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This paper aims to examine the role of tourist-generated and other network relationships in small Italian wineries’ internationalization.

It is based on 14 cases of which four are discussed in detail. All 14 cases are summarized in two tables and analyzed in the Discussion section.

Most firms did not pre-plan their foreign activities. International wine tourism was a major source for creating the contacts necessary for their internationalization: they created relationships/networks in tourists’ home markets and, as a result, expanded there either through selling directly to tourists or to the importers they recommended. In addition, they relied on contacts created at trade fairs or by friends/relatives. Some internationalization attempts failed, as the firms were passive and lacked long-term strategic plans. Thus, these producers have not fully realized the potential of wine tourists’ contacts and other network relationships in their internationalization.

It shows how wineries benefited from tourists’ networks and other co-operative relationships and how, as a result, they started exporting, but also which problems they faced. These topics have not received considerable research attention yet.

The paper analyses the influence of the decision-makers' overconfidence on the intuitive practices' adoption, as well as on the international performance during international strategic decision-making processes (SDMPs) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, the study investigates the possible mediating effect of intuition on the relationship between overconfidence and international performance.

A semi-structured questionnaire based on a sample of 160 SMEs and a regression analysis have been employed.

Results show a negative relationship between intuition and international performance and a positive one between overconfidence and international performance. Furthermore, a negative relation between overconfidence and intuition has been identified. Findings also highlight the mediating role of intuition in the relationship between overconfidence and international performance.

The paper provides valuable implications related to the analysis of overconfidence as a critical decision-maker's character and intuition as a feature of the decision-making methodology. Moreover, the study offers indications for SMEs facing complex strategic decisions.

The paper adopts an original perspective by combining the SDMP analysis with that of international strategy within the SMEs context. Additionally, the study enriches the existing literature by (1) investigating overconfidence in the decision-making; (2) enhancing the examination of overconfidence and intuitive practices in the international SDMP; (3) deepening the research field focused on the identification of the intuitive processes' predictors that is still in its infancy.

This paper aims to empirically test the influence of brand characteristics on brand addiction, as well as the consumers’ behaviors caused by this construct.

The paper adopts a Web-based self-completion survey by achieving a total of 529 completed surveys. Then, structural equation modeling has been employed by using SPSS AMOS.

Results highlighted how the brand characteristics of self-expressiveness, innovativeness and authenticity have a positive influence on brand addiction; brand addiction leads consumers to feel emotions of irritability and to adopt obsessive and compulsive behaviors toward the brand.

Even if the choice of using a survey’s sample composed of students attending an Italian University ensures good internal validity of research (owing to the homogeneous character), the results are not generalizable (except for this population group).

The study identified two different spheres of brand addiction (one connected to the brand’s characteristics and the other to the consumers’ psychological-behavioral outcomes), along with possible strategies firms could adopt to strengthen the possibilities to transform their customers into addicted ones and to avoid/reduce the negative consequences deriving from brand addiction.

The paper provides a response to the call for more studies into the brand addiction analysis by empirically testing possible antecedents and outcomes, thus enriching the existing quantitative research focused on this concept.

The purpose of this paper is to deepen the global sourcing (GS) phenomenon from the acquiring firms’ viewpoint by analyzing the Italian craft beer sector. This industry has been chosen since it represents a perfect context for the GS activities’ analysis. Notably, different features characterizing this business force Italian breweries to turn to suppliers, located outside their national borders, to purchase the necessary raw materials.

The paper adopts a multiple case study concerning four Italian agricultural breweries located in the Marche region.

Results identify the main motivations, drivers, risks, obstacles and costs related to the adoption of the GS activities, by corroborating a positive interconnection with the GS literature findings.

The main limitation is related to the fact that the study is based on a survey carried out on a specific region and product category. Therefore, future research could analyze other Italian regions and/or different types of products.

The study identifies different gaps characterizing the Italian supply market. Managerially these gaps can be converted into critical opportunities for the future development of the entire Italian brewing sector. Moreover, the results detect several actions the investigated breweries will seek to develop in the near future, which could strongly support the growth of the Italian beer sector.

The study deepens a topic little explored by literature, especially with reference to the supply activities of the Italian agricultural breweries.

This paper aims to address the food waste phenomenon by investigating the relationship between healthy lifestyle and food waste intensity and by considering the mediating role of food waste preventing behavior on such a relationship.

Based on an online survey of 1,941 UK millennial consumers, the research hypotheses were tested using the PLS-PM approach to structural equation model.

The results reveal that both the consumption of healthy food and the habit of eating at home enhance food waste reduction. Moreover, the findings corroborate the mediating effect of the food waste preventing behavior on the relationship between a healthy lifestyle and food waste intensity, thus underlying its role as an effective mechanism able to improve the influence of healthy lifestyle dimensions on food waste intensity.

