The aim of this paper is to study what managerial practices companies follow and implement in their business model to manage the introduction of Circular Products. Extensively screening extant literature in the field, we clustered a set of relevant managerial practices in four main principles of Circular Economy (CE) adoption at the product level: (i) Energy efficiency and usage of renewable sources of energy; (ii) Product and process optimisation for resource efficiency; (iii) Product design for circularity; (iv) Exploitation of waste as a resource. Then, the adoption of these principles was tested on two companies (and three Circular Products) operating in the beverage-packaging industry, where the adoption of CE is further challenged by the fact that packaging is necessary to deliver the product to consumers, but the majority of the one-way packaging is discarded after use. The identified principles provide general objectives in terms of end goals that should be achieved in order to adopt CE and manage the introduction of Circular Products. This paper shows a practical implementation of these principles on real empirical cases for theory-testing scopes.

In many hi-tech sectors one of the most important dimensions of competition is standardisation. This is particularly true in modular markets (i.e. markets characterised by the existence of modular architectures) and in network markets (i.e. markets where users would like to buy products compatible with those bought by others). Different processes may lead to the standard-setting. Sometimes there are fierce standardisation wars whereas in other cases competitors are able to agree on a common standard before the introduction of the technology on the market. In this paper we endeavour to provide an interpretative framework of the standardisation process and validate such a framework through an in-depth analysis of two case studies in a typical network market (the multimedia sector): the case of the Modem 56k and the case of the Information Appliances-Enhanced TV.The two case studies offer some evidence of the standardisation process and of the growing importance of super-partes organisations (Standard Development Organisations) in the mediation process between different interests and technologies to impose a common standard on the market.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on the adoption of business to employee (B2e) mobile internet (MI) applications in Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The purpose is twofold: to analyze the diffusion of these applications underlining the main adoption barriers and to describe the impact on the corporate environment and the decision‐making process leading to the introduction of B2e MI applications.Design/methodology/approachThe diffusion of mobile solutions is gauged through a survey of 646 Italian SMEs in the manufacturing industry. Multiple case studies of 28 Italian SMEs that have adopted 33 B2e MI applications have given insight into the impact and the adoption process of such technologies.FindingsThe adoption of MI technologies is still limited in Italian SMEs. Two different kinds of solutions (classified into connectivity‐based and application‐based) lead to different processes of adoption.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has been conducted only in an Italian scenario. As for the survey, only firms belonging to the manufacturing industry have been interviewed.Practical implicationsThe main adoption drivers/constraints have been identified. The paper also provides information and communication technologies vendors with guidelines on how to increase the use of the applications in Italian SMEs.Originality/valueThe paper is based on a double methodology in order to provide a full analysis of the adoption of mobile technologies in a business environment: the survey is used to quantify the adoption of the technologies and the case studies are used to investigate the adoption process.

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Over the last year, the introduction of effective quality systems and the achievement of high quality products represented fundamental competitive incentives for the adoption of total quality management practices. Unfortunately, many empirical studies demonstrate that most of the quality based programmes introduced within small firms did not improve their competitive position and profitability. The reason for such a failure is threefold: ambiguity of quality dimension, lack of suitable decisional tools and distinctive features characterising small firms. Hence, the objective of this paper is to provide small firms’ managers with a decisional tool (derived from the Fuzzy Sets Theory) aimed at supporting the evaluation process and at selecting the most suitable investments within different competitive contexts.