J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex., Volume 8, Issue 1 (March 2022) – 59 articles

Innovation is an essential driver of companies’ growth and is important in securing and sustaining their competitive advantage and in the implementation of their entire strategies. In this process, a special role is played by companies’ capabilities, especially those related to innovation capability (IC). Despite many years of research into identifying the factors that influence IC, there are still many research gaps. One such concerns the IC of micro-enterprises. Only a few studies indicate certain factors that may affect micro-enterprise ICs. Thus, this article aims to analyse the determinants of micro-enterprises’ ICs from the perspective of implementing new-to-the-market product and process innovations. The theoretical framework adopted distinguishes between three groups of factors affecting micro-enterprise IC: personal, organizational and external environmental characteristics. The data examined come from an empirical study of a randomly selected representative sample of 1105 Polish micro-enterprises. To analyse these data, a logistic regression model was used. The results indicate that seven factors are common and significant determinants that explain the new-to-the-market product and process dimensions of micro-enterprise IC. Among them, the following have the greatest influence: engagement in initiatives for solving social problems, intensive cooperation with research centers, experience/skills and financial support. Full article

The main aim of the article is to fill the gap concerning the recognition of constructs of programme management supporting open innovations. Current knowledge on this subject is mainly limited to identifying success factors of open innovation and programme management. In the current literature, there are few publications indicating the use of the programme as a tool supporting innovation. In order to fill the identified knowledge gap, common factors of programme success and open innovations were compared and assessed successively. A quantitative study was conducted on an international group of experts, including 578 experts in programme management. As a result of applying cluster analysis and operationalising the obtained results, four programme constructs supporting open innovations were dimensioned, such as cooperation with the environment, transfer of knowledge and technology, organisational maturity, and ensuring and maintaining implementation capacity. Moreover, the discussion and the research revealed that the impact and scope of the structured approach to programme management not only allow for the implementation of the assumed outcomes and benefits at the strategic level, but also influence the shaping and adjustment of the whole organisation. Full article

With the changing conditions of business conduct, Industry 4.0 means a rapid development of new technologies, increased intensity of competition and evolving globalization, thus presenting enterprises with new challenges. There is a need to transform business models into open models that make extensive use of open innovations. A company’s aspiration to achieve success on the market requires monitoring the degree of strategy implementation. The aim of this article is to present a tool for assessing the competitiveness and effectiveness of the business model of an enterprise in the Industry 4.0 era. The tool for assessing the business model is based on the balanced scorecard. It was constructed on the basis of literature and expert research. The article presents its practical application in an enterprise. Full article

This study aims to develop a system dynamics (SD) model for sustainability management driven by dynamic capabilities (DC) perspective. DC has been suggested as a vital organization theory for gaining sustainable competitive advantage. In contrast, SD has been used to model the complex system and support the decision-making process. Modeling sustainability management with SD driven from DC has not been previously investigated, particularly in global south industrial firms. This study explored the complex and dynamic relationships of the variables involved. For a simulation experiment, the study utilized a case from a large apparel industrial park in Africa, located in Ethiopia. The simulation revealed that the capability growth trend for sustainability management follows a natural sigmoid function or S curve shape supporting the dynamic hypothesis. In particular, sustainability training efforts, waste management practice, ethical management, supervision, and minimum worker’s wage have been found to be influential variables and innovation points for capability growth towards sustainability management. The SD model contributes to the empirical gaps on dynamic models to overcome the challenges of firms in simultaneously managing sustainability dimensions. The study is the first to explore DC-driven sustainability management using SD, particularly from the case of a global south country. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the way tourism activities are conducted. Restrictions on moving from place to place have likely limited the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus but have also led to economic crisis in many countries around the world. In this article, we assessed the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the activities of cultural heritage tourism sites in Europe. Scientific research was carried out in industrial heritage tourism sites associated with the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). Analysis of the literature and the results of our own research indicated a strong impact of the pandemic on the examined sites, expressed in the limitation of the operating time of the sites, a decrease in the number of tourists attended to, and a decrease in revenues. No significant reduction in employment was noticed. These sites were not generally used in preventive actions during the health crisis. Only some managers took an active part in supporting emergency services in a difficult situation. We concluded that taking up innovative functions by tourism enterprises should be open innovation. Full article

