Leveraging AI-driven CRM to mitigate the impact of generational transitions on customer relationships and knowledge transfer in family SMEs.

Purpose This study examines how intergenerational dynamics shaped by gendered expectations influence the legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) of junior members in women-led family SMEs. It explores the impact of these dynamics on knowledge transfer, professional development and emotional outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and work engagement. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative approach, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with junior family members in 10 Italian women-led SMEs across diverse industries. The methodology highlights juniors' narratives and perceptions to understand their integration into family businesses through the LPP framework. Findings The study reveals that intergenerational dynamics often delay juniors' strategic integration, particularly due to incumbents' attachment to the business and cultural biases. Daughters face additional barriers, such as limited access to decision-making, but sons also experience delayed participation. External mentors, including fathers and non-family managers, play a critical role in supporting juniors' professional growth and emotional balance. Research limitations/implications The study's reliance on a single national context and qualitative methods limits generalizability. Future research could adopt cross-national and mixed-method approaches to capture broader patterns. Practical implications Structured mentorship programs, gender-sensitive governance strategies and expanded communities of practice are recommended to support equitable leadership development and knowledge transfer. Social implications The findings emphasize the need to challenge traditional gender norms and promote inclusivity in family businesses, contributing to sustainable generational transitions. Originality/value This research advances the understanding of LPP by highlighting the ambivalent role of female incumbents in perpetuating traditional power structures, providing a nuanced perspective on gendered dynamics in family SMEs.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to systematically synthesize the extant literature of knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge transfer (KT) in the small and medium enterprise (SME) context and to contribute with predictions of emerging themes.Design/methodology/approachApplied is a systematic literature review using three bibliometric techniques: (1) textual analysis for keywords and abstracts to identify the research hotspots, (2) co-citation analysis of references to identify the evolution of KS and KT in SME and (3) bibliographic coupling analysis of documents to synthesize antecedents and outcomes.FindingsA conceptual map emerges from the review to reveal the antecedents of KS and KT at the individual, group and organizational levels. The analysis shows the strategic importance of KS and KT for the SME context. Specific findings include: (1) KS and KT are involved in enhancing SMEs strategic focus for human resources, including organizational learning, customer relations, creativity, higher profit and positive effects on operational processes and decision-making. (2) Innovation, trust and performance are identified as central human factors linked to KS and KT in SMEs. (3) Human resource (HR) management research could contribute to KS and KT in the SME domain by exploring KS- and KT-based practices, linking the emergence of innovation and innovative behaviors to these practices, leading to a better understanding of strategies that enable the long-term storage and retrieval of tacit and explicit knowledge as organizational memory in the SME context.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first to systematically review KS and KT in SMEs and propose a concept map. The research adds value to the growing literature of KS and KT and exposes the need for more specific activities to support SME managers, as well as HR managers, who need to facilitate KS and KT in SMEs.

Firms with the best information management is more likely to be successful in today’s highly competitive business environment. It is a challenge for earthwork contracting firms to capture information and transform it into knowledge that is available for sharing. This study involves a survey on determining the level of implementation of knowledge transferring (KT) process by earthwork contracting firms. Questionnaire forms were distributed to 120 relevant contracting firms in Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. The results reveal that all earthwork contracting firms being studied have implemented KT, even though the level of implementation is different. It is found that contractors of higher class are more willing to implement KT than the lower ones. In so far, the benefits of KT are only moderately agreeable in terms of problem solving and customer relationship.

Firms with the best information management is more likely to be successful in today’s highly competitive business environment. It is a challenge for earthwork contracting firms to capture information and transform it into knowledge that is available for sharing. This study involves a survey on determining the level of implementation of knowledge transferring (KT) process by earthwork contracting firms. Questionnaire forms were distributed to 120 relevant contracting firms in Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. The results reveal that all earthwork contracting firms being studied have implemented KT, even though the level of implementation is different. It is found that contractors of higher class are more willing to implement KT than the lower ones. In so far, the benefits of KT are only moderately agreeable in terms of problem solving and customer relationship.

Does relationship psychic distance matter for the learning processes of internationalizing SMEs?

Marketing ZFP is a platform for the academic dialog between marketing science and marketing practice. It offers critical depictions of the newest developments in the central areas of marketing science and marketing practice. Thereby, Marketing ZFP dedicates itself particularly to the transfer of methodological knowledge into practice.

