Stefano Predieri, Gianluca Sotis, Paola Rodinò, Edoardo Gatti, Massimiliano Magli, Federica Rossi, Giulia Maria Daniele, Marta Cianciabella and Roberto Volpe
The third age can be a period of major food consumption changes. Either voluntary or imposed by health issues, they may be accompanied by alterations in sensory acuity. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The third age can be a period of major food consumption changes. Either voluntary or imposed by health issues, they may be accompanied by alterations in sensory acuity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how lifelong food habits and health-age issues affect food choice at a later age, with the aim of developing strategies to direct aged people toward healthier food habits.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey, aimed to investigate differences between current and past food habits, was carried out in a group of 170 Italian older adults. Questions focused on the composition of the main meal, asking participants to describe its actual structure and to highlight differences in previous years’ food habits. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was planned, during which participants were asked to help formulating innovative pasta sauces with healthy ingredients.
Findings
This survey clearly illustrated gender-related differences: women were characterized by a higher consumption of vegetables, while men revealed a more frequent use of wine, pasta and meat. The DCE technique suited older adults’ abilities and enabled the development of innovative sauces, indicating a clear preference for extra virgin olive oil, as compared to cream or butter. Gender-related differences were confirmed: women mainly chose a vegetarian sauce, while men expressed an inclination for red meat.
Originality/value
This is the first report of a successful application of the DCE technique to investigate older adults’ dietary choices. The outspoken preference for olive oil as fat in sauce composition is a positive finding for future actions aimed at directing older adults toward healthier food habits.
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L Varriale, T Volpe and V Noviello
Purpose: In March 2020, due to the global emergency ensuing from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian government closed all national museums, institutes and places of culture…
Abstract
Purpose: In March 2020, due to the global emergency ensuing from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian government closed all national museums, institutes and places of culture heritage and landscape. The shutdown highlighted the need to develop and implement digital solutions, especially through ICTs, to enhance the cultural heritage worldwide by allowing people to go on admiring it, albeit remotely. Numerous initiatives were promoted, such as virtual experiential tours, online collections and ad hoc social and digital programs, all of which contributed to the rich dialogue between people and culture. Although digital initiatives for using and enjoying the cultural heritage have been successfully developed and implemented, in Italy the process of digitalisation of cultural heritage and the services provided are still far from being completed. This chapter investigates the development and implementation of digital technologies in the museums located in the Campania Region in Southern Italy throughout the COVID-19 outbreak to identify and analyse the experiential strategies and initiatives developed through information communication technologies (ICTs) to face the emergency.
Design/Methodology/Approach: By adopting a qualitative methodology, using primary and secondary data sources through a manual content analysis, experiential strategies and initiatives employed by the Campania regional museums when using digital solutions have been identified and categorised.
Findings: Despite the effectiveness of digital initiatives, and the experiences investigated appear both significant and interesting, there is still a need to develop and implement new experiential strategies in this field.
Research Limitations: This study presents several limitations, mostly related to its qualitative explorative nature, but also because its results cannot be generalised.
Practical Implications: These first results outline the need to further develop innovative strategies and initiatives within the museums. The process of digitalisation of cultural heritage and the services provided are still far from completion, potentially providing wide margins of further evolution by means of further investments in technology innovation, to rethink and redesign the traditional management models for enhancing the cultural heritage through digital technology.
Originality: This study provides a portrait of museum experiences supported by digital technologies in a country which plays a crucial role in the field of international cultural heritage. The analysis can also usefully contribute to the existing literature due to the qualitative technique employed for carrying out the multiple case study.
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Piera Centobelli, Roberto Cerchione, Eugenio Oropallo, Armando Papa and Stefano Palermo
Given the evolution that knowledge management (KM) has undergone since the advent of the digital transition, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate how KM processes have changed…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the evolution that knowledge management (KM) has undergone since the advent of the digital transition, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate how KM processes have changed as a result of agile organisations’ adoption of digital technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
Years have passed since the onset of the fourth industrial revolution, and the technologies unique to this revolution have permeated every organisation to varying degrees. Whether organisations have been at the forefront of technological innovation or have had to adapt to much more advanced digitised processes, they have had to change how they manage operations internally and with the remainder of the supply chain they serve. These changes have been much more significant for agile organisations, which rely heavily on digital systems and have strong supplier and customer interactions. Due to the large amount of data generated, these organisations are referred to as knowledge-intensive businesses, and as a result, their KM processes are of the utmost importance. For this reason, a multiple case study with a grounded theory approach has been implemented to carry out a field analysis.
Findings
The results show that Industry 4.0 technological advances can be included in the scientific debate on KM and agile innovation, given the effects that such technologies have on organisations.
Originality/value
In today’s increasingly connected world, these findings have the potential to generate significant economic value by improving coordination and collaboration in KM processes.
