956 research outputs found
From “Managing for Stakeholders” to “Managing with Stakeholders”: When Stakeholders Can Help Rescue a Company
No full textBy analyzing a case study, this paper aims to explore if and how an open dialogue with stakeholders helps to “articulate the meaning of the corporation and the sense of responsibility” (Wicks, Gilbert and Freeman 1994: 477) among stakeholders. To do that, a ‘relational view’ of the firm is adopted in which the corporation is constituted by the relationships with its stakeholders who constantly interact with it and with each other and give meaning and definition to the corporation. After a brief theoretical introduction on stakeholder dialogue, this chapter presents and analyses the case of F.lli Tomasoni, an organic dairy that was rescued from bankruptcy by its customers. Crucial in this case was the presence of consumer groups (Gruppi di acquisto solidali – GAS). The case shows how participation in consumer groups educates people to share meaning, values and practices and reinforces responsibility for their economic choices. They could be considered as a “community of practice” where ethical beliefs are shaped and put into concrete actions, and this leads to a different way of considering the relationship between the company and its stakeholders. Dialogue is not only a powerful tool for understanding and answering stakeholders’ interests, but also an effective means for communicating a company’s needs and expectations and, therefore, for co-creating mutual understanding and value-attunement among the various stakeholders
Apathy in corticobasal degeneration: possible parietal involvement
No full textCorticobasal degeneration is a rare disorder, which usually consists of a combination of complex movement disorders, apraxia and cortical changes. Its definition is still evolving and in 2013 an international consortium tried to develop new criteria, based on a systematic literature review. Over a long period of time, we carefully selected 23 patients who fulfilled the criteria for a diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration; all had the so-called corticobasal syndrome phenotype, in accordance with Armstrong et al. (2013). Through a dedicated study, we set out to study behavioral alterations, specifically apathy, and to compare the results obtained with those deriving from a well-defined Parkinson’s disease population.
On the basis of our limited but specific results, we argue for a possible role of the parietal neural networks as a determinant of apathy, and provide an overview of emerging data in the imaging and pathology literature
Signaling Through Innovation in IPOs
No full textThis study addresses the signaling power of corporate innovation indicators in the IPO market. Innovation measures can convey considerably different signals to public investors, depending on whether they quantify the firm’s commitment in innovative inputs, as in the case of R&D investments, or achieved outputs, as in the case of patents. This study aims at disentangling such effects. Using a sample of 382 high-tech entrepreneurial firms going public in Europe during 1998–2003, this paper studies the impact of a firm’s R&D intensity and number of patents on stock liquidity. Results reveal that IPO firms with larger R&D investments benefit from greater liquidity in the aftermarket, while the size of the patent portfolio does not exert any significant effect. This suggests that investors tend to participate more in IPOs by firms embedding greater innovation potential, as suggested by their level of R&D investments, while the number of patents does not drive their behavior
Interpreting desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR) analyses in observational studies in infectious diseases: caution still needed
No full text?Jacques Roumain, Signori della rugiada, trad. di Alessandro Costantini, Edizioni Lavoro?
