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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the contribution of qualitative methods and techniques in extending the understanding of relationship marketing theory.

The study investigated six Australian sporting organisations using multiple data collection methods including semi‐structured interviews with several senior executives within each organisation, secondary and historical data sources and participant observation. The application of triangulation and multiple case studies is discussed in relation to their contribution toward a greater understanding of relationship marketing practice in the professional sport industry, as well as the barriers to the adoption of this strategy.

Using triangulation and a multiple case study approach provided a richness of information which, upon analysis within and across cases, revealed a number of commonalities and some limited diversity. Using this approach maximised the depth of information and increased the transferability of the findings to allow for the development of a conceptual model, which advances relationship‐marketing theory.

Triangulation has not been used extensively in case study research nor has a multiple case study approach been commonly applied to the sport industry. This paper deconstructs the methods and their subsequent contribution to the findings of this study.

The global demand for food is expected to increase by 60 percent by 2050 when the world’s population reaches 9.1 billion. To meet this challenge significant investment in the agricultural sector is required to embrace innovative financing mechanisms that can benefit sustainable agricultural development, food security and nutrition. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the agricultural value chain (AVC) financing approaches and tools in India. It presents a proper understanding of the different case studies of Indian AVC financing models and related instruments. It also offers some useful recommendations to improve their efficiency.

The authors employ the multiple case studies approach to research which allows for a purposive sample and the potential for generalizability of findings. This provides a more rigorous and inclusive approach than a single case study research due to the triangulation of evidence. Subsequently, the authors offer an explicit description of AVC financing models. In the next phase, a thorough assessment of these models is made. Finally, the authors formulate some useful policy recommendations based on the findings of the analysis.

There is a need to review the value chain models that exist in the context of – lead actors, business model and sustainability strategy. Determining actual and critical points of finance such as the current flows of funds and their sources of financing, what is needed and in what point in time is significant to enhance the effectiveness of the models. Further, there is a need to analyze and compare financing options such as their relative strengths, risks and costs of financing for each level of participant in the chain. The authors observe that rather than investing in one component of the chain, the financial institution can grow expertise in the chain, share this knowledge and provide financing to support services. This not only benefits clients, but also expands lending opportunities while lowering the risks.

The study primarily focusses on AVC financing approaches and tools in India and attempts to analyze the inadequacies in the value chain models. The case study approach is adopted as the accurate data on value chain financing are not available for the analysis.

The study has come out with the following policy recommendations: the governments (union government as well as state governments) – in partnership with the private sector need to spearhead and develop measures aimed at making the operation of the value chain efficient, fair, profitable and sustainable; governments have to focus on creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment and, providing the necessary support services in order to attract more investments. These will lower the transaction costs, facilitate the smooth flow of finance along the chain and ultimately increase value-added; financing for processing and marketing is particularly crucial for growth and expansion of the chain; bank finance should not be limited to short-term production loans, but also include big-ticket loans with longer maturities to finance investments in farming equipment and machinery, transportation, storage, mills and other processing/post-harvest facilities.

This study is the first of its kind as it is based on a multiple case studies approach in understanding and analyzing the efficiency and effectiveness of AVC financing models in India by evaluating eight of such models. Besides, it offers quite useful policy recommendations to improve their efficiency.

This study aims to explore the innovative strategies of business model of the free-to-fee switch, the relationship between the business model innovation and customer knowledge and further develop a conceptual model.

This study adopts a multiple case study method with abductive research logic, following the replication logic to select samples. A total of eight outstanding companies with altogether 312 free-to-fee switch events were selected from 1998 to 2021.

A strategic matrix with four innovative business models for the free-to-fee switch is generated. The parallelism between the models and customer knowledge orientations is also found. Further, the study develops the conceptual model regarding customer knowledge orientation as a key mediation.

The study highlights the conceptualization definition of customer knowledge orientation and its mediation effect to the business model innovation of free-to-fee switch, which is a new issue compared with previous research. Furthermore, it reveals that there exists organizational ambidexterity, which brings a new definition of customer knowledge orientation.

This study suggests how to integrate customer knowledge orientations to support the marketing process of the business model of free-to-fee switch. It also proposes a specific mechanism to conduct the free-to-fee switch with the introduction of four innovative strategic models and eight evolutional paths.

This study creatively proposes the strategic matrix and the conceptual model of business model innovation of free-to-fee switch. Moreover, a new conceptual definition of customer knowledge orientation is specified.

The creation and development of candidate-politician brands, otherwise known as political co-brands, remains an under-researched area of study. This is supported by calls for more understanding on political co-brands and how they are positioned and managed by their creators. Framed by the concepts of internal brand identity and co-branding, this paper aims to investigate how political co-brand identity is constructed and managed over time, exploring alignment between the political co-brand and political corporate party brand.

