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L’emergenza che ha colpito tutto il mondo, legata al Covid-19, ha notevolmente accelerato la creazione di uno stretto legame tra i canali definiti classici e le nuove forme distributive. Per innovazioni nella distribuzione intendiamo i canali di distribuzione online (E-commerce) che hanno accompagnato la nostra vita durante i due anni di Lockdown.Nonostante la pandemia abbia notevolmente mutato le abitudini d’acquisto di ogni singolo consumatore, gli istituti di ricerca ci confermano che nel biennio 2021-2022 il desiderio dei clienti di frequentare i punti vendita e di interagire con il personale dei negozi fi sici è notevolmente aumentato. Parlando in particolar modo del mercato della cosmetica, ad esempio, oggi circa due acquisti su cinque14sono frutto del confronto tra consumatore e personale del punto vendita. Questo aspetto ribadisce la centralità delle relazioni non solo nel momento dell’acquisto, ma anche nel presidio del sell-in e conseguentemente del sell-out nella relazione tra industria di marca e distribuzione.In generale, una delle sfide chiave in questo contesto è quella di una corretta pianifi cazione delle strategie di trade marketing per massimizzare l’efficacia dell’implementazione dei veri e propri piani cliente-canale.

Purpose: The beauty industry, like most other industries, face sustainability challenges related to the transition towards a more sustainable service economy. The sustainability challenges have been described as wicked problems where a multidisciplinary and co-creating approach is needed, in order to create sustainable service ecosystems (Field et al., 2021). Furthermore, these challenges entail inherent contradictions, giving rise to tensions (e.g., Smith and Lewis, 2011; Hahn et al., 2015). Previous literature has identified generic organizational tensions (Smith and Lewis, 2011) whereof some particular for corporate sustainability (Hahn et al., 2015). However, there still exists a need to better understand, from a descriptive point of view, industry specific tensions and how they are managed, but particularly, from an instrumental standpoint, the relation between these tensions and the systemic sustainability outcomes they generate (Hahn et al., 2018). By taking a service view on corporate sustainability tensions as arising from multiple resource integrating actors in a service ecosystem (Vargo and Lusch, 2011), we aim to further such an understanding. The research fields on corporate sustainability tensions and sustainable service tend both have a distinct system view in common (e.g., Hahn et al., 2015; Field et al., 2021). As sustainability issues tend to be highly complex and intricate in nature, varying in temporal and spatial dimensions and spanning organizational boundaries, the systems imprint allows for a broader view and recognizing interconnections. Therefore, in this paper, we adopt a service ecosystem view to gain a deeper understanding of the tension in the beauty industry, how they are managed, and the corporate sustainability outcomes they give rise to. Study design/Methodology/Approach: The study adopts a qualitative methodology based on 24 in-depth interviews with several key informants in the beauty service ecosystem, later analyzed using an abd

Purpose: The question of place – ‘where’ sustainability is performed – is a particularly interesting, but relatively unexplored theme in service research (Field et al. 2021). The current service ecosystem design (SED) research leaves the ‘where’ question relatively underexplored – and we posit that such spatial understanding is required for sustainable SED research to realize its full potential. The existing research posits that SED unfolds through collective processes, enabling various actors to shape institutional arrangements and their physical enactments (Koskela-Huotari et al. 2021; Vink et al. 2021). Thus, SED is doubly a spatial affair: it unfolds in a physical and social space, and the spatial elements themselves are also subject to design efforts. However, we still do not know how different physical and social spaces influence SED processes. Thus, we cannot say much about where sustainable service ecosystem design is – or should be – unfolding. In a similar vein, there is limited understanding of how the physical enactments of institutional arrangements should be designed in service ecosystems for improved sustainability outcomes. This is a crucial gap in understanding as ‘whom’ and ‘what’ a service ecosystem serves are questions firmly embedded in ‘where’: places and spaces (Holmes, Fernandes, and Palo 2021). the purpose of this paper is to examine the spatial aspects of sustainable SED. In particular, we seek to answer the following two research questions. First, what mechanisms occur in the places where sustainable SED unfolds? Second, what features characterize places where sustainable SED unfolds? Study design/Methodology/Approach:The present study uses a qualitative case study methodology (Stake 1995; Yin 2012). The empirical material comprises of three longitudinal, in- depth case studies. As the study is exploratory, the aim of the sampling was to illuminate the phenomenon under study as comprehensively as possible. In total, we conducted 30 semi- s

Multiple research efforts are currently unfolding to advance the wide-scale sustainability transformation of services and service ecosystems to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While “how” to create service ecosystems and “whom” and “what” these service ecosystems serve have been receiving increasing scholarly attention, current research leaves the “where” question relatively underexplored. Thus, precise theoretical conceptualizations of the role of spaces and places in sustainable service ecosystem design (SED) are lacking. By longitudinally investigating two in-depth case studies, we illuminate the spatial aspects of sustainable SED. Our findings suggest five spatial mechanisms that enlighten how sustainable SED unfolds in relation to spaces and places. We also identify three tensions that affect the implementation of sustainable SED, each tension having both enabling and constraining manifestations. The study contributes to the service research on sustainability by illuminating the previously under-researched spatial aspects of sustainable SED. Results have implications for a broad set of actors involved in sustainable SED, providing advice on how to design new and utilize existing spaces and places to maximize their potential in addressing sustainability challenges.

