Milena Viassone

The relationship between wine sector and regional competitiveness

Despite the large literature on wine sector and regional competitiveness and their measures, scarce contributions test the existence of a correlation between them. This paper bridges this gap by identifying drivers of sector and regional competitiveness, creating two global indices able to measure them and examining the level of their relationship. The analysis examines the correlation between the regional competitiveness index (RCI) and the wine sector competitiveness index (WSCI), developed by using the Delphi methodology. Data was provided through semi-structured interviews with 40 stakeholders of different provenance. The research findings demonstrate that RCI is affected by ten dimensions and WSCI by four dimensions whilst there is a positive correlation between them. The paper provides a list of recommendations in terms of designing, implementing competitive and differentiation strategies aimed at: adopting contemporary marketing communication practices, as well as developing customer loyalty and positive consumer attitudes towards the consumption of premium wine.

Misurazione del livello di internazionalizzazione delle Regioni italiane

The degree of internationalisation of a particular territory has been extensively studied over the last ten years. However, literature concerning the creation of a relevant, accessible and transferable synthetic index of regional internationalisation is almost inexistent. This paper contributes to bridge these lacks, explaining how each factor of internationalisation can contribute to regional degree of internationalisation. This paper has a threefold aim: reviewing the doctrinal contributions concerning the measure of the level of regional internationalisation, creating a composite regional index of internationalisation and applying this index to Regional Italian local systems. The methodology used in this paper consists both of a systematic and comparative analysis of the concepts and methodologies published in literature and of testing these results by means of three focus groups involving 35 stakeholders of different origins (Delphi methodology). The research findings would show how regional level of internationalisation depends on drivers of different nature reflecting different dimensions of internationalisation: commercial, productive, financial, technological, entrepreneurial, touristic and socio-cultural internationalisation. Main limits of this research involve the level of exhaustiveness of drivers and relative indices, chosen throughout subjective criteria. The paper offers scope for further application to other level of analysis.

Value co-creation in the beverage and food industry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to define and describe how consumers may constitute an integral part of small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) value co-creation process in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, and to provide practicable implementation recommendations to firms in the Piedmont region that are important and prominent in this sector. Design/methodology/approach The research methodology rests on a multiple case study design, applied to three F&B Piedmont SMEs that produce beer, water and starters: Baladin, Lurisia and Galfre. Findings Results show an increasing awareness by firms of the important role played by customers in value co-creation, though limited to specific roles in the case of SMEs. Research limitations/implications The research is limited by its exploratory nature, though the findings and conclusions drawn provide a solid foundation for further development and testing on the subject. Practical implications The case studies’ results allow the reader to understand the importance of the increasing awareness of the role played by customers in value co-creation, especially on the WWB, where costs are minimizing. Originality/value The research’s value stems from fact that there are few existing studies on the ways to engage customers in value co-creation. Moreover, these studies, contrary to the present research, are largely theoretical and either have no direct applicability or are limited to a single case.

Neuromarketing in Customer Behaviour—Customers’ Diencephalic and Mid-Brain Implications in Purchase Dynamics

Traditional methods of marketing (via focus groups, market research organisations and so on) have numerous limitations; these are mainly related to the degree of subjectivity of consumer responses, which often prevents measurement of the effects of marketing communication on them. The objective of this chapter is to highlight the influence that a new line of marketing—neuromarketing—has on consumer decisions, allowing managers to directly understand the thoughts, emotions and intentions of consumers. Going beyond a description of the concept of neuromarketing proposed in the literature, the chapter details the parts of the brain on which advertising messages act, thus highlighting the impact of neuromarketing on consumer choices. The results of the research highlight the positive effects of neuromarketing on the measurement of consumer behaviour, providing important theoretical and managerial implications.

What image for ethical food

Considering the increasing importance assumed by ethical food within academic debate, this paper aims to offer a model for measuring its image that reflects the influence of different ethical food image qualities, and to provide the first exploratory application of this model in an Italian context. Despite the importance of the topic, there is a lack of research specifically on the image of ethical food. A measurement instrument was developed for the model, containing a number of different dimensions, and was tested in survey format on a sample of 195 Italian respondents. The results show that ethical food image is made up of five dimensions: sustainability of ethical food, food attributes, food uniqueness, psychological characteristics, and holistic characteristics. This framework can be applied in the future to further food image research and to related sectors.

A descriptive framework for an excellent social accountability

Despite the creation of several guidelines for social accountability, there is not a model able to describe how a social accountability document should be. This paper aims at proposing a framework of characteristics for excellent social reports, useful for those organisations that choose the path of social accountability. After a review of literature on the typologies and features of this kind of accountability, the paper analyses the Italian social accountability awarded in the period 2012-2015. Research findings show how the benchmark documents are all characterised by high standards of communication while a more diversified scenario can be emphasised for the standards of content. Despite this paper is only an explorative study, it could represent a good guideline towards excellence in social reporting and could provide suggestions for their development.