In modern times, we observe many new trends, including technological, economic, cultural, ecological, and economic changes, which are part of the fast and uneven process of globalization. The current educational system is undergoing global changes caused by the current situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing both academic teachers and students not only to change the way they function or operate, but also to change attitudes and beliefs, especially regarding new media and remote learning. The article presents an analysis of the factors influencing the selection of a given form of learning in technical faculties from among three hypothetical options: stationary learning, remote learning, and hybrid learning. This analysis was based on the results of a survey conducted among students after two years of experience studying in the COVID-19 pandemic. The obtained results allowed for the selection of features influencing the choice of a given form of learning by the students. The knowledge of these factors is especially valuable for university authorities making decisions about the form of student learning after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Full article

This study explores Industry 4.0 in the Australian context, where manufacturing is dominated by smaller firms servicing the domestic market. We interviewed 20 advanced Australian manufacturers from diverse fields, capturing detailed descriptions of the Industry 4.0 implementation process. We compared the themes that emerged from their descriptions with the factors typically assessed in Industry 4.0 frameworks to draw out differences in emphasis. Consistent with these frameworks, Australian manufacturers were focused on using Industry 4.0 technologies to automate the capture, integration and analysis of data. To enable this activity, they were reorganising workforce roles and developing new skill sets. Knowledge sharing and collaborations within and across the organisation were seen to be especially important for small Australian manufacturers (with limited funding for technology investment and research and development) to maintain global competitiveness. However, while most Industry 4.0 frameworks describe supply chain applications, the development of smart products and services, and the need to adopt a strategy-led approach, relatively few participants spoke about these opportunities. Even fewer addressed the need for improved governance, standards and data security in the context of Industry 4.0. We argue that these gaps are best addressed through government policy and investment focusing beyond manufacturers, to support Industry 4.0 uplift across key domestic supply chains. Full article

This paper explores digital reality replication for cultural consumption and green-digital open-system innovation, along with responsible, sustainable practices fashioned in a post-COVID-19 era. We address these after the dystopian effects of lockdown on global tourism and, in particular, the looming crisis of unsustainable ‘overtourism’. The aim of this paper is to disclose problems and policies related to moderating consumption to more sustainable levels. The scope of the article tackles three fields: urban re-branding, fast fashion, and overtourism. Each problem area is analysed against the background of digital surveillance in the attention economy with the aid of a conceptual model. Accordingly, the principal objectives of this paper are to analyse key sustainability problem sources, evolutionary processes, and policy responses. The paper’s originality and value lie in its recognition of tractable problem engagement through conceptual and practicable methods. This contribution also explores other consumption modes that tourists appreciate, namely, retail activity and its unsustainable “fast fashion” obsession. Finally, the paper analyses urban soft branding, the third tourism attractor within the niche touristic activity of the creative-cultural and gastronomic kind, which also features impulses that affect the perpetuation of unsustainable touristic practices. Thus, this contribution also assesses various studies on tourism futures that exploit digital media to assist in conserving both natural and cultural environments. Accordingly, we first narrate the soft re-branding of an “Art City” as a “Fashion City” and consider the example of green-digital innovation in the cultural milieu of Florence, Italy, in light of criticism of the unsustainability of “fast fashion”. We consider which actions are envisioned or advised in the similarly “over-touristed” city of Venice. In a different vein, we consider whether the mobilisation of ‘pop celebrity’ performers such as audience engagers or influencers works for sustainable intervention through an assessment of the cultural interventions of Madonna in Lisbon. Finally, we anatomise “green” politics and policies for creative-cultural cities with the support of digital media to influence sustainable actions to moderate or, alternatively, revitalise polluted, congested, or otherwise over-touristed city centres. The greening of central Paris, Barcelona, Milan, and London offer a a series of examples of this type of moderation and revitalisation. Full article

The Industry 4.0 paradigm represents the fourth industrial revolution, embodied by the marriage between information and communication technologies and manufacturing. Assessment campaigns are conducted to examine the status of deployment of that paradigm, mostly through self-assessment questionnaires. Each campaign is typically limited in scope, involving just a group of companies located in a few countries at most. Such limitation does not allow an overall view of Industry 4.0’s diffusion. In this paper, we offer that panoramic view through a systematic literature review. The number of papers devoted to Industry 4.0 assessment grows steadily. However, many papers do not provide essential information about the assessment campaigns they report, e.g., not detailing the number, type, or location of companies involved and the questionnaire employed. We observe a large diffusion in Europe and Asia but not in the U.S., with the Top 5 countries being Malaysia, Poland, Italy, Germany and Slovakia. The campaigns uniformly cover small, medium, and large companies but not all industrial sectors. The choice of questionnaires is extremely varied, with no standard emerging. Full article

