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The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, it identifies distinct organizational models in a sample of small and medium enterprises operating in the Sicilian wine industry; and second, it identifies the key factors enabling a superior export success.

Internal resources were analyzed theoretically in order to achieve the aims of the study. Subsequently the empirical investigation was carried out administering a questionnaire to a sample of 102 wineries in Sicily, Italy. A cluster analysis was performed in order to group these firms into homogeneous categories.

The findings show that success in the international market is more common among wineries characterized by a larger physical and economic size, a longer experience in the international market, managed by entrepreneurs-owners who are highly educated and proficient in foreign language, and implement voluntary certifications.

The results need to be interpreted within the context of the study’s research design; more specifically, the reader should take into account that the study focuses exclusively on one industry and on one region (wine in Sicily).

The findings offer a valid support for managers who could use this results to better focus their effort and choose the most appropriate strategy in order to improve their performance in foreign markets.

Very few empirical studies have been carried out on the impact that internal and in particular organizational resources have on the firms’ organizational models operating in the wine industry.

This paper aims to investigate the internationalization strategies of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the interaction between network ties and “soft” internal resources at the foundation of knowledge management (KM). Specifically, it identifies the firms’ internal capabilities that affect KM strategies, and their collective influence on the degree of internationalization; verifies the influence of network ties on the internationalization process itself; and develops a conceptual “preliminary theoretical framework of SME internationalization capabilities and networks.”

The primary research and analysis are based on a proportional stratified sample of Sicilian wineries; while the conceptual and implicative developments of the paper rest on the combination of the theoretical with the primary findings of the research, and, it has been designed and tested through eight experts’ interviews/reviews.

Findings underline a strong influence of the internal capabilities of firms on the internationalization process. In addition, an important role in the export process emerges from the acquisition of information and knowledge through the establishment of networks.

The results need to be interpreted within the context for which this study was designed and cannot be applied generally to all businesses. However, results allow cellars’ managers to better understand the relationships among the influencing factors of SMEs internationalization.

The originality of the paper lies not only in its above-stated explicit theoretical objectives and findings but also in its comprehensive conceptual framework that theoretically incorporates the “strategic” with the “internal” and “networking” aspects; purposefully also arming the industry with a practicable tool toward managerial implementation.

The purpose of this paper is dual. The first is to assess the quality of websites of Italian wineries, using the Web Assessment Index (WAI), and compare e-commerce and e-marketing websites. The second is to verify the existence of a relationship between the website quality and business revenue, on one hand, and the characteristics of managers, on the other.

A two-step survey was carried out to respond to the aims of the study. First, a sample of wineries was contacted to capture information on both the wineries and managerial characteristics. On the basis of the observed data, a second step of the analysis was performed taking into consideration 84 wineries having a website. The website quality has been evaluated by WAI, and afterwards, it has been related to the internal business factors previously identified.

Findings show that the website quality is higher in e-commerce websites than in e-marketing websites, and that business revenue and the education level of managers have a positive influence on the websites’ quality.

The results of the study need to be interpreted within the context for which this research was designed and cannot be applied generally to all businesses.

Findings have some theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical point of view, this study validates the WAI model in the wine sector. From a managerial perspective, results are useful both for wineries creating an online presence for the first time, and for those already existing which, and for system designers of websites.

Very few empirical studies have been conducted on the relationship between website quality, business performance and managerial characteristics.

This study aims to explore whether the blockchain technology (BCT), as a unique and distinctive resource, affects the development of unique capabilities and the integration and reconfiguration of internal physical and human resources necessary to gain a trusted competitive advantage.

A case study approach has been used to identify the internal resources and capabilities that affect the decision to implement BCT and to determine whether this new technology can become a strategic internal resource in the wine industry.

Results show the role of two strategic resources: human resources, such as IT specialists and software developers for BCT applications, and skills of companies’ management to grant sensitive and confidential data to IT specialists and the ability to read the analytics from the BCT application, becoming a distinctive enabling assets.

The main limitation of this study is related to the analysis of a single case, which, on the one hand, does not allow generalisation of the empirical findings but, on the other hand, is themost appropriatemethod for the explorative nature of this research.

Our findings have useful practical implications for wineries and agri-food companies in overall because they can support managers and entrepreneurs in effectively implementing these innovative digital technologies in their valuecreation process.

The study of this underexplored topic gives interesting insights into the resources needed for the successful adoption of this emerging technology, which can support wineries in improving the value-creating process. In particular, compared to the previous studies, this research analyses the adoption process under the resource-based theory lens.

The aim of this study is to understand which wine quality characteristics, consumers' attitudes and socio-demographic characteristics affect the consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) a premium price for a bottle of natural wine.

The research is experimental and investigated the purchasing intentions of 613 Italian wine consumers within a hypothetical setting. In order to elicit WTP for natural wine, a multiple price list (MPL) in a comparison with one bottle of conventional wine, with an average price of €5 was adopted. To understand which quality attributes of wine affect the consumers' WTP for natural wine, a Tobit regression model was implemented.

The findings reveal that drink frequency and occasion, organic production method, the content of sulfites, income and the attitudes towards healthy eating and the environment are positively associated with a higher WTP for natural wine.

