Purpose – This paper aims to review and critique the knowledge management (KM) literature within\ud small and medium enterprises (SMEs), offers an overview of the state of research and outline a future\ud research agenda.\ud Design/methodology/approach – Papers published in KM journals are analysed using a structured\ud literature review methodology. The paper analyses 89 papers published in ten journals specialising in\ud the field of KM.\ud Findings – KM within SMEs is a research area of growing importance. Findings show that literature on\ud KM in SMEs is fragmented and dominated by unrelated research, with few comparative studies\ud between countries and several countries receiving little attention. Additionally, different definitions of\ud SMEs are used and different kinds of SMEs (e.g. micro, small and medium) are often treated as\ud equivalent, making comparison almost impossible. The results show a failure to address the\ud implications of findings for practitioners and policymakers, which risks relegating the KM research on\ud SMEs to irrelevance.\ud Originality/value – The paper presents a comprehensive structured literature review of the articles\ud published in KM journals. The paper’s findings can offer insights into future research avenues

Despite business models having been discussed thoroughly by academics there are still some epistemological and ontological issues that have yet to be resolved. Business models seem to have stalled at the technological era and have not fully engaged with the era of sustainability. The purpose of our paper is to add a new lens and richness to sustainable business model research by building on the need for more interdisciplinary approaches. This paper applies an eco-critical approach to analyse the 20 most often cited business model frameworks. We explore the conventional understanding of the business models based on the language applied and reflect on gaps in the current perspectives of sustainability. The analysis shows that existing business model frameworks exclude natural and social aspects of organisational environment from the discussion and tend to neglect the interrelationships between economic and not-economic actors as well as the intertemporal trade-offs. Based on the results of the analysis we propose a new sustainable business model framework named "Value Triangle", which explicitly includes as core elements society incorporating the natural environment and future generations and three types of co-created and co-delivered value: public, partner and customer. The Value Triangle together with the corresponding canvas is presented through a business case for sustainability represented by Italian company Loccioni. The results show that the proposed business model framework and canvas allow managers to understand, analyse and evaluate their business models along all three dimensions of sustainabilityeconomic, social, and environmental simultaneously.Such an understanding helps drive the field towards making a meaningful contribution to solving the UN global challenges and sustainability agenda.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a university that uses a collective intelligence approach for managing its intellectual capital (IC). Specifically, the authors investigate how one of Europe’s oldest business schools, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), manages IC through stakeholder engagement to achieve academia’s third mission so contributing to social and economic development. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected through semi-structured interviews and Ca’ Foscari University’s strategic plan. Secundo et al.’s (2016) collective intelligence framework is used to analyse the data. Alvesson and Deetz’s (2000, pp. 19-20) critical management tasks – insight, critique and transformative redefinition – are adopted to frame and discuss the results. Findings On the assumption that a university is a collective intelligence system, the findings demonstrate that IC management needs to change to incorporate an ecosystem perspective, reflecting the fourth stage of IC research. The IC management at the university incorporates its core goal (what), the collective involvement of internal and external stakeholders to achieve the goal (who), the motivations behind the achievement of the goal (why) and, finally, the processes activated inside the university (how) and indicators to assess value creation. Research limitations/implications A new perspective for managing IC in universities that adopts a collective intelligence approach is further developed. Contributions to the fourth stage of IC research – IC in an ecosystem – are highlighted that expand the concept of IC value creation beyond universities into wider society. Practical implications Two key consequences of this case study are that more stakeholders have become involved in IC management and that IC management requires critical rethinking, given the universities’ evolving role. Originality/value This paper brings together issues that are usually dealt with in separate domains of the literature: IC management and collective intelligence in the university setting.

According to recent literature, effective knowledge management should be coherent and based on the firm's strategy. Prior empirical research, in contrast, tries to evaluate the impact of knowledge management initiatives directly on performance but finds inconsistent results and not allows the understanding of knowledge management contribution to competitive advantage generation. In this study we aim to investigate the impact of knowledge management and strategy configuration coherence on SMEs innovation and organizational performance through a quantitative analysis carried out on a sample of 60 manufacturing SMEs in northeast Italy. Our findings reveal that a significant coherence exists between knowledge management and strategy configurations. Most of the SMEs with a prospector and defender strategy adopt, in turn, an aggressive and conservative knowledge management. Moreover, we find that such coherence has a significant impact on the overall performance. This is particularly interesting since it suggests that the inconsistency in the results of prior studies on the impact of knowledge management on performance (Kalling in J Knowl Manag 7(3):67-81; 2003) may be due to the lack of consideration of knowledge management and strategy configuration coherence.

PurposeThis research aims to investigate how digital academic entrepreneurship (AE) develops, exploring its evolution from a micro to a macro perspective and highlighting the role of intellectual capital along the process. This paper contributes to the Special Issue on digital AE, providing research and practical implications.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a grounded theory approach which allows exploring the “How” question of digital AE. It focuses on the case of “Strategy Innovation,” the Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy) spin-off.FindingsDigital AE develops and regenerates through a virtuous cycle that, while supported by digital technologies, starts from single individuals and their networks, reaches a broader ecosystem, and ends once back to individuals. This study offers insights about the social impact of academic venturing activities and provides practitioners with useful insights for the understanding of academic spin-offs activities and related opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on the specific research context of “Strategy Innovation,” Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy) spin-off. Future research should address in-depth analyses in the exploration of how digital AE emerges and evolves in different contexts and forms.Originality/valueThis study investigates digital AE's development over time, broadly illustrating the phenomenon from a micro to a macro perspective and presenting an explicative and analytical model.