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Framing of the research: In today's volatile and complex business environment, organizations face challenges that demand new adaptation and communication capabilities. Organizational management is increasingly exposed to disruptions and crises that test the traditional approaches to crisis communication and strategy. Purpose of the paper: This paper explores the concept of antifragility and its application to crisis communication in this environment of perpetual disruptions and uncertainty. Methodology: Qualitative research methodology was employed, involving 22 in-depth interviews with industry professionals. Data was analyzed using grounded theory and theories-in-use approaches. Findings: The study identified six critical factors for antifragile crisis communication: experimentation, option generation, stress, redundancy, subtraction, and creativity. These factors contribute to an organization's ability to thrive in the face of ongoing disruptions, aligning with the principles of antifragility. Research limits: The research is based on qualitative data from a specific set of participants and may not be fully generalizable. Further quantitative research could validate these findings. Practical implications: Organizations can enhance their crisis communication strategies by integrating the identified factors, promoting adaptability, and leveraging uncertainty to thrive in the new business environment. Originality of the paper: This research offers a novel perspective by applying antifragility principles to crisis communication, bridging the gap in existing literature and providing valuable insights into managing crises in the contemporary business landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary we explore a set of paradoxes in digital services that we call Truth versus Lies, Long Term versus Short Term, Fair versus Unfair, Humans versus Machines, Return versus Risk, Coordination versus Competition, and Slow versus Fast. In each case the new digital tools at the disposal of marketers can lead towards marketing utopia or veer towards dystopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of the fair appropriation of co-created value in business relationships has been widely emphasised in the literature. However, in business relationships, value can be both co-created and co-destructed, but what happens to value appropriation when value is co-destructed? Previous studies have focused on what causes value co-destruction, rather than its effects. The question posed is relevant because some actors experience higher diminutions in value appropriation, generating perceptions of inequities, dissatisfaction, and tensions. By analysing data from 39 qualitative interviews with companies that have experienced value co-destruction, this paper attempts to identify the reasons for the unbalanced relationship between value co-destruction and value appropriation. Two higher-level dimensions – awareness of value and awareness of context – are identified and used to generate four clusters of reasons for disproportionate value co-destruction effects. The paper also pinpoints specific actions for managing unfairness from value co-destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selling practice is facing an unprecedented process of change that is redefining the logic of value co-creation and disrupting the nature of B2B relationships across several industries. This phenomenon is well-known in managerial practice but under-investigated at a theoretical level. Sales literature aligns on acknowledging that selling and value co-creation unfold within broader service ecosystems. However, the changes occurring in sales have been predominantly studied by focusing on the single elements affecting them. Based on a qualitative study of 48 sales experts, this research draws on the service ecosystem theory to offer a holistic perspective of the factors driving the transformation of selling for value co-creation. The proposal from the study is that value co-creation through selling is a systemic and multi-actor phenomenon, including two antecedents: Hybridization of salespeople and Digital ecosystem empowerment, two boundary conditions: Multi-actor integration and Acceleration, and 23 sub-dimensions driving change in selling. The study also provides guidance for managerial practices, which is crucial due to the high failure rate of attempts at transforming sales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the context of B2B relationships has changed rapidly with the advent of new technologies that are reshaping the space dimension of business interactions and the time frame in which they occur. Notwithstanding the magnitude of this evolution, the literature only partially captures the implications of value creation in the B2B digital context, leaving the contextual nature of value to remain vague and described mainly at an abstract level. This lack of a micro-foundation of value creation in context also makes its management exceedingly difficult. This study proposes a conceptual model that explains value creation in the digitally interconnected B2B business environment. Our analysis of 34 qualitative interviews with B2B managers showed the importance of a granular examination of value creation in context by identifying its dimensions and processes. At the same time, we showed the need to combine a micro theoretical focus with the transition to a more holistic and systemic view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advances a conceptualization of service innovation as socially constructed through resource integration and sensemaking. By developing this view, the current study goes beyond an outcome perspective, to include the collective nature of service innovation and the role of the social context in affecting the service innovation process. Actors enact and perform service innovation through two approaches, one that is more concerted and another that emerges in some way. Each approach is characterized by distinct resource integration processes, in which the boundary objects (artifacts, discourses, and places) play specific roles. They act as bridge-makers that connect actors, thereby fostering resource integration and shared meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to explore the role of actors' heterogeneity and the context of interaction on collective innovation. Design/methodology/approach - By using the six sources of heterogeneity identified by Corsaro et al. (2012) - goals, competences and skills, knowledge bases, power/position, perceptions and cultures - the authors describe the cases of two consecutive projects - ESASIM and NeWTeC - developed within Kilometro Rosso Science Park. The collaborative innovative outcome (simulation software) developed in the first phase was subsequently applied by each actor in its specific context. At the macro level, the authors define the processes that describe the role of actors' heterogeneity in both the contexts of innovation development and application; at the micro level, the authors shed some light on the role of the single actor acting simultaneously as a provider and as a user with respect to different contexts. Findings - In this paper, the processes through which actors' heterogeneity and the context of interaction influence the development of innovation (collective/macro-network level) and contribute a better understanding of collective innovation from a perspective that involves each individual actor (single-actor/micro level) are determined. These two phases are labeled in terms of "decontextualizing" and "recontextualizing", through which it will be recognized how the process of innovation depends on the social context and by the business activities that take place between the organizations. In the paper, term actor is used to refer to organizations taking part in the innovation networks as represented by their key referents. Research limitations/implications - Further research on this topic could explore not only the single sources of actors' heterogeneity but also patterns of them and their effects in the different contexts. In addition, looking at the micro level, it would be interesting to understand