1,829 research outputs found
Future Market Design: Government agencies expertise enhance companies foresight and creativity
No full textThe author aims to link lead-user theory and its idea-generation function to the policy of public demand of innovation designed by agencies at government level. The discussion of the literature argues that the expertise of government agencies can help companies in market foresight, technological opportunities and product innovation
The public-private partnership in the Italian satellite telecommunication system design: SIRIO and Italsat (1969-1996)
No full textIn the last decades of the XX Century the expansion in telecommunications urged the development of an innovative satellite network infrastructure. Satellite telecommunication-a network technology-presents public-good characteristic and high-cost and technological-risks. The case of the design of the Italian satellite telecommunication system consists in a peculiar case of public-private partnership (PPP). This paper compares the Sirio and Italsat satellites systems to highlight the differences in the partnership agreements between the public buyer and the firms involved. In both cases the government provided clear signals of market demand to spur innovative activity, however, contractual obligation proved decisive. In the latter case, the public financial support took the form of a purchase agreement of a service with specific requirements at a specific time in the future, creating incentives for innovation and on-time and on-budget implementation. A public agency then was created to coordinate the research efforts of different firms reducing cost and opportunistic threats
Knowledge creation in state-owned enterprises
No full textThe understanding of knowledge creation in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is a rising issue in the academic debate and in the political agenda; still, there is a lack of a comprehensive theory despite the number of research published so far. This paper offers a novel theoretical framework for knowledge creation in SOEs by the study of innovation in SOEs from the perspective of the theory of the entrepreneurial firm and the theory of knowledge management, which together provide new insights that explain the factors that enable innovation in SOEs. These factors are managerial autonomy and government coordination. The theoretical development is important because considers SOEs as both firms and public entities, a double nature that combines the advantages of state-ownership and corporate governance. The theoretical contribution provides support to the increasing academic attention on the entrepreneurial state and the rise of SOEs as innovative actors
Academic spin-offs and the innovative city: Universities’ role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Boston
No full textA metropolitan area may comprise multiple universities. Universities can differ in their aims, focus, and orientation. They can be either research- or teaching-intensive, promote liberal or technical education, be highly selective or serve the community as largely as they can. The area of Boston includes worldwide known and admired institutions, such as Harvard, the first university to have been established in the United States. Consequently, academic spin-offs also differ. The university of origin explains much about nascent academic entrepreneurs; it influences, orientates and sometimes determines the students’ intentions to start a business (Pruett et al., 2009), their preferences (Brennan et al., 2005) and personality (Walter et al., 2002), their motivations (Hayter, 2011), the public support received (Meyer, 2003), their research productivity (Lowe and Gonzalez-Brambila, 2007), and identity modification (Jain et al., 2009). While almost all these issues usually refer to the individual entrepreneur, we argue that the university can exercise an important and sometimes crucial influence on the spin-offs firms too (Baroncelli and Landoni, 2015). Academic spin-offs take action in a network of innovation. Thus, academic spin-offs in an urban context contribute to a city’s qualification as innovative (Simmie, 2001). Universities provide the elements to sustain the innovative city with a direct impact on local development. In this respect, academic spin-offs are at the same time an outcome of the interaction within the network and the actors of innovation themselves
State-owned enterprises as knowledge-explorer agents
No full textThis paper deals with the role of the State Owned enterprises (SOEs) in innovation processes. Only a few studies focus on the contribution SOEs as companies might give to produce new knowledge and technological innovation. We argue, however, that SOEs are a pillar of the innovation process and we explore conditions that can make SOEs very effective. Through two in-depth case studies in two different industries (STMicroelectronics in the semiconductor and Thales Alenia Space in the space industry) we illustrate how SOEs can contribute to innovation by exploring new opportunities and recombining different sources of knowledge. We highlight the conditions that can make exploration and recombination possible. We also highlight the ability of the two companies to change their boundaries through a continuous wave of agreements, mergers and acquisitions. This way, they were able to expand beyond their domains in a way that matched the evolution of their original industries
Demand driven innovation policy by forward public procurement: the Italian aerospace industry case
