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This paper explores the outcomes of the external revealing of knowledge. More specifically, we aim to understand how external revealing of knowledge can be seen as value creation in the craft beer industry.

A single-case study methodology is used to answer the research question “What are the outcomes of the external revealing of knowledge?”

The research highlights several dynamics and outcomes regarding the external revealing of knowledge, mainly connected to creating value for the industry, strengthening a firm's network, enhancing the culture of the territory, gaining access to knowledge, and guaranteeing market competitiveness.

A few studies have addressed a specific aspect of outbound open innovation, which involves free revealing of knowledge to external stakeholders. Previous works are mostly conceptual; thus, there is a lack of empirical studies about revealing strategies. This research empirically analyzes the outcomes of the external revealing of knowledge and, more generally, of an open innovation approach.

In the last decades, business and management scholars have given great attention to intellectual capital (IC), which could seem a mature topic, having arrived at its third wave of studies. However, its intersections with the business model (BM) remain an under-investigated topic, and the authors wanted to investigate two research questions (RQs): how the literature addressing IC and BM has evolved so far in the business and management domains? What are possible future research trends of business and management studies regarding IC and BM?

This study answers these questions through a systematic literature review (SLR) of 74 peer-reviewed articles in the area of business and management. First, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to evaluate what is the current trend of such publications and what are the most relevant articles, authors, countries and journals. Then, a content analysis was performed to aggregate and systematize the results and identify future lines of research.

Results show that most of the studies conducted to date are focused on the aspects of value creation and value capture, with a primary focus on investigating the relationship between IC and firms' performances (e.g. economic, financial and organizational).

The relationship between IC and BM has been quite neglected by the literature, or at least it leaves room for further research lines. For example, little is known about how firms use the various IC assets to leverage new forms of value proposition, new target markets or new sources of revenues. This is one of the first papers systematizing the current body of knowledge on this topic and drawing future lines of research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of external knowledge in the innovation process of firms in the food and beverage (F&B) industry and the effects of two external knowledge sourcing modes on new product development (NPD) performance.

The paper applies a quantitative approach, relying on data from 157 Italian firms operating in the F&B industry to test the hypotheses through OLS regression models.

Results suggest that the surveyed firms actively engage in open innovation with strong ties with market-based sources. Moreover, the authors found that market-based sources are associated with income from incremental innovation and time to market, while science-based sources are associated with income from radical innovation. Finally, the authors found that the R&D intensity enhances the benefits of the above external knowledge sourcing modes.

Despite the large amount of studies assessing the effects of external knowledge sourcing on performance in the open innovation field, few studies focused on a specific industry, especially with regard to F&B. Moreover, this paper considers different types of NPD performance measures given that different external knowledge sourcing modes exert different effects.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the level of subsidiaries’ internal and external relational embeddedness and the degree of subsidiaries’ knowledge transfer. More specifically, the aim is to explore dual embeddedness of subsidiaries involved in the knowledge transfer process within multinational corporations’ (MNCs) network.

The authors empirically analyse 165 European subsidiaries to demonstrate the crucial role of dual relational embeddedness in the transfer of knowledge within MNCs. Data were collected via a close-ended questionnaire and processed through an ordinary least squares regression model.

Results show that internal embeddedness directly and positively influences the degree of subsidiaries’ knowledge transfer, whereas external embeddedness does not. Notwithstanding, a higher level of both types of embeddedness – known as dual embeddedness – generates multiplicative and positive effects on the degree of subsidiaries’ knowledge transfer.

Best practices and relevant knowledge follow a reverse transfer of knowledge from the subsidiaries to the internal MNC network that is facilitated by the relational embeddedness of subsidiaries. This has resulted in developing a dual embeddedness, which introduces new routines and scripts, as well as more relational links.

The research emphasises the relevance of the knowledge transfer process in multiple directions, evoking the central role of dual-embedded subsidiaries.

The main purpose of this study is twofold: first, to analyze how risk is considered and managed by entrepreneurial SMEs, where the original founder is still the entrepreneur running the business, and second to understand if risk management is integrated with decision making.

This research is based on a multiple case study. Three entrepreneurial SMEs based in the North-West of Italy were selected to obtain a heterogeneous sample. They operate in the manufacturing sector and they have different size and corporate ownership.

