Andrea Ganzaroli

The combined effect of technological relatedness and knowledge utilization on explorative and exploitative invention performance post-M & A

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the combined effect of Mergers and Acquisitions (M & A) partners’ technological relatedness and the acquirer’s effective utilization of the target’s knowledge on explorative and exploitative invention performance post-M & A. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the knowledge perspective of an M & A, this study measures how much of the target’s knowledge acquired in an M & A has been effectively transformed into new knowledge. A negative binomial regression on a cross-sectional data set of 152 bio-pharmaceutical firms (59 European firms and 93 North American firms) completing at least one M & A in the period between 2001 and 2005 is conducted. The effect of knowledge utilization is assessed by comparing performance six years before the M & A and six years after. Findings – The effective assimilation and utilization of acquired knowledge positively affects both acquirers’ explorative and exploitative performance post-M & As. The combined effect with te...

Knowledge utilisation drivers in technological M&As

Several contributions look at the effect of technological M&As on the acquirers technological performance. The knowledge-based perspective highlights the critical role that the acquirers targets knowledge absorption plays as the main driver in enhancing post-M&A technological performance. However, absorptive capacity is a rather complex construct, which includes assimilation, utilisation and transformation of the acquired knowledge. In this paper, we focus on knowledge utilisation and investigate two factors whose effects on post-M&A technological performance have been extensively highlighted: technological relatedness and managerial experience. We contribute to the existing literature with a better understanding of the factors underlying the utilisation of the knowledge acquired in M&As. This should help managers to enhance their capacity to manage integration process post-M&As. Our results are based on a cross-sectional data set of 152 biopharmaceutical acquirers that completed at least one M&A between 2001 and 2005.

Does Business Succession Enhance Firms' Innovation Capacity? Results from an Exploratory Analysis in Italian SMEs

Our main objective with this paper is to explore business transfer as as potential source of innovation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The literature on the subject has mainly focused to business succession as process through which ownership and control is transferred between generation of entrepreneurs. In this paper we argue that nowadays the aim of business succession should not only replace existing entrepreneurial resources, but enhancing firms’ innovation capacity. Our contribution moves into two major directions. The first explores the relationhip between business succession and innovation from a theoretical point of view. The second deepens such an understanding by assessing it on a sample of micro and small enterprises located in Emilia Romagna. We show that business transfer/succession in SMEs is not perceived as potential source of innovation. Business transfer still takes place mainly within the family. SMEs show little propensity to saparte ownership form management as way to enhance firms’ likelihood to survive to business transmission. Senior entrepreneurs’ show little propensity to invest on juniors’ training. As result juniors lack of an autonomous business vision and do not perceive themselves as the main driver of innovation. Such a perspective is even supported by seniors, who do not expect business succession to make any difference on the way business is currently managed

Immigrant entrepreneurship in the Milan metropolitan area: results from an empirical analysis

Immigrant entrepreneurship is increasingly regarded as a potential source of sustainable development. But even while this potential is gaining popularity, the available data are still not sufficient to establishing ad-hoc policies that would support the development of this form of entrepreneurship. This drawback of the current data is mainly due to its descriptive nature and macro character, which do not allow policymakers to address key factors in the start-up of new ventures, such as motivations for becoming an entrepreneur, barriers and enabling factors, and social and economic impacts at both the urban and regional level. The objective of this paper is to advance this area of research by investigating these issues in the context of 118 entrepreneurs currently working in the metropolitan area of Milan. Our results contradict some of the key assumptions generally accepted in literature.

The evolution of the social understanding of ethnic entrepreneurship: results from a bibliometric analysis of the literature

There is growing attention toward the role of ethnic entrepreneurship as a potential source of social integration and economic growth. Despite this recent interest, there is in fact a long tradition of studies focusing on ethnic entrepreneurship. Furthermore, there are also a number of qualitative literature reviews that attempt to systematise the main findings in this field of study. We contribute to existing literature by providing a more objective representation of how this concept has evolved on the basis of a bibliometric review of the literature. Our results are based on a sample of 102 publications published on this topic since 1990. Our main contribution is to show that the concept of ethnic entrepreneurship has evolved into three phases. In the first phase, scholars focused mainly on cultural factors in order to explain the differences in entrepreneurship across ethnic communities. In the second phase, the focus shifted toward the structure of opportunities available in the host society. Nowadays, scholars are focusing on the role of networking and embeddedness, and on the creation of seedbed conditions for the development of ethnic entrepreneurship in metropolitan areas.