No full textPresentation of the book "Signori della rugiada" of the author Jacques Roumain, translated by Alessandro Costantini.Presentazione del romanzo "Signori della rugiada" dell\u27autore Jacques Roumain, tradotto da Alessandro Costantini
Small vessel disease to subcortical dementia: A dynamic model, which interfaces aging, cholinergic dysregulation and the neurovascular unit
No full textBackground: Small vessels have the pivotal role for the brain’s autoregulation. The arteriosclerosis-dependent alteration of the brain perfusion is one of the major determinants in small vessel disease. Endothelium distress can potentiate the flow dysregulation and lead to subcortical vascular dementia (sVAD). sVAD increases morbidity and disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that sVAD shares with cerebrovascular disease most of the common risk factors. The molecular basis of this pathology remains controversial. Purpose: To detect the possible mechanisms between small vessel disease and sVAD, giving a broad vision on the topic, including pathological aspects, clinical and laboratory findings, metabolic process and cholinergic dysfunction. Methods: We searched MEDLINE using different search terms (“vascular dementia”, “subcortical vascular dementia”, “small vessel disease”, “cholinergic afferents”, etc). Publications were selected from the past 20 years. Searches were extended to Embase, Cochrane Library, and LILIACS databases. All searches were done from January 1, 1998 up to January 31, 2018. Results: A total of 560 studies showed up, and appropriate studies were included. Associations between traditional vascular risk factors have been isolated. We remarked that SVD and white matter abnormalities are seen frequently with aging and also that vascular and endothelium changes are related with age; the changes can be accelerated by different vascular risk factors. Vascular function changes can be heavily influenced by genetic and epigenetic factors. Conclusion: Small vessel disease and the related dementia are two pathologies that deserve attention for their relevance and impact in clinical practice. Hypertension might be a historical problem for SVD and SVAD, but low pressure might be even more dangerous; CBF regional selective decrease seems to be a critical factor for small vessel disease-related dementia. In those patients, endothelium damage is a super-imposed condition. Several issues are still debatable, and more research is ne
Scienza e razza nell'Italia fascista di G. Israel e P. Nastasi; Scienza italiana e razzismo fascista, di R. Majocchi
No full textOptimality conditions for an extended tumor growth model with double obstacle potential via deep quench approach
No full textIn this work, we investigate a distributed optimal control problem for an extended phase field system of Cahn–Hilliard type which physical context is that of tumor growth dynamics. In a previous contribution, the author has already studied the corresponding problem for the logarithmic potential. Here, we try to extend the analysis by taking into account a non-smooth singular nonlinearity, namely the double obstacle potential. Due to its non-smoothness behavior, the standard procedure to characterize the necessary conditions for the optimality cannot be performed. Therefore, we follow a different strategy which in the literature is known as the “deep quench” approach in order to obtain some optimality conditions that have to be interpreted in a more general framework. We establish the existence of optimal controls and some first-order optimality conditions for the system are derived by employing suitable approximation schemes
L'analisi e la riduzione della spesa come leva per la ricostruzione dei margini. Il caso ACP
No full textCirca il 30-40% delle spese indirette e generali di tipo industriale è di difficile analisi, in particolare ci riferiamo alla componentistica MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) ovvero i pezzi commerciali correlati all’operatività degli impianti e delle fabbriche; il cui valore rappresenta mediamente il 3% dei costi industriali. Le opportunità in termini di saving, potenzialmente, possono essere anche superiori al 20%.
I materiali commerciali rappresentano in buona parte materiali di tipo “C”, i cui volumi sono dispersi in un grande numero di item prodotti (tipicamente da decine a centinaia di migliaia i codici e ancor più le righe d’ordine). Sono parzialmente codificati e spesso hanno codifiche disomogenee tra i vari stabilimenti, Sistemi Informativi, cataloghi elettronici. Sono descritti in modo incompleto negli ordini, spesso le descrizioni sono composte da sigle, abbreviazioni, codifiche di fornitori; diverse per stabilimento e scritte in lingue diverse nei vari paesi.
Risulta pressoché impossibile analizzare questa spesa con metodi statistici (campionature) data l’estrema dispersione, né tantomeno analizzando i S.I. aziendali, data la mancanza di una rigorosa codifica omogenea e condivisa.
Quindi questa è una delle maggiori tipologie di spese normalmente non analizzata e fuori controllo.
I presupposti che hanno fatto scattare il processo di innovazione sono stati diversi:
– la presenza diffusa di sistemi gestionali, stabilimenti, lingue, codificatori, fornitori che non dialogano tra loro e possono annullare l’univocità della codifica di un codice prodotto. Questo è tanto più vero se un’impresa è globale o è spesso attiva nell’acquisire concorrenti, clienti o fornitori;
– una certa difficoltà nella gestione della componentistica commerciale fatta di domini vasti e caotici con clienti e bisogni che variano nel tempo;
– i prodotti hanno cicli di vita sempre più brevi e le informazioni necessarie o legate ai prodotti stessi sono disperse in fonti non strutturate.
Questi problemi generano inefficienze, scarsa produttività e livelli di servizio decrescenti.
Inoltre, le imprese globali lavorano su vari codici per vari paesi, che hanno un diverso sistema di codifica fornitore, diverse lingue e descrizioni. Questo genera numerose inefficienze nella gestione degli acquisti perché la riga d’ordine è il protocollo di comunicazione tra cliente e fornitore.
Il progetto ACP trae, dunque, origine dall’esigenza di ridurre la complessità e quindi di dare risposta a questi bisogni del mercat
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