Alessia Berni

Temporary project network and innovation: research on the Italian regional wine industry

Purpose – This study aims at exploring the characteristics of the Temporary Project Networks (TPNs) in small and medium‐sized wine producing enterprises, both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. It aims to discuss different types of temporary inter‐firm collaboration clusters both in terms of structural/organizational features and in terms of innovation tasks development. It also aims to develop an empirically derived taxonomy of TPNs within the Sannio wine industry.Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on the literature supporting the argument that the act of innovating is related strongly with the creation of new knowledge. In particular, the knowledge‐based theory places primary emphasis on inter‐organizational knowledge exchanges in explaining enhanced knowledge creation toward better innovative outcomes. The design of forms of coordination between companies is investigated with reference to TPNs, a form of collaboration that has been less investigated in the literature, especia...

Strong and Weak Events: How to Measure Them?

This paper is related to our previous work (submitted to the 6th New Institutional Workshop, Lyon, 2009) dealing with the analysis of the evolution of the Italian Temporary Work Agencies’ field (TWAs) through the new institutional logics approach. Through this approach, we aimed to analyze the TWAs that constitute a fairly young field which came into being in 1997. The process of rise and evolution of the TWAs’ field has been complex and lengthy. It has been characterized by different phases and several events that shaped and influenced actions and behaviors of individual and collective actors involved in the field.Last year during the workshop the discussion brought out the interest about the analysis of the events according to several variables. Therefore, this contribution represents a step forward focusing on the analysis of the events occurred in TWAs’ field. We focus on the methodological process used to identify and to measure the events relevant to the analysis of this organizational field.In light of these assumptions, the paper aims to identify the events occurred in the Italian TWAs’ field from 1986 to 2010. In addition, we aim to measure the strength of these events in order to find out which are the critical ones that caused the shift from one phase to another and from one institutional logic to another in the process of institutional change.

Evolution of Institutional Logics: The Emergence of the Temporary Work Agencies Field in Italy

This article shows the process of creation and evolution of an organizational field. By an in-depth longitudinal analysis, we investigate the field of Temporary Work Agencies in Italy (TWAs). The article focuses on how a field evolves over time. We delineate three phases of evolution - incubation, emergence and development - and we analyse events and the role of actors that have characterized them. Further, we identify the institutional logics that have strongly influenced the strategic and organizational behaviour of the actors involved in the Italian field of TWAs and their interactions. Therefore, to respond to this institutional complexity the actors have tried to influence with both individual and collective actions the logics themselves. The analysis shows that two competing logics have coexisted within the TWA field: the regulation logic, inspired by the social status and welfare, and the de-regulation logic, connected to the liberal and free-market model. Through the longitudinal analysis repeated in four different field studies, we have reconstructed the process of evolution of the field, describing the links between the different phases. Our research contributes to the institutional logic perspective fitting into the discussion on the coexistence of competing logics in an organizational field.

Organizational Design, Family Business and 'Good' Conflict: A Theoretical Model

The main purpose of the paper is to develop a theoretical model concerning the relations among some variables of organizational design and the level, type and nature of the conflict in family firms. The conflict is analyzed as a dependent variable with respect of: altruism, decisional power/decisional concentration (founder centrality), formal governance mechanisms (strategic planning) and generational involvement. The study examines how these four family and business characteristics ultimately affect the functioning of a family firm, discussing the expected effect of these variables on task, process and relationship conflict in family firms. The main implication is that if family firms manage to overcome relational conflict and exploit positively task and process conflict, they can grow and flourish across generations, providing more jobs, prosperity, and innovation to the economy.