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The purpose of this paper is to tackle the problem an electricity trader faces when trying to set and validate his sale prices.

The solution approach consists in offering adequate incentives to the customers in order to encourage them to shift their consumptions to more favorable time periods; this is achieved by suitable price modifications. The problem of determining the most sensible prices to offer yields to a quadratic programing model which can be efficiently solved to optimality.

This paper analyses an opportunity that traders can exploit for increasing their profit margins and, in general, for setting and validating their electricity sale prices. The real case of an Italian trader has been analysed and the numerical results show that the obtained sale price modifications may produce savings, both for the trader and for his customers.

This research provides insights about the problem an electricity trader faces when setting his sale prices; it mainly focuses on the Italian market although the developed mathematical model is sufficiently general to be adopted in different scenarios.

Purpose: The aim of the chapter is the analysis of the processes of inclusion and/or exclusion experienced by Italian and immigrant students who live in rural areas. This chapter specifically focuses on the forms of belonging that they develop in their districts and at school.

Study approach: The analysis is based on a mixed methods study that was carried out in a middle school of a rural town in Central Italy. For the research, a focus group was first carried out with middle school students, then a semi-structured questionnaire was administered to the students. Privileged witnesses (e.g., school managers, people working for voluntary associations, social service operators, political actors) were also interviewed. Their interviews provided additional information about the territory under study.

Findings: Findings indicate that school reproduces processes of stigma and marginality for immigrant school students. This is best illustrated through their sense of belonging to the district in which they live and the school where they attend.

Originality: This study analyzes the lives of young migrants and their Italian peers who live in a rural area of Italy. Additionally, it considers the processes that schools play in promoting inclusion and exclusion among young migrants and Italians. This work contributes to the literature on children and youth migrants, as well as the sociology of education. It motivates future research on the experiences of life and schooling among migrants who live in rural communities.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this study elaborates an integrative conceptual framework of tourism destination competitive productivity (TDCP) by blending established destination competitiveness frameworks, the competitive productivity (CP) framework and studies pertaining to big data and big data analytics (BDA) within destination management information systems and smart tourism destinations. Second, this study examines the drivers of TDCP in the context of the ongoing 4th industrial revolution by conceptualizing the destination business intelligence unit (DBIU) as a platform able to create sustained destination business intelligence under the guise of BDA, useful to support destination managers to achieve the tourism destination’s economic objectives.

In this work, the authors leverage both extant literature (under the guise of research on CP, tourism destination competitiveness [TDC] and destination management information systems) and empirical work (in the form of interviews and field work involving destination managers and chief executive officers of destination management organizations and convention bureaus, as well as secondary data) to elaborate, develop and present an integrative conceptual framework of TDCP.

The integrative conceptual framework of TDCP elaborated has been found helpful by a number of destination managers trying to understand how to effectively and efficiently manage and market a tourism destination in today’s fast-paced, digital and hypercompetitive environment. While DBIUs are at different stages of implementation, often as part of broader smart destination initiatives, it appears that they are increasingly fulfilling the purpose of creating sustained destination business intelligence by means of BDA to help tourism destinations achieve their economic goals.

This work bears several practical implications for tourism policymakers, destination managers and marketers, technology developers, as well as tourism and hospitality firms and practitioners. Tourism policymakers could embed TDCP into tourism and economic policies, and destination managers and marketers might build and make use of platforms such as the proposed DBIU. Technology developers need to understand that designing destination management information systems in general and more specifically DBIUs requires an in-depth analysis of the stakeholders that are going to contribute, share, control and use BDA.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study constitutes the first attempt to integrate the CP, TDC and destination management information systems research streams to elaborate an integrative conceptual framework of TDCP. Second, the authors contribute to the Industry 4.0 research stream by examining the drivers of tourism destination CP in the context of the ongoing 4th industrial revolution. Third, the authors contribute to the destination management information systems research stream by introducing and conceptualizing the DBIU and the related sustained destination business intelligence.

The aim of this paper is to study if a link can be established between the role of new public libraries in contemporary society and the application of the long tail paradigm to the physical world (according to Chris Anderson's analysis in his 2006 book entitled The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More), and in particular if these new libraries can learn new, useful lessons for their collection and service planning starting from this point.

