1,721,038 research outputs found
Young Entrepreneurship for Good: Evidence from the “Parallelo” Case Study
No full textEntrepreneurship is a crucial driver of economic growth and social development (Acs, 2006; Acs et al., 2018; Audretsch et al., 2006; van Praag and Versloot, 2007). However, the current debate around sustainability-related goals (SDGs above-all) and the so-called “Grand Challenges”, led us to further investigate the entrepreneurial process by focussing on what’s [...really...] “good” for business and for society. With the aim to contribute to the current debate, the Chapter focuses on a single longitudinal case study, namely “Officina Casona” (also known as “Parallelo”). Founded in 2017 by four young Italian social entrepreneurs, Parallelo promotes social inclusion of fragile categories and foreign people. The “formula” is the “social lab” involving creative craftsmen that collaborate in the design and creation of sustainable products based on recyclable/discarded materials. By implementing a narrative approach, the study aims at contributing to the current debate about entrepreneurial processes/goals that go beyond “pure” economic performance
Food Sharing Platforms: Emerging Evidence from Italian and German Users
Full text linkAmong the most challenging problems of the 21st century, the fight against food waste and losses is still one of the biggest concerns researchers and policy makers are trying to solve. The latest United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s report (UNEP, 2021) estimates that around 931 million tons of food waste were generated in 2019, and the majority came from households. As a consequence of the negative social, economic and environmental effects of this phenomenon, numerous actions have been launched by policymakers aiming to try to reduce the volume of food waste also through the donation of surplus food. At the same time, digital transformation and the advent of the sharing economy have boosted the launch of startups with disruptive business models creating a secondary market for the distribution of food surplus, thus trying to spread the practice of sustainable and collaborative consumption. Extant literature on the topic is relatively new. Despite a few recent attempts to study food sharing digital platforms, our knowledge is still limited (either in terms of platforms considered and of users’ nationality). This paper aims therefore at shedding new light on the proposed issue by providing a first attempt to study the behavior of Italian and German users of food sharing digital platforms. Data collected through an ad-hoc developed survey have been analyzed through a cluster analysis and preliminary results about users’ habits discussed. In doing so, we also provide insights about the critical issues that need to be considered to boost the adoption/diffusion of such platforms, i.e. logistics-related problems to reach full extensiveness of the service
Online estimation of inducted air mass for unthrottled SI engine with the Quasi Propagatory Model
No full textBE INTERNATIONAL OR BE INNOVATIVE? THE IMPACT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL PROFILES IN DRIVING THE STRATEGY OF SMES
No full textBe international or be innovative? Or be both? This is a common dilemma for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which often perceive their lack of resources as a barrier to implementing both development paths at the same time. This paper argues that characteristics of the entrepreneur/the management team play a crucial role in that they drive the firm towards one or a combination of these two alternative growth strategies,. providing entrepreneurs with a much better understanding of the main strategic options and their relationship with the performance of the firm.
We provide a literature review on extant research which deals with the characteristics of entrepreneurs as related to innovation and internationalisation and the associated performance consequences.
The empirical investigation is based on a sample of Italian SMEs. operating in Lombardy in different industries – one of the strongest economic areas – which was drawn from official statistic.
Cluster analysis is used to group the SMEs along their entrepreneurial profiles, internationalization degrees and innovation orientation. Three significantly different groups emerge, i.e. the typical Italian family firm, a group of businesses which represents the solitary self-made man, and the team-founded firms. These three clusters show significant differences in internationalisation and innovation behaviour. Interestingly, the three groups’ degree of internationalization seems to be more a question of type (product, process, marketing/organizational practice) than of level of innovation Team-founded firms, which innovate marketing/organizational practices, are the most intensive internationalisers, whereas family firms concentrate predominantly on product innovation and the domestic market. The study contributes to the debate about the relation between internationalization and innovation from an entrepreneurship point of view ad offers insights s for SMEs regarding the choice of growth strategies
Digital international new ventures targeting developing countries: the role of networks during the start-up process
No full textOver the last years, an increasing number of new ventures centered on digital platforms have emerged and expanded internationally. Despite the increasing relevance of digital technologies in the business context, less is known about the network relationships established by a digital international new venture (INV) with external parties, particularly when entering developing countries. Based on a longitudinal single case study of a digital INV targeting developing countries, this paper explores the role of networks during the INV’s stand-up, start-up, and scale-up phases. The study illuminates the evolution of the portfolio of network relationships in terms of the actors involved, the levels at which the actors operate, and the types of support they provide. It also derives a set of propositions that can guide further studies on this topic
The Role of Failure in the Entrepreneurial Process: A Systematic Literature Review
Full text linkFailure is a crucial event that can occur at any time during the entrepreneurial/start-up process. Understanding what influences the failure or survival of new ventures is increasingly attracting the interest of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers, mainly because of the role that startups play in innovation. Studying failure events presents a series of challenges that scholars should bear in mind when approaching this topic, starting from the definition of terms to the lack of data to analyze such events. The literature on business failures is scattered among different fields of research and lacks a comprehensive framework. We address this gap performing a systematic literature review. 74 papers focusing on new ventures’ failure have been reviewed and analyzed to identify the main causes of failure. In doing so, we identify four main categories of causes of new venture failure. Namely, I) resources, with a specific focus on human and financial capital; II) strategic/managerial decisions; III) product-related aspects; and IV) contextual/environmental-related issues. By providing an up-to-date systematization of recently published contributions on the topic, we aim to provide practical implications for entrepreneurs/practitioners and future research directions to researchers in the field
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
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