The main limitation of this study is related to both the convenient sample and the limited geographical area. However, identifying which quality attributes of natural wine are most appreciated by consumers and which attitudes affect this behaviour is fundamental in order to develop successful marketing strategies for product development and the design of advertising and communication campaigns.

This study is one of the first to analyse the consumer behaviour towards natural wines contributing to enrich that part of the economic literature which states that consumers have a positive attitude towards sustainable wines.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ willingness to accept irradiated food and the major factors related both to socio-demographic characteristics and to the perceived risk of consumers about the assumption of foods treated with novel technologies and irradiation, in particular, affecting their behavior. Consumers’ need for information has been investigated.

An online survey, involving 392 consumers living in Italy, was carried out to respond to the aim of the study. A Probit model was performed in order to identify major factors affecting the probability to accept food treated with ionizing radiation.

Findings show that the acceptability of irradiated foods is mainly affected by the consumers’ perceived risk to health consequent to their consumption. Equally influent are the socio-economic characteristics such as age, monthly income and geographical area in which consumers live.

This study provides some interesting suggestions both for policy makers and managers, primarily related to the need to start an effective promotion campaign aimed to familiarize the consumers about the principles, aims and benefits of irradiation technology.

Very few empirical studies have been carried out in order to evaluate the acceptability of foods products treated with ionizing radiation in Italy, where exist a growing problem related to the food loss and waste, and the need for information among consumers about the irradiated foods.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify distinct organisational models in a sample of firms operating in the wine industry; and second, to identify the main internal resources that characterise those firms most motivated towards the adoption of social media (SM) tools and those that perceive SM investment as more effective.

The empirical investigation was carried out by administering an online questionnaire to a sample of 82 Sicilian wineries. The principal component analysis was used to identify latent factors that drive managers to invest in SM technologies and to measure the impact perceived by managers. Subsequently, a cluster analysis was performed to identify similar organisational models.

The findings show that large wineries with a high number of employees possessing knowledge and skills in regard to SM tools and social network (SN) management are highly motivated towards the adoption of SM and perceive their SM investment as more effective.

The main limitation of the paper lies in the limited sample size, which does not allow the results to be generalised.

The findings provide support for managers, who could use these results to better focus their investment on infrastructure that facilitates the development of specific skills needed to manage SM tools and SNs, as well as customer relations.

To date, very few empirical studies have focussed on providing evidence on the role and impact of SM integration into the marketing communication plan of a strategic industry, such as the wine industry.

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether the companies most involved in communicating their responsible behaviour externally are those most active on the social media (SM) platform, with a philanthropic purpose rather than strictly aimed at economic aspects.

The authors, first, assess firms’ efforts on the SM platform using the model proposed by Chung et al. (2014), and, second, the authors analyze the content of messages in order to verify what dimensions of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) they contain. A multivariate modelling has been performed in order to verify whether the wineries that take most care to communicate their responsible behaviour are those that are more involved in the management of Social Network. The wineries’ effort in SM platform was analyzed using the model proposed by Chung et al. (2014), which consider three dimensions named intensity, richness and responsiveness. In order to verify the relationship between the SM effort and their engagement in CSR initiatives, the Probit model has been utilized taking into consideration four CSR dimension (Green CSR, Ethical CSR, Community CSR and Cultural CSR).

The findings show that wineries most involved in corporate social responsibility initiatives and in the active communication of these initiatives on SM platforms are those that are most active on SM and in particular those that interact most with their web users, triggering in them some reactions that lead to the sharing of content and, therefore, having a significant impact on the dissemination of information through SM.

The main limitations of this study are related to the limited sample size, the time period considered.

This study provides insight and hints into wine entrepreneurs interested in improving the effectiveness of their CSR communication via SM showing the importance of the interactive dimension of SM, in order to reduce scepticism and gain greater credibility on the market.

This study uses four dimensions of the companies’ SM efforts’ built on the basis of a number of variables that are more explicative of the SM engagement.

This paper aims to examine the influence of managerial practices, productivity and change management process (CMP) on organizational innovation capability of small and medium businesses. This study also investigates the moderating role of technological turbulence (TT) on organization capability.

A theoretical model was developed based on existing literature and theories. It was then validated using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique to analyze 327 responses from small and medium businesses. Moderator analysis was conducted to investigate how TT moderates organizational innovation capability.

This study found that management practices have a significant and positive influence on the innovation capability of small and medium business. The study also found that both CMP and modern technology adoption are crucial toward improving their innovation capability. Finally, the study also demonstrated that TT has a significant impact on organizational innovation capability.

This research study has proposed an effective theoretical model of the relationship between managerial practices and organizational innovation capability. The proposed model is effective in demonstrating to managers and leaders of small and medium businesses the importance of managerial practices, CMP and the adoption of modern technologies on organization innovation capability, which can help to develop new products.

This research is unique, as the proposed model is the first of its kind to establish the relationship between managerial practices of small and medium businesses with organizational innovation capability. No other extensive study has proposed such a model especially for these businesses. Also, the explanative power of the proposed model is 72%, which shows the effectiveness of the proposed model.