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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main Intellectual Property (IP) protection strategies adopted in the R&D phases of a company operating in the bio-pharmaceutical industry, according to an open innovation (OI) approach.

In order to assess how R&D intensive firms adopt IP strategies during OI practices, this research uses a single case-study design. The case has been studied over an extended period of time (from 2008 to 2015), triangulating data and information by means of multiple interviews with different key informants and projects documents. The novelty of the research justifies the use of a single case study.

The study reveals how a mix of formal and informal tools for IP protection are used, with a final attempt to maintain control over different technological solutions during their validation process and profiting from stable R&D collaborations with research partners.

Limitations of the study relate to the single case study methodology as well as to some peculiarities of the analyzed company and of the Bio-Pharmaceutical industry.

Research managers could find some food for thought in the adoption of OI approaches for reducing costs and risks associated with technological uncertainty, with particular attention to the strategic role of IP rights.

Despite knowledge protection being widely recognized to be a critical issue for implementing OI approaches, how IP strategies should be used in the different phases of R&D is still debatable. Moreover, few empirical studies relate to the adoption of optimal combinations of IP tools in relation to the different R&D phases in such technology intensive industries as the bio-pharmaceutical industry.

Despite the abundance of research in open innovation, few contributions explore it at inter-organizational level, and particularly with a focus on healthcare ecosystem, characterized by a dense network of relationships among public and private organizations (hospitals, companies and universities) as well as other actors that can be labeled as “untraditional” player, i.e. doctors, nurses and patients. The purpose of this paper is to cover this gap and explore how knowledge is transferred and flows among all the healthcare ecosystems’ players in order to support open innovation processes.

The paper is conceptual in nature and adopts a narrative literature review approach. In particular, insights gathered from open innovation literature at the inter-organizational network level, with a particular attention to healthcare ecosystems, and from the knowledge transfer processes, are analyzed in order to propose an interpretative framework for the understanding of knowledge transfer in open innovation with a focus on healthcare ecosystem.

The paper proposes an original interpretative framework for knowledge transfer to support open innovation in healthcare ecosystems, composed of four main components: healthcare ecosystem’s players’ categories; knowledge flows among different categories of players along the exploration and exploitation stages of innovation development; players’ motivations for open innovation; and players’ positions in the innovation process. In addition, assuming the intermediary network as the suitable organizational model for healthcare ecosystem, four classification scenarios are identified on the basis of the main players’ influence degree and motivations for open innovation.

The paper offers interpretative lenses for managers and policy makers in understanding the most suitable organizational models able to encourage open innovation in healthcare ecosystems, taking into consideration the players’ motivation and the knowledge transfer processes on the basis of the innovation results.

The paper introduces a novel framework that fills a gap in the innovation management literature, by pointing out the key role of external not R&D players, like patients, involved in knowledge transfer for open innovation processes in healthcare ecosystems.

The aggregation and exploitation of knowledge edges has settled the appearance of multiple approaches that put intangibles as the most important key driver towards the strategic and financial level achievements. This paper's aim is to identify the intangibles recognized by the Portuguese Airlines companies, their impact on the companies' strategies and their inclusion in the internal management reporting standards.

The research is based on the Portuguese civil aviation sector, specifically focused on air transportation activity. The research involved all 21 Portuguese Airlines companies and the National regulator. Structured inquiries were conducted in the companies' financial departments and in the National Activity Regulator. Non‐parametric tests were performed in order to identify possible clusters and dependence linkages between companies' features and intangible policies and procedures.

Findings evidenced the need of a complementary intangible resources scorecard report. Significant dependence does not exist between the inquiries' results and the airlines company's features. Results have shown that the intangibles objectives and recognition detractors have a transversal and structural nature, and are not focused on a discrete company type or cluster.

This methodology clarifies the stage of knowledge management implementation and intangible assets measurement and recognition of the companies' reporting systems. Several intangibles were identified, some of them supporting strong and sustainable competitive advantages. This research also constitutes a deep sector diagnosis, the first step for an organizational culture change with respect to intangibles reporting requirements.

Lean manufacturing (LM) principles are one of the alternatives to improve manufacturing productivity, quality and customer satisfaction in Indian manufacturing industry. The purpose of this paper is to find the implementation status of LM principles across Indian manufacturing organizations through the empirical survey methodology.

The survey questionnaire was developed based upon literature review conducted on LM and also considered experts suggestion in the field of LM. The survey questionnaire was sent to 753 manufacturing organization located in India. The respondent organization details have gathered from the list of Confederation of Indian Industries directory for the year 2011.The selected respondents were production managers, quality managers, sales managers, maintenance managers, CEOs of the organization. The empirical survey collected 180 filled survey questionnaires from Indian manufacturing industries.

The study clearly identified that many manufacturing organizations were in initial transition stage and concentrating mostly in-plant operations instead of collaboration in all levels of business with suppliers and customers. The present study found that drivers for implementation of LM were customer satisfaction and organizational continuous improvement program. The present study also found that barriers to implement LM principles were employee resistance, implementing few elements of LM principles instead of the complete package of LM framework, budget constraints and lack of understanding of LM principles to shop floor managers. Finally the study concluded that Indian manufacturing organizations have to conduct continuous learning programmed to improve understanding of LM principles as well as to maintain their motivation level in apex point. The study also suggested that a systematic LM framework is needs to Indian manufacturing organizations, which will act as clear cut guiding torch to the organization managers to implement LM principles across organization.