The choice of influencer marketing as an endorser for promoting products and services is becoming a more and more effective communication strategy of open innovation. Their use of social media platforms, such as Instagram, allows them to be reached by millions of followers all over the world. As a response to the economic crisis that affected Italy after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chiara Ferragni, one of the most endorsed influencers worldwide, started a communication campaign with the aim to promote Italian food and tourist destinations (cities of art, seaside, ski and countryside locations, thermal baths, museums, galleries, hotels, etc.). This study analyses Chiara Ferragni’s activity and the dynamic of communication she used via her Instagram (IG) profile to enhance Italian tourist destinations and “local food & wine”. Specifically, it measured the contribution of local food used as an evocative factor in the appreciation of a tourist destination and its power in different contexts. Hundreds of posts on the influencer’s IG profile were observed using the netnographic analysis. Subsequently, the AGIL model (Adaption, Goal Attainment, Integration, and Latent pattern maintenance) was applied to measure the main dimensions of this communication campaign and its effectiveness to relaunch touristic catering sectors. The study offers a new model of open innovation for advertising and promoting food and catering businesses. Full article

The introduction of sustainable development goals has made sustainability a top priority for most nations. This has raised the investment into the educational system for potential growth and for creating an innovation culture in any country; the role of institutional investors in the development of financing clean energy infrastructure, entrepreneurial development, poverty reduction, and driving corporate social responsibility and firm development has been found significant. An intensive literature search of Scopus and the web of science database was explored with different relevant sets of keywords “Institutional investors AND Education”, “Institutional investors” AND “Higher education”, which drew 29 final articles between 2010–2021. This scoping review draws a new open approach for creating alternative sustainable funding for the higher education system and investment opportunities for institutional investors with government intervention. This research becomes the first that shows the road map to the higher education system in creating alternative funding through the proposed Institutional Investor & Sustainable University Funding Governance Code, which will make the higher education system independent and ease the burden on the government, as well as create a huge market opportunity for both players. This research model will scope the collaborative approach towards sustainable development goal 4—Quality education. Full article

Disruptive innovations (DI) have the potential to fundamentally change markets and their power relations: Specifically, established companies are confronted with the threat of being forced out of the market by DI. At the same time, companies also have the opportunity to control the market’s development by developing DI themselves. This raises the question of how a proactive management of DI can be systematized. Here, the approach of innovation portfolio management (IPM) provides support by identifying, evaluating, and selecting a company’s most promising product ideas. The management of DI is challenging due to their characteristics, such as diversity, high uncertainty, especially with regard to customer acceptance, difficult comparability with existing products, potential for cannibalization, and substitution of existing products. For this reason, new approaches to managing DI are required in literature and practice. This paper presents a novel methodology to support—especially established—companies in proactively generating DI via existing processes in their IPM. For this purpose, the methodology supports the early identification of the product idea’s disruptive potential so that these can be handled appropriately in the further course of the process, such as the evaluation of all product ideas in the company during IPM. Thus, the risk can be minimized that promising DI are not rejected due to unsuitable procedures, but are brought to market maturity. The methodology contributes to the literature by showing how DI can be pursued embedded in existing corporate structures and also in competition with other product ideas in the company—in existing approaches, DI is primarily considered singularly and detached from the existing corporate context. The methodology is validated by the example of the digital camera, which disrupted the photo industry, as well as through interviews in a practical context. Full article

