Angelo Riviezzo

The role of stakeholders in town centre management: guidelines for identification and analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the identification of stakeholders involved in town centre management (TCM) projects and the main areas of intervention according to their interests and needs.Design/methodology/approach – The proposed framework is tested in the town of Benevento, Italy. On the basis of stakeholder theory, key stakeholders were interviewed according to the different kinds of linkages they had with the TCM organisation.Findings – Results from the paper support a stakeholder‐based approach to the development of TCM projects. In addition, a set of categories is proposed to define and evaluate the overall town centre offer.Practical implications – The proposed framework can be used by cities or towns for the evaluation of the role of different public and private stakeholders in TCM projects, and for the assessment of their “stake” in the town centre.Originality/value – Despite the need to promote a partnership approach between the public and private sectors havin...

The institutional education and training for entrepreneurship development in the Italian Universities

The role of the University in triggering the innovation processes and supporting the local development has been recognised for a long time. Universities have a strategic task in generating and sustaining economic growth, especially regarding the successful commercialisation of the scientific research results and the wide promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit. Although entrepreneurship may be influenced by different factors, there is certainly a cultural aspect that needs to be taken into account and, in this respect, education may offer an important contribution. However, the collection of quantitative data and figures on education for entrepreneurship is, in most countries, still very limited. This paper seeks to provide a picture of the current situation in Italy at the University level, identifying the entrepreneurship chairs and activities promoted inside the 78 Italian Universities. The overall goal is to reach a better understanding of the nature and scope of the existing measures and programmes.

Acquisitions in knowledge-intensive industries: Exploring the distinctive characteristics of the effective acquirer

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of specific variables, that are strategic orientations, organizational model and prior acquisitions experience, in the management of acquisitions that are not motivated exclusively by financial objectives. Design/methodology/approach - Multiple cases have been developed, selecting frequent acquirers and analysing the dynamics of acquisitions implementation. Within-case analysis was aimed at describing the acquisition and integration processes experienced by the selected firms, identifying the role of the researched variables in each phase and their impact on the acquisition outcomes. Thereafter, cross-case analysis was used to look for the presence of similarities across multiple cases. The organizational characteristics under investigation are proposed as hallmarks of the effective acquirer in knowledge-intensive industries. Findings - Characteristics such as the market orientation, the entrepreneurial orientation, the organizational model, the experience in acquisitions management and the investments in knowledge codification emerged from the cases as critical in managing acquisitions that are mainly motivated by the need of the acquirer to have access to knowledge-based resources of the target. Research limitations/implications - The paper gives a contribution to the debate going on in literature about the role of new variables in explaining the acquisitions success or failure and the non-financial motives for acquisitions. It tries to bring the expertise showed by certain firms in managing acquisitions in knowledge-based industries to specific and, until now, under-researched features that characterize them. The main limitation of the study is the generalizability of the developed framework, due to the bounded number and the nature of case studies. All the examined firms operate in the field of IT services and all the considered acquisitions are horizontal. Originality/value - Even if literature has long emphasized the need to prioritize the multiple aspects of the acquisition process and discussed the role of multiple variables in explaining the variance in acquisitions outcomes, empirical research has not completely identified the antecedents of the acquisitions performance and has traditionally overlooked the non-financial motives for acquisitions. This study focuses on high-tech industries, where acquisitions are motivated mainly by motives other than financial, and investigates the role of specific and under-researched characteristics of the acquirer firms.

Who wants to live forever: exploring 30 years of research on business longevity

This article presents a systematic review of the existing literature on business longevity by conducting a bibliometric analysis of 142 papers published in the leading business history and management journals during the last three decades. The results show similarities (e.g. in explanatory models) and differences (e.g. in citation patterns, theories, and methods) between the disciplines, thus indicating that the literature is partially segmented into separate domains that prevent business longevity research from representing a truly unified field of study.

Italian Universities and the Third Mission: A Longitudinal Analysis of Organizational and Educational Evolution towards the ‘Entrepreneurial University’

This paper examines the diffusion of entrepreneurial activities among Italian universities, the evolution of the organizational models implemented to facilitate such activities and the commitment of the universities to the Third Mission of social and economic development. As previous analyses have shown, Italian universities have only recently moved towards the valorisation and exploitation of their scientific knowledge. In contrast to the varied and in some cases openly hostile attitudes of the past, there now seems to be greater acceptance of and a more positive approach towards entrepreneurship. Many universities have introduced innovations both in the organizational processes and activities of scientific research and in the management of research results. Because empirical evidence is very limited, the authors have used a longitudinal analysis to contribute to debate on the subject, with a discussion of the evolution of universities currently engaged in such activities and identification of possible changes in their cultures.

