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Following the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the main challenge for the agrofood sector is to innovate food production, offering sustainable, smart and safe solutions. The future of food production will be oriented more and more towards sustainable industries with high technological content to guarantee food safety and food security. It implies that a change not only in the way food is conceived, but also in the way it is produced, processed and consumed is needed. The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of innovation, sustainability, smartness and health within the agrofood industry.

A literature review was conducted using 596 academic documents written in English language and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as in conference proceedings. The relevant articles were analyzed using both a bibliometric and a systematic approach.

The results confirm the role of innovation and sustainability as key drivers in the food industry. The main findings concern the benefits deriving from the adoption of digital technologies, the ever-increasing involvement of consumers in health and environmental issues and the introduction of the open innovation concept in the agrofood industry.

This study jointly considers the dimensions of innovation, sustainability, smartness and health in the agrofood sector, demonstrating how they are strongly interdependent.

The aim of this study was to reveal the role and importance of the milk collection centers in İzmir in assuring food safety in the Turkish dairy sector.

A five‐point Likert scale was applied to collect data on the food safety practices and the problems confronted in MCCs. The difference between the groups in the managers' and MCCs' specifications and the food safety applications in the MCCs were determined by one‐way ANOVA for continuous variables. For the continuous variables, a normal distribution test was applied by Jarque‐Bera test. For variables displaying normal distribution, analysis of variance (one‐way ANOVA) was performed. For the variables not displaying normal distribution, Kruskall‐Wallis test. In the evaluation of other data descriptive statistics were applied.

Because the milk in the MCCs is generally obtained from small‐scale family farms, it is not of the desired quality from a food safety and food quality perspective. The quality control analysis of raw milk cannot be carried out because of the lack of qualified specialists and equipment inadequacies. The most general test applied on milk delivery is based on the monitoring of the sensory properties of the milk.

All MCCs were covered in the sample size of the research and the questionnaires were applied to all 43 MCC managers in İzmir.

An effective organizational and educational structure must be established to monitor food safety and related practices in MCCs.

The paper adds to the body of knowledge on procecessors and their attitudes to food safety and suggests implementation of various practices which could improve results.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the link between innovation technology (IT), relationships which affect the relational capital (RC), and intangible value for the environment, focusing on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of agro-food sector (AFS) in which these topics are prominent.

This paper adopts a qualitative research methodology, based on a multiple case study. The empirical data were obtained from interviews designed to reveal the determinants of the Paoloni's CAOS model (characteristics, ambience, organization, start-up) useful to analyze the relational capital from the firm's perspective. The content analysis shows the most important factors influence the relationships of the companies analyzed.

The empirical analysis highlights the strong link between tradition and innovation in the AFS and its positive effects on corporate sustainability and company relationships as well as in enhancing knowledge. The introduction of ITs and the positive effects it produces in terms of efficiency, product quality, environmental sustainability and new communication channels is an important factor that influences business's relationships.

This paper contributes to the RC literature by stressing how ITs improve not only the executive process and performance of SMEs, but also the intangible resources of the territory. Accordingly, it provides both triggers for future research in the AFS, as well as suggestions to SMEs decision-makers to enhance their competitiveness. Furthermore, the paper offers insights to push policy makers in adopting policies that favor ITs investments in the AFS.

The study contributes to the aim of regional development policy in reducing regional disparities, by examining the spatial balance in socioeconomic development across the states of Malaysia based on composite development index (CDI). Besides, the study has attempted to understand the issues in the development gaps across Malaysian states by evaluating the factors that explain the variation in economic growth

This study uses three-stage least squares (3SLS) and bootstrap sampling and estimation techniques to examine the factors that explain the variations in the growth of development across the states in Malaysia. The analysis involves 13 states in Malaysia (Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pulau Pinang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak) from 2005 to 2015.

The pattern in the spatial socioeconomic imbalance demonstrates a decreasing trend. However, the development index reveals that the performance of less developed states remained behind that of the developed states. The significant factors in explaining the variation in growth across the Malaysian states are relating to agriculture, manufacturing, human capital, population growth, Chinese ethnicity, institutional factors and natural resources.

The authors focused on Malaysian states over the period between 2005 and 2015. The authors encountered some limitations in obtaining relevant data such as international factors and technological change that might also explain the variation in economic growth as the data on these variables are not reported at the state level. Moreover, the data on GSDP by sector was only available from the year 2005. Second, the study is based on secondary data. Future studies might examine the factors that contribute to the development gap across Malaysian states through interviews or questionnaires and compare the findings with the existing results. Despite its limitations, this study contributes to the existing literature that emphasizes on spatial balance of socioeconomic in a developing country, focusing on Malaysian states.

These findings provide guidance for policymakers by understanding key potential areas to reduce the disparity in economic growth across Malaysian states by understanding their impact on the growth.

This study employs different method of 3SLS and bootstrap sampling and estimation techniques in examining the factors that explain the variations in the growth of development across the states in Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the distinction between smart specialisation and smart specialisation policy and it studies under what conditions a smart specialisation policy is necessary.