The sample size of the present study was moderate number than previous studies. However the study only concentrated on manufacturing organizations across India. The results of the present study cannot generalize across all the sectors of Indian organizations.

The concept of LM was very popular among developed and developing countries in the world. Many research studies were performed across world to find the status of LM implementation in their countries. Very few research studies reported the status of LM implementation in Indian manufacturing industries and those studies also with limited focus of the status of LM implementation. Hence the study presented details status of LM principles implementation in Indian manufacturing industries.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the relationships existing among three basic constructs in the visitor’s decision-making process (motivation and satisfaction) in a tourist destination that is a World Heritage Site, such as the city of Cordoba (Spain). Bearing in mind the perception of heritage by the foreign visitors, the following four types were determined: alternative tourists, cultural tourists, emotional tourists and heritage tourists.

This paper uses the multivariate technique of grouping cases (K-means clusters) to analyse the similarity existing among the surveyed persons. From the groups or segments obtained, statistics and measurements of association were applied that provide the information necessary to study the possible trends of association existing between variables from a table of bidimensional contingencies. In the same way, non-parametric statistical procedures were used (Kruskal–Wallis H test and the Mann–Whitney U test).

The results show the existence of four diverse motivational dimensions among the foreign tourists to visit it: hedonic, cultural, convenience and circumstantial. Of the four dimensions, the hedonic and the cultural are the most relevant. The results show the existence of a common cultural identity: the Arabic cultural identity.

This paper contributes to complete the academic literature existing on the links of the tourist with the historical and monumental heritage that he visits, and with the tourist’s behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the existing relations between three fundamental constructs (motivation and satisfaction) and the type of travellers in a World Heritage Site (WHS) tourist destination, the city of Cuenca (Ecuador).

The methodology used consisted of a fieldwork to determine the motivations and satisfaction of the visitor in the city of Cuenca, and then their segmentation.

The relationship between the study of motivation and satisfaction is a fundamental element in the development of WHSs. Similarly, it presents four different types of tourists obtained from their motivational variables. The results show the existence of three motivational dimensions for visiting Cuenca: cultural, circumstantial and convenience. Similarly, and using the motivation scenarios, four types of visitor have been identified: a cultural tourist, a cultural convenience tourist, a cultural circumstantial tourist and an alternative tourist.

The principal practical application of this research is to contribute to understanding the motivations of the visitors in relation to the city of Cuenca as a WHS for the purpose of designing tourist and cultural products that better satisfy the needs of the tourists and that, at the same time, are compatible with the sustainable management of the destination.

This paper seeks to contribute to promoting the relationship between tourism, sustainability and heritage in Latin America.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study which describes reference and instruction outreach programs promoted by the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Library. Direct‐2‐U Reference, Crash Courses, and Drop‐In Tours reached out to students in innovative ways to encourage non‐library users to see what they were missing and to give current library users even more choices. Direct‐2‐U Reference provided opportunities for students to get research help on their own turf. Librarians offered assistance at several locations across campus, combining the benefits of face‐to‐face reference with the convenience of getting help without going to the physical library. Library Crash Courses promoted subject‐specific assistance without the formality of in‐class instruction. Drop‐In Tours allowed curious students to figure out the layout of the library and get answers to their questions.

This case study describes researching alternative services, and includes practical information on how services were implemented. Information is presented about ongoing evaluation of the outreach programs that improved the direction, marketing, and overall success of the programs.

The outreach programs promoted by the library reached additional users, provided more options for patrons, and improved the visibility of the library campus‐wide.

This case study will be of interest to other academic librarians wanting to provide library services outside the library. It builds on the existing literature regarding library outreach services.

The purpose of this paper is to present the development and implementation of a multiobjective optimization model and information system based on mobile technology, to support decision making in humanitarian logistics operations.

The trade-off between economic and social (deprivation) costs faced by governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in humanitarian logistics operations is modeled through a Pareto frontier analysis, which is obtained from a multiobjective optimization model. Such analysis is supported on an information system based on mobile technology.

Results show useful managerial insights for decision-makers by considering both economic and social costs associated to humanitarian logistics operations. Such insights include the importance of timely and accurate information shared through mobile technology.

This research presents a multiobjective approach that considers social costs, which are modeled through deprivation functions. The authors suggest that a future nonlinear approach be also considered, since there will be instances where the deprivation cost is a nonlinear function throughout time. Also, the model and information system developed may not be suitable for other humanitarian aid instances, considering the specific characteristics of the events considered on this research.

The inclusion of several types of goods, vehicles, collecting points off the ground, distributions points on the ground, available roads after a disaster took place, as well as volume and weight constraints faced under these scenarios, are considered.

Deprivation costs faced by affected population after a disaster took place are considered, which supports decision making in governmental and NGOs involved in humanitarian logistics operations toward welfare of such affected population in developing countries.

A numerical illustration in the Latin American context is presented, the model and information system developed can be used in other developing countries or regions that face similar challenges toward humanitarian logistics operations.