Purpose– This study aims to examine the effect of firm-specific customer relationship orientation, technology orientation and the marketing–R & D cooperation on market performance. Although the importance of customer focus in R & D has been widely recognized in the literature, less attention has been paid to customer relationship orientation and the simultaneous effect of the three constructs on market performance.Design/methodology/approach– The hypotheses are tested on a multi-industry survey study of 209 R & D-intensive firms in Finland using hierarchical regression analyses, including both direct and interactional effects.Findings– The findings show that customer relationship orientation has a direct positive effect on market performance and that technology orientation also has a positive, yet non-significant effect. In addition, the effect of both of these strategic orientations is accentuated when collaboration between marketing and R & D departments is high, providing evidence on the significant moderating effects of these types of processes.Research limitations/implications– The implications of the research can be interpreted as being generalizable at least to some extent due to the multi-industry nature of the sample. However, the research is bound to a certain type of firm (R & D-intensive) and to a certain national context (Finland), which poses limitations to the study.Practical implications– The results suggest specific benefits for integrating specialist, complementary knowledge into a firm in terms of R & D and marketing knowledge. Practicing managers across departments should thus consider not only focusing on their specialist areas in markets (e.g. customers or technology) but also utilizing complementary insights within the firm to reap benefits in their fields.Originality/value– The study focuses on the less-researched concept of customer relationship orientation in parallel with the more established technology orientation. It also provides novel evidence on how the effectiveness of these orientations benefits from firm-internal knowledge transfer between the marketing and R & D departments.

The Dutch greenhouse horticulture industry is characterized by world leadership in high-tech innovation. The dynamics of this playing field are innovation in production systems and automation, reduction in energy consumption and sharing limited space. However, international competitive advantage of the industry is under pressure and sustainable growth of individual enterprises is no longer a certainty. The sector’s ambition is to innovate better and grow faster than the competition in the rest of the world. Realizing this ambition requires strengthening the knowledge base, stimulating entrepreneurship, innovation (not just technological, but especially business process innovation). It also requires educating and professionalizing people. However, knowledge transfer in this industry is often fragmented and innovation through horizontal and vertical collaboration throughout the value chain is limited. This paper focuses on the question: how can the grower and the supplier in the greenhouse horticulture chain gain competitive advantage through radical product and process innovation. The challenge lies in time- to-market, in customer relationship, in developing new product/market combinations and in innovative entrepreneurship. In this paper an innovation and entrepreneurial educational and research programme is introduced. The programme aims at strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration between enterprise, education and research. Using best practice examples, the paper illustrates how companies can realize growth and improve the innovative capacity of the organization as well as the individual by linking economic and social sustainability. The paper continues to show how participants of the program develop competencies by means of going through a learning cycle of single-loop, double-loop and triple loop learning: reduction of mistakes, change towards new concepts and improvement of the ability to learn. Finally, the paper illustrates the importance of combining enterprise, education and research in regional networks, with examples from the greenhouse horticulture sector. These networks generate economic growth and international competitiveness by acting as business accelerators.

The knowledge economy presents an essential challenge for regional innovation systems, which are modemizing or renewing themselves. The main focus in knowledge-driven innovation systems is on the organizational change in innovation activities as well as on general structural shifts within the system, which are linked to the ever intensifying intemational division of labor and growing knowledge basis of economic and industrial activities (Miles, 2003). Closely bound to these structural shifts are new forms of knowledge generation, knowledge transfer, and the activation of new, respectively unexploited technology and knowledge potentials. At least in mature economies, structural change shows service-oriented traits and is characterized by knowledge orientation and an increasing role of new firm formation in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). Thus, in the last decades a dynamic development can be observed in this economic field (cf Kerst, 1997). These developments combine several sub-trends - shifts in the management philosophy (e.g. trends towards ‘leaner’ firms, outsourcing of functions, and towards a greater emphasis on customer relationships), structural shifts in the composition of demand, and unevenness in the application of new technologies to product and process innovafion (Illeris, 1996; Miles, 2000; Tether, 2003).

The chapter reflects on the coopetition concept and its role in combining cooperation and competition with a paradoxical situation between them. Likewise, it illustrates how coopetition gains a mutual advantage for the collaborative relationship of value creation, new product development (NPD), knowledge acquisition, and organizational performance in inter-organizations. However, it is necessary to build a friendly approach and proper management to ensure effective coopetition. The rationale, though, is the following: coopetition defines innovation performance; coopetition represents knowledge recombination in both inter-organizational and intra-organizational conditions; the coopetition outcomes state knowledge creation and firm’s innovation that lead to new ideas and new variations improving organizational relationships. At the same time, it is highlighted how the customer relationships are aligned in the enterprises and how knowledge transfer in different alliances influence dynamic and complex character exploring tacit and explicit knowledge. As far as knowledge is concerned in an organization, it illustrates the contribution of two essential elements in coopetition value creation, i.e., knowledge management and intellectual capital. By critically evaluating the following, we encourage coopetition and innovation to recognize knowledge and increase the performance of inter-organizational units. Moreover, the primary way for knowledge assessment in organizations is by collaboration with the competitors. Concluding, our theoretical approach acknowledges that knowledge sharing enables more efficient innovation by linking R&D efforts.

Purpose – This exploratory study aims to examine the influence of immigrant employee effects within a sample of small New Zealand‐based international service providers.