A conceptual framework is built based on historical evidence of successful dynamics of structural changes at regional level qualified as “smart specialisation”. The identification of market and coordination failures that are likely to impede the occurrence of spontaneous process of smart specialisation makes a good case for a smart specialisation policy.

The paper highlights important design principles for the policy process that should help to minimise potential risks of policy failures and policy capture.

The paper does assess the effect of smart specialisation on innovation and growth at regional level because it is too early to observe and measure effects. The paper confines itself to conjectures about the effects of such a policy.

The paper makes recommendations and explains some of the practicalities about the implementation of the policy at regional level.

The paper is one of the first dealing with the topic of smart specialisation policy.

The aim of this paper is to explore whether open innovation is emerging in the Italian fashion industry.

Based on available studies on innovation and open innovation, we first identified the main facets of open innovation within the industry investigated, such as the process of searching for new ideas, the involvement of external partners in the new product development process and the use of collaboration mechanisms between supply chain partners. Starting from these findings, the authors designed a semi-structured questionnaire that was used as a guideline for 15 case studies, carried out in the Italian fashion industry.

The outcomes from the case studies allow drawing some conclusions about the emergency of open innovation in the fashion industry and the related patterns.

Given its exploratory nature, this study is expected to start a debate about open innovation in the fashion industry, as well as to encourage future studies in this field.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants and motives for supply of trade credit among agro-food manufacturing firms in African countries.

The paper uses a subsample of food manufacturing firms from World Bank Enterprise Survey in eight African countries in 2014. Two-limit Tobit models are specified for the determinants of trade credit supply (TCS) and the motives for TCS are inferred from the determinants. An instrumental variable two-limit Tobit model is estimated to check the endogeneity of trade credit received (TCR) in relation to trade credit supplied.

The level of TCS is significantly related with degree of product diversification, manager experience, level of TCR and overdraft availability. From the results, financing motives (particularly liquidity and redistribution) and commercial motives (particularly marketing and quality guarantee motives) for TCS are implied.

The parameter estimates may contain both demand and supply effects as the two effects cannot be separated due to absence of information on firms’ customers in the data set. The results should be interpreted in this context.

The motives for TCS by agro-food firms is less understood in the agricultural finance literature and this paper makes an important contribution in this regard. In particular, the paper shows the degree of product diversification is directly associated with TCS, a relationship which has not been explored in the trade credit literature.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that examines the sale and provision of healthy beverages across four sectors of the hospitality industry: restaurants, cafes, pubs and quick-service/takeaways. Specifically, the research investigates perceptions of demand for healthy products, challenges to distribution and strategies for increasing supply. In addition, business managers’ attitudes and behaviours with regard to offering healthy beverages, including probiotic beverages (i.e. kombucha, kefir, etc.), are explored, as these are among the fastest growing drinks category.

Data were collected in 2018 through 400 telephone interviews with hospitality business managers from Australia (n=250) and New Zealand (n=150). Data were analysed through SPSS and Stata using descriptive statistics and Probit regression, with a binary outcome variable of “sell/ do not sell” probiotics to consumers.

Results suggest that the business’ decision to sell healthy beverages is influenced by perceptions of consumer demand, profit margins, shelf life of the products and if locally produced.

The findings from this exploratory study present new insights on how hospitality firms respond to consumer demand for healthy options, and the factors influencing their decision to incorporate healthier beverages in their menus.

This article aims to focus on the issue of privatization movement in the agro‐food sector, in the light of the Turkish Dairy Industry Enterprises (TSEK) case, and the effects on the sector following privatization. In order to make an appropriate evaluation, the background of the privatization movement and the general structure of the dairy sector in Turkey are examined first.

After a brief evaluation, the privatization process of TSEK and its effects on the sector are discussed in the light of the results of empirical data that obtain from the ANOVA model.

It has been concluded that the liberalization process has been adopted without the setting up of market regulatory policies, thus, the price balance in the dairy sector has changed to the disadvantage of both producers and consumers, while market concentration has increased and regional differentials have become more apparent.

This article may be relevant for other countries where privatization or liberalization movement in the agro‐food sector is in process.

Business processing organizations are continuously focusing on customer knowledge management (CKM) due to the competitive business environment. CKM is being recognized as an essential source for improving organizational performance (OP). This study focuses on understanding CKM and its impact on OP. It also explores the moderating role of big data analytics capability (BDAC) on OP. Moreover, the mediating role of operational and strategic agility on OP was empirically tested.

Positivist research doctrine has been deployed and data was collected using structured survey using cross-sectional approach. The data were collected from 392 employees working in business processing software houses in the emerging market of Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was deployed for the estimation of theoretical model.

The study's findings indicate that CKM has no significant impact on OP; although the presence of BDAC moderates the relationship significantly. Moreover, the study recommends that CKM and BDAC to be tested in the project environment, considering organization's operational and technical capabilities.

The study proclaims that BDAC can be helpful for organizations to improve their capabilities and output. Likewise, enhancing BDAC reduces failure rates of the projects.

This study provides a critical theoretical and practical contribution to project management in business processing organizations. Big data analytics can be of value for diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analysis in the project management context.