The service ecosystem perspective provides a multi-level approach useful to represent the heterogeneous actors, the interdependence between them, and resource integration mechanisms. In the ecosystem, value co-creation is a cooperative, collaborative, and complex process that arises between different and heterogeneous actors (Vargo and Lusch, 2017). Given the dynamicity of the service ecosystem, it should adapt over time to changes in resource integration, shared worldviews, and outcomes; but in this evolution sometimes tensions amongst the different actors arise (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2020). The evolution of the service ecosystem may be influenced at least partially by the actors’ intended activities and practices (Vink et al., 2021; Mele et al., 2018) and impacted by the level of actors’ engagement. Actor engagement is defined as “an actor's voluntary resource contributions that focus on the engagement object [and] go beyond what is elementary to the exchange [...]” (Alexander et al., 2018, p. 336): all the actors are involved in exchange (Storbacka, 2019; Jaakkola & Alexander, 2014; Kumar et al., 2010) and the core of the engagement is resource contribution. Given this, the actors’ engagement is a continuous ongoing process (Storbacka, 2019). By adopting a service-dominant perspective and considering all the actors of the ecosystem as resource integrators, this study explores the role of actors’ engagement in cross-sector partnerships in the process of value co-creation towards cultural inclusion. Specifically, we analyze how these elements interact in a cultural festival that takes place in the northern part of Italy. The aim of the paper is threefold: (1) to investigate how actors in a specific context interact and integrate resources, (2) to investigate the evolution of cross-sector collaborations in pursuing inclusion and (social) sustainable objectives in a specific context, and (3) to recognize and address tensions arising among actors with different w

Investigating the broad concept of sustainability, also in light of Agenda 2030, results in a complex and multi-actor ecosystem made up of different actors, behaviors, institutions, and interactions. Sustainability implies the interdependence of economic, social, and environmental dimensions at different levels: this interdependence requires the focus not only on firms and producers but also on the whole ecosystem to consider who are the actors, how they interact and for what purpose, and the role of policymakers. In this context, cross-sector partnerships are key components of sustainable development involving different actors in sustainable market shaping. Adopting a service-dominant perspective and considering all the actors as resource integrators in this study we focus attention on the role of cross-sector partnerships in the development of a sustainable service ecosystem. The aim of the paper, that adopts a qualitative methodology, is twofold: (1) to investigate the evolution of the cross-sector partnerships in pursuing sustainable objectives and their role in the development of a sustainable service ecosystem; (2) to recognize tensions arising in the service ecosystem when actors with different worldviews and behaviors interact and to understand how actors try to solve the different tensions through institutional arrangements.

Investigating the broad concept of sustainability, also in light of Agenda 2030, results in a complex and multi-actor ecosystem made up of different actors, behaviors, institutions, and interactions. Sustainability implies the interdependence of economic, social, and environmental dimensions at different levels: this interdependence requires the focus not only on firms and producers but also on the whole ecosystem to consider who are the actors, how they interact and for what purpose, and the role of policymakers. In this context, cross-sector partnerships are key components of sustainable development involving different actors in sustainable market shaping. Adopting a service-dominant perspective and considering all the actors as resource integrators in this study we focus attention on the role of cross-sector partnerships in the development of a sustainable service ecosystem. The aim of the paper, that adopts a qualitative methodology, is twofold: (1) to investigate the evolution of the cross-sector partnerships in pursuing sustainable objectives and their role in the development of a sustainable service ecosystem; (2) to recognize tensions arising in the service ecosystem when actors with different worldviews and behaviors interact and to understand how actors try to solve the different tensions through institutional arrangements.

COVID-19 has provided an opportunity to reset and reconsider sustainability as a mean to grow and develop considering the economic, environmental, and social/cultural implications that come with that (Sharma et al., 2021). Furthermore, tourism in the context of COVID-19 reveals how the local is a locus of change (Brouder et al., 2020). Given the dynamicity of service ecosystem it should adapt over time to changes in resource integration, shared worldviews and outcomes; but in this evolution sometimes tensions amongst the different actors (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2020; Frow et al., 2019; Banoun et al., 2016). Ecosystems have to manage tensions and possible forthcoming conflicts in particular after some shock event, as in this period COVID-19 pandemic: transformation, innovation and change could emerge from conflicting value creation strategies (Laamanen and Skalèn, 2015). Given these premises the aim of our study is to understand how have rural tourism realities been stimulated to evolve following the pandemic?

