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The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to the papers presented in the special issue.

Six papers are included in the special issue and an overview of their content is given.

Alteration in markets that is brought about by economic, political and cultural changes often makes it difficult for business organizations to adapt to new circumstances. The papers focus, in a Latin American context, on how technological networks are changing the business world, the role of entrepreneurialism, and the positive effects of change management.

The article introduces the six original and well‐presented papers.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the moderating effect of digital transformation (DT) on the relationship between innovation capacity and the performance of agrifood businesses.

Based on a structured questionnaire, data on 98 agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Spain were collected. The data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling to test the proposed model and study the moderating effect of DT on the relationship between the innovation capacity and performance of agrifood businesses.

The study finds support for the hypotheses and shows the existence of a direct positive relationship between the DT and performance of agrifood businesses. Developing new practices focussed on customer service and performing actions such as improving sales, promoting a new product or service and including a post-sales service influence the capacity of a business to undertake DT.

Future studies should include other factors in the analysis. For example, the impact of knowledge transfer and research and development (R&D) on agrifood businesses' performance should be studied. Education and training, as well as having a diverse network, can help develop and boost businesses' capacity to use and apply the required innovation. Networks play an important role in learning how to apply DT.

This quantitative study is the first to examine the moderating effect of DT in the Spanish agrifood sector on the relationship between innovation capacity and performance. The study examines the role of the DT of companies and explores the competitiveness and efficiency tools that digitalisation offers. Innovation capacity is crucial for the application of these tools.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a global initiative that is becoming increasingly important in the industrial and service sectors. This paper analyses how the SDGs are being implemented in the agrifood supply chain by social economy enterprises.

Case study methodology was used to understand how companies implement the SDGs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from two cooperatives in the agrifood sector.

There are no differences in the way that the SDGs are implemented by social economy enterprises involved in the food sector supply chain. Therefore, the SDG approach is an alternative that can be applied by food sector supply chain companies to achieve the sustainability favoured by the cooperative model.

The value of the present study lies in its analysis of the sustainability of the agrifood supply chain from an SDG-based approach that is more comprehensive than other commonly cited approaches in the academic literature.

In the last decade, the hospitality sector has undergone numerous changes in the organization and structure of its business models. Specifically, the adoption of new digital technologies has initiated transformative changes toward circular economy and sustainability. The present study aims to analyze whether the use of the digital reservation system in circular entrepreneurship businesses has an impact on entrepreneurs’ satisfaction and trust in the in circular economy.

The data collected via a survey of 317 entrepreneurs who use a circular economy strategy were analyzed using SEM in a proposed model based on circular entrepreneurship businesses and the adoption of digital reservation systems.

The results showed a positive relationship between usability and perceived ease of use and user satisfaction and trust in using digital reservation systems to boost circular entrepreneurship in hospitality. Therefore, it was identified that adopting a digital reservation system can increase the efficiency of entrepreneur resources, as well as lead to creation of sustainable knowledge, augment the use of new sources of user information, improve prediction of services and demand and, consequently, boost sustainability and circular economy.

Future research can use the results of the present study to investigate how digital technologies work and affect user trust, satisfaction, and use of these systems in entrepreneurs’ projects in hospitality. In addition, it would be interesting to explore how these factors influence hospitality in different business models that support circular economy in tourism. To this end, researchers can use the variables used in the present study, along with other variables, to extend the proposed model and deepen the authors' research. In summary, this study contributes to the literature on the use of applications in hospitality sector and offer useful insight on how the adoption and use of new technologies can drive the management of knowledge and technology development, decision making and acquisition of new data sources that improve the experience of both entrepreneurs and users that interact with their services to enable circular entrepreneurship.

Hospitality entrepreneurs can use the results of the present study to better evaluate how using these applications can affect the communication protocols with their employees and stakeholders. Furthermore, entrepreneurs operating in the hospitality sector can use the results to develop action plans focused on the circular economy, new knowledge creation, as well as development and adoption of new digital technologies that enable circular entrepreneurship. In this way, hospitality companies will be able to effectively combine both more traditional offline channels and new technologies, such as mobile applications or the Internet.

The authors' prediction of a strong positive link between perceived usefulness and user trust was also supported by the results of data analysis. The finding that perceived utility increases user trust in entrepreneurs when making adopting these technologies is also consistent with other similar studies. Finally, the results of this study also confirmed the hypothesized link between the perceived utility of digital technologies and user satisfaction. Taken together, the results also highlight the relevance of analyzing the use of digital reservation systems in the hospitality sector to enable circular entrepreneurship.

Taken together, the results highlight the relevance of analyzing the use of digital reservation systems in the hospitality sector to enable circular entrepreneurship and increase the perceived usefulness of new digital technologies so that to improve sustainable actions and the circular economy globally.

Based on the theory of dynamic capabilities, the purpose of this study is to examine how generation influences the effect of innovation capability on family business performance. To achieve this purpose, a moderation model is tested using the generational level as the moderating variable.

This study used a sample of 106 family businesses CEOs who were surveyed by mail using the Limesurvey 2.5 platform. The results obtained were analyzed using the second-generation partial least squares (PLS) structural equation model. The MICOM (Measurement Invariance of Composite Models) approach was used to analyze the moderating effect.

This research sheds lights on the innovation capacity to influence the family businesses performance, and on the generational level moderating this effect. As a result, the influence of the innovation capacity in second generation family businesses performance is higher than in the first generation.

This study reveals the influence that the generational level has on the effect of innovation capacity on the family business performance. A greater dispersion of ownership, more participatory decision-making, and greater CEOs commitment to leadership in second- and later-generation family businesses, are the main key drivers of this result.

In comparison to previous studies, this research provides insights into the moderating effect of the generational level on the influence of innovation capacity on the family businesses performance through the MICOM approach (Measurement Invariance of Composite Models).

The paper deals with the importance of the work of external consultants in firms and of consulting as a function. The study deals with the analysis of external advice within small to medium‐sized enterprises. It tries to reflect the actual importance of external advice sought by firms in trying to reach the highest possible level of client satisfaction. The survey reported in this paper was carried out to evaluate the impact of consulting and to determine the degree of satisfaction of the clients that had used Spanish consulting services. To this end, firms that had used such services were interviewed on‐site. The purpose of the research was to analyse the effects on management processes within the firms where a plan was drawn up by an external consultant.

In an increasingly globalized economy, innovation pursuing the speeding up of technological changes takes a renewed interest. In this study, we attempt to show those characteristics and variables that make businesses successful, especially innovative small and medium‐sized enterprises. The article focuses on this business sector because the contribution of it to employment generation, wealth distribution and economy appraisal is frequently set to the fore in current political and economic debate. A study of 408 businesses, according to data from the European Commission and the Spanish Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial – Center for Industrial and Technological Development – (year 1999), will enable the modeling of this success.