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This case study investigates the possibility of Dairy Crest dairy products entering the German market. The study gives an insight and analyses the company’s internal capabilities as well as its external industrial forces that may influence and direct strategies and tactics. Finally, it presents a suggested possible strategic and tactical marketing approach that could alternatively be used by Dairy Crest in optimising performance when targeting the German market.

This case study sets out the strategic options available to the Massone Group for its possible entry into the UK catering market. It outlines and summarises the contract catering market including an analysis of the major players in the industry. There is little consolidation across the manufacturing and catering sectors and so it is necessary to examine the food manufacturing sector separately. With this background, we describe and illustrate the grants available from both the UK and EU to any potential investment. This section outlines the funds applicable to each strategic category (greenfield, premises or acquisition) described later in the case study. Included within the analysis of greenfield sites are two examples from nearby Merseyside and a specific evaluation of the specific grants or assistance available for such sites.

Despite showing a sensitivity towards Indian culture that included replacing the Big Mac with the mutton Maharaja Mac, McDonald’s fledgling Indian operation faced nation‐wide protests. Meanwhile, the Kyrgyz Shampany Joint Company, a monopoly wine producer in the former Soviet Republic, was facing spiralling production costs as local grape harvests failed. It looked to exports to the neighbouring Republic of Kazakhstan to increase turnover but what could it expect from that market? These two case studies illustrate the possible dangers for practitioners seeking new markets. The final section of the article re‐investigates the marketing literature and reviews present methods of the application of marketing concepts to clarify where the stumbling blocks lie. The conclusions from this review are used to propose a new framework for the congruent mapping of marketing mix elements and variables at both strategic and tactical level.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and present the way in which a food start-up can develop business model innovations, taking into account the importance of social and environmental issues.

The authors studied an Italian pizzeria, implementing the illustrative single-case study methodology, to answer the research question: “how can food start-ups develop a sustainable business model innovation?”

The study highlights sustainable elements for each component of the business model configuration provided by Osterwalder to provide a deeper view of the sustainable business model concept.

The study contributes to the extant research introducing the concept of sustainable innovation within the business model literature. It concludes that, within the food industry, especially for start-ups, the development of sustainable business model innovation is particularly important because the industry is itself linked with nature and human respect. Moreover, it suggests a methodological analysis of the business model configuration, which will help to develop clearer and more accurate and influential research.

The purpose of this paper is to concentrate on management responses in terms of marketing and is intended as a basis for discussion of the effectiveness of actual policies, possible alternatives and future prospects.

There is much research that investigates the functioning of dairy food business, however, little attention is given to the responses of executives of the industry. This research aims to narrow this gap in the literature by focussing on the largest dairy food company in Saudi Arabia and its subsequent responses related to marketing. A case research of Saudi Arabian dairy food company, one of the market leaders in the entire Middle East, is advanced and discussed in detail. In addition, the paper highlights future challenges of its future expansion goals which would have implications for its operational, marketing and distribution strategies. Other important factors to consider are market differences, cultural conflicts, fluctuating exchange rates, cross‐border invoicing and financial transactions, tariffs and taxes and host country government regulations.

A number of dairy food companies in Saudi Arabia have been using varied competitive strategies over the last few years, but this study reveals how Al‐Marai uses strategy of market penetration to beat the competition. Promotion emphasises brand strengths across segments and an intensive distribution network is maintained locally, with new channels sought in Middle Eastern as well as South East Asian markets.

This paper provides a unique perspective of a dairy food company, which uses market penetration to beat the nationwide competition, thus stand high in offering quality merchandise across Middle East.

The paper aims to analyse the current situation and the perspectives of Italian wine in key Asian export markets – China, Japan, India, Singapore and South Korea. These countries show the highest growing rates in wine consumption and are forecasted to become increasingly more strategic for Italian wine producers.

A SWOT analysis is applied to the most recent set of secondary data available from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), the Italian National Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), the International Organisation of Wine and Vine (OIV) and Euromonitor International reports.

The study reveals that the most interesting markets for Italian wines are China and South Korea. The key strengths are mainly related to high quality products, evoking classic values and being perceived as a status symbol, while the main concerns for Italian wines are mainly related to promotion and distribution issues.

