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This paper aims to present a novel way to conceive knowledge strategy (KS). It suggests that a firm could outperform another by establishing a coherent and integrated KS depending on the objectives pursued and the understanding of knowledge management (KM) by managers, the use of KM tools, and organizational aspects to support KS implementation.

A cluster analysis was used to study the effect of KS on business performance and innovation based on a cross‐sectional sample of Spanish firms. Additional statistical analyses were used in order to develop a taxonomy of KSs.

The paper shows that the way an organization approaches knowledge management has major implications on the development of their strategy and the outcomes of KS application. Four types of KS are thus described based on the empirical analysis, i.e. proactive, moderate, passive and inconsistent, each of them having different effects on business performance and innovation.

The research is limited to high rate innovation industries. Future studies could include other industries and a more diverse sample of firms.

The conception of KS presented here is a powerful approach that can lead an organization to achieve further innovation and higher levels of business performance.

An integrated and coherent KS has the potential to produce optimal results in terms of technological innovation and business performance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the potential for implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the civil engineering bachelor degree in the School of Civil Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain).

All the 2019/2020 course syllabi were analyzed to diagnose at which extent each subject within the program curriculum contributes to achieving the different SDGs.

The results show a promising starting point as 75% of the courses address or have potential to address targets covering the 2030 Agenda. This paper also presents actions launched by the School of Civil Engineering to boost the SDGs into the civil engineering curriculum.

This paper presents a rigorous and systematic method that can be carried out in different bachelor degrees to find the subjects that have the potential to incorporate the SDGs into their program. This paper also presents actions launched by the Civil Engineering School to boost the SDGs into the civil engineering curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to explore brand innovation practices in small and medium enterprise (SME) wineries to found mid-range theory of brand innovation and to explain the interaction between upstream and downstream brand innovation during brand (re)launch.

This study deploys a qualitative research method. Data was collected through semi-structured telephone interviews with winery owners and managers from 20 German wineries. The approach explored both product and product line brands, organizational brands regarding upstream and downstream innovation and their mutual interaction.

The analyzed wineries provide evidence for up- and downstream brand innovation in the wine industry, thereby confirming previous findings that the wine industry is increasingly driven not only by tradition but also by innovation. The cases demonstrate that upscale SME wineries are able to distinguish between upstream and downstream innovation and integrate them in a meaningful way. Furthermore, the results point to the importance of team knowledge sharing and professional networks for successful upstream brand innovation, as well as social media for downstream brand innovation.

This paper presents a novel mid-range theory of brand innovation in winery SMEs, where resource constraints and a frugal approach to innovation demand for an integrated, hands-on approach.

The purpose of this paper is to determine agile supply chain management (ASCM) among SMEs in manufacturing-related services sector. The study propose that entrepreneurial orientation (EO), participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, just-in-time (JIT) methodology and technology utilization (TU) are several drivers of ASCM – an effective management decision-making approach.

A total of 197 questionnaires were collected among SMEs to empirically test the proposed model. Structural equation modelling was employed using partial least squares approach to assess measurement and structural model for reflective and formative constructs.

The results reveal that EO, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU positively influence ASCM while participative management style is not a predictor towards an effective ASCM. Moreover, EO was found to be a second-order formative construct comprising of innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness, and ASCM is a first-order formative construct.

Prior literature regarding supply chain management (SCM) has focussed mainly on critical success factors of SCM and green SCM. Limited empirical studies have examined the influence of EO, participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU on ASCM among SMEs in manufacturing-related services sector.

Call centers generate stress and absenteeism in staff and the literature suggests that people-oriented leadership is the right way of supervision for such a situation. This study compared its effects versus those of other types of leadership.

Absentee data of 379 representatives of customer services of a Peruvian call center were analyzed and the representatives answered a questionnaire about the Framework of Values in Competition and its four types of leadership. Day and night work shifts were compared.

It was observed that absenteeism declines with people-oriented leadership, although only during the day shift, and the addition of leadership oriented to change, results and control devalues models.

Future studies should cover the performance of the worker. The findings suggest a need to re-focus the theoretical focus on environmental contingencies that affect leadership effectiveness.

Leadership theorists will ask themselves in what circumstances the multiple leadership is effective. Call center managers will appreciate the organizational value of people-oriented leadership at the first level of supervision.

Efficiency in retailing companies is mandatory for survival. Literature acknowledges external factors impact on efficiency. However, this impact remains understudied, as previous research typically focuses on managerial decisions. The purpose of this paper is to partially fill this gap by exploring the influence of external factors on retailers’ efficiency.