Processes of transferring, interacting, sharing and converting knowledge are of crucial importance in any firm due to their influence on innovations. These processes are especially challenging during the family business succession. A theory-building qualitative study was undertaken to extend our understanding of the dynamics of the knowledge transfer process and its effects on the successor’s innovativeness. The findings of the in-depth analysis of 10 family SMEs show that tacit knowledge transferred from a founder to a successor is important but not sufficient for enhancing the successor’s innovativeness. It should be combined with the knowledge gained outside the family business. Several propositions were developed that provide basis for future confirmatory research and have implications for practice by providing useful findings to key stakeholders in family businesses as well as to professionals dealing with innovativenness, knowledge transfer and creation in family businesses.

This research was conducted to achieve the following three major objectives: to raise an efficient and effective supply chain management (SCM) of Thailand’s electrical and electronics industry. The first objective was to clarify the distinction of knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge transfer (KT) from a practical viewpoint specific to knowledge for the SCM process in the context of external integration. The second objective was to screen the required knowledge for all of the eight SCM processes, including customer relationship management, customer service management, demand management, order fulfillment, manufacturing flow management, supplier relationship management, product development and commercialization and returns management that should be shared or transferred in the context of external integration to enhance supply chain performance. The third objective was to evince the relative importance weights of KS and KT on enhancing supply chain performance with consideration based on the hierarchical structure model. The model consists of the first hierarchy (criteria) that is knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. The second hierarchy (sub-criteria 1) is four dyads of supply chain integration focusing on external integration. The third hierarchy (sub-criteria 2) is knowledge related to the eight SCM processes. The forth hierarchy (sub-criteria 3) is the required knowledge for each SCM process. And the fifth hierarchy (alternative) is three attributes of supply chain performance i.e. costs, reliability and responsiveness. To accomplish the aforementioned objectives, the research methodology is separated to two phases. The first phase is to achieve the first two objectives by applying semi-structured questionnaires, checklist questionnaires, in-depth interviews, normality testing and confidence interval analysis. The second phase is to achieve the third objective by applying pair-wise questionnaires and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) analysis. The groups of experts involved in the first phase were composed of 15 samples and the second phase was composed of 60 samples. This researcher discovered differences in the significance of knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer in that knowledge transfer leads to application of obtained knowledge in achieving an objective, while knowledge sharing does not particularly focus on the aforementioned attribute. The other minor differences are goals, processes and formats of knowledge sharing and transfer. Furthermore, the research revealed required knowledge for all eight supply chain management processes that should be shared/transferred within the context of external supply chain integration to promote supply chain performance. In addition, the overall relative importance weights analysis showed that knowledge sharing carries a more weighted relationship leaning toward improving the effectiveness of the supply chain more than knowledge transfer. Furthermore, the relative importance weights of all other sub-criteria and alternative according to respective structure formats were shown. Moreover, the research presented a model of knowledge sharing/transfer required to supply chain management processes for each stakeholder group in the context of external supply chain integration, whereby finding that assembly group should give importance weight to sharing required knowledge for processes, order fulfillment, demand management, and customer service management. First-tier supplier group should give importance weight on sharing required knowledge for processes, manufacturing flow management and product development and commercialization, while second-tier supplier group should give importance weight to transferring required knowledge for processes, manufacturing flow management and product development and commercialization.

ABSTRACTThis study explores non-R&D determinants of innovations. Following findings from innovation literature, this study focuses on customer relationships, human resource management (HRM) and top management characteristics as possible determinants of innovations. For empirical analyses, this study conducts a questionnaire survey in Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam in the beginning of 2017. The results of the questionnaire survey and regression analyses present that customer relationships are significantly correlated with product innovations, whereas HRM practices have significant associations with process innovations. Top management contributes to product innovations only by developing mentoring relationships with their engineers. However, top management may make a significant contribution to innovations, by playing a key role in creating customer relationships to promote knowledge transfer.

Sales training is considered critical in a marketing organization because it improves “sales competencies such as creativity in the sales process, problem solving, ethical decision making, and effective listening skills.”1 According to scholars such as Attia, Honeycutt, and Leach,2 sales force training improves the effectiveness of marketing strategies, specifically to achieve higher sales and consumer satisfaction. Leach and Liu3 report that effective sales training programs improve organizational commitment, sales performance, and customer relations. Studies have assessed the influence of training from the perspectives of both buyers and sellers to get 360-degree feedback.4 However, previous sales management studies have not explored how training influences knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors of both the sales force and consumers, attributes that are at the core of a consumer persuasion process. We contribute to the sales force training literature by exploring these influences using Donald Kirkpatrick’s model5 for evaluating the effectiveness of sales training. Kirkpatrick’s model recommends carrying out the process in four steps: at level 1 (the reactions stage), trainees provide information on how much they like and comprehend the training program. Level 2 (the learning stage) entails assessment of the skills and knowledge trainees have acquired and how their attitude toward the subject matter has changed. Level 3 (the transfer stage) emphasizes ascertaining whether trainees’ changes in knowledge and attitude transfer to change in sales behavior. Level 4 (the results stage) measures change in sales and consumer performance as a result of sales training.