The risk management process cannot be always formalized but an unconscious risk analysis is always carried out. Risk is intertwined with decision and entrepreneurial orientation. Nowadays, rethinking risk management means enhancing and improving the decision-making process and integrating the phases of the two processes by introducing an alternative new model (RM-DM) that stands for “risk management-decision making”.

Conclusions can be generalized at a theoretical level even though this multiple case study represents a contingent analysis.

This research enhances the understanding of the potential benefits for entrepreneurial SME owners of a risk mind-set while making decisions. RM-DM model is an alternative tool to manage risks properly in SMEs, especially when a formalized process is not implemented, as it improves the way decisions are made and introduces a more reasoned approach to manage risks.

This empirical study introduces a unique model (RM-DM) that helps to rethink risk management in entrepreneurial SMEs, by integrating it with the decision making and by proposing an alternative tool to manage risks with a more structured approach.

The increasing adoption of digital technologies such as social media have changed the way consumers share knowledge about products and services among each other. The aim of this paper is to test what factors drive customers to share knowledge about products and services on social media pages.

A quantitative survey design was employed for this study. Empirical data were drawn from 358 consumers in Italy, using a purposive sampling technique. The hypothesised relationships were tested using ordinary least squares regression modelling.

The results of this study reveal that the usage frequency of online reviews (UFORs), social bonds (SBs), subjective happiness (SH) and reciprocity positively impact on customer knowledge sharing (CKS). By contrast, the perceived usefulness of online reviews (PUORs), helping others, customer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII) and informational (INFO) do not impact CKS.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is amongst the first to empirically test the antecedents of knowledge-sharing behaviours about products and services on online social media. The present work offers relevant implications for theory. First, the work enriches the customer knowledge management (CKM) theory by providing empirical evidence on factors leading to the higher sharing of knowledge amongst customers. Second, the work adds to the literature on social media, demonstrating the individual determinants on knowledge-sharing behaviours about products and services in online communities. Practically speaking, this paper identifies some key elements driving CKS in social media conversations. Thus, building upon the findings of this study, the authors provide some guidelines for social media managers and retailers for promoting CKS on social media pages.

This paper aims at exploring the effect of knowledge management (KM) practices on the relationship between external research and development (R&D) and innovative performance. The authors argue that the firms which develop and possess superior KM capabilities have the ability to better manage external knowledge and combine it with the internal one.

The authors used a sample of 117 European MNC subsidiaries. An OLS regression analysis was carried out to evaluate the moderator effect of KM on the relationship between external R&D and innovative performance.

The authors found positive evidences in favor of a moderator effect of KM. This means that subsidiaries with superior KM capabilities are more effective in using external R&D, augmenting the magnitude of their external sources of knowledge and, consequently, improving their innovative performance.

Managerially speaking, both corporate and subsidiaries’ managers need to understand the relevance of managing knowledge effectively and efficiently at the subsidiary level. Corporate managers need to allocate more resources (both financial and managerial) to the subsidiaries that are active in knowledge transfer and sharing, while subsidiaries managers need to implement practically the KM tools and processes at the subsidiary organizational level to improve subsidiary’s innovative performance.

This paper contributes mainly to the KM field, highlighting the importance of KM at the subsidiary level, whereas most of previous studies focus on different units of analysis.

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 study the effects of social media usage on four knowledge creation processes, namely socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation, and innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

A sample of 96 SMEs has been used to gather data through a standardised questionnaire and test the hypotheses through OLS regression models.

The results indicate that social media influence positively three out of four knowledge creation processes and that they help to foster the innovation process.

From a theoretical perspective, the study contributes to literature considering a specific digital tool and its effect on knowledge creation and innovation. In fact, a few studies have considered the impact of social media usage on other variables, such as ROI and productivity, but never on knowledge creation and innovation through a quantitative study. From a managerial perspective, the research suggests managers to implement and involve social media within business and innovation processes.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on challenges and facilitating factors of open innovation practices (OIP) implemented by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The empirical research has been conducted on eight SMEs operating in the ICT sector, through a qualitative approach involving comparative case studies.

The findings drawn from the interviews indicate that each OIP established entails specific challenges and facilitating factors that SMEs have to face to sustain the open innovation journey and foster competitiveness. These findings helped to draw some important managerial implications and provide insights to SMEs willing to open innovation processes.

The study identifies OIP used in empirical studies to explore specific challenges and facilitators for each OIP, in the context of SMEs. Previous studies mostly focussed on open innovation sources and scarcely investigated internal dynamics of specific OIP.