The pandemic has changed tourist needs and domestic rural tourism has boomed. People look for countryside destinations to avoid virus transmission and to satisfy the environmental, escapist, educational, and entertainment needs at the same time. Sustainable Rural Tourism has an impact on the local communities and on the enhancement of traditional culture and environment and these new habits impact all the sustainability dimensions. In this context, wineries give an important contribution to sustainable rural tourism and in the last years, they have acquired importance worldwide. Data from the most used app for tourism bookings has shown off that winery visits and wine tastings are the favourite touristic activities for consumers in Italy (TripAdvisor, 2022). Moreover, sustainability has become a fundamental asset for all business activities and wineries have started to implement sustainable strategies both in the production and in the creation of local networks to generate value for all the actors of their territory. Since the implementation of sustainable practices involves different actors and it shaped the co-creation activity, the service ecosystem perspective is needed to manage the overlapping of social, economic and environmental goals. Since small and medium wineries are facing the sustainable rural tourism transition, the network relationships between actors at different levels of the ecosystems are becoming crucial. The research aims to analyze the impact of actors at meso level in this transition of Italian wineries.

The sustainability issue in the Italian wine industry is increasingly gaining momentum. Wineries today leverage on sustainability in order to obtain a competitive advantage, efficiency, and brand image. The chapter aims to investigate how small and medium Italian wineries implement sustainable practices, the impact of omnichannel strategies on the communication of sustainability issues to consumers and if there is a link between these two issues. In order to pursue this aim we collected data through a survey and in-depth interviews. Findings suggest that the sustainability challenge is becoming a “must have” for Italian wineries and that their focus is on the relationship with the consumers in order to co-define and co-create value through integration of off-line and on-line strategies.

Purpose: In beauty industry sustainability issues are gaining momentum also in light of Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability is being increasingly and constantly recognized as source of competitive advantage in terms of brand image and profit. Consumers, in particular Millennials and Gen Z are very interested in having a quality product with sustainable and bio characteristics, and are very sensitive to sustainable packaging (Švecová et al., 2020; PwC 2020; Cosmetica Italia, 2021). Dealing with sustainability issues in beauty industry results in a complex and multi-actor ecosystem made up by different elements, behaviors, and interactions, so in this paper this industry has been considered, according to Service Dominant logic, as a service ecosystem in which actors interact at micro, meso and macro level and in which tensions could arise (Vargo and Lusch, 2017; Hahn et al., 2015; Smith and Lewis, 2011) Considering sustainability in the beauty industry requires to address multiple environmental, economic and social goals at different levels of the services ecosystem (Elkington, 1997). The aim of this paper is to recognize current tensions arising at the different levels of this service ecosystem when actors characterized by different worldviews interact and integrate resources and to address tensions and paradoxes between economic, environmental and social goals. Design, methodology, approach: In order to achieve the aims of the paper and coherently with the complexity of the issue, the study adopts a qualitative methodology: the study has been conducted in a real context through face-to-face interviews with multi-level actors of the beauty industry. It consists of 29 semi-structured interviews with key informants at different levels of the service ecosystem. Interviews were carried out between April 2021 and November 2021. Data from interviews have been triangulated with those deriving analysis of secondary data and with data deriving from partic

COVID-19 pandemic has raised significant challenges for health services targeted at patients with chronic diseases: hospitals and medical clinics had to find new and practical solutions to address the impacts on individual and collective well-being. The paper aims to investigate the evolution of the Italian eHealth service ecosystem during and after the pandemic for chronic patients and to recognize tensions arising in the service ecosystem when actors with different worldviews interact and to understand how actors resolve the different tensions through the development of new institutional arrangements.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the eHealth ecosystem’s evolution during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its effects on the progression of care for patients with chronic cardiovascular disease. Design/methodology/approach To attain the aim of the study, this study chose to adopt a qualitative method that matches the complexity of the issue. The study was conducted in a real context through 44 face-to-face semi-structured interviews of key informants at different levels of the Italian eHealth service ecosystem, via Microsoft Teams. The interviews were carried out from June 2020 to January 2021. In this research, we adopted an abductive approach that enabled a process where the theoretical framework and the data analysis evolved at the same time. Findings The study results were used to develop a conceptual framework that considers the key factors enabling and constraining the evolutionary process of the eHealth service ecosystem. In particular, the drivers that emerged from the study were actor role empowerment, actor–network engagement and resource reconfiguration while the inhibitors were inter- and intra-actor misalignment, resource myopia and the platformisation gap. The findings also revealed the pivotal role of the meso level in the development of the eHealth service ecosystem, boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value By adopting a service ecosystem perspective, this paper contributes, at both a theoretical and a managerial level, to a better understanding of the dynamics related to the diffusion of eHealth. The study identifies the main issues that researchers, managers and policymakers should address to support the evolution of the eHealth service ecosystem, with particular regard to chronic cardiovascular disease.

