Rosa Maria Dangelico

Smart Cities: Definitions, Dimensions, Performance, and Initiatives

Abstract As the term “smart city” gains wider and wider currency, there is still confusion about what a smart city is, especially since several similar terms are often used interchangeably. This paper aims to clarify the meaning of the word “smart” in the context of cities through an approach based on an in-depth literature review of relevant studies as well as official documents of international institutions. It also identifies the main dimensions and elements characterizing a smart city. The different metrics of urban smartness are reviewed to show the need for a shared definition of what constitutes a smart city, what are its features, and how it performs in comparison to traditional cities. Furthermore, performance measures and initiatives in a few smart cities are identified.

Organizational Factors and Technological Features in the Development of Green Innovations: Evidence from Patent Analysis

Abstract In the present paper we investigate whether and to what extent green innovations significantly differ from non-green ones, in terms of (z) inter- and intra-organizational relationships leading to their development and (ii) technological characteristics, as complexity and novelty. Then, we study the impact of these organizational factors and technological features on the value of green innovations. In particular, we focus on a specific type of green innovations, as green technological innovations, and consider green patents as proxy for them. Analyzing green and non-green patents developed by a sample of companies included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, we find that green innovations have important peculiarities compared to conventional ones. Specifically, developing green innovations requires establishing collaborations with external actors as well as among internal actors to a greater extent, while the technologies underling green innovations seem to be characterized by a higher degree of complexity and novelty. With regard to the value of green innovations, results show that the most valuable ones are those that more highly rely on collaborations among internal actors, whereas higher levels of novelty seem to be detrimental, at least in the short-medium term.

Will smartwatches last? factors contributing to intention to keep using smart wearable technology

Abstract This study aims to deepen our understanding of the underlying factors affecting the intention to continue using increasingly popular wearable technology. A new theoretical model is developed and validated to extend traditional technology acceptance theories by identifying several value drivers of the continuous intention and actual usage of wearable devices. Hypotheses were tested using partial least squares path modeling on data collected from 383 actual smartwatch users. The results provide wearable device manufacturers with practical guidance for optimizing competition strategies. They also offer policy-making insights for practitioners to promote better wearable devices on the market, especially during the early stages of adoption.

Smart wearable technologies: Current status and market orientation through a patent analysis

Technology is the vital criterion to boosting the quality of life. Nowadays, innovation in smart wearable technologies (SWTs) has been coming up to different sectors and is gaining momentum to be implemented in everyday objects. The successful introduction of SWTs will present the production of new generations of innovative and high value-added products. Furthermore, this topic is gaining ground within both academic and practitioner studies with the attempt to better understand the innovation trend in order to provide a guidance for both policy makers and companies in supporting its development. Thus, the aim of this study is to analysis the development trends of SWTs. To this aim, we have built a unique database of 1062 patents included in the Thomson Innovation database and registered between 1998 and 2015. Data analysis are also conducted through citation analysis based on assignees and top IPC subclasses. Our analyses show the overall development trend for different product classes, and top assignees. This study also provides useful results for managers who can monitor their competitors in this industry in order to make decisions on technological investments and market strategies.

Green Cities into Practice

This chapter aims to explain how green economy principles can be applied to cities to make them green cities. Toward this aim the green economy concept is first described. Then a matrix is employed to characterize green practices that are connected with the green economy and are adopted in the urban environment. The matrix will draw upon a sample of best performing cities. This matrix is built upon two analytical dimensions: environmental focus and impact. Specifically, three types of environmental focus are considered: material, energy, and pollution; and three types of environmental impact are considered: less negative, neutral, and positive. The sample city is based upon the winning cities of the European Green Capital Award from 2010 to 2013 (Stockholm, Hamburg, Vitoria-Gasteiz, and Nantes). This chapter could be particularly useful for policy makers, since it offers structured examples of best practices to make cities green along green economy principles.