The purpose of this study is to analyze and verify the effects of the business strategy (financial and market) and innovation management exerted on the economic indicators and business performances of SMEs in the south-central region of Sonora in Mexico. The effect of electronic commerce and the home office in the management of innovation and corporate performance is also analyzed. In addition, a multigroup analysis was carried out to check if there are significant differences between family and non-family businesses. The sample analyzed comprises 498 SMEs with between 6 and 250 employees in the commerce sector. To collect the information, a questionnaire was developed and applied to the online SME manager through the LimeSurvey Professional platform. The field work was carried out from February to October 2021. PLS-SEM was used for the data analysis. The results report that the business strategy (financial and market) does not have significant effects on the management of innovation and on the economic indicators of SMEs. On the other hand, innovation management has positive and significant effects on the economic indicators and business performance of SMEs. It is also revealed that economic indicators have a positive and significant effect on business performance. Open innovation strategies such as electronic commerce have positive and significant effects on innovation management and corporate performance. Similarly, the home office has significant effects on innovation management. Finally, unknown SMEs were found to be the best performers in innovation management and business performance. The study contributes to the development of the theory of competitive behavior and the theory of resources and capabilities. Full article

This review aims to identify the typologies of business incubators (BI) and business accelerators (BA) and to define a taxonomy integrating both the BI’s and BA’s characteristics and services portfolio, facilitating the adoption of open innovation practices. A systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out encompassing the research topic concerning the relationship between the incubation structures and the performance of technology-based ventures. This comprehensive SLR encompasses a total of 1614 publications, aiming to advance the knowledge on BI and BA. This SLR allowed for the identification of current trends and future challenges, as well as of the most important authors, publications, and journals in this research framework. This SLR establishes a new taxonomy for BI and BA, based upon three main pillars: human capital, social capital, and organizational capital. BI and BA help in the development of new high-technology ventures, by being facilitators for open innovation practices. This SLR is limited by the literature, as the collection of publications was performed exclusively through ISI Web of Science (WoS). Further research can be made into the modes of how these structures impact open innovation practices at the regional level using a knowledge spillover approach. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful technology with a range of capabilities, which are beginning to become apparent in all industries nowadays. The increased popularity of AI in the construction industry, however, is rather limited in comparison to other industry sectors. Moreover, despite AI being a hot topic in built environment research, there are limited review studies that investigate the reasons for the low-level AI adoption in the construction industry. This study aims to reduce this gap by identifying the adoption challenges of AI, along with the opportunities offered, for the construction industry. To achieve the aim, the study adopts a systematic literature review approach using the PRISMA protocol. In addition, the systematic review of the literature focuses on the planning, design, and construction stages of the construction project lifecycle. The results of the review reveal that (a) AI is particularly beneficial in the planning stage as the success of construction projects depends on accurate events, risks, and cost forecasting; (b) the major opportunity in adopting AI is to reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks by using big data analytics and improving the work processes; and (c) the biggest challenge to incorporate AI on a construction site is the fragmented nature of the industry, which has resulted in issues of data acquisition and retention. The findings of the study inform a range of parties that operate in the construction industry concerning the opportunities and challenges of AI adaptability and help increase the market acceptance of AI practices. Full article

For the past decade, Industry 4.0 has become the basis for building competitive advantage for business operations. The key technologies of Industry 4.0 are implemented in enterprises of various industries. This paper focuses on presenting the results of research on the influence of the Industry 4.0 concept on the operations of enterprises that are implementing smart manufacturing (SM) projects. The paper analyses the following areas of influence of projects on the enterprises’ operations: productivity, agility and speed, quality, competitiveness and enterprise value, profitability, staff reduction, delivery improvements, vertical and horizontal integration, resource savings, reduction of operating costs, technology adaptability and quality of machine operations. The paper belongs to the research paper category. The research tool was a questionnaire. The research was carried out in the segment of steel enterprises in Poland. The results of the presented research belong to pilot research of a segment of steel industry in Poland. The main conclusion of the study is that implementation of Industry 4.0 in the Polish steel sector had a positive influence on many factors strictly connected with the innovativeness of the company. Especially, the implementation of this conception in the steel sector leads to an increase in the quality of the product and the possibility to achieve a good level of customization of the product. Those factors are very important for the steel sector potential to succeed on the competitive market. The individual SM projects that were evaluated were a form of case study. The participants of the research were employees in managerial positions and operating technological installations in steel sector enterprises. In the opinion of the surveyed (79 people), depending on the type and scope of changes implemented in the company in the direction of Industry 4.0, decision-makers expect a higher quality of processes and products, the ability to meet customer requirements—the direction of the personalization of products and services, agility and flexibility of performed operations with the use of smart technology and accuracy and precision of performance higher than in the case of manual human activities. Full article

