Overcoming hierarchy in business model innovation: an actor-oriented approach

Purpose Business model innovation is a key element for firms' competitiveness. Its development can be supported by the establishment of an actor-oriented scheme to overcome hierarchical structures. The actor-oriented scheme is characterized by intra-organizational networks of relationships that can be established and dissolved between individuals. However, we lack an empirical perspective about its establishment; therefore, the purpose of this research is to advance our understanding of intra-organizational networks for supporting business model innovation. Design/methodology/approach Individuals create and manage knowledge aimed to innovate the business model through cognitive search and experiential learning mechanisms. Knowledge is spread within organizations by using intra-organizational advice networks, whose patterns reflect the presence of an actor-oriented scheme. This work applies social network analysis to network data from a multi-unit organization specializing in personal care services. We use a Logistic Regression-Quadratic Assignment Procedure to analyze intra-organizational network data on managers' advice exchange related to the learning modes of cognitive search and experiential learning. Findings Our research empirically identifies the main elements of an actor-oriented scheme in a business model innovation process. We find that managers are able to self-organize, because they are not influenced by their organizational roles, and that commons for sharing resources and protocols, processes and infrastructures enable advice exchange, thus showing the presence of an actor-oriented scheme in business model innovation process. Research limitations/implications This research is based on a cross-sectional database. A longitudinal study would provide a better understanding of the network evolution characterizing the innovation process. Practical implications The results of our study support organizational decision-making for business model innovation. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence of how an actor-oriented scheme emerges in a business model innovation process.Peer reviewe

Managers' brokerage for business model innovation : A case study

Business model innovation is recognized as a key process for strengthening firms' performance in situations of strong competitive pressure and environmental changes. This process is driven by intra-organizational advice networks between managers, which exchange different types of advice based on organizational learning mechanisms such as cognitive search (how to conceptualize and create a novel business model) and experiential learning (how to adapt and experiment a novel business model. Investigating what are the key figures emerging from such network is essential for an in-depth understanding of the business model innovation process. By focusing on a multi-unit firm operating in the personal care service industry, we use Social Network Analysis (SNA) to examine the brokerage role of managers when sharing different types of advice towards a novel business model. Our results show that middle-level managers connect different managerial groups in different networks; however, differences exist between groups of middle managers, confirming their peculiar nature within organizations.Peer reviewe

Conceptualising business model innovation: evidence from the managers’ advice network

In recent years, there has been a growing consensus in management and organisation studies regarding the crucial role played by business model innovation in supporting firms’ competitiveness. However, the intra-organisational processes that aim to develop business model innovation and the antecedents for its conceptualisation remain underexplored. Organisational mechanisms for learning between managers lead to the establishment of intra-organisational advice networks, which facilitate the acquisition and diffusion of knowledge for innovation. Using social network analysis, this study investigates the elements associated with intra-organisational networking intended to innovate business models. We analyse a multiunit cooperative firm as a case study. Within this firm, the conceptualisation of the novel business model activated a collaborative system of advice exchange between managers. We found that networking is supported by active managers who spread advice within the firm and managers who go beyond the boundaries of their organisational role. We propose several managerial recommendations, including that managers can develop sub-groups constituting specific and unique knowledge structures, which represent the real generators of business model innovation.Peer reviewe

How to increase sustainability in the Finnish wine supply chain? : Insights from a country of origin based greenhouse gas emissions analysis

As wine supply chains become increasingly globalized, sustainability issues take on ever greater importance. This is the first study to analyse the environmental sustainability aspect of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a global wine supply chain perspective, covering just over 90% of Finland's wine imports. Lacking substantial domestic production capacity, virtually all wine consumed in Finland is imported. Finland is comparable to its Nordic neighbours, Sweden and Norway, in this respect. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was combined with sensitivity and scenario analyses to investigate GHG emissions implications from prospective policy changes. Our results spotlight differences related to wine production in the eight main wine producing countries for the Finnish market (Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, and the United States), related logistics, and all packaging types for wine used in Finland (glass bottle, Bag-in-Box, PET bottle, beverage carton, and pouch). We found an average value of 1.23 kg CO2e for 0.75 L wine consumed in Finland, ranging from 0.59 kg CO2e for French wine in a bag-in-box packaging to 1.92 kg CO2e for Australian wine in a glass bottle. After identifying the main GHG emission hotspots in the wine supply chain, our scenario analyses highlight the effects of reducing glass bottle weight, moving away from glass packaging toward bag-inbox, increasing bulk wine export volumes to Finland, and following the European Commission's Energy 2020 strategy which targets increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent.Peer reviewe