Assessing Resources and Dynamic Capabilities to Implement the “Green Campus” Project

“Green Campus” is a project developed by Politecnico di Bari, an Italian technical university, interested to start a “journey” towards sustainability. This paper illustrates the Green Campus project through the lens of two organizational theories, i.e. the resource-based view (RBV) and the dynamic capabilities theory (DCT). RBV is adopted to present the specific resources owned by Politecnico di Bari and analyze their usefulness for developing the project. DCT is used to describe the capabilities which Politecnico di Bari should leverage on to integrate, build, and reconfigure resources in order to meet the challenges of sustainability and actually implement the project. To the authors’ knowledge, neither RBV nor DCT have been still used to study organizations different from firms. The novel field of application of these theories is an interesting insight of the paper. Moreover, this study contributes to give a theoretical foundation to the topic of sustainable university, so covering a lack of the extant literature. Finally, it suggests specific directions in terms of resources and capabilities that universities need to commit to a sustainable future through the creation of a green campus.

The Green Option Matrix to Characterize Green Products and Practices

Nowadays, to become ‘green’ is both a need and an opportunity for companies. The reasons that push firms to go ‘green’ can be very different, such as legitimacy, competitiveness, and ecological responsibility (e.g. Shrivastava and Hart 1995; Bansal and Roth 2000; Gonzalez-Benito and Gonzalez-Benito 2006; MurilloLuna et al. 2008). As a result, a growing number of companies are embracing environmental sustainability into their strategies (Dyllick and Hockerts 2002). In this context, the development of green products is becoming more and more relevant. In fact, the Green Paper on Integrated Product Policy (Commission of the European Communities 2001) states that one way to achieve the target of sustainable development is “a new growth paradigm and a higher quality of life through wealth creation and competitiveness on the basis of greener products”. The development of green products can also be a means for companies to achieve competitive advantage. For example, Porter and Reinhardt (2007) highlight the need for companies to adopt a strategic approach to climate and to take action now, underlining the opportunity to gain competitive advantage by creating green

Smart wearable technologies: state of the art and evolution over time through patent analysis and clustering

The successful introduction and application of smart wearable technologies (SWTs) will allow the production of new generations of innovative and high value-added products. To this aim, we have built a unique database of 1313 patents included in the Thomson Innovation database, which were registered between 2001 and 2015 in the SWTs domain. This study shows the development trends in SWTs both in general and in different products classes, identifies leading countries and companies in different technological classes, and recognises basic patents within each year. Further, cluster analysis is used to identify the most relevant technological clusters and their evolution over time. This study offers a complete overview of the state of the art and of the evolution of SWTs over time, so providing important insights to researchers and managers who, based on this study results, will be able to make more informed decisions on research directions and technology strategies.

Dynamic Capabilities for Environmental Sustainability (DCES): Antecedents and Characteristics

The development and marketing of green products represent a way for firms to both contribute to the achievement of environmental sustainability and be successful. However, developing green products while being successful require development of unique dynamic capabilities that enable the integration of sustainability issues into product development. Dynamic capabilities for environmental sustainability are defined here as the firm’s ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external resources to address environmental sustainability challenges for developing green products. This study proposes a dynamic capabilities perspective of green product development, identifying dynamic capabilities for environmental sustainability and suggesting that both firm’s internal motivation and external forces drive the deployment of these dynamic capabilities. Based on literature and interviews with several companies, we identify three types of dynamic capabilities for environmental sustainability, develop multi-item scales and empirically test our research hypotheses. We completed a survey of Italian manufacturing firms and used Structural Equation Models for hypotheses testing. Our results from a sample of 189 firms support the dynamic capabilities theory providing empirical evidences that dynamic capabilities are driven by both firm’s internal motivation (specifically, environmental orientation plays a more relevant role than top management commitment, as the latter leads only to the integration of external environmental resources) and external forces (turbulence in green markets leads to the building and reconfiguring of environmental resources). The present study provides several theoretical and managerial implications. This research contributes in providing empirical evidence to the dynamic capabilities theory by studying the antecedents of dynamic capabilities, and by developing and validating measures for dynamic capabilities for environmental sustainability. This study also provides directions to managers on how to integrate environmental sustainability into product development.

The Evaluation of Coordination Policies in Logistics Services Markets

Nowadays, due to the increasing complexity and expansion of supply chains, logistics is becoming a more strategic activity for firms in terms of both time and cost performance. In this paper, the coordination in a logistics services market based on vehicle consolidation policy is considered. In particular, three coordination policies characterized by different levels of collaboration among the actors of a supply stage are identified. Then, a model is developed for evaluating the transportation, coordination, and service lateness costs affecting each coordination policy. Finally, different coordination policies and collaborative relationships among the actors operating in the supply stage of an Italian brickworks company are discussed as a case study.