An extensive and interdisciplinary literature review was carried out to evaluate the uses of synthetically produced ozone in many different application areas. The objective of the study was to investigate the disinfectant and purifying effectiveness of this natural compound and evaluate its use as an economically and environmentally sustainable alternative to treatments that often involve the adoption of pharmaceutical agents. Being a natural substance, the potential environmental sustainability of the use of ozone in areas such as water disinfectant; pesticide action in agriculture; and antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and antiviral actions in animal husbandry and fish farming are of interest. In addition to environmental sustainability, economic sustainability is also important for companies employing ozone in their processes. Thus, a case study was proposed that represents the use of ozone in a pilot swine farm located in Northern Italy, both as an alternative to pharmaceutical drugs for the animals and as an air and water purifier. The case study demonstrates the economic sustainability of ozone use, especially in the medium run, along with its ability to reduce animal mortality (by about 2%), as well as decrease use of pharmaceutical antibiotics.

Purpose In recent years, critical events have heavily affected the cruise industry. Such events may variously influence customers’ intention to take a cruise in the future depending on different factors. This paper aims to study such factors, in particular the emotions related to the event, the prior corporate reputation and the use of social media in the corporate communication strategies followed during the crisis. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on the development of a structured questionnaire submitted online via blogs and other social media. Overall, 572 cruiser opinions were used to test five research hypotheses by performing logistic regression analysis. Findings The degree of anger increases the likelihood of a critical event influencing the intention to take a cruise in the future. On the contrary, a former excellent corporate reputation reduces that likelihood and the high importance placed by potential customers on information about the critical event transmitted via social media does not have any influence. Practical implications The study has several managerial implications, as it identifies and analyses the variables cruise company managers should consider when dealing with critical events. Originality/value Despite the relevance of this topic, no studies have yet focused on how (and by which factors) a critical event may influence customers’ intention to take a cruise in the future.

Sustainability, as a science, is the guideline of the present work. It aims to analyse, by means of a literature review, various areas of healthcare in which information technology (IT) has been-or could be-used, leading to several sources of sustainability, for example, cost savings, better teamwork, higher quality and efficiency of medical care. After a brief introduction analysing the strategic contexts in which innovation in general, and IT in particular, can be a source of general improvements in efficiency, cost savings and service quality, the research focuses on the healthcare system by discussing the different nature of private and public organizations in terms of adopting innovations and changes and discussing the issue of consumer health costs and consumer choices. The following part focuses on the qualitative benefits of IT in healthcare and discusses the importance of metrics for measuring performance, costs and efficiency in this area. The work then qualitatively introduces a new set of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), partly based on literature from different topics and existing and validated sets of metrics, analysing, under the point of view of sustainability, the implementation of IT in healthcare, namely in management, organization, technology, environment and social fields (HHC-MOTES framework). The model, inspired by and to sustainability, can be used as a decision support at the strategic management level as well as for the analysis and investigation of the effects of IT systems in the healthcare sector from various perspectives.