Valentina Elena Lazzarotti

This study investigates how successors, by acting entrepreneurially, contribute to family firm transgenerational value creation. By focusing on the transgenerational value creation process, we investigate transgenerational entrepreneurship in family businesses under successor leadership. Employing a multiple case study approach, we analyse 15 Italian family firms, based on direct interviews, follow-ups, field observations, and approximately 300 historical documents spanning the period 1894 to 2023. Our findings reveal how individual, contextual, business, and familial drivers, alone or in combination, point to various pathways influencing entrepreneurial outcomes, thereby reflecting the diverse forms of successor entrepreneurship. Specifically, we develop a taxonomy comprising five entrepreneurial profiles: revolutioner, orchestrator, venturer, renewer, and improver. Our findings offer novel insights into the family business and entrepreneurship literature, along with practical implications and potential contributions to regional development.

This article explores how stakeholder collaboration within ecosystems supports the implementation of Circular Economy (CE) principles through Open Innovation (OI). Integrating insights from CE, OI, and innovation ecosystem literatures, it introduces the concept of Open Circular Innovation Ecosystems (OCIEs). Using a mixed-methods approach combining surveys and interviews, the study examines how different stakeholder groups—such as public agencies, academia, and civil society—address contextual, technical, economic, and cultural barriers to circularity. The findings reveal distinct yet complementary roles among actors, highlighting how open, multi-stakeholder networks operate in practice. The study advances understanding of OCIEs and provides actionable insights for policymakers and industry leaders aiming to design more targeted and inclusive collaboration strategies to accelerate CE implementation.

This study explores the integration of Open Innovation (OI) models with archetypes of sustainable business in Forest-based Bioeconomy (FBB) companies in the digital age. Utilising a multiple case study methodology, four FBB companies were examined to understand their strategic orientations and sustainability practices. Case studies provide detailed insights into processes and interactions within specific contexts, making them suitable for examining emerging phenomena like the Circular Economy (CE). Although OI, CE, and sustainability have been individually studied, little empirical research explores their intersection in the FBB. Existing literature often focuses on theoretical foundations or isolated applications, neglecting how OI supports circular and sustainable business models in the FBB. Additionally, the challenges and opportunities for FBB companies in the Global South remain largely unexamined, despite their importance in global sustainability transitions. Therefore, this research addresses a significant gap by exploring how companies operating in the forest-based bioeconomy sector exploit OI models to enhance circular and sustainable business models in the digital age. The findings reveal that sustainability approaches are dynamic and overlapping strategies rather than fixed archetypes. The study highlights how OI models facilitate the use of both external and internal knowledge at various stages of innovation, demonstrating that the choice of sustainability archetypes both influences and is influenced by companies’ OI models. These insights are valuable for scholars, managers, and policymakers aiming to promote sustainable economic development and environmental stewardship.

Purpose – This study aims to explore the interaction between social media and firms’ absorptive capacity (ACAP), which involves acquiring, assimilating, transforming and exploiting external knowledge. While existing research often examines these topics separately, this paper bridges the gap by analyzing their interconnectedness to provide a holistic understanding. Design/methodology/approach – A data-driven approach combining bibliographic coupling and authors’ keyword network analysis was used to mitigate the subjectivity of traditional literature reviews. A total of 50 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles from Scopus were analyzed using VOSviewer to identify thematic research streams (RSs). Findings – The analysis identifies five RSs: the impact of social media and ACAP on innovation performance; their effect on performance in a multi-level landscape across different analytical units (individual, team, organization); the role of social media in specific contexts, including internal and external collaborations; online communities; and the new product development process. A key finding is the internal inconsistency in the literature regarding the relationship between ACAP and social media constructs. To address this, two alternative research frameworks are proposed, offering theoretical foundations for future studies. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to comprehensively address the interaction between social media and ACAP by resolving theoretical inconsistencies, clarifying variable roles and proposing frameworks to guide future research. It also offers actionable insights for R&D and innovation managers to strategically leverage social media for acquiring and exploiting external knowledge, thereby enhancing competitive advantage.

