The Innovation of the Cashierless Store: A Preliminary Analysis in Italy

The retail sector, under the pressure of digitalization and technological innovation, has experienced profound changes in the last decade, and retailers have had to cope with these changes by implementing new business models and competitive strategies with the aim of satisfying the consumers\u2019 needs. In the last few decades, the sector has been affected by different new trends, from the birth of supermarkets to the advent of e-commerce, up to the introduction of cashierless stores. The latter represents a new category of store that is totally computer-based and digitalized, in which the use of cameras, sensors and self-shelves minimizes human interaction. Amazon pioneered this emerging concept, with the launch of Amazon Go, but other start-up companies are rapidly entering the cashierless retail market and embracing the challenge. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the knowledge of Italian consumers of cashierless shops, and the relevance of different factors related to this new kind of shops. A questionnaire was sent to a sample of more than 1000 consumers to identify and evaluate the actual situation and knowledge of this phenomenon, which is not yet diffuse in Italy. A statistical analysis, regarding both their knowledge about cashierless stores and the customer experience, is provided to discuss the most relevant factors affecting the customers\u2019 perceptions and attitudes, with a comparison per gender and type of users. The results of the provided analysis reveal that the phenomenon is very little known, and this is certainly influenced by the lack of these stores in Italy

Knowledge Hub, Knowledge cities, cluster tecnologici: tra economia e disegno urbano. La lombardia nel quadro europeo e internazionale

La ricerca (in corso di svolgimento) si propone di analizzare le esperienze internazionali più significative di knowledge hub e cluster tecnologici con l'obiettivo specifico di indagare le interrelazioni tra la dimensione economica e la dimensione architettonico-urbanistica degli hub dell'innovazione a partire dall'analisi dei fattori che individuano la città come hub della conoscenza. Lo studio intende proporre una mappatura a livello europeo delle best practices con l'obiettivo di individuare spunti e opportunità per il caso lombard

HOW SUSTAINABLE ENTERPRISES CAN DRIVE THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The aim of the paper is to analyze the role of companies as driver of sustainable development and respect for fundamental workers' rights. Trade policies and agreements can have wide-ranging effects on the economy, employment, labour standards, social cohesion, and the environment, including policy development and regulatory aspects. Nowadays the countries are closely tied to one another through trade and investment. This creates a common interest in a well-balanced world economy and properly functioning global system of trade. Thus, the EU wants to ensure that its trade actions are supportive of sustainable development within the EU, in the partner countries, and globally. The sustainability with its economic, social and environmental dimension in all relevant policies is a basic objective set out in the Treaty on the European Union, both as regards the EU's internal policies and external action. Respect for fundamental workers' rights and for environmental protection requirements should be ensured in a context of trade and economic expansion: the jobs created by open trade shall reflect international core labor standards and increased trade flows shall help the rapid spread of green goods, services and technologies around the world. The research presents three case studies on the CSR policy: Nike, Apple and Walmart. These multinationals have been involved in social and environment conflicts. The article researched how companies solved these conflicts and what changes they made in the sustainable policy in relation to those conflicts

The Role of “Slow Territories” in the Development of Sustainable Tourism

The paper intends to propose an analysis of the so called “slow territories”, sometimes little known contexts that present a significant set of both tangible and intangible resources often characterized by levels of excellence, by investigating in particular their role in the development of sustainable tourism. In recent years, the international tourism market highlights important chances, both as regard the demand and supply sides, and an increasing attention and sensitivity to sustainability understood in its social, environmental and economic dimension The emergence of a substantial segment of demand more aware and attentive to the sustainable dimension of the holiday is connected to the growth of the cultural level of tourists: in this framework the increasing awareness of environmental issues, the respect and desire to learn about the traditions of local cultures are becoming key criteria in the choice of tourist destinations. These trends have led to the emergence of a new type of tourist, who aims to live a territory and to interact with the local community, in a relationship of mutual exchange, which translate into a new experiential dimension of the holiday. In this perspective the “slow territories” represent not only a model of local development, but also a growth trajectory that combines economic growth, social cohesion, entrepreneurial innovation and environmental protection, with a view to sustainability