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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of knowledge leader readiness within large companies operating in a changing environment.

A conceptual framework emerged from an analysis of four large companies and a review of the knowledge management literature. Secondary research was conducted to compare the four large companies against the proposed framework.

The conceptual model is a support to understand an organizations’ reaction to external changes and the role of the knowledge leader’s readiness in managing these changes and adjusting the knowledge management accordingly. From the analysis, it emerged that a knowledge leader’s readiness plays a relevant role in a changing organizational environment owing to his ability to acquire, handle and diffuse knowledge within the company.

The study emphasizes the significance of internal knowledge in managing changes. Practitioners could use this framework as a conceptual guide for their daily challenges and to recruit future leaders.

This study aims to contribute to the knowledge management literature by providing a practical model for organizations facing a changing environment. The originality of the model is the design of different managerial profiles that combine the leaders’ disposition to knowledge and their ability to drive change.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how big data deployment transforms organizational practices, thereby generating potential benefits, in a specific industry: retail.

To achieve the paper’s goal, the authors have conducted several semi-structured interviews with marketing managers of four retailers in Italy, and researched secondary data to get a broader picture of big data deployment in the organizations.

Data analysis helped identify specific aspects related to big data deployment, data gathering methods, required competences and data sharing approaches.

Despite the growing interest in big data in various fields of research, there are still few empirical studies on big data deployment in organizations in the management field, and even fewer on specific sectors. This research provides evidence of specific areas of analysis concerning big data in the retail industry.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between knowledge management capabilities and successful open innovation within agri-food businesses. This particular piece of research focuses on agri-food businesses which utilize crowdfunding platforms.

The research adopts a survey-based methodology, which is useful in enhancing the generalization of results. The final sample includes 80 cases for the analysis. The model and the hypotheses were tested through a hierarchical regression model.

This research assesses the importance of knowledge management capabilities for successful open innovation in crowdfunding for agri-food businesses. In particular, it emerged that IT-based knowledge exploitation capabilities are enablers of open innovation strategies. Additionally, it emerged that knowledge exploration capabilities can positively mediate the relationship between IT-based knowledge exploitation capabilities and open innovation in the context of agri-food businesses.

To the authors’ best knowledge, few researchers have explored this topic and, as such, there is a need to better conceptualize this intriguing phenomenon and to provide empirical evidence to support it.

This paper aims at understanding how companies in the agri-food are reconfiguring their competitive strategies to face the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Literature has focused mainly on the effect of the pandemic on the supply chain or in its value chain but little has been said on the competitive strategies adopted to overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic.

The study was conducted on Italian companies operating in the agri-food industry from May to September 2020, following a mixed method approach. First, a focus group with experts in competitive strategy and agri-food industry has been organized to identify the most important challenges that companies are facing. Second, through a structured questionnaire, data from 123 companies operating in the agri-food industry were gathered and analyzed with K-means clustering method.

Four clusters of companies were identified, each implementing different strategies to face the COVID-19 pandemic: “the cost fanatics”, “the brand focused”, “the sales centered” and “the strategists”. Furthermore, it was possible to identify new trends in competitive strategies to increase the added value that the Italian agri-food industry can provide to the customer.

The paper answers to the need for an investigation of the competitive strategies that agri-food companies have put in place to face the COVID-19 pandemic; moreover, it provides insights on how companies are adapting themselves to this rapidly changing environment. From a managerial point of view, it gives practitioners and managers useful insights on the different strategies that companies are undertaking to maintain a competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer’s attitude towards cause-related marketing (CRM). In detail, it aims to assess the relationship between CRM and consumer’s brand loyalty, and whether this relationship is moderated by consumer’s perception of corporate social behaviours. Moreover, the research looks for differences in the above relationship on two samples of consumers born and living in different countries and therefore with different cultural backgrounds.

The research adopts a quantitative methodology using a survey conducted among Italian and Japanese consumers. Ordinary least square regressions models are developed to test the hypotheses.

The findings of this paper indicate a positive relationship between the consumers’ perception of CRM and their brand loyalty perception, regardless the country of origin. Accordingly, the authors found a similar pattern of CRM perception among Italian and Japanese consumers. In addition, the authors found that CRM and the consumers’ perception of corporate social behaviours are not complementary, in the sense their joint effect does not affect consumer’s brand loyalty.

This is one of the first studies addressing the issue concerning the CRM perception of people with in different cultures. In this regard, this study suggests that CRM impacts on brand loyalty regardless the country of origin (Italy and Japan), and consumers’ characteristics such as age, gender, background. In addition, the study indicates that the perceived corporate social responsibility does not increase the effect of CRM on brand loyalty.

Food waste is increasingly becoming a major issue for retail companies. However, there is still limited knowledge of how new forms of collaborative consumption (CC) may impact firms' behavior. This paper identifies and examines how the enablers of food waste and firms' tendency to cooperate with their customers may affect the adoption of measures oriented to diminish waste reduction, as well as the use of mobile technologies.

A empirical study has been conducted on a sample of international firms operating in the food sector as retailers (i.e. restaurants, bar and catering services) or in similar activities (i.e. hotels and accommodations). The authors tested an empirical model aimed at revealing the possible mediating role of customer cooperation in affecting the impact of food waste enablers on (1) waste recovery measures and (2) the adoption of mobile technologies for food recovery.

