Selena Aureli

Online Review Contents and Their Impact on Three and Four-Star Hotel Reservations: Some Evidence in Italy

Scholars and practitioners in the tourism sector seem to agree that web reputation affects hotel operational performance. This study addresses this issue by analysing the online review contents of 40 (20 four-star and 20 three-star) hotels in the Province of Rimini (Italy). In particular, it questions if and to what extent the positive/negative sense of TripAdvisor reviews influences the online reservations of the hotels considered. The content analysis performed on hotels suggests that traditional core services (like room and interaction with staff) represent key factors in determining customer appreciations and criticism. Panel data analysis, of the same hotels, seems to suggest the presence, to some extent, of a linear relationship between operational hotel performance and online reputation.

The importance of brand architecture in business networks: The case of tourist network contracts in Italy

Purpose This study aims to understand if network brand management is a key activity in tourism business networks and how the network brand relates to the place brand and the brands of individual network members. Design/methodology/approach Preference has been given to a qualitative approach and to the use of case study methodology. Two qualitative techniques have been used: document analysis and in-depth semi-structured interviews. Findings Results indicate that network brand identity is a prerequisite for all alliances, thus confirming the brand’s aggregating role in business networks. However, the network brand is not always exploited for commercial purposes, as signalled by the few efforts in communication activities. Results also indicate that there is a strong connection between the network brand and the place, confirming that tourism businesses are intertwined on a local context and cannot avoid citing the place where they operate. Research limitations/implications Two main aspects limit the generalizability of this study. First, the empirical evidence is limited to four case studies and refers to only one country. Second, chairmen of the examined networks were interviewed without investigating the opinions of network members who may have contrasting views. Practical implications Poor brand management within the examined networks suggests that network managers should have more decision-making power. To apply concepts of brand architecture, network managers should be able to influence brand strategies of individual network members. For example, structures and processes could be created to engage all members in brand management activities like for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) searching to increase participation of all stakeholders. Originality/value The novelty of this study is that it explores the role of brand management in networks created by partners with equal decision power. Moreover, it differs from previous research on inter-firm relations because it adopts the concept of brand consonance to evaluate if networks will succeed in the long term thanks to a proper management of the network brand.

Il contratto di rete come strumento di sviluppo dellepiccole e medie imprese : un'analisi delle prime esperienze

Il presente articolo intende fornire una panoramica generale dei primi contratti di rete stipulati in Italia, analizzando le dimensioni delle reti create ed i settori coinvolti, per poi verificare se questo nuovo strumento giuridico e idoneo a favorire lo sviluppo e la competitivita internazionale delle PMI cosi come auspicato dal legislatore. Attraverso l’esame dei contratti riferibili all’industria manifatturiera, gli Autori verificano se gli elementi considerati necessari per il buon funzionamento dei rapporti interaziendali (obiettivi strategici perseguiti, operazioni programmate, organi di funzionamento della rete e risorse finanziarie) sono chiaramente indicati e coerenti con le finalita perseguite, gettando le basi per una riflessione sulla reale efficacia del contratto di rete rispetto allo sviluppo delle aziende di minore dimensione.

Emerging multinationals investing in developed countries: Key factors for a successful cross-border acquisition

Purpose The aim of this work is to investigate the key factors that lead to a successful deal in the case of acquisitions of Western companies by multinationals from emerging countries (EMNCs). Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a qualitative paradigm and uses a case study method as a tool of analysis. The case concerns Fondalmec, an Italian unlisted medium-sized joint stock company. The company was acquired in 2007 by the Indian multinational Endurance. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and integrated with secondary data retrieved from relevant documents such as annual reports prepared before and after the acquisition. Findings Research findings show that EMNCs have some country-specific characteristics, which should be adequately assessed and realigned to the characteristics of the host country and targets’ resources during both the evaluation phase and the integration process. Research limitations/implications The research limitation is attributed to there being only one case study analysis. Practical implications The study recommends examining the country of origin of the acquirer and suggests EMNCs’ managers to prefer a “light-touch” integration of Western target companies to gain access to their intangible assets and achieve success. Originality/value This work differs from much of the existing literature on mergers and acquisitions because it focuses on EMNCs and analyses the target company together with the buyer and their post-operative development strategy. Furthermore, it is one of the few empirical research studies on non-listed companies, which are often overlooked given the greater difficulty of accessing data.

Peformance Appraisal of Business Networks. How Small and Medium Enterprises Define and Monitor Network Objectives

This paper aims to understand how business networks created by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) measure the common results achieved through the example of Italian network contracts. The relevance of the topic is demonstrated by the widespread adoption of networking strategies and the difficulty for both researchers and SMEs managers to evaluate the success of the alliances created. Focusing on the network as an entity, the empirical analysis searched for the adoption of performance measurement systems at the network level and the usage of information systems to collect and disseminate information. Preference has been given to the use of multiple case-studies. Data collection recurred to direct interviews and document analysis. Our findings indicate that the analyzed SMEs networks do not have a proper management control system at the network level. Network managers collect some indicators related to the resources invested, the network’s internal processes and the customer dimension, but these indicators are not linked by causal relationships. All networks prepare an annual report, which is mainly used to monitor expenses. However, network meetings and internal communications are considered more important tools to monitor network members’ behavior and assess the results achieved.

