1,721,097 research outputs found
Interazione fisica e funzionale del repressore IkB-alfa di NF-kB con il transattivatore TAT di HIV-1.
No full textStart-up competitions as learning environment to foster the entrepreneurial process
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to shed light on the increasing start-up competitions (SUCs) phenomenon; second, to provide an interpretive framework to understand whether the SUCs have the potential to be effective entrepreneurial learning environment; third, to analyse the different roles of public and private actors in organizing SUCs. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents a cross-section analysis of the Italian SUCs population. In total, 77 competitions are analysed on the basis of different criteria which should properly mirror their distinguishing structural features, helping understand the potential of SUCs as learning environments. Findings: The recent increase in the number of SUCs has been mainly fuelled by private actors. Moreover, Italian SUCs show some features that make them rich learning environments. Private and public actors play different roles, as confirmed by statistical tests performed. Privately organized SUCs follow mainly a market-oriented approach, while publicly organized ones are more education oriented. Research limitations/implications: The findings cannot be easily generalized mainly due to the peculiarities of the Italian context. Practical implications: Soft forms of regulation should be defined to strengthen those features which could potentially support the entrepreneurial learning processes. In this view, SUCs should be part of a start-up friendly ecosystem where actors (startuppers, incubators, venture capitalists) are effectively coordinated with each other. Originality/value: Despite the remarkable diffusion of SUCs, there are significant gaps in literature about this phenomenon. Given the lack of a systematic and comprehensive analysis of SUCs as effective entrepreneurial learning environments, the paper represents an important starting point
Regional Innovation Systems as Complex Adapative Systems: the case of lagging European regions
No full textAlthough a large stream of literature is focusing on Regional Innovation Systems and on how to support
their development and competitiveness (e.g. Asheim et al., 2011; Doloreux and Parto, 2004; Foray et al.,
2011), we are witnessing a strong discrepancy among theoretical frameworks, adopted innovation policies,
and related regional performances. In fact, numerous studies have shown that RISs with similar industrial
structures and characteristics can strongly differ from each other even in terms of innovation and
competitive performance. This gap is more evident in the case of the so-called lagging regions
(characterized by moderate and modest level of innovativeness) (Regional Innovation Scoreboard, 2009;
2012; 2014), notwithstanding the adoption of specific policies and incentives. Evidently, there is
something deeper than the failure of an innovation policy devoted to support the innovation and economic
growth.
The emergent viewpoint is that regional performances are affected by powerful inertial mechanisms and
dimensions, which are undervalued by both researchers and policy-makers (Egbetokun et al., 2017).
Discovering the virtuous mechanisms of most innovative regions, and the vicious ones of lagging regions,
should be the key goal of every regional innovation policy.
According to this, the paper aims to address the following research questions:
What are the resources, competencies and mechanisms able to support the so-called lagging regions to
trigger virtuous innovation and economic growth processes? What are the main barriers which hinder the
development of effective innovation processes notwithstanding the public incentives
Supporting entrepreneurship policy: An overview of Italian start-up competitions
No full textInnovative start-ups are currently considered to be an important channel for industrial change and for the renewal of economic systems. Among the initiatives that have been implemented to promote their diffusion, start-up competitions (SUCs) have received much recognition from policy-makers, followers and participants. Although the number of SUCs has grown, there are no comprehensive or systematic overviews of SUCs in the literature. Hence, this paper presents a cross-sectional exploratory analysis of Italian SUCs to provide an overview of their core characteristics. This in-depth study will support the diffusion of SUCs and will provide a foundation for the creation of a suitable ecosystem to improve the processes of business start-ups. The results show that the diffusion of SUCs is accompanied by deep structural changes, which can be interpreted as a consequence of the growing involvement of private organisations in promoting SUCs. Nevertheless, wide-ranging public intervention appears to be necessary to increase the effectiveness of SUCs
Internal resources and stakeholders engagement affecting environmental innovations: an exploratory research
Full text linkThe propensity towards the adoption of innovations has long been
considered an essential condition ensuring firms competitiveness in an increasingly
dynamic and turbulent globalized context. Today, however, companies must ensure
that these innovations are consistent with the pursuit of a model of sustainable development
that does not compromise the ability of future generations to reach at
least similar levels of well-being. This need requires to implement production systems
and processes that are as environmentally friendly as possible, as well as
those of workers. To this aim firms have to adopt environmental innovations.