An interpretivist revelatory multi-case study approach, using in-depth interviews, was conducted with three political co-brands (candidates-politicians) from the UK Conservative Party. The three cases represented constituencies across the UK from the North, Midlands and South of the country. The in-depth elite interviews were conducted July 2015 to September 2015. Methodological triangulation was also adopted to assess the coherency of emerging themes with online and offline materials and documents. A two-stage thematic analytical approach was used to interpret the findings.

This multiple case study demonstrates how successful political co-brands create and develop identities tailored to their constituency, often distinct from the corporate political brand and developed several years before electoral success at the ballot box. In addition, this study reveals that political co-brands are dichotomous in terms of strategically managing a degree of alignment with the corporate political brand yet maintaining a degree of independence.

This study builds on limited existing concepts such as co-branding and political brand identity as a means of critical application. Existing research on co-branding remains a “relatively limited” and complex area of study and generally focuses on fictitious brands. Political brand identity remains an under-researched area. This in turn supports the development and advancement of political branding as an area of study. This paper highlights the opportunities of using the strategic approach of co-branding to help conceptualise “candidates-politicians” as political brands’ which up until now, “candidate-politician brands” have been difficult to define unlike the extensive research on corporate political brands.

This study has implications for practice too. Organisations and different typologies of political brands will be able to use this political co-brand identity framework as a diagnostic mechanism to investigate their co-brands current identity, assess alignment and make strategic changes or reposition the envisaged identity if desired. Similarly, organisations can use this framework, key dimensions and factors as a blueprint to design and build new political brands at a corporate and/or local level.

This study has implications for brands beyond the world of politics. Brands can adopt the political co-brand identity framework developed in this study as a pragmatic tool to investigate internally created co-brand identity and explore alignment with the corporate party brand identity. In addition, this research adds to the limited research on non-fictitious co-brands and co-branding literature at large and addresses the calls for more research on brand identity in new settings.

Information and findings from investigations of construction projects using qualitative methodologies such as the grounded theory methodology (GTM) are inevitably rich. When using multiple case studies, the cross‐case analysis procedure has been found overwhelming and difficult to grasp all at once. Hence, an approach using rich picture diagrams (RPD) has been applied specifically for the purpose of modelling case studies and capturing the richness of the information along the case studies' storylines. This paper aims to explain the reasoning behind and the development process of such diagrams.

The paper investigates the underlying concepts of the GTM, case study approach, and the soft system methodology (SSM) from which the RPD was originally derived. Based on the identified agreement between and consistency of both methodologies, the development of RPD to model case studies in an ongoing research project (using the GTM) is explained. The subsequent cross‐case analysis procedure is also discussed, leading to conclusions.

The paper demonstrates the applicability of the RPD originating from the SSM as a tool to present the storylines of case studies within the GTM, to improve presentation and enable thorough cross‐case analysis by providing a holistic view of the storylines.

In response to the scholarly challenge to contribute to the further development of the GTM, the paper presents the application of a tool from SSM (i.e. the RPD). Whilst enriching the techniques within the GTM, this application provides a solution for researchers and stakeholders to model case studies of construction projects.

Improved performance in operational (lean) and environmental (green) dimensions has been extremely critical to the global competitiveness of organizations. As the performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is influenced by various external and internal factors, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the lean–green performance of Indian manufacturing SMEs by investigating the influential relationships of various factors along with the set of lean and green practices adopted by the firms.

The study employs a holistic approach by integrating multiple case study and data envelopment analysis (DEA) in eight manufacturing SMEs to verify a set of five propositions relating issues such as organizational factors, quality and environmental management certifications, implementation of lean and green practices with operational and environmental performance in Indian SMEs. Within-case analysis and cross-case analysis are used for a qualitative investigation of cases while DEA with four input variables, two desirable output variables and one undesirable output variable, is used for quantitative investigation with returns to scale (RTS) and damages to scale (DTS) analysis.

The RTS/DTS results suggest that Indian SMEs exhibit decreasing RTS and increasing DTS, implying that they need to decrease their operational sizes in order to improve the operational and environmental performance. The possible alternative and more practical strategy could be to introduce new technology innovation and holistic adoption of manufacturing excellence initiatives such as lean and green.

The research findings provide insights into the lean and green performance enhancement approach in the context of SMEs. The study extends key managerial implications and policy-related guidelines.

This study attempts to identify the supply chain risks (SCRs) induced during the COVID-19 disruption in an Indian handloom saree industry and determine suitable risk mitigation strategies (RMSs) to overcome the impact of the epidemic disruption.

