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The purpose of this paper is to describe how the patent planning and patent evaluation processes might be redesigned for firms intending to move from a mere accumulation of patents to a more thoughtful patent management approach that couples protection with the reduction of cost related to patent file and maintenance.

An Action Research project was carried out in close collaboration with a firm. This approach was adopted since it allows generation of new scientific knowledge from the observation and direct intervention on a specific situation.

Results underline the importance of structuring and formalising the patent planning and patent evaluation processes within the firm. Moreover, it is suggested that the patent planning process should be integrated into the development of a new product/technology since its initial phases.

The paper contributes to filling the gap regarding the practical implementation and improvement of patent planning and patent evaluation processes, coupling protection with the minimisation of costs related to patent file and maintenance. However, as the results of Action Research studies are specific to the context where they took place, result generalisability is limited.

This paper provides managers with a valuable example on how to structure the patent planning and patent evaluation processes. The introduction of specific analyses into these processes allows limiting the decision-making subjectivity and, consequently, enhances the accuracy of firm investment in filing and maintaining its patents.

Providing a practical example of the actual implementation and improvement of the patent planning and patent evaluation processes, this paper responds to the recent call for more qualitative studies on intellectual property management.

Digital advancements offer several opportunities to firms to gain competitive advantages, pushing them to transform their operating models. From the managerial standpoint, governing a digital transformation process is a complex task, as it means steering the process that goes from the exploration of the ample spectrum of opportunities that digital technologies provide, to the reduction of this complexity to a final set of actions to be designed and executed. As design theories are suited to solve complex problems, the purpose of this paper is to frame a design-driven approach to plan and execute a digital transformation.

This study pivots on an in-depth case study of a large Italian firm in the fashion sector that adopted design thinking to craft its digital transformation strategy and turn it into a list of projects to be executed.

Drawing from design theories, the authors framed a three-stage process (understanding reality, defining a digital transformation strategy and converting the digital transformation strategy into digital projects).

The external validity of the study is limited due to the choice to rely on an in-depth single case study.

The framework provided offers a structure for managing the digital transformation through strategy development and execution. Moreover, practitioners and companies can evaluate if their digital transformation process is under control and reflect whether they have been giving the right attention to each of the three identified stages. They could follow the footsteps of EYEWEAR and adopt the proposed framework to design their company’s digital transformation process.

This paper is supposed to help firms in reflecting on how to organize their digital transformation process. A positive transition to digital technologies enabled by the human-centeredness of design is likely to improve the quality of life of the people that belong to the transformed organization.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first research attempts at the crossroad between the fields of design, strategy and technology management and a groundwork for further studies to be conducted in this field.

Due to the recent development of Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI) technology solutions in customer relationship management (CRM), this paper provides a systematic overview of the field, thus unveiling gaps and providing promising paths for future research.

A total of 212 peer-reviewed articles published between 1989 and 2020 were extracted from the Scopus database, and 2 bibliometric techniques were used: bibliographic coupling and keywords’ co-occurrence.

Outcomes of the bibliometric analysis enabled the authors to identify three main subfields of the AI literature within the CRM domain (Big Data and CRM as a database, AI and machine learning techniques applied to CRM activities and strategic management of AI–CRM integrations) and capture promising paths for future development for each of these subfields. This study also develops a three-step conceptual model for AI implementation in CRM, which can support, on one hand, scholars in further deepening the knowledge in this field and, on the other hand, managers in planning an appropriate and coherent strategy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematise and discuss the literature regarding the relationship between AI and CRM based on bibliometric analysis. Thus, both academics and practitioners can benefit from the study, as it unveils recent important directions in CRM management research and practices.

Following an increasing interest in the area that merges digital/I4.0 technologies and business models (BMs), which led to a proliferation of articles in this domain, the purpose of this article is to systematize this body of literature by means of a structured literature review.

After a careful selection of articles, we carried out the analysis with the support of bibliometric techniques, using the bibliographic coupling approach complemented with factor analysis and the content analysis of articles.

The results of the literature review analysis allow us to organize the literature around four main research streams, namely digital technologies and business model innovation, digital strategy and BMs, digital platforms and BMs, and IoT, servitization and BMs. On such a basis, we outline gaps and provide promising avenues for further research in this research area.

This study has implications for academics in terms of conceptualization of relevant constructs, integration of two streams of research and specific technologies whose relationship with the BM still deserves attention.

This study has implications also for managers, who may take advantage of the description of some BM archetypes driven by digital/I4.0 technologies and also appreciate the relevance of taking a strategic approach, with a particular focus on the BM, toward the use of digital technologies.