The SWOT analysis can be used to develop a strategy that takes into consideration the potential strengths and opportunities and the impact of weaknesses and threats, but it cannot cover all the possible aspects Italian wineries must know about Asian markets. It offers a base for further and deeper thoughts about the how to succeed in the most dynamic and challenging markets of the next 20 years.

Differently from other studies, which tend to analyse Italian perspectives in Asian markets on a country‐by‐country basis, this work represents the most recent and comprehensive research on Italian wines in Asian markets.

This study aims to analyze management innovations developed by a homegrown Chinese hotel company aimed at sustaining its growth and reveals some unorthodox management practices in the lodging industry in China.

A theoretical sampling process was used to choose 7 Days Inn as a single case study. Semi-structured in-depth personal interviews of 15 informants with varying responsibilities were conducted to obtain organization-specific insights. Content analysis of the transcripts was performed to analyze interview data. Secondary data and interviews of managers in competing hotels were also used to support the findings.

This study identified seven major innovative management practices developed by 7 Days Inn. Most of these innovations arose from the company’s idiosyncratic collective mindset. The company created a different approach to thinking about the basic issues regarding business and management – including managerial roles, mistakes and change – that constituted the cornerstones of its management innovations.

Owing to the limitations of case method, the findings may not be generalizable to other Chinese hotel companies.

As little is known about innovative management practices by homegrown hotel companies in China, this study sheds new light on a creative and distinctive management system in the Chinese hotel industry. Introducing management styles that differ significantly from those of Western companies will benefit both management researchers and practitioners.

This study extends previous findings in management innovation by uncovering indigenous innovation influenced by traditional Chinese cultural values in China’s hospitality industry.

The objective is to contribute to the development of strategies through the identification of sustainability practices. Thus, the research has a twofold objective: to unveil sustainability practices integrated into last-mile logistics activities by e-commerce retailers, analyze the interrelations among these practices and categorize them based on their significance for small Brazilian e-commerce retailers.

A literature mapping was conducted to identify sustainability practices in last-mile activities adopted by e-retailers, leading to the proposal of a meta-model. A total of 67 articles are part of the final sample. Subsequently, the study applied the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) multicriteria decision-making technique to structure the research problem through cause-and-effect analysis among practices, aiming to prioritize critical practices.

The results indicate a strong dependence on economic practices to enable sustainability in last-mile logistics. In the economic dimension of sustainability, operating costs and quality of services are effect variables and achieved the highest relation concerning the other practices.

The article provides theoretical contributions by addressing two complementary areas of knowledge: Stakeholder Theory and Sustainability, also aligning with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. In practical terms, it stands out for offering valuable insights into the implementation of sustainable strategies by identifying economic, environmental and social practices in last-mile logistics, particularly within the context of small businesses in the e-retail segment.

The results help e-retailers re-evaluate last-mile logistics processes from a sustainability perspective. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap in the current literature on adopting sustainable practices in small e-commerce retail firms.

Considering that one of the pillars of sustainability is a commitment to social development, this study contributes to understanding the view of small e-retailers on the independent goods delivery workers responsible for the delivery of goods.

The originality of this research lies in identifying economic, social and environmental sustainability practices adopted by e-retailers in last-mile logistics processes. Additionally, the study focuses on the small-scale e-commerce retail segment, an area that has been little explored in the Brazilian context. Lastly, the proposed meta-model contributes to addressing practices from the perspective of Stakeholder Theory and the Sustainability approach.

El objetivo es contribuir al desarrollo de estrategias mediante la identificación de prácticas sostenibles. Por lo tanto, la investigación tiene un doble objetivo: revelar las prácticas de sostenibilidad integradas en las actividades logísticas de última milla de minoristas de comercio electrónico, analizar las interrelaciones entre estas prácticas y categorizarlas según su importancia para los pequeños minoristas de comercio electrónico en Brasil.

Se llevó a cabo un mapeo de la literatura para identificar prácticas de sostenibilidad en las actividades de última milla adoptadas por minoristas en línea, lo que llevó a la propuesta de un metamodelo. Un total de 67 artículos forman parte de la muestra final. Posteriormente, el estudio aplicó la técnica de toma de decisiones multicriterio Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) para estructurar el problema de investigación mediante análisis de causa y efecto entre las prácticas, con el objetivo de priorizar las prácticas críticas.

