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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the managerial practices that companies can implement in order to design a circular economy business model and how companies can create and capture value from a circular economy business model.

The paper adopts a single case study methodology with semi-structured interviews and company, supplier, and manufacturing site visits, conducted in a small-to-medium-size Italian company operating in the office supply industry.

The theoretical setting maps a set of managerial practices for a circular economy business model and sets the research gaps and questions in a research framework designed along three main dimensions: value network, customer value proposition and interface, and managerial commitment. Then, through an empirical analysis, the findings reveal that the proposed dimensions are interdependent and reinforce each other. Moreover, the managerial commitment as moderating factor between the value network and the customer value proposition and interface dimensions is identified as essential for reaching the intended goals of circular economy business models.

This study maximizes the depth of the phenomenon under investigation by leveraging a single case study methodology, which ideally helps in a theory-testing approach as in the present case. Future research opportunities could be found in qualitative and quantitative studies to increase the generalizability of the findings of this paper.

The paper presents a set of relevant managerial practices for circular economy business models that can be used by managers who have the will to embrace in practice circular economy principles to support the design, change, or upgrade of the business model of companies within which they operate.

An interdisciplinary approach that integrates the research streams of circular economy, social psychology, organizational behavior, and business model design has been pursued to test the theoretical setting and the research framework for circular economy business models in a real-world context.

Radical innovation is still a debated concept in the field of innovation management. Very often, firms cannot pursue radical innovation due to the lack of access to markets, right expertise and financial resources. This issue is even more relevant nowadays, as companies have started to open their innovation activity to external partners. Despite the surging interest in the topic of radical innovation in a context of open innovation, scholars have shown how it can be difficult for companies to achieve the desired outcomes because of a failure to implement the right organizational forms of collaboration with external partners. The paper examines how companies implement successful open innovation cases that lead to successful radical innovations through dedicated organizational forms of collaboration.

The present article leverages three qualitative cases of open innovation projects where SAES group (or the “Company”), an Italian technology-based company, has exploited open innovation through dedicated organizational forms of collaboration to pursue radical innovation.

The findings show how the analyzed cases have required the Company to implement three different forms of collaborations: (1) equity alliance, (2) acquisition and (3) joint venture to pursue radical innovation. In addition, the results give some suggestions about the decision-making processes of the Company and show how a set of both rational and soft factors, such as technical, cultural, geographical, dimensional and human, have to be considered in implementing open innovation for radical innovation.

The results of this study reinforce and enrich existing research on the factors that decision-makers can evaluate for deciding which open innovation modes are the most suitable for leading to successful radical innovations.

In recent years, companies have started to open up their Research and Development (R&D) and their innovation activities to external partners. They aim to access new resources and capabilities and to gain shorter time-to-markets. However, as several studies have shown, it can be difficult to manage collaborative (open) innovation projects to achieve desired outcomes. Starting from this premise, the paper investigates how project stakeholder management is different in open innovation projects from traditional R&D projects.

The study has a qualitative nature and is based on the interpretative paradigm with an inductive orientation. The paper leverages interviews with experts involved in open innovation projects conducted in two Science and Technology Parks between Sweden and Italy.

The analysis shows how companies manage multiple stakeholders in open innovation projects and the peculiarities project stakeholder management faces in these projects when compared with traditional R&D projects. The paper shows how the relationships with external partners in open innovation projects are regulated by informal identification and analysis frameworks, which reduce the tensions deriving from these multiple collaborations. In addition, it underlines a set of good practices, and project management aspects for developing effective absorptive capacity of know-how, resources, and capabilities from external stakeholders in open innovation projects.

The paper analyzes for the first time how companies manage multiple stakeholders in open innovation projects in a different way from traditional R&D projects. Furthermore, the paper introduces a shift in the focus of the analysis: it focuses on the level of the project conducted through multiple collaborations instead of on the level of the firms involved in the project. Finally, the paper integrates open innovation research with project management research.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Stakeholder management in open innovation contexts is even more difficult than with conventional R&D projects that typically involve fewer stakeholders. However, adoption of various measures that include careful selection and engagement of diverse stakeholders together with relevant conflict management techniques better positions project managers to overcome the challenges and meet project objectives.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

In an attempt to build upon existing theory, this paper aims to investigate the potentially reciprocal relationship between negotiation and strategy, and strive to contribute toward a better understanding of the ways in which organizations negotiate.

Built upon the integration of two different bodies of literature, negotiation and strategy, and on the analysis of the case of Ryanair, this paper argues for an integrated approach to negotiation and organizational capabilities.

The case study allows for a clearer understanding of how negotiation capability can play a significant role in supporting the creation and sustainment of competitive advantage, even under unfavorable industry settings.

This paper contributes to theoretical development by offering new and insightful explanations of firms’ behavior, moving beyond the classic interpretation of industry dynamics, such as bargaining power. This study has implications for both practice and research, as it offers a better and more holistic understanding of the strategy-making process and the foundations of its success.

This study aims to investigate the evolutionary pathways adopted by a digital platform to favor the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem inspired by circular economy behaviors, becoming an enabler in the development of a coevolutionary relationship between entrepreneurial ecosystems and circular economy.

An in-depth single-case study method has been applied, investigating the case of circularity.com, the first and only circular economy industrial symbiosis platform in Italy.

The paper shows how digital platforms can transition towards circular business models, particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, the findings show how sustainable platforms' need to revise their business models to effectively engage with stakeholders. The analysis also shows the central role covered by entrepreneurial ecosystems in the transition towards a more circular and sustainable business models.

This paper contributes to theoretical development by offering new and insightful explanations of firms' behavior and coevolution, moving beyond the classic interpretation of industry dynamics and analyzing a unique case study. This study has implications for both practice and research, as it offers a better and more holistic understanding of the enabling role of digital platforms for a circular economy.