This study merges two relevant streams of research in an attempt to see how they have developed synergically and what potentials their merge could offer for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence that different components of relational capital (marketing capability, open innovation with business and scientific partners, technological reputation, brand) have on customer performance (CP). Moreover, the moderating effect of absorptive capacity on such relationships is tested.

First, the direct relationship between the different components of relational capital and CP is analyzed through a linear regression model. Then, to test the moderating effect, two distinct regression analyses are conducted into two sub-samples, defined according to the level of absorptive capacity. The authors carried out these analyses on a sample of 150 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the medium- and high-tech B2B context.

Results of this study prove that CP is enhanced through firm marketing capability, open innovation with business partners and technological reputation, while brand and open innovation with scientific partner do not have an association with CP. In particular, the impact of marketing capability and open innovation with business actors on CP is greater for firms with higher absorptive capacity.

This paper, highlighting the relevance of relational capital and absorptive capacity in improving CP, enhances our knowledge about the factors that help to strengthen the relationships with customers, which is an under-investigated issue especially for SMEs competing in B2B industries, and extends our knowledge on open innovation practices.

Findings of this paper suggest that, to achieve better CP, managers should pay special attention to nurturing their marketing capability and high-quality relationships with external actors and invest in absorptive capacity to enhance the positive effect of such linkages.

This work, combining the external perspective of relational capital and the internal organizational dimension of absorptive capacity, provides valuable insights about the knowledge and resource mix that firms might rely on to achieve better customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Based on the growing interest devoted to knowledge management (KM) in inter-organizational contexts, the purpose of this paper is to systematize existing literature and understand how it developed over time, thus tracing its roots and evolution to unveil gaps and suggest new promising areas for future research.

This study used bibliographic techniques to analyze a sample of 85 studies along three main periods (1998-2010, 2011-2014 and 2015-2019). In particular, this study focused on co-occurrences of keywords to identify the most dominant themes, as well as connections among these themes.

Overall, the review shows the main outlets that have published papers on the topic of KM in inter-organizational contexts, as well as the theoretical background this research builds on. The temporal analysis exhibits the core topics that have persisted and grown consistently over time as the links between KM, innovation and networks. In addition, the review highlights new emerging themes, such as the human and social side of KM, and new interesting contexts of study (e.g. coopetition and open/user innovation), which opens exciting avenues for new research opportunities.

This study illustrates the conceptual structure of the field in three distinct periods and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the key topics and their interrelatedness within the area of KM in inter-organizational contexts. Both researchers and practitioners can profit from the study because it reveals consolidated topics while identifying areas that still need to be investigated to foster KM in inter-organizational settings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the financial resources invested in advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) and social capital (SC), in terms of the set of internal and external relationships a firm holds, have a positive effect on the adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies. Furthermore, it tests whether the organizational context strengthens these relationships.

The authors used regression models to analyze data collected through an international survey carried out within the scope of a European project involving six Central European regions.

Results show that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) having stronger internal and external SC have a higher propensity to adopt I4.0 technologies, and both management support and absorptive capacity (AC) strengthen these relationships, whereas investments in AMTs within the manufacturing area and internal SC have a positive association with the intensity of I4.0 adoption. However, in presence of a high level of management support and AC, the relationship between external SC and I4.0 adoption becomes positive and significant. Management support also moderates the impact that investments in AMTs in the manufacturing area and internal SC have on the intensity of adoption of I4.0 technologies.

This paper is one of the first to investigate the context of SMEs that, having fewer resources, face some difficulties in exploiting the potential of I4.0 revolution. Moreover, it adopts a broad perspective on the factors that facilitate the adoption of I4.0.

Considering that SMEs are widely recognized as important innovators and, in the past years, have registered increasing levels of patenting, the purpose of this paper is to unveil the impact of both internal and external knowledge sourcing on SME patenting performance and test the moderating role of formal plan for innovation and absorptive capacity.

The authors propose an econometric approach based on a Hurdle Count Data Model which allows the authors not only to overcome problems related to the count dependent variables often assuming zero values, but also to separate patent propensity from patent portfolio size.

This methodology puts in evidence that an internal factor (i.e. employee skills for innovation) significantly influences SME patent propensity, while an external factor (i.e. open innovation with business partners) impacts SME portfolio size. Moreover, both formal plan for innovation and absorptive capacity play an important moderating role.

This paper embraces a knowledge perspective to investigate the determinants of SME patenting, which contributes to the knowledge-based view of the firm in the SME domain. Moreover, differently from most studies in the area of patenting which adopt a macro-level perspective and rely on secondary data, it assumes a firm-level approach and bases on primary data, which contributes to make it particularly distinctive.