The analysis will be carried out through theoretical means and the proposal of some case studies of newly built public libraries in Europe. In particular, an Italian public library, the Sala Borsa Library in Bologna, an English one, the Whitechapel Idea Store, and one in Spain, the Jaume Fuster Library. Each of these libraries will offer a different point of view and a different answer for strengthening the relationship between public libraries and citizens' needs.

The proposed theoretical analysis and the case studies raise the need to evaluate the existing public libraries and to plan the new ones in relation to the following issues: the long tail paradigm, together with other trends characterising the contemporary urban lifestyles, put the survival of public libraries under threat, because a generic offer with limited choice finds no place in today's cultural and economic landscape anymore; central public libraries need to rely upon large and functional buildings, comprehensive collections encompassing hits and niches, extensive opening hours, a broad variety of services and edutainment activities and an aptitude to embody a social role; local/branch libraries cannot survive below certain sizes, unless they bet on very specific niches of the public, for example either people who are less willing or unable to move around the city very much (elderly people, children, disabled people and so on) or topics and subjects which are only superficially covered by other libraries and suppliers on the territory; and in general, public libraries should emphasise their role as service desks functioning as a go‐between for other – more specialised – bibliographic services and for other learning, informative, entertaining and cultural opportunities inside and outside the metropolitan area.

An analysis of the consequences the long tail has on the future development of libraries has already been started in library science. However, no specific considerations have been taken on how the application of this paradigm could (and should) change the relations in the urban library networks and help big and small public libraries in finding new balance and complementary roles in satisfying citizens' needs.

This paper sets out to critique the applicability of e‐commerce staged models in explaining the progression of small and medium‐sized businesses (SMEs) in their use of internet technologies. The premise of this study is that examining the evolution of web sites over time gives us insights into actual evolving strategies and motivations behind internet investments.

An alternative multidimensional framework is proposed that combines three different dimensions of organizational change (process, content, and drivers). The content or categories of the dimensions are defined and justified. A study of 192 web sites and their evolution is described. This helps to demonstrate the relevance and applicability of the dimensions of the framework.

The study describes the different approaches (monitoring, content analysis and case studies) and the characteristics of changes on these web sites. It was found that the main evolution strategies were “content updates” and “dormant sites”. In addition, the majority of companies seem to have evolved their web sites to refresh the image and change navigation protocols and not to add transactional e‐commerce features.

The proposed framework is argued to be useful to academics, providing multiple perspectives, enabling more insightful study of SMEs' e‐business adoption and progression, and avoiding over‐simple a priori theory, e.g. staged models. The framework is also argued to be useful for SME managers seeking to make the most of their limited resources in this context.

The paper provides a multidimensional framework which is new and comprehensive. It also provides some research findings using the framework relating to a pilot study of 192 SME web sites. Little prior research has been carried out on the evolution of SMEs' web sites, in terms of the type of drivers, the features that have been incorporated over time, and how they have changed.

Recent literature on the implications of applying service-dominant (S-D) logic to conceptualise value-creation processes views territory only as an operand resource (a resource upon which an act is performed). This study aims to show that territory is both an operand and operant resource (a resource that acts on other resources) and to examine how this conceptualisation may extend knowledge about co-creation processes between a firm and its territory.

The study develops a conceptual contribution, drawing on previous research and combining managerial thinking with architectural–urban planning thinking, using illustrative examples.

This study shows that the territory actively participates in value co-creation through interactions with other actors (e.g. firms, inhabitants and tourists). The territory is not only an output of human actions but also a process through which its essence and traits emerge over time. It can infinitely inspire firms with ideas, provided they are able to listen to it and recognise its value co-creator nature.

Contrary to the traditional firm location theory, this study highlights that a territory’s attractiveness is related to its potential, active contribution to value co-creation. The study’s arguments provide a contribution to the current debate about territorial servitisation but should be refined through empirical analyses.

The paper provides suggestions on platform-designing methods – supported by technologies – to enable the territory to engage in value co-creation.

While some studies have applied the S-D logic to territories, this study is the first to recognise that the territory has an active role in value co-creation.