Practising sustainable business in the wine industry requires addressing social, economic and environmental goals. This paper focuses on the process of addressing tensions and paradoxes amongst these goals at the different levels of the service ecosystem in the Italian sustainable wine industry and on the platformisation role at the meso level. The study adopts a qualitative approach based on 23 in-depth interviews with associates of Le Donne del Vino. The collected data were triangulated with those derived from participatory observations and the analysis of secondary data. The study’s findings reveal that the presence of an organisation at the meso level activates the harmonisation of value co-creation within the service ecosystem. This is achieved by intervening in the four different paradoxes, namely, belonging, learning, organising and performing, which emerge from the adoption of a sustainable approach.

Diversi sono i contributi presenti in letteratura relativi alla Service Innovation in alcuni ambiti, come ad esempio quello finanziario e quello sanitario. Un settore interessante in cui c’è ulteriore spazio di approfondimento, alla luce del contributo della Service Dominat Logic, è il retail, ambito tra i più grandi e diversificati a livello globale, che sta sperimentando negli ultimi anni cambiamenti senza precedenti. L’attuazione di strategie e meccanismi di Service Innovation in tale contesto risulta un’interessante opportunità da cogliere per i retailer, per difendere e migliorare il proprio vantaggio competitivo in un momento storico in cui avvengono grandi trasformazioni nel mercato guidate dalla digitalizzazione, dalla comparsa di nuovi competitor e dai cambiamenti delle abitudini dei consumatori. Il paper si pone l’obiettivo di indagare come la Service Innovation impatta sul service ecosystem, inteso come un complesso network di attori che integrano risorse e scambiano servizi per la co-creazione di valore, nel settore retail, attraverso lo studio di quello che avviene all’interno di un’azienda leader nell’ambito del DIY. La ricerca si pone, inoltre, l’obiettivo di delineare delle possibili risposte che questo settore può adottare, dati i nuovi trend e i bisogni del mercato, in termini di servizio, come leva per competere sul mercato. Keywords: Service Ecosystem, Retail, Service Innovation, DIY

The sustainability issue in the Italian wine industry is increasingly gaining momentum. The general principles about sustainability, given by the Organisation of vine and Wine (OIV) in the 2016, are about environmental, social, economic and cultural stances. Indeed, sustainability is not only the respect of the environment, the reduction of wastes and pollution and the biodiversity, but it is also linked to social, cultural and economic dimensions. The intangible aspects such as the culture, the landscape, the history, the traditions and the human capital that is contained in a bottle of wine are the basis for sustainable quality, from the vineyards to the wine. Wineries today leverage on sustainability in order to obtain a competitive advantage, efficiency and brand image. However consumers are still not always aware about the characteristics of a sustainable product and thus they are not always willing to pay a higher price for it. The aim of the paper is to investigate how in particular small and medium Italian wineries implement sustainable practices and the impact of omnichannel strategies on the communication of sustainability issues to consumers. In order to pursue this aim we collected data through a survey involving more than 100 Italian small and medium wineries and 15 direct in-depth interviews to wineries’ managers and key informants. Findings suggest that the sustainability challenge is becoming a “must have” for small and medium Italian wineries and that their focus is increasingly on the relationship with the different stakeholders but in particular with the consumers in order to co-define and a co-create value. Wineries still prefer to communicate the nature of their products through the physical contact and for this reason they organize activities in the cellar and promote the discovery of the “terroir” with winery tours, wine 34 tastings and lunches with local products. Nevertheless, the most advanced ones have started to introduce the use of socia

This article addresses the nature of the interface between corporate sustainability and corporate identity at both the strategic and instrumental levels. We developed an empirical qualitative study in two countries in Southern Europe addressing retailers who are actively engaged in pursuing corporate-sustainability strategies. Data sources include in-depth interviews, observations, and physical artifacts of identity (digital and printed documents). Findings reveal that, at a strategic level, corporate sustainability is embedded in corporate identity reflecting the company’s strategy. Companies also instrumentally use corporate identity to operationalize corporate sustainability strategies. Organizations show different patterns in the way they bridge corporate sustainability and identity. The contributions of this article are threefold: it reports the symbiotic relationship between corporate sustainability and corporate identity; it scrutinizes how corporate sustainability and corporate identity are integrated at the strategic and operational levels; and it establishes distinct patterns at the interface of corporate sustainability and corporate identity.