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A method to solve shape and size optimisation problems with linear and non‐linear responses has been studied taking advantage of statistical methodologies. A nested optimisation procedure has been fixed. The global optimisation problem is decomposed in several subproblems where each non‐linear response is locally approximated with a first degree polynomial function identified by the definition and execution of an experimental plan. The approximating functions so obtained are used to evaluate the design sensitivity coefficients required by the optimisation procedure. The numerical results obtained during the optimisation process to verify exactly the value of the non‐linear responses are used to verify and to improve the approximating function accuracy. The non‐linear design sensitivity analysis method so defined has been used to solve a multidisciplinary shape optimisation problem involving a real 3D automotive structure.

This paper aims to clarify the effects of the reciprocating motion parameters on the lubricating performance of the tripod sliding universal joint (TSUJ). These parameters mainly include the frequency and amplitude of the reciprocating motion. This work will explain how the film thickness and pressure as well as the temperature vary with the frequency and amplitude of the reciprocating motion in order to improve the lubricating performance of the TSUJ and extend its working life.

Based on the simplified geometrical model derived from the main mating surfaces, the effects of the frequency and amplitude on the pressure and film thickness as well as the temperature are theoretically investigated. In this work, multi-level method, multilevel multi-integration method and sequential line sweeping method were applied to solving Reynolds equation, the elastic deformation of the bounding surfaces and temperature, respectively.

The overall film thickness increases with the increase of the amplitude or frequency. The consumed time of the rippled film passing through the contact zone hardly depends on the amplitude or frequency. The variation of the film or temperature lags behind the variation of the entrainment velocity. Increasing amplitude or frequency increases the temperature. The effect of the amplitude or frequency on the pressure focuses mainly on the second pressure peak.

TSUJ is a new-type tripod joint and the obtained results are of great value for its design and application.

A local optimisation method for obtaining material parameters in finite element simulations has been developed. The method is based on the minimisation of an error function which reflects the accuracy of a numerical prediction with respect to the results of simple specimen tests. The experimental data were obtained from high strain rate tensile tests on the alloy 90 per cent titanium – 6 per cent aluminium – 4 per cent vanadium (Ti6Al4V) using the tensile split‐Hopkinson pressure bar. The behaviour of the tensile specimen was monitored during the test using high‐speed photography and transient recorders. Finite element simulations were performed using ABAQUS/Explicit employing the Zerilli‐Armstrong material model for bcc metals).

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how family firms execute open innovation strategies by managing internal and external knowledge flows (KF) to provide a deeper understanding of family firms’ ability to innovate through traditions and create value across generations.

Empirical evidence was collected using an online survey of a sample of 208 Apulian entrepreneurs, who were members of the association of young entrepreneurs of Confindustria in the Apulia region (southern Italy).

The study derives a model that explains the most relevant factors behind the innovation processes developed by young entrepreneurs in family firms: network membership benefits; KF; track record of innovation; and the entrepreneurial attitude of employees.

By integrating insights from different research streams, namely, innovation management, open innovation and family firms, the study provides a novel contribution to the open innovation process in family firms.

The study offers interpretative lenses for entrepreneurs and managers to understand the most suitable knowledge transfer process for encouraging open innovation in family firms, taking into consideration young entrepreneurs’ traditions and interpersonal skills, the KF in local ecosystems and network benefits as the main variables supporting the innovation process.

This study creates a link between open innovation and family firm research by providing an empirically grounded model illustrating how the innovation process is realized in family firms.

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.

According to the real environment of China, the authors collect micro data about Chinese family firms (FFs) to explain why some Chinese FFs still tend to introduce external managers though they have to face governance conflict between family-based managers and external managers.

This study analyzes the effect of governance conflict between family-based managers and external managers on firm performance by using ordinary least square test, which is also used to test which factor has influence on governance conflict’s profit promotion effect.

This study finds that governance conflict significantly improves firm performance (profit promotion effect). The governance conflict caused by the introduction of external managers in Chinese FFs can significantly improve a firm’s performance by raising its management efficiency and capital investment.

The governance conflict of the family business needs to be further refined in following research. Besides, this study is only based on the empirical study of cross-section data.

Different from the existing related research is mainly based on the sample data of listed family enterprises, the China employer-employee matched survey data includes a large number of small and medium-sized FFs, and has obtained the actual situation of how many of the middle and senior managers are external not family members.

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.