Search results

Digitalisation has been identified as a driving force behind retail sector transformation. The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding of how omni-channel strategies link to the digitalisation phenomenon. The study is explorative in nature and aims to expand existing knowledge by using a business model (BM) perspective.

The study uses a qualitative approach. Data collection involved a questionnaire answered by 13 firms from three retail segments (i.e. fashion, consumer electronics and bookstores and media) and a group discussion with senior managers. The data were complemented with information from websites, applications and available online reports.

The findings present empirical insights about different strategic and BM approaches to omni-channel retailing and highlight examples of pioneering retailers from the Italian market. The proposed framework consolidates earlier studies and puts forward three dimensions for a successful transition to omni-channel retailing BMs: a seamless customer experience, an integrated analytics system and an effective supply chain and logistics.

Managers can employ an overview of mobile commerce usage to manage the process of integrating channels, within their BMs, alongside the customer journey. Particular attention should be paid to development and the use of data analytics tools as one of the dimensions with a significant impact on omni-channel management.

First, this paper applies a BM perspective as a novel approach for analysing a transition to omni-channel retailing. Second, it is based on empirical analysis of three retail segments, which provide new insights into omni-channel strategies in the retailing literature.

Cloud Manufacturing (CM) is the manufacturing version of Cloud Computing and aims to increase flexibility in the provision of manufacturing services. On-demand manufacturing services can be requested by users to the cloud and this enables the concept of Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS). Given the considerable number of prototypes and proofs of concept addressed in literature, this work seeks real CM platforms to study them from a business perspective, in order to discover what MaaS concretely means today and how these platforms are operating.

Since the number of real applications of this paradigm is very limited (if the authors exclude prototypes), the research approach is qualitative. The paper presents a multiple-case analysis of 6 different platforms operating in the manufacturing field today. It is based on empirical data and inductively researches differences among them (e.g. stakeholders, operational flows, capabilities offered and scalability level).

MaaS has come true in some contexts, and today it is following two different deployment models: open or closed to the provider side. The open architecture is inspired by a truly open platform which allows any company to be part of the pool of service providers, while the closed architecture is limited to a single service provider of the manufacturing services, as it happens in most cloud computing services.

The research shoots a picture of what MaaS offers today in term of capabilities, what are the deployment models and finally suggests a framework to assess different levels of development of MaaS platforms.

In 2003, Walmart issued a sensational RFId mandate for its top 100 suppliers, including a detailed deployment plan under compelling deadlines. After seven years, very little of that mandate has become a consolidated industry practice. This paper aims to try to offer a complete and thorough explanation of the reasons behind this fact, providing a sound strategic view of what is happening and could happen in the future.

The study is based on a twofold methodological approach: first, it relies on an in‐depth literature review covering the assessment of RFId applications in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry; second, it leverages on a five‐year research program carried out by the RFId Solution Center of Politecnico di Milano in cooperation with GS1 Italy, which provided both quantitative data (used to develop and feed an analytical profitability assessment model) and qualitative knowledge to understand the “soft” implications of RFId adoption in the industry.

Despite the great potential of RFId technology, there are still some significant barriers preventing its diffusion. Case‐level tagging is required to enable a substantial redesign of the supply chain, but profit‐sharing and reading reliability should be carefully considered to ensure economic and technological feasibility. The comparison with the fashion industry evidences some key success factors of RFId; while some of them are industry‐specific, others can be replicated in the FMCG as well, but further efforts are still needed.

This is one of the first attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of RFId potential in the FMCG supply chain, taking into account all the major factors involved. Moreover, the quantitative results illustrated in the paper could be a valuable support to companies in defining their RFId strategies.

Radio frequency identification (RFId) technology has a great potential to improve process efficiency and effectiveness. However, because of the variety of application areas and achievable benefits, structured assessment models are needed to support managers in the adoption decision. The purpose of this paper is to describe a structured method to support the evaluation of the benefits enabled by RFId technology in medical treatment support in the healthcare industry. The method, and its application to an Italian case study, are deeply illustrated so as to increase the knowledge available to decision makers.

The research underlying this paper has modelled the relationship between the technology and the performance driver of the target process, and then between the performance driver and the measurable key performance indicators of that process. This knowledge, focused on the healthcare industry but still quite general, has been formalised into 12 causal maps. Starting from these maps, a six-step procedure to prioritise the analysis, tailor the maps and adapt (or develop) analytical models to estimate the benefits is presented. The overall method and its application to an Italian case study are deeply illustrated so as to increase the open available knowledge to decision makers.