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This essay aims at retracing the intellectual and biographical events of the economist Gino Arias (1879–1940), examining more in detail the two seasons at the opposite ends of his…
Abstract
This essay aims at retracing the intellectual and biographical events of the economist Gino Arias (1879–1940), examining more in detail the two seasons at the opposite ends of his life: the early one that saw him considerably committed to the Zionist cause and the one that, thirty years later, would force him to confront the racial laws of the Fascist regime.
Despite the seeming tragic continuity of these two phases, Arias’s case is a real historiographical paradox since, over the long span between the opposite ends of his biography, not only did he distance himself from the Zionist movement, but he also gradually laid the foundations for his upcoming and immediate dedication to Fascism; indeed, within the Fascist regime he would stand out as an authoritative and influential theorist of corporatism, the institutional solution Mussolini tried to exploit to organize the national economic life.
After carefully examining Arias’s early contributions to the Zionist cause (that include the establishment of the Florentine Zionist Group and that led him toward strongly nationalistic stances), this essay sums up Arias’s intellectual biography during the next years and then, thanks to unprecedented documents from the Italian Ministry of Interior, closely looks into his fate after his conversion to Catholicism in 1932 and up against the racial laws of 1938, as well as into his attempts to escape persecution. A few final observations will then try to highlight the dramatic exemplarity of his case.
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Vanessa GB Gowreesunkar, Shem Wambugu Maingi, Hiran Roy and Roberto Micera
Vanessa GB Gowreesunkar, Shem Wambugu Maingi, Hiran Roy and Roberto Micera
Julio Cesar Ferro De Guimarães, Eliana Andréa Severo, Domingos Fernandes Campos, Walid Abbas El-Aouar and Fabiana Lucena Bezerra de Azevedo
The organizations need to use strategic drivers such as market orientation (MO) and knowledge management (KM) for the development of product and process innovations, which can…
Abstract
Purpose
The organizations need to use strategic drivers such as market orientation (MO) and knowledge management (KM) for the development of product and process innovations, which can become a major source of sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). However, there is a gap in the use of these precepts, specifically in Brazilian companies. The purpose of this paper is to measure the relationship among MO, KM orientation, innovation (product and process), SCA and organizational performance (OP).
Design/methodology/approach
The research was developed through a survey in 1,072 companies from the industrial manufacturing, commerce and services activity sectors. For the analysis of data, the study used the structural equation modeling method.
Findings
This study contributes to managerial decisions in the choice of investment in strategic drivers and innovation, to obtain competitive advantages and economic gains. The results highlight that companies that use market information have formal structures to support innovation processes achieving more successful results.
Research limitations/implications
The framework proposed in this research can be used for different industries and segments.
Originality/value
The theoretical value of this paper is the contribution to the literature with the provision of a framework to analyze the strategic drivers, which are antecedents of innovation in different sectors of activity and in different sizes of companies. It is highlighted as managerial contributions, that the study identified evidence that organizations seek a superior OP to the competitor, creating competitive differentials that result in SCA.
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Ritika Chopra, Seema Bhardwaj, Hasnan Baber and Olajide Idris Sanusi
This study aims to conduct a systematic review of the existing literature on export promotion and foreign market entry strategies for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to conduct a systematic review of the existing literature on export promotion and foreign market entry strategies for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study incorporates systematic literature review by using bibliometric technique and content analysis of 195 scholarly papers published between 2000 and 2024 obtained from Scopus database, using the PRISMA principles and a methodological framework.
Findings
The use of quantitative analysis has shown dynamic patterns in publication trends, characterized by notable increases in recent years. These trends align with the changing dynamics of the global economy and shifting priorities in international commerce. The study reveals thematic frameworks using author collaboration analysis, word cloud visualizations and a thematic map, providing insights into a significant motor, niche and developing issues that shape the discussion on the international growth of SMEs.
Research limitations/implications
It offers significant insights that can benefit academics, policymakers and practitioners who are interested in understanding and navigating the intricate terrain of export promotion and market access strategies specifically tailored for small firms.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first of a kind that presents a systematic examination of the existing body of knowledge on the internationalization of SMEs.
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Migrant women face unique difficulties, such as labour discrimination, limited sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, obstacles to family reunification, gender-based…
Abstract
Migrant women face unique difficulties, such as labour discrimination, limited sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, obstacles to family reunification, gender-based violence (GBV) and human trafficking.1 The European Commission's labour integration approach currently fails to account for these difficulties. Civil society organisations (CSOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) attempt to fill these gaps but lack capacity and funding. The European Commission's current approach does not respect human dignity and impedes the migrant community's integration and inclusion. This chapter discusses sexual assault and gender-based violence, which may be disturbing to some readers.
This issue is relevant and important because migrant women comprise a large portion of the migrant population 2 and are a vital part of the migrant community. The methodology used in this chapter is a human security framework with a people-centred approach to policy that empowers those impacted by it. Research for this chapter was conducted using news articles, academic articles, UN reports and publications. Based on this, the European Commission must take a holistic and binding approach that protects the rights and dignity of migrant women.
There are multiple approaches that the European Commission can take to incorporate human dignity into its policies towards women and migration, such as applying international conventions and implementing policies that account for migrant women. All approaches must be realistic and required of all member states.