1,720,957 research outputs found
The organizational design of high-tech entrepreneurial ventures
No full textThe Organizational Design of High-Tech Entrepreneurial Ventures addresses the organizational design of entrepreneurial ventures. While many definitions of organizational design exist, we consider it as consisting of two main dimensions -- the organizational structure of the firm and the human resource management practices
Spaceship Earth. Space-Driven Technologies and Systems for Sustainability on Ground
No full textAs awareness towards the problem is growing, eco-friendliness is today a paramount requirement for all space activities and in particular for the ground segment, fully comparable to other industrial sectors. The present work focuses on the assessment and the sustainable development enhancement of a ground-based space facility, the European Astronaut Centre (EAC), located in Germany. The project is framed within the European Space Agency development of an environmental outlook, which aims not only at the full compliance with the legislation and at assessing the impact of its activities, but also at laying the foundation for future evolution through innovation. Indeed, ESA promotes the sustainable use of space as a necessity and duty for Europe. As history teaches us, technical knowledge emerged within the space sector serves as innovation driver in other industrial branches: the goal of the project is to transform the EAC building into a spaceship integrated with the territory through the conscious management of this spontaneous process, fostering the combination between the space sector and the architecture and civil engineering fields. The work explores the potential of space technologies, processes and systems applied on ground and presents a range of space-driven innovative concepts which may improve the sustainability of the EAC building, focusing on different aspects of its resource demand - energy, water and waste management - and defining the integration with the pre-existing compound, the limitation of the impact on the surrounding landscape and the participation of the local community as additional fundamental requirements. Indeed, the project embraces the full concept of sustainability, which considers not only eco-friendliness but also its balance with economic and social aspects. Two factors - a certain urgency for action, which leaves little space for research and experimentation, and a call for ground-breaking solutions-guided the design activity: taking advantage of these conflicting requirements, a comparison between standard technologies and innovative space-related concepts was performed. When dealing with complex and uncertain scenarios, decision among the possible solutions is not straightforward and needs to be supported by appropriate methodologies: a multi-criteria and quantitative decisionmaking tool, able to concentrate on the main goal while considering all other relevant aspects - environmental, economic, social sustainability - was therefore developed. Furthermore, the project promotes local community participation in the decisional process, as a way to enhance knowledge, generate understanding and promote towards the EAC redesign, space activities and their potential innovative impact on sustainability
Specializzazione funzionale e performance delle giovani imprese ad alto capitale umano
Get PDFLAUREA MAGISTRALELa maggior parte degli studi passati si è focalizzata su imprese consolidate, con un particolare accento sugli aspetti legati alla struttura organizzativa. Negli ultimi anni è invece aumentata l’attenzione verso le giovani imprese ad alto capitale umano e verso il loro team imprenditoriale. Obiettivo della nostra tesi è quello inserirsi all’interno di questo recente filone di ricerca, andando ad esplorare in modo empirico la relazione tra la specializzazione funzionale del team imprenditoriale e le performance dell’impresa. In particolare si vuole comprendere l’effetto moderatore che i meccanismi di coordinamento taciti possono avere su questa relazione. La presenza di meccanismi di coordinamento taciti nel team imprenditoriale è legata al concetto di common ground tra i membri del team, ovvero di tutte quelle esperienze comuni che possono portare gli individui ad avere degli schemi mentali condivisi. Per la nostra analisi ci basiamo sull’Information- Processing Theory. Per fare questo abbiamo utilizzato un campione di 133 giovani aziende, fondate tra il 2005 e il 2013 da ex- Alumni del Politecnico di Milano. I dati sono stati ottenuti grazie alla somministrazione di una survey agli amministratori di queste imprese. I risultati dell’analisi empirica hanno confermato la presenza di un legame positivo tra la specializzazione funzionale e le performance. Per quanto riguarda le variabili di moderazione, sono risultate significative e con impatto negativo quelle legate al common ground ex-ante dovuto a precedenti esperienze comuni dei membri del team imprenditoriale nella stessa impresa. Le variabili legate invece al common ground ex-ante dovuto alla condivisione di progetti o alla fondazione comune di un’impresa hanno invece un impatto positivo sulla relazione. Il common ground ex-ante relativo alle esperienze formative ed il common ground ex-post non presentano invece alcun effetto mediatore.Most of the past studies focused on consolidated companies, with a particular emphasis on the aspects related to the organizational structure. In recent years, the focus has shifted to young companies with high human capital (entrepreneurial ventures) and towards their entrepreneurial teams. Objective of our thesis is to fit within this recent line of research, exploring empirically the relationship between the functional specialization of entrepreneurial team and the firm's performance team. In particular, we want to understand the moderating effect of tacit coordination mechanisms on this relationship. Tacit coordination mechanisms in the entrepreneurial team are linked to the concept of common ground between team members that includes every common experiences that can lead individuals to have shared mental models. For our analysis, we rely on Information- Processing Theory. To do this we analysed 133 young companies, founded between 2005 and 2013 by ex-alumni of Politecnico di Milano. The data were obtained by administering a survey to managers of these companies. The empirical results of the analysis confirmed the presence of a positive link between the functional specialization and performance. For moderating variables, there is significant and negative impact to common ground ex-ante connected with previous joint experiences of entrepreneurial team members in the same company. The variables related to the common ground ex-ante connected to the sharing of projects or joint foundation of business has a positive impact on the relationship. The common ground ex-ante connected with educational experiences and common ground ex-post do not present any mediator effect
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
What do entrepreneurs do? Pivotal choices in organizing their ventures and allocating their own time
No full textNegli ultimi decenni, le imprese imprenditoriali hanno attirato l'interesse di studiosi e politici, dato il loro ruolo fondamentale nell'economia contemporanea.