Product innovation is a relevant aspect to consider when transitioning towards a circular economy. However, product innovation encounters several barriers that must be overcome. This article explores how companies exploit open innovation practices to overcome barriers while developing circular products. To address this research gap, the study employs a multiple case-study approach of four companies in the manufacturing sector. Two of them operate in European industrialized regions, and other two operate in less developed regions of South America, emphasizing the need for context-specific approaches to circular economy implementation and circular product development. Our results show that, among other barriers, technical ones, including material quality concerns and a lack of skills, represent significant obstacles in both contexts. In addition, among the open innovation practices, the inbound ones, such as sourcing external knowledge and ideas, support companies to overcome these technical challenges, by leading to more innovative and higher-quality products, enhanced reputation, collaboration, and cost reduction. Consumer co-creation is especially crucial for stakeholder engagement and aligning practices with sustainability goals. Finally, collaboration with universities mostly benefits highly industrialized regions and is recommended for acquiring essential capabilities for successful circular product development. From a theoretical perspective, our study contributes to emphasize the re lationships between circular economy and open innovation, as well as region-specific circular economy chal lenges. From a managerial perspective, we show how inbound open innovation practices can aid circular economy implementation, fostering external knowledge and innovation.

Purpose – This study aims to explore how firms can enhance their innovation processes by effectively utilizing external knowledge and employing digital technologies. Specifically, it emphasizes the role of absorptive capacity (ACAP) in external knowledge acquisition and assimilation (potential ACAP), as well as transformation and exploitation (realized ACAP), highlighting the necessity of equipping firms with digital technologies to support ACAP activities. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the research purpose, we conducted a structured literature review of academic papers sourced from Scopus-Elsevier. Findings – The key findings encompass the identification of common digital technologies supporting ACAP and explore how these technologies contribute to knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation. The main results show that social media and online communities are the most studied technologies in relation to ACAP activities. Research predominantly centres on potential ACAP – with acquisition activity more studied than assimilation – rather than realized ACAP – with only social media and online communities demonstrating full support for transformation and exploitation activities. Research limitations/implications – This research represents a pioneering joint study of ACAP and digital technologies, advancing understanding beyond organizational perspectives and expanding open innovation literature by integrating ACAP role in technology collaborations. A call for qualitative investigations into the relationship between digital technologies and ACAP emerged. Practical implications – The findings offer valuable guidance to innovation managers, aiding them in selecting appropriate digital technologies to strengthen ACAP activities. Originality/value – This work's uniqueness lies in bridging the gaps between open innovation, ACAP and digital technologies, which are often studied in isolation.

The consolidation of Open Innovation (OI) as necessary approach to understand the ability of firms to innovate has demanded more sustained efforts to unfold the continuous connection with other relevant actors across its systems of production (Arabshahi et al., 2014; Chesbrough, 2006; JimenezJimenez et al., 2019). Central to this is the emphasis on a pursuit of knowledge and collaboration from components of the supply chain (SC) (Miyamoto, 2020). Despite the undeniable relationship between these two terms, authors have pointed out that not enough research has occurred (Ardito et al., 2020; Jimenez-Jimenez et al., 2019; R. A. E. Shamah & Elssawabi, 2015; Smith & Blundel, 2012). Therefore, this paper is intended to contribute to the research gap by examining on how the concepts of SC and OI are related in the current state-of-the-art. To accomplish it, a systematic literature review (SLR) is conducted.

The paper investigates how the non-economic goals of the current CEOs affect innovation in family firms. A qualitative in-depth multiple case study of four family firms is carried out, in which the current CEOs' non-economic goals are identified by direct interviews with the current CEOs themselves and with the members who managed the company before them (i.e., the predecessors). As a main result, the paper proposes a theoretical framework which explains the relationships between goals and innovation by identifying a series of managerial levers activated because of the peculiarity of the current CEOs' non-economic goals.

This research examines the impact of the Russian-Ukraine war on the decisions made by managers regarding the three dimensions of the triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability. Specifically, it investigates how managers in the Lombardy region of Italy adapted their approaches towards sustainability during this crisis. The descriptive statistics and PCA analyses demonstrate that managers adjusted their decisions regarding the social dimension of sustainability in response to the prevailing circumstances. The Russian-Ukraine war has led to a convergence of the social and economic dimensions within firms. However, the study also reveals that the social dimension is often considered secondary to the core business, making it the weakest aspect of the TBL approach. Nonetheless, external disruptions, such as in the case of the Russian-Ukraine war, can influence this approach, leading to a repositioning of the social dimension as a focal point in business strategies. By emphasizing the importance of considering social aspects in sustainability decision-making during crises, this research contributes valuable insights to the existing literature. The findings can inform the development of strategies to address challenges posed by the Russian-Ukraine war and enhance the integration of social criteria in sustainability decision-making.