This research investigated consumers’ purchase intention and preferences for face masks during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used as the theoretical framework. Empirical data (with 215 valid responses) were collected nationwide from the United States via Qualtrics Panel services. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multi-group comparison (chi-square difference) were used to estimate construct validity and test the proposed hypotheses and theoretical framework. Results indicated that consumers’ purchase intention towards face masks was predicted by consumers’ attitude towards functional attributes, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control. But, in contrast with previous research, purchase intention was not predicted by attitudes towards aesthetic attributes and attitude towards social attributes. Purchase intention positively influenced consumers’ actual purchase behavior towards face masks. Workplace association moderated the path from social attitudes to purchase intention. Based on these results, theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Full article

This study aims to analyze the effects of open innovation on the figure of the Information and Communication Technologies Coordinator (ICTC) in the Higher Conservatories of Music (HCM) and Authorized Centers of Spain (ACSs). In some regions, the HCMs are regulated by the regulations applied to secondary education and that is why the figure of the CICT exists. In others, this figure does not exist and is not regulated by the administration. In the ACSs, because they are private centers, they do not exist either, although they do have persons in charge of these functions. In order to respond to the objective of this study, a tour has been made to the existing regulations, analyzing the endowment that the centers have in addition to applying a questionnaire to 27 CICT of 35 HCMs and ACSs of Spain. The results obtained reveal the lack of knowledge of this figure and the innovation it represents in its field, information on the functions and tasks of the ICTC is scarce, as is the degree of knowledge of the competencies of the latter. There is a clear need for the CICT to exist in all schools and to be regulated under a common competence framework that allows schools to progress in the same way. Full article

The development of innovation at a regional level in a transition economy is characterised by complex multidirectional processes of generating and commercialising innovation, indicating the need for systematic research and rethinking of the existing methods of managing such territorial entities to stimulate innovation. For the successful introduction and implementation of innovative solutions, the deployment of appropriate amounts of intellectual, material and financial resources as well as their concentration in space and time is important. This article aims to develop a model for assessing the effectiveness of regional innovation systems (RISs) during the shift from the transition economy to the market economy. The authors developed a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model connected with patent activities and the output of innovative goods and services. The model’s application made it possible to build maps describing the rating of regions concerning the performance indicator and to identify the availability of unutilised resources. For example, we identified efficient and inefficient regions in terms of producing innovative products, which is especially important for developing additional measures for developing the institutional environment of regions with considerable resources but very low utilisation efficiency. The data obtained will allow for more effective management of the structural elements of RISs as well as the detection of changes in the dynamics of key development indicators by identifying the size of efficiency reserves and the causes of their occurrence at the individual subject level. Full article

Delivering a positive tourism experience is an expanding concern of destinations because of the growth of the tourism industry. The emergence of creative tourism has led to a continued necessity for local destination management organizations to pursue innovative and versatile strategies. This study aims to evaluate the organizational capabilities of local destination management organizations to promote a creative tourism context and develop related activities. The conceptual model was tested using a mixed-methods approach, combining a focus group with local destination management organizations with a quantitative study using multivariate statistical analysis through structural equational modeling. The findings showed that local destination management organizations ought to prioritize organizational culture by coordinating learning and effective knowledge training to strengthen marketing communication capabilities while focusing on potentiating their resources to develop the destination by implementing a local creative tourism destination, thereby generating value for a greater creative tourism local destination where tourists play an active role. Full article

Surviving in a humanitarian disaster such as the COVID-19 pandemic is a big challenge for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in all industries. Furthermore, cultural and creative firms face additional challenges. Many of those firms have survived the effects of the pandemic by proposing redesigned business models that have brought new added value in response to environmental hostility; they have strategically responded to the crises by adapting their business model. According to the extant literature, in VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environments, dynamic capabilities are developed to detect and seize new opportunities and reconfigure the company’s assets. However, in very hostile environments, such as the COVID-19 crisis, the dynamic capabilities approach fails to explain the firm owners’ strategic decisions. A cross-case comparative analysis of ten micro and small firms in Spain’s cultural and creative industries has been conducted to examine how enterprises adapted to the COVID-19 crisis and the different organizational capabilities they implemented. This work proposes a new framework that postulates that business model adaptation is better understood under the emergency management theory and improvisational capability, instead of only under the dynamic capabilities lens. Organizational proximity in the diffusion of innovations under the open innovation paradigm is also critical to understanding the business model adaptation. From an academic perspective, this article enriches the current understanding of business model asdaptation by micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in very hostile environments. The new framework intends to offer managers concrete guidelines about systematically adapting their business models in hostile situations. Full article

