Purpose: Through a comprehensive review of the literature on open innovation (OI), this study aimed to achieve two objectives: (1) to identify the main thematic areas discussed in the past and track their evolution over time; and (2) to provide recommendations for future research avenues.Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the first objective, a method based on text mining was implemented, with the analysis focusing on 1,772 journal articles published between 2003 and 2018. For the second objective, a review based on recent and relevant papers was conducted for each thematic area.Findings: The paper identified nine thematic areas explored in existing research: (1) context-dependency of OI, (2) collaborative frameworks, (3) organizational dimensions of OI, (4) performance and OI, (5) external search for OI, (6) OI in small and medium-sized enterprises, (7) OI in the pharmaceutical industry, (8) OI and intellectual property rights, and (9) technology. The analysis of the most recent papers belonging to the more investigated areas offers suitable suggestions for future research avenues.Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no review has yet been undertaken to reorganize the OI literature.

Innovation is crucial for growth and business development, and represents a reliable way through which to gain competitiveness within the marketplace. Open innovation is expressed through three different processes: the acquisition of external technology (inbound innovation); the external exploitation of technology (outbound innovation); and coupled innovation. Based on a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature best able to detect the main thematic areas of the research topic, the aim of this paper is to investigate how the paradigm of open innovation influences firm performance and to provide suggestions for future research avenues.

Ongoing economic, social and environmental developments have forced the production system to undertake a profound transformation, shifting from a linear to a circular model. The transformation towards a circular economy poses significant challenges for established companies, in many cases requiring a strong modification of their current business models, start-ups and new ventures. Firms need to completely rethink their value proposition, modifying how the product or service is produced, delivered to the customers and disposed of. As a result, interest in business model innovation with a view to a circular system has increased significantly over the last five years, leading to a flourishing literature production. Although several literature reviews have been published on the topic of the circular business model, few of them include the innovation dimension. Moreover, the time horizon covered by the previous reviews extends to 2019 and in one case to 2020. Since 2020 saw a 135% increase in scientific production compared to the previous year, it is necessary to update the prior works, taking into account the new contributions. Our paper aims to bridge this gap by proposing a literature review based on keywords analysis. In this way, it is possible to analyze the issues addressed in the circular business model innovation (CMBI) by categorizing them as core, emerging/phantom, trendy or intermittent. This analysis is particularly suitable for identifying future research directions as signaled by the emerging themes.

The growing interest of the scientific literature regarding purchase behavior, circular economy and new business models has generated the need, as well as the opportunity, for a comprehensive review and categorization of the state of the existing research carried out so far. The present study aims at reconciling the wide but fragmented literature dealing with the purchase intention of recycled products. An integrative theoretical framework, able to combine several constructs, perspectives, and theories discussed to date on the topic, is proposed. Such framework represents a further step toward a comprehensive understanding of behavioral theories and constructs, which need to be understood to design effective business models for the circular economy. This effort could be highly valuable both for scholars interested in the topic—as the integrative framework could assist them in theorizing additional effects—and for firms’ managers—who can understand, more in depth, the drivers of the consumers’ purchasing process and act accordingly.

Purpose: Following the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the main challenge for the agrofood sector is to innovate food production, offering sustainable, smart and safe solutions. The future of food production will be oriented more and more towards sustainable industries with high technological content to guarantee food safety and food security. It implies that a change not only in the way food is conceived, but also in the way it is produced, processed and consumed is needed. The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of innovation, sustainability, smartness and health within the agrofood industry.Design/methodology/approach: A literature review was conducted using 596 academic documents written in English language and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as in conference proceedings. The relevant articles were analyzed using both a bibliometric and a systematic approach.Findings: The results confirm the role of innovation and sustainability as key drivers in the food industry. The main findings concern the benefits deriving from the adoption of digital technologies, the ever-increasing involvement of consumers in health and environmental issues and the introduction of the open innovation concept in the agrofood industry.Originality/value: This study jointly considers the dimensions of innovation, sustainability, smartness and health in the agrofood sector, demonstrating how they are strongly interdependent.

In today's competitive landscape, startups and large corporations increasingly acknowledge the mutual benefits of collaboration. Despite the apparent benefits, collaborations come with their own set of challenges that may affect their success. This research delves into the dynamics of collaborations between startups and large corporations, assuming the startup’s perspective. It aims to explore the paradoxical tensions arising from this asymmetrical relationship and how they impact the sustainability performance of startups. It further investigates how startups manage the pressures of large corporations to prioritise short-term gains over long-term sustainability goals, examining the role of ambidexterity in maintaining a commitment to sustainability when facing these challenges. Through a survey conducted among 189 Born-Sustainable Italian startups engaged in open innovation initiatives with large corporations, this paper seeks to uncover how these pressures influence startups' ability to achieve sustainable performance and balance immediate performance expectations with long-term sustainability goals. The findings are expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that enable startups to navigate the complexities of collaborations, enhancing innovation, resilience, and sustainability performance, thus fostering a more collaborative and productive partnership.