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The purpose of this study is to identify groups of manufacturing firms having different combinations of strategic orientation (market and technology orientations) and compare the viable groups for differences in their sustainable innovation (SI) performance.

A sample of 373 Italian manufacturing firms is clustered (using non-hierarchical cluster analysis) based on their combinations of market orientation (MO) and technology orientation (TO). Subsequently, the one-way between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc tests is conducted to detect how the resulting groups differ in their SI performance.

The synergistic co-alignment of TO with both dimensions of MO (i.e. responsive and proactive) can help firms enhance their performance regarding SI. Amongst the groups of manufacturing firms identified in the context of this research, ‘future-oriented entrepreneurs’ appear to represent the strongest combination of MO with TO, leading them to achieve higher levels of SI performance.

This study, by referring to a survey-based empirical study of manufacturing firms in Italy, extends the literature by arguing that higher levels of balanced TO–MO results in greater SI performance. To confirm and extend the results of this work, future research should assess the examined combinations of orientations in other contexts, and with respect to other performance variables (e.g. sustainable entrepreneurship).

By recognizing the real value of foresight practices, manufacturing firms should be equipped with organizational capabilities that enable them to systematically predict potential discontinuities, explore the future and simultaneously maximize their innovation and technology capacity. The findings of this research provide insights to managers on how to invest in resources linked to different configurations of MO and TO so that they can lead to the improvement of sustainability-oriented innovation performance.

This work represents a first attempt to explore the viable combinations of MO (including responsive and proactive dimensions) with TO in the manufacturing context, and to investigate how these combinations contribute to different levels of SI performance.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and learning orientation (LO) separately on two dimensions of performance (profitability and growth).

A sample of 196 Finnish software companies is analyzed using a partial least squares approach.

The paper provides evidence that the effects of entrepreneurial orientation on profitability are mediated by learning oriented behaviors. Furthermore, in contrast to expectations inherited from prior research, LO does not appear to have a similar effect on growth.

The paper refers to an empirical study of software companies in Finland. Further research in other countries and industry settings is needed to confirm and extend the results.

The results suggest that software company managers in entrepreneurial software firms should develop a culture that includes nurturing learning, in order to support the creation of profitability.

The paper extends the prior research by investigating the EO‐LO relationship separately in the growth and profitability dimensions of performance. Furthermore, it provides evidence for the benefits of combining EO with LO in SMEs in the dynamic software industry, while prior studies on the topic have focused on larger organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to identify groups of companies using different configurations of orientations, and compare the groups for differences in their performance and organizational learning capability. The paper proposes that organizational learning capability enables firms to utilize several strategic orientations simultaneously.

A sample of 164 Finnish software companies is clustered on the basis of their mix of customer (CO), technology (TO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). After validating the clusters, an analysis of variance is performed to detect differences in measures of performance and learning capability.

The paper provides evidence that firms combining several strategic orientations perform better than those focusing solely on customer orientation. The paper finds support for a proposal that software companies can be divided into three groups featuring different configurations of customer, technology and entrepreneurial orientation. The groups are termed: servants (high CO, low TO and low EO), players (intermediate levels of CO, TO and EO) and integrators (high levels of CO, TO and EO). Furthermore, the paper shows that these groups demonstrate differences in their organizational learning capability and performance.

The paper refers to an empirical study of software companies in Finland. Further research in other countries and industry settings is needed to confirm and extend the results.

The identification of a successful mix of strategic orientations is a major challenge to management. The results urge software company managers to develop a culture that nurtures organizational learning. The paper suggests that managers should utilize aspects from several strategic orientations and create an appropriate mix of orientations that enables adaptation to dynamic business environments.

The paper provides insights into viable combinations of strategic orientations in the software industry and provides evidence for the differences in learning and performance for software company groups classified on the basis of their mix of orientations.

Product-manufacturing firms are increasingly positioning themselves as providers of industrial services and solutions. Despite the increasing conceptual interest in industrial services, empirical evidence about the factors that mediate the relationships between industrial services and firm performance remains limited. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between industrial service offerings, service orientation and firm sales and profit performance.

The study uses data from 115 manufacturing firms and adopts a structural equation modeling technique to test a set of hypotheses on service offerings, service orientation and company sales and profit performance.

The results underline the importance of implementing service orientation in employees’ behavior, recruitment, training, and assessment. Service orientation is demonstrated as an essential mediator for the relationship between service offerings, revenues, and profits. The results therefore suggest that both service offerings and service orientation are important when manufacturing companies attempt to position themselves as industrial service providers.

Given the limitations of the sample collected from the Finnish manufacturing industry, future studies could refine the measures and investigate the applicability of the results in other contexts.

The results suggest that developing a service orientation is vital for manufacturing companies to profit from increased offerings of industrial services. Because nurturing service orientation is a central enabler of the impact of service offerings on sales and profit performance, it is in the interests of manufacturing firms moving towards a servitized business model to develop training, compensation, and recruitment policies.

The study establishes a link between service offerings, service orientation, sales, and profit performance in manufacturing firms. This is among the first studies to provide statistical evidence to support claims that even manufacturing firms can benefit from developing integrated product-service solutions.

The purpose of this study is to build a generic model for relational development of a value proposition for a service concept. The study seeks to answer two questions: First, what kind of process is practical for joint development of a service concept in customer–service provider collaboration? Second, what are the functional principles for such collaboration?

