Enzo Peruffo

Knowledge Spillovers from FDI: A Critical Review from the International Business Perspective

This paper reviews and organizes the theoretical and empirical research on foreign direct investment (FDI) knowledge spillovers from the international business perspective. In doing so, it develops a framework for the analysis of this phenomenon. The suggested FDI knowledge spillover framework integrates both the macro‐level (country, industry, institutions) and micro‐level (multinational firm, headquarters, subsidiary, local firms) antecedents of spillovers with their consequences, and proposes to analyse spillovers along three main attributes that characterize their occurrence, i.e. their magnitude, scope and speed.

Revitalising the Outsourcing Discourse within the Boundaries of Firms Debate

Despite outsourcing has been at the core of managerial practice and literature for a long time, still authors do not agree on a clear understanding of the overall outsourcing process. This article answers two main questions, relevant to researchers and practitioners: 1.What are the main findings so far in outsourcing literature? 2. What do we still need to learn? Through a comprehensive review of the literature, we offer systematization of the existent body of knowledge on outsourcing, its implications on firms’ boundaries, and the theoretical challenges. In conclusion, implications for managers are drawn.

Innovating Through Clusters

This paper focuses on innovation performance and investigates the impact of clusters, or localized networks involving industrial, academic and institutional players, in the pharmaceutical setting; we aim to enrich the line of inquiry into cluster-based innovation by applying a social network analysis (SNA) approach. The cluster concept has been defined in ambiguous ways, corresponding to a large variety of spatial and organizational concrete configurations. By analysing the U.S. pharmaceutical context, we show the structural and nodal network characteristics of the clusters and we shed some light on the “small-world” effects of the structural holes.

La creazione di valore nelle strategie di disinvestimento: evidenze dal contesto europeo

Purpose of the paper : In this work, we analyze the role of pre-divestiture performance on the divestiture’s value creation in the context of European countries. Specifically, we explore the existence of potential interaction effects between pre-divestiture performance and the presence of blockholder and the degree of relatedness between the divesting firm core business and the divested business unit. Methodology : Econometric analysis on a unique dataset of 147 divestitures across thirteen countries is used to test the hypotheses. Findings : The pre-divestiture performance of the parent firm moderates the impact of both the blockholder and the relatedness on the parent’s post divestiture performance. Our findings indicate that when prior performance is higher, the impact of the presence of a blockhdolder on parent performance is less positive, while the impact of unrelatedness between the divesting firm’s core business and the divested business unit is less negative. Research limits: While our empirical analysis controls for the two most common modes of divestiture - spinoffs and sell-offs, we were not able to focus on homogeneous samples of divestiture deal types. Future work might more systematically test for differences across these modes, for instance through separate samples. Practical Implication : From a managerial point of view, executives need to be aware that divestiture strategies do not only represent tools to remedy to wrong managerial decisions, but rather can also be used to pursue the firm’s growth. Moreover, they should consider that ownership structure and relatdness may affect the performance of the divestiture deal in ways that are dependent on the pre-divestiture performance. This may lead managers to modify the timing and overall design of their divestiture strategies. Originality of the paper : Our study contributes to the divestiture literature by addressing the research gap on the determinants of the parent performance in European countries through a focus on pre-divestiture performance.

Spin-off and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Parent companies usually undertake corporate spin-offs to cope with higher competitive environments or when, in high technology industries, the differences between R&D investments and intangible assets are larger. Consistent with the recent “positive view“, spin-offs can be considered as a “proactive strategic choice” to foster innovation, develop new activities, being different from past strategic initiatives and, more generally, not being strictly connected to the corporate strategy of the firm. In order to investigate the relation between divestiture decisions and innovation, we conduct an explorative case study in the pharmaceutical industry to show how spin-offs can help firms to explore new opportunities for innovation, search for new funding and push to create the basis for future development.

How Technogym Created the Wellness Industry

Based on the philosophy mens sana in corpore sano, Technogym is considered by some analysts to be the leading global promoter of wellness. A common expression used to define Technogym stakeholders is “The Wellness Company.” Its founder, the Italian entrepreneur Nerio Alessandri, has transformed a startup based on fitness equipment into an international and competitive business, always convinced that “dream, vision, work, desire and effort have been the fundamental ingredients to succeed.”

Concluding Remarks and Avenues for Future Research

This chapter summarizes the most relevant findings of this volume and discusses the main contributions for both family business and innovation research streams. It proposes an integrative framework that accounts for the multifaceted relationship linking family firms and innovation output. The main limitations of this book are also discussed to open up a research agenda and stimulate future research into this promising area of inquiry.

Theoretical Perspectives on Family Firms

This chapter offers a general perspective on family firms—the most widespread form of business organization. It begins with an analysis of various possible definitions of “family firm,” distinguishing two main approaches: components-of-involvement and essence. This assessment establishes a challenge to traditional views that treat family firms as homogeneous. Next, a review of existing literature provides a systematic summary of the primary theoretical approaches adopted to investigate family firms: agency theory, the resource-based view of the firm, stewardship theory, and the behavioral agency model. This chapter concludes with a discussion of how the behaviors, goals, and interests of family firm owners define their firms’ strategic decisions and performance.

Family Firm Innovation in the Global Pharmaceutical Industry

This chapter describes the global pharmaceutical industry, focusing on its most important characteristics and competitive dynamics. Several features of this industry question the fit of families as an adequate ownership and governance category. This chapter devotes special attention to analyzing the role of innovation, in reference to established literature that has extensively investigated the most important technological trajectories and discontinuities that characterize the industry’s evolution, and focuses on the most recent technological dynamics and current organization of innovative activities. Finally, a dedicated focus on the Italian context helps illustrate the country-level environmental conditions that shape the conduct of Italian family firms, as analyzed in Chap. 5.

Family Business and Technological Innovation: Evidence from the Italian Pharmaceutical Industry

This chapter analyzes family and non-family firms’ innovative activity performance in the Italian pharmaceutical industry. By taking stock of literature on family firms and innovation management, as reviewed in Chaps. 2 and 3, it develops theoretical arguments regarding the multidimensional involvement of families in the innovative performance of Italian pharmaceutical firms, in terms of both the scale and quality of innovation. This chapter includes an empirical section that describes data sources, details the data collection process, and explains the methodology for the data analysis. It concludes by presenting and discussing the empirical findings and drawing conclusions from this evidence.