Attractiveness of European Higher Education in Entrepreneurship: A Strategic Marketing Framework

Major steps are currently being taken to make Europe an attractive destination for foreign students willing to increase their competencies and skills. They include the creation of a comparable structure of study courses; the mutual recognition of diplomas; the assessment of academic institutions and programs based on common quality standards; the granting of financial incentives for geographical mobility of students and staff; and, more recently, the adoption of a strategic marketing approach. Significant efforts are in fact aimed to create a clear European “identity” in higher education, by improving the availability and accessibility of information on studying in Europe and by enhancing the attractiveness, profile, visibility and image of European higher education worldwide. Coherently with the Lisbon Strategy – whose aim was to make the European Union «the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion» by 2010 – a great emphasis has been given to the promotion of the European Union as an educational destination and a centre of excellence at world level. In particular, within the Erasmus Mundus Programme1 several projects have been financed with the aim of promoting and rising awareness of the European higher education sector. Furthermore, within the Erasmus Mundus Global Promotion Project (GPP), a European brand – “Study in Europe” – has been built upon perceived strengths and with the aim to overcome negative perceptions; a web portal has

Assessing the Entrepreneurial Orientation of University Departments. A Comparative Study Between Italy and Spain

This paper aims at empirically measuring the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of university departments and the impact it has on their ability to generate patents and spin-offs from research. Moving from a recent operazionalization of universities’ EO developed by a group of scholars in Canada, we used a web-based questionnaire to collect information from 206 heads of department of Italian and Spanish universities. Through a multiple regression analysis we assessed the relationship between departments’ EO and performance, expressed in terms of patents and spin-offs. Our findings show that the EO significantly affects the ability of university departments to generate patents and spin-offs. However, not all the dimensions we used to operationalize the EO play the same role. In this sense, our study shows that much more attention should be paid to the context-specific conditions, that can definitively affect the results and the relationships between the investigated variables. Implications, limitations and future improvements of the research are discussed.

“C’era una volta…”. Racconti d’imprese storiche della manifattura campana

Purpose of the paper : The main aim of this paper is to analyze the content of the stories of some long-lived companies in order to identify recurring elements and examine the rhetoric used in the narrative. Methodology : The empirical research is based on the statistical-lexical analysis of twelve stories of manufacturing firms belonging to an association of historical family firms called “I Centenari”. The text of the stories, told by the voice of the entrepreneurs, was analyzed by using a software. Findings : Our analysis shows a significant similarity between the stories. All the stories are built on three key narrative themes: the story of the family; the story of the business in which it is involved; the elements capable of shaping the identity of the family. Research limits : The main limitation of the study relates to the number and characteristics of the firms involved. They are all manufacturing firms and all from the same region. Furthermore, the study focused only on the content of the stories, ignoring other perspectives, such as that related to the marketing potential of the stories themselves or the involvement of other stakeholders. Practical implications : From the experience narrated by long-lived family firms it is possible to draw valuable insights for the enhancement of longevity in a marketing-oriented perspective. Originality of the paper : The literature that uses the story as a tool for researching on organizational dynamics has never focused on the analysis of the precise elements shared by the stories of long-lived firms. The present study is the first with such an objective. Italian Obiettivo del pape r: L’obiettivo del presente lavoro e analizzare il contenuto delle storie di alcune imprese longeve al fine di identificare gli elementi ricorrenti ed esaminare la retorica utilizzata nel ripercorrere le vicende centenarie che le caratterizzano. Metodologia : La ricerca empirica si basa sull’analisi statistico-lessicale di dodici storie d’imprese manifatturiere appartenenti all’Associazione Aziende Storiche Familiari Campane “I Centenari”. Le storie, raccontate dalla viva voce dei protagonisti attuali delle imprese, sono state trascritte e il testo analizzato con l’ausilio di un software. Risultati : L’analisi condotta evidenzia una significativa similarita tra le storie. Tutti i racconti sono costruiti su tre essenziali temi narrativi: le vicende della famiglia; le vicende del business in cui essa e coinvolta; gli elementi in grado di plasmare l’identita della famiglia imprenditoriale. Limiti della ricerca : Il limite principale dello studio attiene alla numerosita e alle caratteristiche delle imprese coinvolte. Si tratta esclusivamente d’imprese manifatturiere e tutte campane. Inoltre, viene privilegiata l’analisi dei contenuti dei racconti, trascurando altre prospettive, come quella legata alle potenzialita di marketing dei racconti stessi o al coinvolgimento di altri stakeholder. Implicazioni pratiche : Dal vissuto narrato dalle imprese familiari longeve e possibile trarre spunti preziosi per la valorizzazione della longevita in ottica marketing-oriented. Originalita del lavoro : La letteratura che utilizza il racconto come strumento di ricerca sulle dinamiche aziendali non si e mai soffermata sull’analisi puntuale degli elementi che accomunano le storie di imprese longeve. Il presente studio costituisce il primo con siffatto obiettivo.