This paper explores how exaptive innovation process might be considered a useful innovation model in constraint-based environments. Through an in-depth case study, it illustrates clearly the antecedents of exaptation processes, which are particularly relevant in rapidly changing environments requiring new solutions under time and resource constraints.

The authors adopt a single case study approach that is particularly suitable in case of an inductive research design, which is required because of the novelty of the topic. The research is inspired by the use of the snorkeling mask EASYBREATH, commercialized by the giant Decathlon, as a medical device, a respirator to treat patients affected by coronavirus in Italy. The authors organized the evidence according to a novel taxonomy grounded in the literature.

The case study stimulates reflections on the existence of some antecedents to the exaptive innovation process in constraint-based environments: (1) the availability of specific actors in the innovation process; (2) the creation of platforms of interaction between people with different competences, nurtured by collective bottom-up financing systems; (3) the role of the community of makers, in particular, and of the 4th industrial revolution, in general, for creating enabling technologies; (4) multidisciplinary individual background of key actors in the innovation process is crucial to ensure the exaptive path to be in place.

This work has some limitations, due to the choice of limiting the analysis to a single case, nevertheless, it offers a first glance on a new technological trajectory available in constraint-based environments.

The case study results underline the importance of new digital collaboration platforms as knowledge multipliers, and illuminate on the potential of the fourth manufacturing revolution, which, through new technologies, creates opportunities for distributed forms of innovation that cross long distances.

This paper aims to shed light on how family firms execute open innovation strategies by managing internal and external knowledge flows.

First, through a comprehensive literature review, the paper identifies the barriers to the acquisition and transfer of knowledge in open innovation processes. Second, it presents and discusses the results of an exploratory case study on Loccioni, an Italian family firm providing high-tech measurement solutions, highlighting how this family firm managed to overcome the barriers in executing an open innovation strategy.

The case study shows that Loccioni faced specific challenges in acquiring and transferring knowledge in its open innovation processes and developed two idiosyncratic capabilities – labelled imprinting and fraternization – that helped the firm overcome the barriers to knowledge acquisition and transfer. The analysis shows that these two capabilities are enabled by the distinctive goals and social capital characterizing family firms.

The paper creates a link between open innovation and family business research with an empirically grounded model illustrating how the idiosyncratic capabilities of a family firm help overcome the critical barriers to the acquisition and transfer of knowledge in executing an open innovation strategy.

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has led in a very short time to a worldwide pandemic that has had severe effects on both businesses and daily lives. In a scenario characterised by the social distancing imperative, the sharing economy found itself struggling to survive, deprived of its core asset, namely, peer (human) relationships. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the coping strategies that have been implemented by sharing economy platforms to navigate the pandemic.

An explorative empirical investigation of 20 sharing economy platforms was carried out during the first lockdown phase (March–June 2020). To drive the analysis, a theoretical framework was developed by merging the literature on the business model and crisis management strategies.

The answers provided by sharing economy platforms to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have been classified into nine typologies of intervention according to the developed framework, with illustrative examples.

This paper provides an empirical investigation into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sharing economy field and it offers evidence about the immediate reactions of sharing platforms to the health crisis effects. The paper also introduces a framework about business model and crisis management strategies as a conceptual tool that could be adopted by firms from other industries.

Knowledge management (KM) is widely adopted by organisations to improve their performance and make informed decisions. Prior research has confirmed that Information Systems (IS) play a critical role in effective KM. The purpose of this study is to examine the existing literature on the role of cloud-based KM systems (C-KMS) in small- and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) by understanding its impact on the five KM processes: knowledge acquisition, creation, storage, sharing and usage.

This study conducted a systematic literature review by examining 133 journal articles and 24 conference papers from 2010 to 2021 on the role of cloud computing in KM for SMEs.

This study revealed that there are numerous empirical analyses on KM processes and tools in SMEs; however, only few studies demonstrate how the whole gamut of KM processes can adopt cloud computing in SMEs. Therefore, SMEs are ineffective at KM with limited IS intervention. This paper offers a proposition on how C-KMS can impact all five KM process, thereby increasing its effectiveness of KM in SMEs. This study analysed the benefits of C-KMS that brings to SMEs in terms of availability, scalability, reliability, security and cost.

This systematic review is restricted to certain databases (ScienceDirect, Sage journals, Scopus and Emerald Insight) and specific IS conference proceedings to source articles. The selection of search criteria and time frame is based on this study’s assessment and choice. This study adds value to our understanding of the role of KM in SMEs, and it reinforces the role of cloud computing in effectively managing knowledge in SMEs. The proposal of C-KMS for the enhancement of KM has significant implications for SMEs to effectively use knowledge for their survival and superior performance.

This study suggests three practical implications. First, adopting and using C-KMS provide a strong foundation to manage knowledge for SMEs in a cost-effective way. Second, C-KMS improves the effectiveness of KM by increasing availability of knowledge artifacts, which in turn aids SMEs’ growth. Third, C-KMS is useful to codify SME’s knowledge, and accordingly supports employees to acquire and use knowledge based on their requirements.

This study discussed C-KMS with contemporary social issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic challenges for SMEs and demonstrated how C-KMS can support SMEs to handle such crises by managing knowledge effectively.

This research highlights the importance of the implementation of a C-KMS for the enhancement of KM in SMEs. The review provides empirical evidence on the challenges faced by SMEs regarding KM, as they often only have enough resources to focus on a single KM process, predominantly knowledge sharing. Consequently, a holistic approach to KM cannot be realised by SMEs. In this context, the findings of this study offer theoretical and practical insights into the role of cloud computing by addressing the challenges of KM in SMEs.