El resultado indica una fuerte dependencia de prácticas económicas para implementar la sostenibilidad en la logística de última milla. En la dimensión económica de la sostenibilidad, los costes operacionales y la calidad de los servicios son variables de efecto y presentan una fuerte correlación.

La originalidad de esta investigación radica en identificar prácticas de sostenibilidad económica, social y ambiental adoptadas por minoristas en línea en los procesos logísticos de última milla. Además, el estudio se centra en el segmento minorista de comercio electrónico a pequeña escala, un área poco explorada en el contexto brasileño. Por último, el metamodelo propuesto contribuye a abordar prácticas desde la perspectiva de la Teoría de los Stakeholders y el enfoque de Sostenibilidad.

El artículo proporciona contribuciones teóricas al abordar dos áreas complementarias de conocimiento: la Teoría de los Stakeholders y la Sostenibilidad, alineándose también con las directrices de la Iniciativa de Reporte Global (GRI). En términos prácticos, destaca al ofrecer ideas valiosas sobre la implementación de estrategias sostenibles al identificar prácticas económicas, ambientales y sociales en la logística de última milla, particularmente en el contexto de las pequeñas empresas en el segmento minorista en línea.

Los resultados ayudan a los minoristas electrónicos a reevaluar los procesos logísticos de última milla desde una perspectiva de sostenibilidad. Este estudio pretende contribuir el avance del conocimiento de la literatura actual sobre la adopción de prácticas sostenibles en pequeñas empresas de comercio electrónico.

Teniendo en cuenta que uno de los pilares de la sostenibilidad es el compromiso con el desarrollo social, este estudio contribuye a comprender la visión de los pequeños minoristas electrónicos sobre los trabajadores independientes encargados de la entrega de mercancías.

The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has been expanding rapidly in recent years, gaining the attention of academics and practitioners. This study provides a structured literature review (SLR) on AI and management decisions (MDs) by analysing the scientific output and defining new research topics.

The study uses a rigorous methodological approach to summarise the state of the art of the past literature. The authors used Scopus as the database for data collection and utilised the Bibliometrix R package. In total, 204 peer-reviewed English articles were collected and analysed.

The results showed that literature in this field is emerging. Studies are focused on using AI as forecasting and classification for management decision-making, AI as a tool to improve knowledge management in organisations and extract information. The cluster analysis revealed the presence of five thematic clusters of studies on the topic.

The study’s originality lies in providing a new perspective on AI for MDs. In particular, the analysis reveals a new classification of research streams and provides fruitful research questions to continue research on the topic.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the metaverse platform in a social context to better understand the future of this tool in tourism cities and how this can help to improve the well-being of residents in both digital and physical scenarios.

In this paper, the current and probable developments in the metaverse, and its use in tourism cities and companies have been investigated. Moreover, this study develops, collects and examines the main metaverse definitions by expert authors and organizations as a methodology to ensure the transparency and credibility of the metaverse analysis.

Findings suggest that the fusion of the metaverse and tourism cities must create residents’ services and experiences in the new MetaTourPolis to help interact and connect citizens with the city’s institutions and companies, as well as make tourism cities more attractive, innovative, environmentally friendly and healthier places to live. Metaverse will bring new changes for residents and tourists, in fact, this virtual platform is already changing and improving the residents’ quality of life and people with disabilities in tourism cities. For instance, the metaverse platform has been implemented in Seoul, Santa Monica and Dubai MetaTourPolis to interact with their residents, including people with disabilities, to resolve bureaucratic and administrative problems, avoiding this group and the rest of the residents travelling by bus or car to the city’s institutions. In addition, several metaverse applications based on softbot tutors or metaverse virtual social centres have been developed to improve blind and impaired people, and elderly people’ quality of life, respectively.

A new concept called “MetaTourPolis” has been included to stage the relationship between tourism cities and the metaverse platform, where the fusion of metaverse and the new tourism polis of the 21st century will be at the service of citizens, tourists and companies, to create more sustainable, efficient, quantitative and environmental tourism cities.