The phenomenon of creative accounting has attracted the attention of researchers for decades, especially in the financial sector for its implications on the quality of financial reporting. Although several procedures have been developed by researchers and practitioners to determine any manipulation in financial reporting, the practice of creative accounting is still prevalent, resulting in poor quality financial reporting. The present study investigated the moderating role of transparency and disclosure with respect to enhancing the impact of creative accounting determinants and financial reporting quality in the context of commercial banking. A deductive research method driven by a survey questionnaire is used to examine the proposed hypotheses and attain the designed objectives. The analysed data provide a theoretical conceptualisation and practical validation for the integration of the moderator in the relationship between creative accounting determinants and financial reporting quality in banks, with significant advantages. Furthermore, the present research findings show that the degree of impact for creative accounting determinants is linked to the aspects of transparency and disclosure. Lastly, the results present concurrent evidence of the flexibility of creative accounting determinants with implications for transparency and disclosure and financial reporting quality. Full article

The shared mobility services market is growing and changing very rapidly. Many novelties are introduced to the systems, ranging from improvements to the services already offered to services referred to as innovative. Since the following years are to bring significant development of mobility as a service (MaaS) systems, data sharing, and cooperation on the mobility market, the article is dedicated to check whether the current business models of the industry are ready for the open innovations implementations. The article aimed to analyze the business models of shared mobility systems along with their presentation in the form of CANVAS models and to investigate whether the models contain aspects of open innovation. Moreover, the article presents its own value-added open business model prepared for the whole shared mobility market. The paper also identifies a set of open innovations that can be implemented by all types of shared mobility operators. It proposed the basis that operators can use when developing their own open business models. The developed research is an original contribution to filling the research gap concerning the approach to open innovation by operators of all types of shared mobility services available on the market. The results show that car-sharing service providers are the biggest opponents of open innovation. On the other hand, the most ‘open’ systems are bike-sharing services. The conducted research may support operators in the process of transforming their businesses into more accessible for users. It also helps to develop the open innovation concept to create more sustainable shared mobility systems along the lines of collaborative economy assumptions. Full article

The car-sharing market is changing at a dynamic pace. Along with changes and new user habits, car-sharing systems are required to make this market even more accessible and flexible. This solution is possible due to the joining of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) systems and the sharing of data, as well as the implementation of open innovations. However, these are aspects that strongly interfere with the business models of car-sharing systems. Due to this fact, this article is dedicated to the subject of business models in car-sharing systems and the issues of using data sharing and implementing open innovations. This study aimed to analyze the current state of business models and to propose an individual business model of an open car-sharing system based on the concept of open innovation and data sharing. As part of the study, expert surveys were carried out. The results obtained indicate that the dynamics of business models and the development of innovation in car-sharing enterprises are being disrupted. Moreover, most of the current business models are not updated. They also do not consider the subject of open innovation and data sharing, despite operators considering this problem to be significant. The individual model of an open car-sharing system developed in this article was constructed in such a way as to support operators during the transformation of current business models into a modern open model. Full article

Start-up development, success, and sustainability are affected by contextual factors that constitute a regional entrepreneurship ecosystem. Based on previous literature, we propose the conceptual framework Start-Up Ecosystem (StUpEco) that highlights the contextual drivers of a start-up business affected by the entrepreneurial ecosystem entities involved within the quadruple helix model. Furthermore, the proposed framework is tested according to the perceptions of Greek start-uppers through an empirical survey. According to our findings, the start-uppers’ motivation is explained mainly through opportunity rather than necessity. The study identifies government issues, such as tax incentives and acceleration of starting procedures, availability of funding opportunities, connectivity of stakeholders, entrepreneurship education, previous start-up experience, incubator support, as well as mentoring, as the most significant issues affecting the successful development of start-ups. Full article