No full textThis proceeding paper focuses at the current debate on forward public procurement (fpp) as a powerful tool for refocusing private R&D investments towards innovative activities suitable of improving commercial and social impact of hightechnologies. Fpp provides the market with advance information of future needs in outcome terms creating market opportunities for entrepreneurs. Here I suggest the analysis of a case study that could enlarge the knowledge about how this mechanism works and what its "best practice" could be. As well, I argue it can be an efficient tool for European policymakers facing the current debt crisis and the reform of the Lisbon agenda in order to reduce public spending policies. Public procurement gained attention in Europe because of the privatization program requested by the European integration process. Indeed, during the 80s, the Italian Government, along with other European countries, ended direct intervention in economy in most of its former Stateholdings. However, it was able to sustain a typical Government related business such as aerospace by the establishment of a public institution, the Italian Aerospace Agency (ASI) in 1988. The first stage of my research shows that the ASI policy of public procurement was able to drive the technological effort of the main Italian aerospace company and former Stateowned, Finmeccanica, towards a rationalization of the industry at the national level and greater technological competitiveness. Finally, the tool has allowed the space subsidiary of Finmeccanica, Alenia, to join with French company Thales space division in a European leading actor on the global market for the hightechnologies
Da Glarus all'Isola bergamasca. Alle origini dell'espansione internazionale del cotonificio Legler nel XIX secolo
No full textL'articolo affronta l’espansione internazionale di un’impresa familiare svizzera, quella dei Legler. Originaria di Glarus, in un cantone protestante di lingua tedesca, la famiglia Legler gestiva nel villaggio di Diesbach un’attività di filatura del cotone sin dal 1730. Quasi un secolo e mezzo dopo l’azienda di famiglia giunse a un punto di svolta. Costretto dai limiti delle poche risorse locali, dalla carenza di manodopera e desideroso di rivolgersi a un mercato più ampio, Mathias II Legler – il successore del fondatore e suo omonimo – guardò al mercato italiano, recentemente unificato, come a una interessante opportunità per uno sviluppo oltre confine. Così, Mathias II fondò, nel 1875, la J. M. Legler filatura e tessitura a Ponte San Pietro [denominazione corretta], vicino a Bergamo. L’obiettivo di questo contributo è quello di offrire una spiegazione concettuale dei processi di decision making internazionali nel contesto delle piccole-medie imprese a conduzione familiare.
L’analisi storica dell’espansione internazionale dell’azienda Legler dalla Svizzera all’Italia ha lo scopo di trovare una risposta alla domanda se il processo decisionale e di internazionalizzazione delle piccole-medie imprese a conduzione familiare differisca da quello delle grandi imprese e, allo stesso tempo, di esaminare tale fenomeno in un’epoca in cui le barriere al commercio e agli investimenti diretti esteri erano più elevate; infatti, la maggior parte degli studi sulla teoria del business internazionale riguardano le grandi imprese e le imprese pubbliche e sono in prevalenza basati su realtà del periodo più recente, quello della seconda globalizzazione . Qui invece si affronta il caso di un’impresa familiare e medio-piccola nel periodo della prima globalizzazione (1850-1914), così da arricchire la letteratura esistente e ampliare la prospettiva sul processo decisionale e sulle pratiche di internazionalizzazione, in un contesto che la teoria considera solo marginalmente.
La prospettiva del case-study consente di perfezionare gli studi teorici ponendo l’accento sul “come” e sul “perché” dell’espansione internazionale e sulle condizioni che portano le piccole-medie imprese a scegliere di andare all’estero . Questo approccio prende in considerazione le caratteristiche umane e gli aspetti psicologici delle scelte dell’imprenditore, la struttura e le relazioni socio-emotive familiari e la visione a lungo termine che va oltre la generazione corrente e modella l’identità dell’azienda e della famiglia. La base archivistica prende in considerazione la documentazione originale conservata presso la La Fondazione Legler per la storia economica e sociale di Bergamo, a Brembate di Sopra. Nell’archivio aziendale dell’impresa Legler sono depositati i documenti storici dell’azienda, che ha cessato l’attività nel 2002. La Fondazione Legler conserva oltre 125 anni di contabilità aziendale e memorie familiari. I documenti spaziano dalle schede di bilancio alle lettere personali della famiglia fondatrice
Introduzione
No full textLa politica amministrativa a Milano dal secondo dopoguerra alla metà degli anno Ottanta, mettendo in luce il ruolo esercitato soprattutto dagli amministratori socialisti
La preghiera di S.Bernardo alla Vergine. Canto XXXIII del Paradiso
No full textIl commento che qui viene proposto della celeberrima preghiera di S.Bernardo si inquadra in un contesto letterario e teologico. I riferimenti ad altri passi della poetica dantesca cosentono di comprendere il pensiero dell'autore in modo sistematico.The comment offered here of the very well-known prayer of St. Bernard is framed by a literary and theological context. The references to other passages of Dante’s poetics allow the systematic understanding of the author
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