The results of this study showed how customer cooperation mediates the impact of food waste enablers on the intention to use mobile applications for food recovery but not on the adoption of food recovery measures that, instead, mainly depends on waste causes internal to the firm.

This is one of the first studies that tries to identify and evaluate the impact of the different enablers of food waste on firms' pro-environmental behaviors. Interestingly, the authors show how customer cooperation is a decisive factor to promote new forms of CC in the food industry. Importantly, customer cooperation acts as a bridge between the drivers of food waste and a firm's intention to adopt measures against it. By actively involving customers, firms can gain insights, develop effective strategies and foster a culture of waste reduction that benefits both the business and the environment.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the cross-border acquisition’s process through the Fiat-Chrysler case. Many automotive companies have considered cross-border mergers and acquisition (M & A) as a necessary step to face increasing competition and globalization, but only few of them were successful. In particular, some best practices in terms of lessons-learned are highlighted.

The paper is based on the analysis of a cross-border acquisition: the qualitative approach allows authors to better understand all the dynamics, complexities and problems that characterize companies facing this process (Yin, 1984). Authors used public information, Internet sources and Fiat’s documents to gather all the necessary information.

In a cross-border acquisition, compatibility and complementarity of products and markets are fundamentals, whereas unmanaged cultural differences, as well as misunderstanding of the real motivations, are a slow but deadly poison: integration and a clear common focus on the final target are key factor for success.

The investigation is limited to the strategy used by Fiat-Chrysler. If the authors’ suggestions can be confirmed or improved by using other case studies, guidelines could be very useful to companies dealing with M & A.

The paper offers recommendations on how big companies can manage a cross-border acquisition, illustrates the key steps to be successful and tries to define the necessary elements for a successful M & A.

The paper shows how two real multinational companies operating in the automotive sector have decided to become one entity; moreover, it highlights the fundamental steps of the process, giving to the management a good example of what must happen in reality.

The increasing importance of branding has been highlighted by many authors and there is a general absence of a clearly defined approach taken by companies to penetrate emerging markets with their brands, especially with reference to the Indian market. This paper aims to investigate brand strategies implemented by food and beverage firms going international and, in particular, to determine how to build the brand strategy on entering emerging markets through acquisitions.

The authors had the opportunity to follow the operation conducted by the Lavazza Company in India for three years (2007‐2010), although the majority of the interviews were done in the first two years of the research. The research focused on the brand strategy for the specific case of the Lavazza Company by using a qualitative approach based on interviews with the Lavazza Management. The first session of interviews was carried out during 2007‐2008 with two objectives: to understand the Lavazza Company's values and strategies, the Indian culture and the opportunities that this country could offer the Italian company; to follow the strategy used by the Italian Company in order to manage the period of transition after the acquisition of the two Indian companies. The second session of interviews was carried out during 2009‐2010 in order to verify the current situation and to finalize the framework developed. Interviews lasted two and a half hours on average and when possible were supported by documentation referring to the strategies adopted in India by Lavazza, and to researches and studies either conducted or commissioned by the Lavazza Company.

The key factors to consider when a European leading brand decides to expand abroad in emerging markets are presented to ensure a successful adaptive brand strategy for the entering company. The authors sum up the main steps to follow in a simple framework, namely a process: of pre‐assessment; adaptive brand strategy building; implementation; and monitoring.

The investigation is limited to the brand strategy used by an Italian company entering the Indian market. It is further limited to the investigation of a single company, the Lavazza Company of Turin, and the manner in which the brand strategy was adapted in this specific case. If improvements can be made to the framework by using other case studies, this guideline could be very useful to companies looking for a structure before entering an emerging market.

The paper offers recommendations on how important firms operating in the food and beverage industry can be most effective in managing their brands abroad and illustrate the required steps and strategic choices that companies need to set in place when deciding to go international.

The paper shows how a real multinational company operates in an emerging market. In this way, it is possible for the management to have an example of what happens in reality.

Estimates show that close to 90% of the buildings we will need in 2050 are already built and occupied. The increase in the existing building stock has affected energy consumption thereby negatively impacting the environment. The purpose of this paper is to assess determinants of sustainable upgrade of existing buildings through the adoption and application of sustainable technologies. The study also ranks sustainable technologies adopted by the professionals who participated in the survey with an in-built case study.

As part of the overall methodology, a detailed literature review on the nature and characteristics of sustainable upgrade and the sustainable technologies adopted was undertaken. A survey questionnaire with an in-built case study was designed to examine all the sustainable technologies adopted to improve energy consumption in Australia. The survey was administered to sustainability consultants, architects, quantity surveyors, facility managers and engineers in Australia.

The results show a total of 24 technologies which are mostly adopted to improve energy consumption in existing buildings. A factor analysis shows the main components as: lighting and automation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HAVC) systems and equipment, envelope, renewable energy and passive technologies.

The findings bridge the gap in the literature on the adoption and application of sustainable technologies to upgrade existing buildings. The technologies can be adopted to reduce the excessive energy consumption patterns in existing buildings.