Also prompted by specific regulatory interventions, this subject is attracting the
attention of many scholars from various disciplines. At managerial level, part of
the interest is directed towards identifying the factors that can encourage or support
investments in eco-innovations. In this context, the paper proposes an empirical
survey focused on a population of Italian enterprises characterized by a strong predisposition
to change and innovation in general. Findings shows a marked sensitivity
of these companies towards environmental innovations, while the investments
actually made still seem to be overal
Environmentally-conscious behaviours in the circular economy. An analysis of consumers' green purchase intentions for refurbished smartphones
Full text linkThe management of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is a hot issue for both the scientific community and practitioners. Among the strategies that lead a system to circularity, that of reconditioning (or refurbishing) appears to be very suitable and profitable for WEEE management. According to it, this paper aims to contribute to the existing literature on consumer behavior and Circular Economy by studying what determines the green purchase intention of a refurbished smartphone. By applying a Discriminant Analysis it was found that psychological factors, such as green perceived value and environmental knowledge, are the most powerful predictors of green purchase intention of refurbished smartphones, while social and emotional ones, i.e. collectivism, subjective norms and environmental concern, do not influence it. Our results can be useful to both remanufacturers and retailers of refurbished products to identify more effective marketing strategies, as well as to policymakers to define specific measures and policies able to improve the environmental concern of the end consumers
CAN UNIVERSITIES SUPPORT THE ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION? PUTTING ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION INTO PRACTICE
No full textWithin the context of university's third mission, the impact of entrepreneurial education (EE) on human capital and entrepreneurial intention (EI) has been extensively studied. However, the literature reveals that some research gaps exist. In this view, the paper investigates whether and how EE provided by a university business plan competition (BPC) affects the development of a definite set of knowledge and skills responsible for the emergence of EI among academics.
A theoretical model has been proposed to analyse the relationships among EE, entrepreneurship-related human capital (ErHC) and EI. Moreover, the effect of perception of the external environment has been considered. The model is tested by a structural equation modelling with empirical data from a population of academics of seven universities located in an Italian region.
Results reveal that EE influences both ErHC and EI. Moreover, a virtuous reinforcing circle between EI and ErHC exists which encourages individuals to make an entrepreneurial choice. Finally, a positive evaluation of the BPC context enhances the learning process and EI. Hence, entrepreneurial universities confirm to play a relevant role in the local economic development, even though the first mission of teaching remains crucial
Reply structure and participation in online conversations enabled by argumentation platforms: A real world experiment of collective deliberation in e-democracy
No full textIn this paper we report evidence from a collective deliberation experiment in which the supporters of a political party were asked to debate online about ways to reform the electoral law. We compared a forum with an argumentation platform, an online collaboration tool that supports the construction of a collective map representing the debate in terms of issues, proposals, pros and cons. We analyze the structural proprieties of the reply networks generated in the two conditions. Our findings show that forum generated more redundant ideas and highly central speakers, whereas the argumentation platform tested in this study favored viewing and rating of others’ posts, produced more arguments per idea, and promoted brokerage between users belonging to different subgroups
Digital Technologies supporting incubation processes: an analysis of Italian Incubators
No full textObjectives: this paper investigates the digitalization level of Italian incubators in pre-Covid and Covid
contexts, in the aim to understand how much strategic they consider digital technologies for their development
and success. In particular, the research aims at understanding the typologies of technologies adopted, the
extent of their usage to support the different phases of the entrepreneurial process, and the intensity of
investments made along this direction.
Prior Work: incubators play a central role for the creation of new ventures and the promotion of economic
development of territories. The Covid-19 emergency made more difficult the incubation process of companies
for the restrictions and limitations related to face-to-face relationships and physical meetings. At the same
time, the rapid development and adoption of digital technologies may reveal an effective instrument to allow
incubators for overcoming such difficulties and relaunch their activity, also during a pandemic period. Actually,
digital technologies may represent a key lever for the strategic positioning of incubators, overcoming the
geographical barriers and replacing the physical proximity with relational proximity. Accordingly, they can
renew and revitalize the entire value chain of the incubators, by offering new configurations of operational
activities that contribute to boost their competitiveness. However, it is still unclear how incubators can
leverage these technologies to facilitate and support their incubation processes.
Approach: we adopted a survey strategy by designing and delivering a questionnaire to incubators’
managers. We select the list of Italian certified incubators from the official register of the Italian Minister for the
Economic Development, and we study each incubators website to retrieve information about location, size,
and industry of reference.
Results: results show that most of Italian incubators show a low level of digitalization, as they use very few
digital technologies in limited incubation phases. Notwithstanding, some managers state that their digital level
is slightly improved due to the COVID-19 diffusion and the limitations imposed by governments. Finally, four
digital strategies pursued by Italian certified incubators were identified, namely: digital leaders, digital addicts,
digital explorers, and digital laggards.
Implications and Value: This research has implications for academics, practitioners and policy-makers. For
the academics, the study extends the incubator research stream by including the digital-technology level and
provides insights to increase their impact. Practitioners may use this research to understand how to increase
the digitalization of their activities, thus enlarging their strategic and operational scope, and improving their
performances. Policy-makers could use this research to define proper and more effective measures able to
support incubators, as well as startups in their digital transformation processes
Designing online collaboration for the individual and social good: A collective argumentation approach
No full textIn this paper we introduce and evaluate DebateHub, a new online discussion platform aimed at helping groups to share information to solve an issue via online argumentation. We test alternative visual widgets designed to provide the users with increased visibility and understanding of the content and interaction generated through their interaction. We introduce several user experience metrics including mutual understanding, quality of collaboration, and usability to systematically assess discussion-based collaboration. Finally, we compare alternative designs to identify which widgets' combination performs better with respect to the selected metrics. Our results show that visual augmentation produces better users' experience up to a certain point, after which the provision of extra visual feedback lowers the quality of the user experience. We offer our approach as an example of IS human-centered design in which the design of the platform features is driven by metrics associated with users' well-being and technology usefulness
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