Innovation Policies in Tuscany: an Impact Evaluation on SME

In the last decades, evaluation has become an essential tool for policymakers, because it provides unbiased estimates of a policy effect. The purpose of an evaluation is to explore the causal relationship between the implementation of a policy and its effects – the “impact”. In the programming period 2007-2013, the European Commission – and the member States of the EU – have focused their attention on the development of innovation policies within Regional Innovation Systems: for this reason, the innovation policies have been particularly involved in evaluation processes. Six Italian regions have created the Poli di innovazione (Innovation poles), networks of universities, services centres, incubators, public and private laboratories, and enterprises, whose goals are to foster the creation of networks and to stimulate firms’ economic performance through the support in R&D activities. Due to the novelty of the policy, this research is a first attempt to evaluate the Poles, using the Tuscan context as case study. Tuscany Region have supported the creation of twelve poles, facilitating the access to a call for tender for the purchase of R&D qualified services. Using matching and difference-in-differences methods, it has been estimated the Average Treatment on the Treated – in terms of Total Factor Productivity and Labor Productivity – for three possible cases: subsidized SME, SME members of the Poles, subsidized SME members of the Poles. In addition, it has been implemented a model that include network centrality measures to assess the effect of the Poles on the performance of the firms. It emerges that the subsidized firms which belong to the poles experience on average a productivity gain towards the end of the period of subsidization, and the centrality of their pole have a positive effect, which is particularly relevant for the top enterprises – in terms of productivity

Exploring Networking of Third Sector Organizations: A Case Study Based on the Quartieri Spagnoli Neighbourhood in Naples (Italy)

In the last decades, European Third Sector Organizations have been increasingly affected by marketization and the reduction of public resources for social services, hence pushed to develop new strategies to accomplish their social mission while remaining economically efficient. The existing literature suggests that the activation of networking activities can be a strategy to overcome these problems. By using a partially mixed-methods approach, this study investigates factors that stimulate the TSOs’ networking and attitudes toward different types of informal and formal networks. Our results suggest that TSOs try to cope with contextual challenges by activating both formal and informal networks, depending on financial and structural opportunities, but also suggest that the rationalities moving TSOs are highly heterogeneous

Smart Specialisation strategies on the periphery : a data-triangulation approach to governance issues and practices

In spite of our current understanding of Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) design and implementation, an understanding of interrelated governance practices aimed at addressing S3 governance issues is lacking. Applying a data-triangulation approach to a large peripheral Finnish region (Lapland), the analysis suggests that S3 implementation faces two key challenges: first, the development of stakeholder networks to support diversified specialization; and second, the lack of entrepreneurial discovery activity and associated differentiation of specialization. Policy solutions aimed at successful S3 implementation could focus on more targeted stakeholder engagement to mobilize resources for further diversified specialization.Peer reviewe

Soy Expansion, Environment, and Human Development: An Analysis across Brazilian Municipalities

In the last decades, Brazil has become one of the largest soybean producers and exporters in the world. Although dedicated policies have been implemented since the 1960s, the recent rapid transition towards an agricultural system largely based on soy has had a strong impact on the country’s socio-economic structure—not only in terms of land and labour markets but also on its diverse ecosystems. According to the extant literature, soy has had a beneficial impact on local human development, measured by the human development index (HDI) of the municipalities. However, there is a lack of empirical studies assessing the impact of soy expansion on the single dimensions of the HDI (longevity, education, and income) to disentangle the indirect effects of socio-environmental change while controlling for other local dynamics. To fill this gap, we applied econometric methods to a novel dataset combining municipal-level data on soy production with socio-economic and environmental data for the period 1991–2010. Our findings confirm the positive relation between soy expansion and the HDI at local level, but this relation differs between different HDI dimensions. The marginal benefits of soy expansion are increasing for the income dimension but decreasing for education and longevity. On the other hand, changes in soy productivity (a proxy for agricultural intensification) have a more complex impact on the HDI and its dimensions, but in general its marginal benefits are decreasing over time. Further research could expand the time series once more up-to-date information becomes available.Peer reviewe

Toward the creation of novel food waste management systems : A network approach

In light of the global significance of food waste, a greater focus on improving food waste management strategies is called for. Implementing such management strategies requires a better understanding of stakeholder relations. This paper analyses the structure of multiplex relations among stakeholders involved in the creation of a novel food waste management system, investigating the drivers of network formation when multiple collaborations are observed between pairs of stakeholders. We apply Social Network Analysis to study food waste reduction strategies in the City of Ferrara (Italy). Our results provide support for the practical relevance of multiple interactions across dyadic relationships in stakeholder networks. They also suggest that 'third parties' are not necessary for an effective networking strategy, and that relationships between stakeholders of similar levels of expertise are not required for establishing multiple relationships, suggesting that functionally diverse coalitions are of greater practical relevance for food waste management strategies. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Economics research and climate change. A Scopus-based bibliometric investigation

This paper investigates the evolution over time of the economics literature devoted to climate change. The analysis is based on 1974-2021 data extracted from the Scopus database and focuses on the publication outlets included in the first quartile of the “Economics, Econometric, and Finance” SCImago Ranking. We inspect the size and the impact of this economics literature, the geographical pattern of its production, and we provide a content analysis based on the keywords associated with the documents analysed. This study provides a detailed overview of the (still limited) interest that economists demonstrate for climate change