Alessandro Ruggieri

A systematic literature review on total quality management critical success factors and the identification of new avenues of research

The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic literature review to identify new avenues of research in line with the ongoing changes in quality and management required to firms, especially regarding customers.,This study uses a systematic review of the literature contained in the three databases Ebsco, JSTOR, and Springerlink and on the search engine Google Scholar.,An analysis of the literature identifies three different clusters of papers: “identification” papers, which show that customer focus has gained importance in recent times; “implementation” papers, which highlight that a general or shared model or scale to successfully implement total quality management (TQM) does not yet exist; and “impact-on-performance” papers, which show that few studies have considered the relationship between TQM and the issues of both marketing and performance, underlining the most significant gap in the TQM literature.,This study is limited by the small number of databases and search engines used and by the restricted number of keywords used in searching these sources.,This work highlights a gap in the existing research and thus an incomplete consideration of the interplay between management, marketing, and quality issues, all centered on customers and other stakeholders. Researchers and firms are thus advised to adopt a wider view that considers the role of the quality process to support the firm’s engagement of customers in activities that enhance both the customer role and customer satisfaction.,This study uses a systematic literature review to review all critical factors of TQM and identifies new research avenues and different approaches to implementing TQM, focusing on the central role that customers play in achieving firm success.

Digital Innovation in the Job Market: An Explorative Study on Cloud Working Platforms

The evolution of the web has produced a broad change in partnerships and collaboration worldwide due to the centrality of internet, a virtual place where actors from different countries can easily meet and exchange in-formation. This new agency model represents the basis for the development of a new entrepreneurial organization where companies can redefine their idea of business in order to make the web instrumental in the creation of a global social network of actors. This model of cooperation is now possible thank to the creation of the new cloud working platforms that have brought about a revolution in the job market. Main objective of the present work is therefore 1. to analyze and compare, on one hand, three main communities of crowdsourcing (Knowledge or Gig economy) in order to show such evolution, and on the other; 2. to analyze and compare the main platforms of cooperation at distance, in order to identify critical success factors.

Service quality and customer satisfaction in thermal tourism

Purpose Satisfaction in the tourism sector is a highly sensitive subject, and customer satisfaction (CS) has a significant impact on the choice of destinations made by tourists and on the decision to recommend them to friends or acquaintances. The purpose of this paper is to give empirical evidence of the dimensions of service quality (technical, functional and company image (CI)) and their connections in the sector of thermal tourism. It also aims at investigating the CI, seeking to understand whether some of the technical and functional service quality variables play a role in determining it. Design/methodology/approach An empirical survey was conducted by administering a structured research questionnaire in order to collect all necessary data, which was then elaborated to test the hypotheses using factor and multiple regression analyses. Findings The results of the survey confirm the direct impact of service quality dimensions (technical, functional and CI) on CS also in the thermal sector when considered individually. Moreover, when the CI was analyzed further, relational quality was found to be dependent on thermal employees’ capabilities, abilities, trustworthiness, availability, etc. Finally, when considered together, functional service quality and CI have a stronger effect on CS than technical service quality. Originality/value The originality of the present research relies on the following: a further contribution to the so-called “European perspective” of service quality; the study of service quality dimensions (technical, functional and CI) in the thermal sector; and evidencing the link between thermal employee characteristics and the relational quality factor of the CI, demonstrating that many aspects of this construct need further empirical investigation, in the wellness sector.

Strategies and Policies to Avoid Digital Divide: The Italian Case in the European Landscape

The digital divide is a phenomenon that affects, with different intensity, several European countries, including Italy. Public policies, at the European and Italian level, play a relevant role in reducing the gap among countries with different level of digital development, and need to cope with its multifaceted nature. Currently both a European strategy for digitalization and an Italian digital agenda have been issued as policies to tackle the problem. This paper analyses from an exploratory perspective the strategies and policies issued by the Italian government to address the digital deployment of ICT infrastructures in the public administration, specifically targeting the education sector, within the background of the European context.

Key Success Factors Positively Affecting Organizational Performance of Academic Spin-Offs

Universities create academic spin-offs (ASOs) as a strategy to market innovations produced through research. By their nature, ASOs are exposed to risky endeavors and often fail in achieving an adequate level of performance. In this paper, we focus on performance generation in ASOS. By way of a literature review, we contribute with the identification of nine factors associated with positive performance in ASOS: championed start-up, heterogeneity of founders’ skills, access to funding, environmental wealth, networking capital, relative size, trustworthiness, innovativeness and motivation for venturing. The paper describes and discusses the performance factors and suggests implications for research to further study performance in ASOS.

Consumer Acceptance of the New Red-Fleshed Apple Variety

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate consumer preference for the novel red-fleshed apple genotypes. The information presented provides us with insight into consumer propensity to accept a new variety with radical visible innovative attributes and societal demand for a more sustainable production. The survey was carried out on the population of a province in central Italy, where there is consumer demand for organic and high-quality foods. The consumers’ opinions contrasted greatly and can be divided into two groups. Over one quarter of the respondents declared that they did not like the innovative fruit. The cluster analysis and CHAID analyses were performed on the consumers’ responses to determine sample groupings. Three clusters were identified among the consumers with positive opinions, enthusiastic, health-conscious, and unmotivated illustrating how the hierarchical level of preferences of the potential consumers of the red-fleshed apple fruit are triggered by various motivations. The surveys also pointed out that most consumers of the sampled population were not biased against research activities producing innovative food products. A large number of consumers, especially women, declared that they were willing to pay a higher price considering the increased nutritional value of red-fleshed apple fruits. By examining the broad context of this study, decision-making researchers and operators of the fruit industry will be able to make informed and realistic predictions concerning possible future scenarios and to determine the possible effects and desirability.

Ethic Values for Sharing Communities

The essence of sharing platforms and their role in the social context is related not only to technology, but especially to the way it is being used today. Ethics, social responsibility and sustainability have become part of this process of development and they stimulate the entrepreneurial mainspring of new market models, that are in evolution. In crowdfunding the “return investment expectancy” plays a key role also in the selection process of innovative ideas, where credibility becomes an essential asset for the business, as well as the need to demonstrate transparency, integrity and responsible governance as priorities. Recently, these platforms are adopting voluntary certification systems, the B Corp certification, to reconcile the need to conduct business under the ethics aspect and raise awareness of stakeholders to adopt guiding values for business, consumption, or the use of services. Our goal is to investigate the role of “ethics”, conducted by the “B Corp” Standard Certification System, on sharing platforms. In particular we analyze how the Kickstarter Platform manages the ethical values of B Corp certification. The areas we analyze are: the community, governance, workers, the environment and customers. The closing chapter highlights the theoretical implications and limits of the analysis.

Open Design in Advanced Manufacturing Production

The speeding up of the competition context, the ongoing globalization of the markets and the growing supply of technological innovation, sometimes involving a radical change in social attitudes, make it very difficult for a company to understand what a consumer really needs (Bertuzzi, 2003; Weerawardenaa and Mavondo, 2011). The logical consequence is that it becomes more and more complex for the enterprise to stay updated, especially for what concerns technological innovation in those sectors, where it represents a key factor for success in competition. Innovation, therefore, becomes for many companies a strategic imperative (Schilling, 2005; D’Aveni et al., 2010; Soloducho-Pelc; 2014).