The findings are twofold: first, the knowledge represented by the causal maps; and second, the findings of the case study, which shows that efficiency benefits can cover the operative expenses of RFId adoption, but need to be integrated with effectiveness benefits in order to fully justify the investment costs.

The paper provides a contribution for both researchers and practitioners. As the former are concerned, the paper is a first attempt to fill the existing lack of structured approaches concerning the evaluation of potential benefits of RFId for product traceability within a healthcare facility. As for the latter, the presented method has been developed to practically support all those managers who are evaluating whether to adopt RFId technology in their organisation or not. This contribution has a relevant practicality, as it helps decision makers to address their decisions relying on a sound conceptual baseline, and on objective evaluations.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an analytical model to assess the costs and benefits of radio frequency identification (RFId) applications in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chain.

The paper is based on an in‐depth literature review and a classification of the main contributions regarding the assessment of RFId applications. The impact of RFId technology on supply chain processes has been modelled using an activity‐based approach. An extensive, six‐month discussion and refinement process with the logistics and supply chain managers of 30 FMCG companies is conducted to validate the model and to collect the required inputs.

Pallet‐ and case‐level taggings have been explored. The former scenario shows limited benefits, whereas the actual potential of RFId becomes clear in the latter. The profitability of these projects is significantly affected by the costs of RFId tags and by the characteristics of the base‐line supply chain in terms of efficiency, quality requirements and, of course, product features. The model provides a clear assessment of how and when a positive return on investment can be achieved, even with today's technology (in terms of costs and performances).

This is one of the first attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of the costs and benefits of an RFId application, taking into account all the major factors involved. The model can be a valuable support to manufacturers and retailers in evaluating their investments.

This paper aims to focus on the outsourcing facilities management (FM) services in small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

The paper employs a Define‐Measure‐Analyze‐Improve‐Control (DMAIC) methodology. A survey in Italy, a country quite representative when talking about SMEs, is first presented and evidence from the field is discussed. Stemming from the evidence, a road‐map is presented to overcome these criticalities and to support, also in SMEs, the diffusion of the outsourcing of the FM services, whose benefits in terms of higher efficiency and better service are already being experienced by larger companies. The proposed model is then validated through the extensive survey on small and medium‐sized Italian enterprises.

The survey shows that the current level of adoption of advanced outsourcing practices is very low: less than 5 percent of the companies in the sample resort to a single supplier delivering multiple FM services. The adoption rate of such practices is hence very low, and the survey has pointed out three different levels of causes: size‐related, cultural, and managerial.

The survey used in this paper is based on a questionnaire but does not consider non‐respondents. The database of companies provided by IFMA – Italian Chapter – could also possibly introduce bias.

Starting with the early recognition that the main problem in the field implementations of result‐oriented approaches lies in determining whether the expected results have been achieved and that two key tools are available (i.e. the service level agreement and the reporting system), the model suggests a new organizational and managerial structure, even simpler than the traditional (i.e. not integrated) approach. To design the kernel of the control system, DMAIC has been used, after a specific customization.

Results show a widespread outsourcing of the facilities‐related services in the larger organizations and some hurdles of the smaller ones in exploiting all the opportunities offered, so that – on average – the management of facilities‐related services represents an opportunity to exploit rather than an actually implemented methodology.

Only a few international contributions refer to local environments: here an extensive survey involving more than 1,000 Italian companies is presented.

The aim is to reveal contemporary research trends and patterns in Internet of Things (IoTs) so that social scientists who are new to the discipline may be steered towards rightful directions when examining this phenomenon.

A total of 169 IoT articles indexed in the Web of Science database were analyzed via bibliometric analysis and content analysis. The VOSViewer software was used to identify popular keywords of the IoT topics, its publication productivity, the most relevant journals, and the most prolific authors within. Content analysis was conducted manually to determine the most popular research methods used, the most frequently studied contexts, the most popular IoT application areas, the most highly examined user perspectives, and the most often employed theories.

The synthesis of both the bibliometric and content analysis results suggest the necessity of investigating the post-adoption technology usage behavior of IoT technology in developing countries, particularly in smart home. This is especially so from new landscapes using other theories or models, apart from the overwhelmed Technology Adoption Model (TAM) and its variants.

With a focus on addressing the state-of-the-art of IoT in social science, and to synthesize its future research directions systematically, this study was conducted with both bibliometric and content analysis, in order to enhance the overall analysis for higher accuracy and more reliable results.