A Scoreboard to Evaluate Clusters' Competitiveness in the Knowledge-Based Economy - An Empirical Study on Emilia Romagna Region

Abstract: Our main objective with this paper is to propose a scoreboard useful to assess clusters’ competitiveness in a knowledge-based economy. Our scoreboard is grounded on the concept of ecology of value. This concept highlights that the competitiveness of a network of small and medium enterprises depends on its capacity to leverage on firms’ strategic autonomy and self-determinacy by providing a context of interaction that is socially rich and adapted to sustain the development of intense ongoing relationships. In our scoreboard the concept of competitiveness is structured into two levels. The top level is made of a matrix that synthesizes cluster’s competitive position in terms of quality of the social capital available and of the learning process activated. The second level is made of three matrixes useful to deepen the reasons that contribute to define a cluster’s competitive position. We test our scoreboard in seven clusters of Emilia Romagna. Our scoreboard proves itself a useful benchmarking tool and a potential good support for policymaking. JEL Classification:

The rise of the Chinese regional cluster specializing in fashion in Lombardy: An evolutionary analysis

This paper aims to investigate the rise of a Chinese fashion cluster in Lombardy.,Three approaches and descending levels of analysis are integrated: a quantitative analysis based on demographic data to highlight the evolution of the regional distribution of the Chinese community and Chinese entrepreneurship in Lombardy; a literature review to reconstruct the historical development of Chinatown in Milan; and few in-depth interviews and a survey to represent how the Chinese living in Chinatown perceive the changing role of the enclave.,The Chinese in Lombardy are rising as a regional ethnic fashion cluster. This cluster is rising out of three major drivers: ethnic social capital as a source of community-based entrepreneurship; the crisis of traditional industrial districts in the 1990s as a trigger opportunity; and the trans-regionalization of the fashion industry as a main driver of its current development. The rise of this cluster is bottom-up.,The findings are based on a single case study. There are evidences showing that the Chinese are rising as regional and/or inter-regional clusters in other institutional settings. However, this study may benefit from comparisons with other institutional and national contexts.,Chinese entrepreneurship may foster regional growth as a complementary source of cultural variety, internationalization and multi-regional co-specialization.,Entrepreneurship may foster social cohesion and collaboration.,This paper contributes to existing literature by proposing a would-be theory of the evolution of regional ethnic clusters.

Local Embeddedness and Internationalization of SME: A Comparative Analysis of Nine Local Production System in Emilia Romagna

The purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate how the embedded-ness can influence the processes of internationalization among technology-based SME in nine industrial districts in Emilia Romagna. The analysis will be conducted using a statistical sample of SME extract from each district. Some papers demonstrate that many technology-based smaller firms are engaged in a range of internationalization network and internationalization processes, including internationalization of markets, research collaboration, labor recruitment, ownership and facilities location. Technology-intense firms reporting high levels of internationalization also differ significantly from those which are more nationally-oriented, for example in terms of size, age, research intensity, university links, and innovativeness. There are also differences with respect to recent growth rates. So, as a final conclusion, we would like to understand if these considerations can be applied to the Emilia Romagna environment and, more in general, to the Italian market. If it cannot work it would be our purpose to define the reasons why the Italian market would be different in term of relationship between local embedded-ness and degree of internationalization in a technology-oriented perspective.

On the Civic Role of Firms in Emerging Ecologies of Value

Knowledge is the main competitive assets in today economy. This resource, differently from the others firms have traditionally managed, increases its value through sharing and diffusing. Adoption, in fact, does not only contribute to increase its trustworthiness, but also to broadening its scope and application. The development of global digital infrastructures such as Internet has even enhanced the potential advantages that may derive from sharing knowledge. In this paper the development of ecologies of value, context of knowledge sharing where parties partecipate to the production of a collective value, is presented as alternative strategy to protecting the value of knowledge through intellectual property right. Being able to leverage on the potential disclosed by collective interaction in ecology of values requires participants not exploiting open accessibility to their own advantage. This calls for the emergence of a new ethic. An ethic of the abundance, where people develop a complete consciousness of the potential deriving from sharing knowledge for their own success and happiness. The role of firms in emerging ecologies of value is to promote the development of such an ethic by setting up context of interaction that are open, based on tolerance and mutual transparency