A participative, design science approach was used to develop the model for a joint-development process. Researchers developed and analyzed joint activities between a provider of industrial maintenance service solutions and its customer during the process of co-developing a service concept for factory maintenance.

The study suggests that a co-development process has to integrate service blueprinting, a stage-gate philosophy, dialogical interaction principles and elements of joint learning to meet the requirement for both efficiency and relationality.

The study develops a generic model for collaborative development of value propositions that integrates the aforementioned elements of separate streams of research. Applying the developed model to different contexts would further verify and enhance it.

The model can be applied to the development of a value proposition in different collaborative development situations to enhance interplay between efficiency and relationality.

The study illustrates a generic model for joint service concept development and proposes a solution balancing contradictory requirements in such a collaboration.

The purpose of this study is to develop a service logic oriented framework for business model development. “Service logic” covers the basic principles of the three contemporary customer value focused business logics: service-dominant logic, service logic and customer-dominant logic.

This study is based on an empirical qualitative research and deployed the focus group method. The data are generated in a series of interactive co-creative focus group workshops involving both practitioners and academics.

As the outcome, a new tool was developed, called Service Logic Business Model Canvas. The new canvas is a modified version of the original Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010).

This study adopts service logic in business model thinking and increases knowledge on how to keep the customer needs in the centre of business model development.

The developed canvas makes the theory of service-dominant logic tangible and easily applicable in practice. It enables service innovation truly based on customer value by ensuring that the customer is in the centre of all the elements of a business model. It can function both as a rapid prototype of a new business model and as a communication tool that quickly illustrates the company’s current business model. It can also help in creating a customer-centred business culture. It is designed to be applied to each customer profile separately, thus enabling a deeper understanding of the customer logic of each relevant profile.

Earlier business model frameworks tend to be provider-centric and goods-dominant, and require further development and adaptation to service logic. This study adopts service logic in business model thinking. It embeds the true and deep customer understanding and customer value in each element of the business model, and contributes to both business model and service-dominant logic literature.

Despite the recognisable importance of nation brand websites, they have seemingly not been the focus of dialogic communication interrogations of marketing and communications scholars. This paper is one of the initial attempts to address such research lacuna. The paper aims to examine the dialogic potential of the Brand South Africa website and its effect on the country’s image, as well as the impact of this image on consumers’ (tourists) visiting intentions.

Drawing from the dialogic communication and impression management theories, the authors applied partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse data solicited from 672 participants via an electronic survey.

This paper demonstrates that the dialogic communication principles of the Brand South Africa website have positive influences on the image impression of South Africa. Country image impression was also found to have a significant effect on intentions to visit.

This study is of potential benefit to researchers, government agencies and those responsible for nation branding.

This study contributes to marketing and tourism literatures, by drawing on theories of dialogic communication principles and impression management, to fill the gap regarding the effect of nation brand websites on country image impression and visiting intention of consumers (tourists).

I'VE said it before, and I'll say it again: Eastbourne is an excellent place for a conference, and I set out for it after five years' absence with the hope that its handsome and genial presence would produce something better than the mixture of ordinary, obvious and sometimes inaudible papers that have been a constituent of more than one intervening conference. That towns can affect such occasions is no doubt a farfetched conceit, but they certainly affect me; as soon as I arrived the environmental magic worked, and old friends and new faces were seen in the golden light of perfect autumn weather.

The purpose of this study is to understand the identity of the Nobel Prize as a corporate heritage brand and its management challenges.

An in-depth case study analysed within a heritage brand model and a corporate brand identity framework.

The Nobel Prize is a corporate heritage brand – one whose value proposition is based on heritage – in this case “achievements for the benefit of mankind” (derived directly from Alfred Nobel’s will). It is also defined as a “networked brand”, one where four independent collaborating organisations around the (Nobel) hub create and sustain the Nobel Prize’s identity and reputation, acting as a “federated republic”.

The new and combined application of the Heritage Quotient framework and the Corporate Brand Identity Matrix in the Heritage Brand Identity Process (HBIP) offers a structured approach to integrate the identity of a corporate heritage brand. In a networked situation, understanding the role of stewardship in collaborating organisations is essential: The network entities maintain their own identities and goals, but share common values of the network hub.

The integrated frameworks (HBIP) provides a platform for managing a corporate heritage brand.

This is the first field-based study of the Nobel Prize from a strategic brand management perspective.

Incineration strengths of hazardous (2.8×10⁸μg/s) and nonhazardous (6.31×10⁸μg/s) materials were found from the quantities to be incinerated, chemical formulas, and the incineration time. The smoke stack geometry, exhaust dynamics, and different atmospheric stability conditions were used in the Gaussian model to predict the maximum concentration distances of 0.5 to about 6 km at the ground level in the downwind direction. However, trailing edges of some of exhaust distributions were found to extend beyond 120 km under some atmospheric stability conditions. The counties of Jefferson, Lonoke, Pulaski, Dallas, Cleveland, Calhoun, and Grant in the state of Arkansas are more likely to be affected than others. The possible major products in the hazardous incineration exhaust are chlorinated compounds. The results of this study are important to know the areas that fall under comparatively higher concentrations of incineration exhaust for further observations because of its inherent impact upon living beings, crop production, and environmental conditions.