if, in certain specific phases of innovation development and implementation, one of the roles - provider or user - prevails over the other and which effects it generates. Practical implications - This case study has important managerial implications. First, by better understanding the role of actors in innovation networks, companies could improve their networking strategies and, consequently, increase the likelihood of their solutions satisfying the needs of the different stakeholders. Second, the management of actors' heterogeneity seems strictly related to communication practices. As a result, it would be interesting to develop communication training programs addressing companies located in science parks, built around the profiles of the actors' features, characterizing a certain project and envisioning potential contexts for the development and application of the project outcome. Due to the variety of actors involved and the changing nature of the contexts in which they operate, standardizing communication practices could, in fact, be less effective. Finally, we also see implications for the management company of the science and technology park, which should think in a more comprehensive way about the different sources of actors' heterogeneity and their potential consequences once they build interorganizational collaborations and thus interdisciplinary teams. Social implications - Using the Intellimech case, the role of actors' heterogeneity and the context interaction in innovation networks, with respect to two different levels of analysis, is explored. On the collective-macro level, the set of actors in the network was considered; on the micro level, each single business actor as part of the wider network is concentrated upon. Originality/value - This paper positions in this debate and, in particular, attempts to understand if and how actors' heterogeneity and the context of interaction influence innovation networks. In effect, while the literature includes sporadic references to the role of the two elements, they have not yet been jointly considered. To reach this goal, two levels of analysis were adopted: a macro network level considering the set of business actors collectively and a micro level looking at the single actor as part of the wider network. Empirically, this paper will describe the case of two projects developed within Intellimech, an innovation network located at Kilometro Rosso Science Park, an aggregation node of relationships and connections around innovation purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of symbols in value cocreation in order to develop a deeper understanding of how actors communicate, interact, and reconcile perspectives as they integrate and exchange resources to create value for themselves and for others. We draw on a service ecosystems approach to value cocreation and propose a conceptual framework that highlights varying views of value and articulates the way in which value cocreation results from the integration of resources and interactions among multiple actors. We argue that symbols guide actors in enacting particular practices that enable the cocreation of shared meanings, which help actors determine the value of current and future interactions. In this way, symbols support the coordination of interaction, the communication of information, the integration of resources, and the evaluation of value, among actors. We provide an empirical example of our conceptual framework as supporting evidence for the role of symbols in value cocreation and point toward directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent developments in management have highlighted the need for research on corporate sustainability strategies at the value chain level and in particular in the context of franchising. Although franchising is a widespread phenomenon, there is little empirical evidence of how companies approach the issue. By employing a multi-method research approach, this study explores the importance that franchisors assign to sustainability and the way they deal with it. Our findings show that franchisors adopt three main different sustainability strategies, with an increasing relevance of social sustainability as an enabler of environmental sustainability. The study sheds some light also on the interplay between the franchisor–franchisee relationship features and the company's approach toward sustainability. Preliminary propositions are presented as a starting point for further research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As portfolio models have evolved in the area of business marketing scholars have turned their attention from traditional product-based and transaction-oriented portfolios to portfolios based on business relationship considerations. However, the conceptualization of relationship portfolios has remained vague, and the applications of these analyses in business practice are quite limited. In a parallel stream of studies, the Industrial Network Approach (INA) has increasingly explored the concept of relationship value and highlighted the need to take into consideration the interdependent and dynamic features of business relationships as well as the phenomenological and situational nature of value perceptions. Although judgements in terms of relationship value applied to a set of business relationships are foundations of portfolio investment decisions, the connection between the two streams of research has not yet been explored in depth. This study introduces five critical elements of relationship value stemming from INA that have important consequences for business relationship portfolio management. Developing the concept of Relationship Value Portfolio provides the foundation for a discussion about the need to integrate the two fields of research – namely, relationship value and relationship portfolios – into a more grounded conceptual framework. This framework allows for propositions to be developed, which contribute to enriching the theoretical debate on both streams while offering important implications for managerial practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues around innovation have seen considerable increase of academic and managerial interest over the last decades. In parallel, the role of business relationships and networks has also attracted growing attention. Consequently, the concept of innovation networks (INs) is positioned at the interface of these two streams. At the core of the concept of INs is the proposition that relationships, i.e. interactions with other business partners, are critical for key innovation activities. However, research on INs has focused mostly on network structure-related aspects, while not providing enough insights into the processes of organising for interactions. In particular, this study explores the role of actors' perceptions and interpretations regarding business relationships on how actors organise for innovation activities. Furthermore, this paper sheds light on the reciprocal influence that exists between cognition and action in such contexts, something that has been discussed in the field of organisational and cognitive science but not within innovation networks setting as part of business marketing studies. Longitudinal exploratory case study research was conducted, which analyses two service innovation processes in an innovation network in a district within a municipality of a North European country. Our study shows how INs evolve over time as actors shape (and reshape) the network through specific interactions within and between realms of the IN, whereby the diverse views held by different actors are confronted. In particular, we find that perceptions and interpretations of power distribution and strength of relationships emerge as relevant aspects to determine actors' intentions toward organising both in the innovation development and the implementation phases. At the same time, the changes (such as initiation, development, and termination) in the relationships with other actors, actor groups, or realms of the IN affect the actors' interpretations, thereby generating a recursive interpretative path through which the innovation network is shaped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]