(Call for Papers) Creating value through open innovation approaches : Implications for corporate sustainability and responsibility

The guest editors would welcome contributions that clearly articulate their theoretical as well as practical implications of implementing OI approaches in different contexts. Contributing authors may use different methodological approaches including quantitative or qualitative research methods to reveal new insights on open innovations and collaborative practices among stakeholders, that can ultimately add value to businesses and society. They may reveal how and to what extent OI approaches are (or are not) creating value for their business and to society, in the long run. Suitable topics of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following: ▪ OI strategies and corporate social responsibility practices; ▪ Benefits and risks of implementing OI approaches for sustainable (and social) enterprises; ▪ Impacts of OI on sustainable development and environmental, social and corporate governance performance; ▪ OI and openness cultures that could transform businesses and influence their competitiveness; ▪ Relationships between OI and sustainability-oriented approaches; ▪ Sustainable practices affected by OI approaches; ▪ Understanding the future of OI to address global challenges; ▪ Characteristics of OI approaches and their role to navigate in uncertain environments; ▪ Factors influencing OI strategies and their effects on ethical and sustainable behaviors; ▪ Ethical and responsible solutions by companies adopting OI; The call is open to all types of papers, conceptual, theoretical and empirical and to all research methods that support novel, rigorous and innovative academic analyses.peer-reviewe

Antiangiogenic agents in the treatment of recurrent or newly diagnosed glioblastoma: Analysis of single-agent and combined modality approaches

Surgical resection followed by radiotherapy and temozolomide in newly diagnosed glioblastoma can prolong survival, but it is not curative. For patients with disease progression after frontline therapy, there is no standard of care, although further surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy may be used. Antiangiogenic therapies may be appropriate for treating glioblastomas because angiogenesis is critical to tumor growth. In a large, noncomparative phase II trial, bevacizumab was evaluated alone and with irinotecan in patients with recurrent glioblastoma; combination treatment was associated with an estimated 6-month progression-free survival (PFS) rate of 50.3%, a median overall survival of 8.9 months, and a response rate of 37.8%. Single-agent bevacizumab also exceeded the predetermined threshold of activity for salvage chemotherapy (6-month PFS rate, 15%), achieving a 6-month PFS rate of 42.6% (p < 0.0001). On the basis of these results and those from another phase II trial, the US Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval of single-agent bevacizumab for the treatment of glioblastoma that has progressed following prior therapy. Potential antiangiogenic agents-such as cilengitide and XL184-also show evidence of single-agent activity in recurrent glioblastoma. Moreover, the use of antiangiogenic agents with radiation at disease progression may improve the therapeutic ratio of single-modality approaches. Overall, these agents appear to be well tolerated, with adverse event profiles similar to those reported in studies of other solid tumors. Further research is needed to determine the role of antiangiogenic therapy in frontline treatment and to identify the optimal schedule and partnering agents for use in combination therapy

How can SMEs successfully navigate VUCA environment: the role of agility in the digital transformation era

Organizational agility, that is the ability to anticipate or respond quickly to external changes, is essential to survive and compete in today's turbulent landscape, characterized by technological advancements and digitalization. Research on capabilities that enable firms to be agile in the so called VUCA environments, is still nascent. Hence, it is important to explore the antecedents of firm agility and to identify the factors enabling them to better compete. Even more so in the case of SMEs, as they are more vulnerable in hypercompetitive business environments and at the same time agility has been less studied in this context. Focusing on SMEs, the study investigates three antecedents of agility, namely digital technologies capability, relational capability and innovation capability, and the effects of agility on three outcomes, namely financial performance, product, and process innovation. Our findings indicate that these capabilities contribute to build organizational agility in SMEs and that, in turn, agility has a positive impact on performance, thus confirming that agility contributes to the success of SMEs and that digital technologies play a central role in this process. Thus, it is of strategic importance for SMEs to increase their efforts to develop these capabilities to build enduring businesses. They should nurture a relational and innovative culture, as well as transform their business culture starting from digital technologies

How to effectively communicate university patents: a framework based on signalling theory

University patents are a critical tool for firms seeking to gain information from universities. However, the potential of this tool is frequently constrained by ineffective communication and commercialisation strategies. University patents must be successfully advertised and disseminated to third parties to have an impact outside academia. In this scenario, inventors, universities, and technology transfer offices (TTOs) (which manage their patent portfolios) are encouraged to increase their efforts to promote and communicate patents. This article uses signalling theory to examine the key features of university patents that influence the investment or acquisition decisions of entrepreneurs and investors. Our findings can help TTOs, inventors, and universities strengthen their patent communication and commercialisation strategies, and also help third parties secure more successful university patents

COVID‐19 Pandemic: The Interplay Between Firm Disruption and Managerial Attention Focus

Pandemics and epidemics occur regularly, yet their impact on firm behaviours is under-researched. COVID-19 provides a unique opportunity to examine the impact of a once-in-a-century pandemic – given its scope, swift spread, health and economic devastation – on firms’ behaviours. Attention is the critical and initial step of the environmental adaptation process. In this paper, we draw on two complementary theories – contingency and attention-based view – and examine the relationship between disruption experienced by firms and their COVID-19 attention focus – a sudden exogenous shock. Industry environments may influence which signals attract managerial attention; hence, we examine if firm disruption–COVID-19 attention focus is moderated by industry dynamism. Drawing on the publicly available data and using a sample of 1,861 US and 1,154 Chinese firms – two diametrically opposite situational contexts – we test the generalizability of our hypotheses. We find a positive relationship between firm disruption and COVID-19 attention focus for the US sample and that industry dynamism negatively moderates this relationship. In the case of Chinese firms, these relationships were insignificant. Further analysis using topic modelling revealed that business–government relationships accounted for this difference

MAIT cell activation augments adenovirus vector vaccine immunogenicity

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are innate sensors of viruses and can augment early immune responses and contribute to protection. We hypothesized MAIT cells may have inherent adjuvant activity in vaccine platforms that employ replication-incompetent adenovirus vectors. In mice and humans, ChAdOx1 (chimpanzee adenovirus Ox1) immunization robustly activated MAIT cells. Activation required plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDC)–derived IFN-α and monocyte-derived IL-18. IFN-α-induced, monocyte-derived TNF was also identified as a key secondary signal. All three cytokines were required in vitro and in vivo. Activation of MAIT cells positively correlated with vaccine-induced T cell responses in human volunteers and MAIT cell-deficient mice displayed impaired CD8(+) T cell responses to multiple vaccine-encoded antigens. Thus, MAIT cells contribute to the immunogenicity of adenovirus vectors, with implications for vaccine design