of interest to researchers in understanding the journals that publish neuromarketing research, the themes that contributors and writers have identified, and the countries where research is carried out. This is the first comprehensive study, to the authors' knowledge, that provides a general summary of the key trends in neuromarketing research throughout its history. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first thorough study that offers a broad overview of the most important developments in neuromarketing research from 2006 to 2021.