Anticipating and Assessing Corporate Social Responsibility Within ISO 26000 Implementation: The Experience of Camst Cooperative (Italy)

Released in April 2016, the Guidance to the application of UNI ISO 26000 assists organizations in contributing to sustainable development and encourages them to go beyond legal compliance, promoting a common understanding in the field of social responsibility. Yet companies may find difficulties in practical implementation because they are at various stages of understanding and integrating social responsibility into their processes. Moreover, they have to understand how to complement ISO 26000 with other existing standards, tools and initiatives for social responsibility. Trying to contribute to the quest for additional insights on ISO 26000 implementation, this work aims to provide a critical analysis of the applicability and the appropriateness of ISO 26000 in the context of an Italian cooperative, named Camst, which represents one of the largest catering service firms in Italy. The case study analysis indicates that an experienced user like Camst can benefit from the introduction of ISO 26000, whose adoption has led to an improvement in existing practices and a greater integration of social responsibility into the organisation. The work provides both scientific and managerial implications. On the one hand, it contributes to further reflections on the effectiveness of ISO 26000. On the other hand, it suggests how organisations can maximise the benefits of ISO 26000 implementation.

Key factors that improve knowledge-intensive business processes which lead to competitive advantage

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the knowledge-intensive process of creative problem-solving and its outcomes.,This study uses survey data from 113 leading Italian companies. To test the structural relations of the research model the authors used the partial least square (PLS) method.,Results show that work design and training have a positive direct impact on creative problem-solving process while organizational culture has a positive impact on both creative problem-solving process and its outcomes. Finally creative problem-solving process has a strong direct impact on its outcomes and this, in turn, on firms’ competitiveness.,This study suggests that managers must highlight the problem-solving process as it affects a firm’s capability to find creative solutions and therefore its competitiveness. Moreover, the present paper suggests managers should invest in specific knowledge management (KM) practices for enhancing knowledge-intensive business processes.,The present paper fills an important gap in the BPM literature by empirically testing the relationship among KM practices, multistage processes of creative problem-solving and their outcomes, and firms’ competitiveness.

Controllo della performance nelle aziende dei servizi: contributi e tendenze

This issue of Management Control focuses on the socalled service sector or tertiary sector, which represents the most important component of every country’s economy. Since this sector covers a wide variety of activities, this issue gathers contributions on performance measurement systems and metrics used in different types of service businesses, such as transport companies, restaurants, public utilities, financial institutions, software companies and organizations delivering healthcare services. Reasons for a thematic issue on performance evaluation in service companies are: the speed at which modern countries have made the transition to servicebased economies, the emergence of new Internet-based services and ways of using ser-vices due to the spread of ICTs and the demand for new management control systems or metrics capable to respect services’ characteristics and their trends of change like the increasing involvement of costumers in service production. Selected contributions coherently highlight the need to integrate financial performance metrics with the measurement of qualitative and non-monetary results like customer satisfaction and socio-environmental impacts, the shift from monitoring processes to focusing on service outcomes and the opportunity offered by ICTs to collect and elaborate a great amount of data on customers, processes and external sources and use them to improve service managers’ decision making.

Online Reputation Monitoring: An Exploratory Study on Italian Hotel Managers’ Practices

ABSTRACT This study aims to understand current Italian hotel managers’ practices in monitoring online reviews included on travel websites and online travel agencies. Results obtained by a web survey indicate what hotel managers monitor (rating, rankings, guest comments regarding different service elements) and managers’ orientation in replying to customer reviews. Findings may support online reputation management tools providers and consulting firms by highlighting the degree of hoteliers’ interest in UGC monitoring and providing insights on possible factors that differentiate current management practices and should be considered in order to offer technical solutions coherent with the distinctiveness of Italian context.

Interpreting the Correlation Between the Capacity of Generating Added Value and the Use of Business Information Systems Through the Example of SMEs

This research has two main objectives. It aims to investigate the relation between ICT development and enterprise capacity to generate added value and explore the IT infrastructure of enterprises with reference to Hungary, Slovakia, Italy and Portugal. Data have been obtained from international datasets and an online survey including about 300 enterprises classified into microenterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises, and corporations. With reference to company IT infrastructure, findings indicate that enterprises of the two Southern European countries are more developed in relation to the number of workstations, the use of server-based networks and business information systems regardless of their size. Hungarian and Slovakian businesses hardly seem to use any of these systems. In addition, results suggest that business size does play a role in IT adoption in all examined countries. This implies that policy-makers should pay attention to business size and country-specific conditions as these two factors might affect ICT policy implementation.