The objective of this study is to explore the strengths of indigenous food systems in Latin America within the framework of effective food policies. The analysis is based on the adaptive capacity of human beings, and, in this logic, it considers the food systems of Latin America to be relevant since in the face of challenges, such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, indigenous peoples have been able to establish response strategies. However, beyond these responses, we find a region that has assumed a biopolitical stance with a tendency to design control policies in response to the pandemic. This situation has not improved the inequalities and vulnerabilities of a sector of the indigenous population in Latin America. The aforementioned challenges give a clear picture of the strengths of the region’s indigenous people, and knowledge of this interactive dynamic can provide elements for the design of food policies. In this sense, an exhaustive literature review was carried out in order to approach the state of the art of the issue. The analysis was derived from three analytical categories that in synergy and from an open innovation perspective, make a proposal for the design and implementation of effective food policies that allow a region to learn from local indigenous experiences in a context of food insecurity. Full article

The tender process is an inseparable step of the contract award process in the public sector, and from the other point of view, it is one of the crucial elements of the core business of construction contractors. Reviewing previous research reveals a gap in the application of a project’s detailed features and historical data to support the bid/no-bid decision and to determine the cost and time contract mark-ups. In this study, a prescriptive project complexity-based model is proposed to support the bid decision in the tender strategy development phase of a contractor for the downstream sector of the petroleum industry in Iran. For this purpose, regression analysis of historical data is adopted to configure the model and to infer from previous actual trends by exploring relationships between the contractor’s bid decision and proposed mark-ups with the project’s inherent and surrounding complexity factors. Hence, using experts’ opinions and historical data from 139 previous contracts as training and test data, a model was developed to make a decision on a bid and mark-up problem. The results of the model validation show that the credibility of the model is 74.67% and 75.36% for time and cost, respectively, and the reliability of model outputs is approximately 90% overall in predicting the bid mark-ups in accordance with the project complexity index (PCI). The main contribution of this research to current knowledge has two aspects: utilizing the complexity concept for the tender problem in the form of a project complexity index (PCI) and considering both time and cost mark-ups (TMU–CMU) in the contractor’s bid simultaneously. In addition, the results show that the more complex the project is, the higher the bid rate is. Full article

While open innovation and university–industry collaboration contribute significantly to innovation in industrialized countries, it is less clear how these create value in emerging economies and new application contexts. This study examines the introduction of global practices into the Nicaraguan context. Adopting a service-dominant logic perspective of value co-creation through interaction on multiple levels, we noted the importance of systemic orchestration or staging of the ecosystem, organizations, and challenge project delivery. We also recognize the importance of enabling activities and spaces that promote innovation. While our findings indicated that the expected and perceived value creation did not fully match, we found encouraging signs of the build-up of foundational practices to support national development agendas. There is evidence of shifted mindsets and looped learning across the system. We propose a model for the systemic development of enabling structures, value creation, and innovation spaces when transferring practices into new application areas. We expect this model to be useful for practitioners when planning and engaging in transferring open innovation practices across application contexts. The study contributes to our knowledge and practice of creating value through applying open innovation within university–industry collaboration in emerging economies, a little-studied theme. Full article

The latest IPCC report forcefully states that immediate, decisive, and large-scale actions are needed to avert climate catastrophe. This essay presumes that democratic governments are best and most desirably positioned to take these actions. Yet in the countries most pivotal to global climate change, significant voting blocs are uninterested in environmental issues. The essay urges adding bottom-up dialog between environmental and anti-environmental voters, to current and future top-down technocratic “solutions”. To make this combination result in a unified pro-environment electorate, we must understand: religious objections to environmentalism; the capital-vs.-knowledge strife that slows polluting corporations’ green transitions; and the psychological mechanisms that can make inter-group dialog fruitful. Full article

Nowadays, companies are collaborating and forming supply chain partnerships under a certain scheme, such as a vendor-managed inventory scheme. The collaboration increases the supply chain’s visibility, which leads to cost efficiency. It may also contribute to enhancing the supply chain’s green performance. This paper presents a supply chain inventory model to guide managers in making optimal inventory decisions considering the logistics cost and carbon emissions. A vendor supplies products under a vendor-managed inventory; hence, it is responsible for the logistics activities. The effect of product deterioration and quality problems are also considered, in which the vendor performs a 100% quality inspection. A carbon price is imposed on total emissions from production and logistics activities under a cap-and-trade regulation. The result is inventory decisions regarding the optimal delivery quantity as well as the delivery frequencies that minimize the total costs. The reduction in total carbon emissions from the decisions was also studied. Full article