This work determined 11 SCRs through an extensive literature review in the context of the handloom apparel industry and validated through the experts. Further, a multiple case-based approach is used in this research. Within case and cross-case analyses of four relevant Indian handloom “make-to-order” saree manufacturing firms are conducted to determine the severity of the SCRs considering the pandemic situations to identify appropriate strategies to mitigate the shock of SCRs.

This study identified the critical SCRs in the context of the Indian handloom “make-to-order” saree industries that emerged during the COVID-19 and proposed a risk mitigation strategy matrix (RMSM) to address the SCRs based on their criticality and predictability dimensions.

The study provides a novel contribution to the body of knowledge on supply chain risk management (SCRM) in the form of the RMSM tool. Supply chain managers from the different sectors can extend the proposed RMSM to overcome the SCRs. Multiple case analyses facilitate supply chain professionals working in handloom apparel industries to benchmark and adopt the proposed RMSs in their firm.

This research is one of its kind that carried exploratory investigation of the handloom apparel industry cases to assess and determine the strategies for mitigating the SCRs caused during a pandemic outbreak.

The purpose of this paper is to increase productivity through smart maintenance planning by including productivity as one of the objectives of the maintenance organization. Therefore, the goals of the paper are to investigate existing machine criticality assessment and identify components of the criticality assessment tool to increase productivity.

An embedded multiple case study research design was adopted in this paper. Six different cases were chosen from six different production sites operated by three multi-national manufacturing companies. Data collection was carried out in the form of interviews, focus groups and archival records. More than one source of data was collected in each of the cases. The cases included different production layouts such as machining, assembly and foundry, which ensured data variety.

The main finding of the paper is a deeper understanding of how manufacturing companies assess machine criticality and plan maintenance activities. The empirical findings showed that there is a lack of trust regarding existing criticality assessment tools. As a result, necessary changes within the maintenance organizations in order to increase productivity were identified. These are technological advancements, i.e. a dynamic and data-driven approach and organizational changes, i.e. approaching with a systems perspective when performing maintenance prioritization.

Machine criticality assessment studies are rare, especially empirical research. The originality of this paper lies in the empirical research conducted on smart maintenance planning for productivity improvement. In addition, identifying the components for machine criticality assessment is equally important for research and industries to efficient planning of maintenance activities.

Although an increasing number of organisations implement the Information Technology Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®) with the aim to improve provision of information technology services to their customers, a significant number of ITIL implementations do not achieve the expected outcomes. The organisational change strategies of organisations during ITIL implementation initiatives may have an effect on success, but empirical research on this topic is scarce. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A multiple case study methodology comprising successful ITIL implementations in eight large Australian organisations is used. A socio-technical systems approach represented by Leavitt’s Diamond is adopted as a lens to shed light on the attributes of effective organisational change strategies for successful ITIL implementation.

This paper identifies organisational change strategies employed by organisations that have effected a successful ITIL implementation. The authors identified that the ITIL implementation required changes to the four components of the socio-technical work system (STS) identified in Leavitt’s Diamond. Changes to one STS component affected other STS components when implementing ITIL; and that effort applied to the STS components did not need to be equal, but appropriate to the requirements of the ITIL implementation and the organisation.

The sample size of eight ITIL implementation cases studied may limit the generalisation of findings.

This research provides IT service management researchers and ITIL practitioners, for the first time, information about organisational change strategies as applied to successful ITIL implementations.

This research has developed novel insights into organisational change strategies and ITIL implementation that had not previously been explored.

The utilisation of products with recycled content (PwRC) in construction projects has been identified as a targeted way to achieve sustainable management of construction and demolition waste resources. However, sustainable applications of these resources are subject to a wide array of factors that demand a thorough investigation. This study, therefore, explores the motivations, barriers and strategies for optimal PwRC uptake using a multiple-case study approach.

This study adopted an interpretive multiple-case study approach. The case studies were selected from recently completed construction projects including two infrastructure projects, one commercial project and one residential project. A series of semi-structured interviews were carried out to collect the data. For each case study, four participants were interviewed; these participants represented design, client, supply and building teams.

The study revealed the main barriers, motivations and opportunities for adoption of PwRC resources in four construction projects. These factors are believed to influence the utilisation of PwRC to varying extents and/or in diverse ways. The findings also suggest that there is a significant opportunity for stakeholders to adopt more sustainable waste management practices, and the use of institutional drivers can help achieve this goal.

The primary research contribution of the study lies in proposing three key research directions: investigating regulatory constraints impacting the use of PwRC, addressing supply chain challenges and enhancing quality assurance.

The research has a practical contribution to the industry through a suite of actionable strategies to increase the uptake of PwRC. The strategies are mostly focussed on stakeholders' education, the regulation that supports PwRC and project management planning. The two major motivations – referring to two of the three pillars of sustainability (economy and environment) – provide a basis for organisational changes to ensure achieving sustainability in construction activities.