Poiché gli imprenditori sono stati riconosciuti come il centro delle imprese imprenditoriali, gli studiosi hanno speso un rilevante sforzo per analizzare le caratteristiche degli imprenditori, per rispondere a domande di ricerca come "chi
è l'imprenditore?" e "chi diventa imprenditore?". Per promuovere ulteriormente l'imprenditoria, è ora cruciale passare dall'analisi delle caratteristiche degli imprenditori all'analisi delle attività degli imprenditori, un problema che è stato ignorato nei lavori precedenti. Questa tesi
mira a compiere un primo passo per colmare questa lacuna affrontando la questione globale di "che cosa fa l'imprenditore? ".
Inizio la mia tesi tenendo conto che gli imprenditori, essendo i "primi architetti" delle loro iniziative, sono molto impegnati nell'organizzazione delle loro imprese. Di conseguenza, il primo paper della tesi si concentra sull'organizzazione dell' impresa e studia (i) i principali elementi del disegno organizzativo usati dagli imprenditori, (ii) gli antecedenti del disegno organizzativo che guidano gli imprenditori combinando in modo diverso tali elementi e infine, (iii)
le implicazioni delle diverse articolazioni del disegno organizzativo.
Anche se il disegno organizzativo è un'attività fondamentale, gli imprenditori si impegnano in una serie di altre
attività. Pertanto, nei seguenti paper della tesi, mi concentro sulle attività che gli imprenditori compiono ogni giorno e guardando al tempo che gli imprenditori investono in queste attività. In particolare, nel secondo paper, faccio luce sugli antecedenti dei comportamenti di allocazione del tempo guardando a unì interessante caratteristica individuale, vale a dire l'orientamento imprenditoriale individuale, mentre nel terzo paper esamino le implicazioni dei comportamenti di allocazione del tempo degli imprenditori sulle performance aziendali considerando
in particolare l'impatto sulla crescita delle vendite delle imprese.In the last decades, entrepreneurial ventures have increasingly attracted the interest of both
scholars and policy-makers, given their pivotal role in the contemporary economy.
As entrepreneurs have been recognized as the center of entrepreneurial ventures, scholars put
a lot of effort in analyzing entrepreneurs’ characteristics, to answer research questions such as “who
is the entrepreneur?” and “who becomes an entrepreneur?”. To further advance the entrepreneurship
research field it, is now crucial to move from the analysis of the characteristics of entrepreneurs to
the analysis of entrepreneurs’ activities, an issue that has been disregarded in prior works. This thesis
aims at making a first step to fill this gap by addressing the overarching question “what does the
entrepreneur do?”.
I start my thesis taking into consideration that entrepreneurs, being the “first architects” of
their ventures, are greatly committed in organizing their firms. Accordingly, the first paper of the
thesis focuses on entrepreneurial venture organization and studies (i) the main organizational design
elements used by entrepreneurs, (ii) the antecedents of organizational design that drive entrepreneurs
to differently combine such elements and, so, differently organize their ventures and, finally, (iii) the
performance implications of these heterogeneous articulations of organizational design.
Although organizing the venture is a pivotal activity, entrepreneurs engage in a series of other
activities. Therefore, in the following papers of the thesis, I focus on the activities that entrepreneurs
perform every day and look at entrepreneurs’ time allocation to these activities. Specifically, in the
second paper, I shed light on the antecedents of time allocation behaviors by looking at an interesting
individual characteristic, namely individual entrepreneurial orientation, while in the third paper I
investigate the performance implications of entrepreneurs’ time allocation behaviors by considering
their impact on ventures’ sales growth.DIPARTIMENTO DI INGEGNERIA GESTIONALE29PIVA, EVILATRUCCO, PAOL
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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