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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the digitalization phenomenon in the development of innovative business models that are sustainability oriented. Thus, the authors aim to understand whether the presence of digitalization forces companies to create, capture and deliver value in new ways, focusing on their social impact.

Through the analysis of a case study in the automotive sector, the authors provide evidence that both digitalization and sustainability need to be considered to adequately innovate business models. Moreover, these two dimensions are interrelated, and therefore digitalization sustains sustainability and vice versa.

By inductively investigating the evolutionary path along which companies tend to adapt their business models to digitalization and sustainability trends, the authors found that this innovative transformation needs to be as sustainable as possible in order to offer benefits to organizations, customers and society at large. Furthermore, the authors revealed that, at least in the automotive sector, companies and customers are aware of the remarkable consequences of digitalization; however, they are still uncertain regarding the actual adoption of new technologies.

The literature on business model innovation is quite extensive. However, the role of digitalization in developing sustainable business models to achieve a competitive advantage has been overlooked. This study suggests that, within a specific context, forging a value network of stakeholders is helpful when innovating a business model with a sustainability orientation.

Digitalization is becoming the subject of considerable interest in the literature. This is in view of its relevance in addressing social problems and contributing to the development of communities and societies. In the agri-food-industry, digitalization is also expected to contribute significantly to solve several challenges the sector is facing at this moment, such as the increasing food demand and resource use. However, the effects of advanced technologies are less a function of the technologies themselves than of how they are used by people. The study analyses the dominant challenges faced by firms in the agri-food industry in the usage and adoption of digital technology. Also, they show how these challenges impact on the sustainable development of digital technology for firms in the industry and provide avenues for future research.

The authors propose a structured literature review aiming to investigate the following research question: what are the main challenges faced by firms within the agri-food industry in the adoption of smart technologies?

Results illustrate the dominant challenges faced by firms in the agri-food industry in the usage and adoption of digital technology. Also, they show how these challenges impact on the sustainable development of digital technology for firms in the industry and provide avenues for future research.

So far, in the context of digitalization in the agri-food industry, various researchers have analysed different kinds of challenges to the adoption of smart technologies. This work reviews these contributions to create a clear reference framework of the challenges faced by agri-food firms while providing future avenues of research and implications at a policymaking, economic-managerial and socio-environmental level.

This paper aims to explore the effects generated by the Milan World Expo 2015 on both firm performance and seasonality structure. It aims to answer the following research question: Did the Milan Expo 2015 influence only hotel results without changing seasonal patterns, or was this mega event able to reconfigure seasonal periods?

The present analysis is based on Smith Travel Research (STR) data. This source offers daily data on a large sample of Milan hotels (approximately 80 per cent of the total), representing more than 30,000 rooms. The empirical data relate to a period of 12 years, 11 of which are focused on the pre-event period (2004-2014), while 2015 is centered on the Milan Expo. This data comprise 4,383 daily observations. For each day, three operating measures were analyzed: occupancy, average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR).

The empirical findings fully support the first hypothesis: the four seasonal periods built around the main market segments are relevant lenses for understanding Milan’s demand structure before Expo 2015. The findings also support the second hypothesis relating to the effects generated by the event: Expo 2015 was able to improve hotel performance during the four seasonal periods analyzed. The most fragile seasonality registered the highest rise. Finally, the last two hypotheses to be investigated are as follows: did the Milan Expo 2015 simply improve hotel performance, without changing the underlying seasonal patterns (H3), or did this event reconfigure the demand structure (H4)? The analyses carried out lend more support to the fourth hypothesis, suggesting that new seasonal patterns emerged during Expo 2015.

This paper explores the impact of a mega event on seasonal patterns of hotel performance metrics. At least three original aspects are introduced. First, to analyze the Milan demand variation, a market segment approach that proposes an innovative seasonal matrix is developed. This is based on the three main client groups attracted by the destination. Second, the effects generated by the Expo are measured with consideration given to the four seasonal periods. Third, based on graphical and statistical analysis, the paper confirms that new seasonal patterns emerged during the Expo.

Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference works, histories, themes, theory and criticism and articles in journals.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

Since the beginning of human existence, humankind has sought, organized and used information as it evolved patterns and practices of human information behaviors. However, the field of human information behavior (HIB) has not heretofore pursued an evolutionary understanding of information behavior. The goal of this exploratory study is to provide insight about the information behavior of various individuals from the past to begin the development of an evolutionary perspective for our understanding of HIB.

This paper presents findings from a qualitative analysis of the autobiographies and personal writings of several historical figures, including Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Darwin, Giacomo Casanova and others.

Analysis of their writings shows that these persons of the past articulated aspects of their HIB's, including information seeking, information organization and information use, providing tangible insights into their information‐related thoughts and actions.

This paper has implications for expanding the nature of our evolutionary understanding of information behavior and provides a broader context for the HIB research field.

This the first paper in the information science field of HIB to study the information behavior of historical figures and begin to develop an evolutionary framework for HIB research.