The paper offers three levels of practical implications directed to public institutions, private manufacturers and retailers.

The study underlines the key relevance of ad hoc educational programs aimed at improving the overall awareness of young consumers about food waste damages, by specifically identifying the main features on which these programs should focus.

This paper adds knowledge by helping to explain how and why a healthier lifestyle could translate into food waste reduction. Moreover, the study offers a comprehensive understanding of preventing behavior by proposing a rich overview of strategies to adopt to avoid food waste.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic and updated assessment of studies on key exporting stimuli for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and to propose a research agenda on this topic.

The authors develop a review of empirical articles on SMEs’ exporting stimuli and outline future research directions based on key emerging drivers.

Research on SMEs’ exporting drivers focuses mainly on human resources’ competences, skills and subjective characteristics and on the role of relevant network actors (customers, intermediaries).

This paper provides an original contribution with regard to updating the framework on export drivers by Leonidou et al. (2007), highlighting an emerging research perspective based on internal/external network dimensions and proposing future research directions on internal individual and organisational actors and on new external network actors.

The paper aims at investigating whether and how the product designation of origin (PDO) label influences consumers' acceptance, attributes' perception and purchase intention of PDO foods.

The study employs an experimental lab study based on the affective test of acceptance methodology with a nine-point hedonic scale. Three PDO foods are compared with similar non-PDO samples concerning cheese, cured ham and olive oil categories.

The presence of PDO labels enhances the consumers' acceptance as well as their perception of sensory attributes. A critical role of the brand name as an enhancer of consumer acceptance also emerges, highlighting the relationship between brand-name and PDO label.

The main limitation is related to the lab study methodology, which employs a small number of participants and occurs far from a “normal” situation of consumption. The acceptance test, moreover, does not provide explanations about motives underlying the differences in consumers' perception and preferences.

Practical implications are suggested for food companies concerning the management of both PDO labels and brand strategies and the product's properties that could improve the sensory perception of consumers and their overall product's acceptance.

The study contributes to the debate on consumer behaviour towards PDO foods by adding evidence about the positive influence of such a certification on individual preferences on the basis of a sensory methodology that has been little employed for studying the domain of product certifications.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how characteristics of decision-makers influence internationalization strategies within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a particular focus on the strategic decision-making process (SDMP).

This work is based on a sample of 165 decision-makers of SMEs, using hierarchical multiple regression to examine the relationship between the dimensions studied.

The results of a regression analysis suggest that decision-makers tend to follow a more rational SDMP depending on their education level and risk attitude, and the firm’s past international performance. At the same time, the political behaviour of the decision-maker emerges as a character associated with their risk attitude and need for achievement, and it is negatively influenced by age.

This research contributes to the growing literature on SMEs, combining the field of analysis of SDMP with that of international strategy. Moreover, unlike previous studies, which have focused on the top management team, managers, CEOs, or entrepreneurs, this study analyses the characteristics and behaviour of decision-makers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the internationalization of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in regard to the international market selection (IMS) and entry mode selection (EMS) processes.

To achieve this, an examination of the degree of systematic/active behaviour during IMS and EMS on a sample of 221 SMEs was conducted. Moreover, the paper sought to comprehend whether SMEs select foreign market and entry mode in a separate and sequential way, and whether there is a relationship between the sequentiality of IMS and EMS, on one side, and SME behaviour during these two processes, on the other side.

Results revealed that SMEs have a non-systematic and passive behaviour during IMS and EMS, respectively. Moreover, a high predilection in performing the two processes contemporaneously or without any logic was found. Finally, a strong relation between sequentiality of IMS and EMS and degree of systematic and active behaviour during the processes existed.

In this study, using a sample of SMEs located in a region of Italy, SME behaviour in the IMS and entry mode choice processes was tested.

We investigate the role of market uncertainties as determinants of the adoption of control and prediction in the internationalization of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Building on the possibility that uncertain markets may lead to trade-offs between these strategies, as suggested by the convergence between effectuation and internationalization research, we differentiate between uncertainties originated in SMEs’ home and host countries. We test our hypotheses with a cross-country data set encompassing 597 SMEs surveyed in Brazil, China, Poland, and Italy. Our results indicate that home-country uncertainty is related to the adoption of control strategies, while host-country cultural uncertainty is related to prediction efforts. Moreover, internationalization knowledge emerged not as a moderator of these relationships but as a relevant antecedent of both control and prediction. Our findings have implications for the use of effectuation in the study of SME internationalization and also for the conceptualization of the effectuation process itself.