“Il tempo è lo specchio dell’eternità”. Strategie e strumenti di heritage marketing nelle imprese longeve italiane / “Il tempo è lo specchio dell’eternità” (Time is the mirror of eternity). Heritage marketing strategies and tools In Italian long-lived firms

Il lavoro mira a indagare l’effettivo grado di utilizzo da parte delle imprese longeve italiane dei molteplici strumenti potenzialmente a disposizione per valorizzare in chiave strategica il proprio vissuto storico. A tal fi ne, si propone una sistematizzazione della letteratura sul tema atta a identificare in maniera puntuale i vari strumenti di heritage marketing e, successivamente, se ne indaga l’effettiva diffusione. In particolare, sono state raccolte e analizzate informazioni accurate sulle attivita realizzate da 238 imprese di medie e grandi dimensioni iscritte nel Registro nazionale delle imprese storiche italiane di Unioncamere. L’indagine ha rivelato che le imprese longeve approcciano i singoli strumenti di heritage marketing in modo sperimentale e in mancanza di una visione integrata. Sono una minoranza quelle che mostrano di percepire i vantaggi di una convinta e pluriforme azione di valorizzazione del proprio vissuto storico. Il lavoro costituisce il primo esempio d’indagine su larga scala volta a investigare l’utilizzo dei diversi strumenti di heritage marketing e, rispetto a precedenti studi, si distingue per la numerosita delle imprese analizzate e per la completezza e l’eterogeneita degli strumenti considerati. The main aim of this study is to understand if and how Italian long-lived firms are oriented towards a strategic exploitation of their cultural and historical heritage. To this aim, first we reviewed the extant literature on the topic in order to identify the different tools potentially available to implement a heritage marketing strategy and, then, we investigated their actual level of use. A desk research covered 238 medium and large firms entered in the National Register of Italian Historical Firms edited by Unioncamere. For each firm we collected timely information about the different activities of heritage marketing carried out. Our study reveals that long-lived firms approach the single tools of heritage marketing experimentally and without an integrated vision. There is just a minority of firms showing to perceive the advantages of a convinced and multiform action of exploitation of their cultural and historical heritage. This paper is the first example of large-scale investigation aimed at observing the use of different tools of heritage marketing. Compared to previous studies, it is distinguished by the number of firms surveyed and the heterogeneity of tools considered.

Orientamento imprenditoriale e performance: un’indagine tra le università italiane

Obiettivo del paper : Il lavoro si propone di misurare empiricamente l’orientamento imprenditoriale dei dipartimenti delle universita italiane e verificare l’impatto che esso ha sulla capacita di generare brevetti e imprese spin-off della ricerca. Metodologia : E stato inviato un questionario web-based a 238 direttori di dipartimento, ottenendo 103 risposte utili. Un’analisi di regressione multipla ha poi consentito di indagare il legame tra l’orientamento imprenditoriale e le performance dei dipartimenti. Risultati : L’orientamento imprenditoriale impatta significativamente sulla capacita dei dipartimenti universitari di generare brevetti e imprese spin-off della ricerca. Tuttavia non tutte le variabili utilizzate per misurare il costrutto teorico, derivate da un precedente studio, rivestono lo stesso ruolo. Limiti della ricerca : Un limite dello studio e rappresentato dalla numerosita del campione ottenuto e dal fatto che l’indagine e concentrata solo in Italia. Inoltre, per l’analisi statistica dei risultati si sarebbero potuti impiegare approcci piu evoluti. Implicazioni pratiche : Il lavoro integra il tradizionale approccio alla valutazione della capacita imprenditoriale delle universita che si limita a considerare i risultati, ma spesso non ne indaga le determinanti strategiche. Inoltre individua i fattori sui quali occorre intervenire, a livello di singoli dipartimenti o di ateneo, per sostenere l’imprenditorialita accademica. Originalita del paper : La letteratura esistente sul tema dell’universita imprenditoriale ha tradizionalmente approfondito le implicazioni organizzative del nuovo modello rispetto a quelle strategiche. Il lavoro considera l’orientamento strategico come un fattore decisivo per l’imprenditorialita accademica, misurandone empiricamente l’impatto.