This research simultaneously measures retail efficiency and evaluates the impact of six potential drivers by applying bootstrap techniques in a sample of 25 European Union countries during the period 2006–2015.

The efficiency of the retail system in the countries under analysis evolves at different paces during the observation period. This evolution can be explained by country population density, average store size within countries, foreign trade ratio, concentration, economic freedom and percentage of urban population.

This research does not account for supply and demand restrictions that might affect retailers’ efficiency, as well as other variables that influence their production process.

This paper might help retail managers to comprehend and manage their companies’ efficiency. Furthermore, it provides clues to evaluate market attractiveness in retailers’ international expansion strategies.

Policy makers can facilitate retailers’ efficiency through regulations on external variables that influence retailers’ performance, namely economic freedom and foreign trade ratio.

For the first time, this study analyses the impact of external factors on retail services efficiency across countries.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of consumers of organic food, based on their motivations.

A questionnaire based on the Food Choice Questionnaire was applied to a 656 consumers. A multivariate factor analysis and cluster analysis was performed to the data.

Seven factors were identified: ecological concern; nutritional content; availability of natural products; sensory aspects; certifications, health and confidence; and economic aspects. Resulting clusters were named as: conscious and interested in certification; conscious with no interest in certification; opportunist in transition; unconscious opportunist. There are signs of different consumers. The consumers of these products are characterised by an interaction between hedonic and ethical motivations, where the most important motivation is environmental concern and the least important are the economic aspects.

The reduced number of alternative markets in Mexico limits the amplitude of the research.

The work herein reported is pioneer and contributes to reduce the lack of studies on the motivations and characteristics of consumers of organic foods in Mexico. Findings may set a path for new research in other cultural contexts; as well as for more specific work in Mexico as of consumers of industrialised organic products.

Characterising consumers of organic foods will enable the development of these markets.

Social studies of eating habits have taken place in European countries; and several works have been developed in other areas of the world to determine the way in which consumers build their preferences and food choice patterns. In Mexico, specifically in organic foods, studies have focussed in agrarian economics, but the analysis of motivations for choice has not been addressed. Therefore, it is important to research this issue given the relevance for consumers.

This study aims to address the performance consequences of knowledge transfer within related diversified firms by distinguishing between knowledge outflows and knowledge inflows at the business division level.

Questionnaire data from a sample of 118 business divisions were analyzed using stepwise linear regression.

The results from a three-effect model for the analysis of knowledge transfer indicate that knowledge outflow improves division performance, while knowledge inflow damages it when absorptive capacity is weak. The overall effect of knowledge transfer is therefore beneficial with the exception of the cases of receiving divisions with low levels of absorptive capacity.

These results indicate that knowledge transfer contributes to overall corporate performance, since knowledge outflow impacts positively on division performance in all cases and knowledge inflow impacts negatively on division performance only in some cases. Setting aside the obvious task of promoting knowledge transfer within the firm, one important concern for corporate officers would be to prevent situations in which a division lacks the absorptive capacity to play its role within a corporate network.

This work contributes to existent literature by disentangling the effects of knowledge transfer according to different theoretical perspectives, and it provides an empirical examination in a setting which is intensive in knowledge transference, as is that of business divisions from related diversified firms.

The purpose of this study is to deal with the performance consequences of business units that adopt varying knowledge roles within the internal multi-business network. Multi-business firms are distributed knowledge systems in which business units are extensively involved in internal knowledge transfer processes. Business units play different roles within their respective corporate knowledge networks as knowledge providers, knowledge receivers, both or neither.

Survey data from a sample of 225 business divisions were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Results indicate that divisions which occupy knowledge roles that reveal the possession of unique knowledge (knowledge signaling) or guarantee the accumulation of new knowledge (knowledge learning) outperform those divisions that have access to spilled knowledge (knowledge depreciation) or have no access to any kind of knowledge (knowledge insulation).

Four knowledge roles are distinguished according to the extent to which a business division provides the rest of the corporation with knowledge or receives knowledge from the rest of the corporation, thus exploring the issue of internal knowledge transfer from an integrated perspective that takes the directionality of knowledge flows and the position within the knowledge network into account.

This study contributes to existent research on knowledge transfer and performance outcomes by demonstrating the usefulness of the knowledge role as an integrating concept within this literature. It also extends the four-role framework to the prescriptive domain and tests its normative implications in an intensive internal knowledge transfer setting which has to date gone relatively unnoticed, as is that of multi-business firms.