Luca Dezi

How MNC’s subsidiaries may improve their innovative performance? The role of external sources and knowledge management capabilities

Purpose This paper aims at exploring the effect of knowledge management (KM) practices on the relationship between external research and development (R&D) and innovative performance. The authors argue that the firms which develop and possess superior KM capabilities have the ability to better manage external knowledge and combine it with the internal one. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a sample of 117 European MNC subsidiaries. An OLS regression analysis was carried out to evaluate the moderator effect of KM on the relationship between external R&D and innovative performance. Findings The authors found positive evidences in favor of a moderator effect of KM. This means that subsidiaries with superior KM capabilities are more effective in using external R&D, augmenting the magnitude of their external sources of knowledge and, consequently, improving their innovative performance. Practical implications Managerially speaking, both corporate and subsidiaries’ managers need to understand the relevance of managing knowledge effectively and efficiently at the subsidiary level. Corporate managers need to allocate more resources (both financial and managerial) to the subsidiaries that are active in knowledge transfer and sharing, while subsidiaries managers need to implement practically the KM tools and processes at the subsidiary organizational level to improve subsidiary’s innovative performance. Originality/value This paper contributes mainly to the KM field, highlighting the importance of KM at the subsidiary level, whereas most of previous studies focus on different units of analysis.

The bank of things: An empirical investigation on the profitability of the financial services of the future

The aim of this research is to study the existing relationship between the products offered by the banks of things and the relative Return on Equity (ROE). This can be used to highlight the benefit of carrying out investments to transform traditional banks into banks of things.,The sample used in this empirical research contained 3,692 banks that, in 2013, were located in 28 European countries. To determine whether the IoT has an effect on the banks’ profitability, the authors employed the classification analysis method (Classification and regression tree).,The empirical analysis shows that a high ROE for banks is expressed by the following features: 1) banks offer IoT retail services to customers; 2) banks offer IoT corporate services to customers; 3) banks offer customers a large number of home banking services; 4) finally, banks offer customers a large number of traditional investment services.,Our survey covers a sample of European banks. It would be necessary to extend the sample to other geographical areas. It would be possible to generalize the results.,Scientific research on the implications of the “Bank of things” are still few and fragmented.

The intellectual capital of business incubators

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework to analyze the intellectual capital (IC) of new generation business incubators. Design/methodology/approach – The paper carries out a literature-based analysis of the different components of the IC of business incubators and develops a conceptual framework that links the business incubators’ IC to the IC of incubated firms. Findings – The paper provides an analytical model able to support practitioners and scholars to better understand and evaluate the IC criticalities and requirements of incubators. The notion of incubation path is developed. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the extant literature about the intangible assets of business incubators by analyzing in detail how these structures use their IC to perform their activities.

Unpacking open innovation neighborhoods: le milieu of the lean smart city

The purpose of this paper is to satisfy a clear gap in the main field of open innovation research whereabouts a very little scholarship try to analyze the mechanisms of innovative milieu down smart cities environments by applying through innovative projects that seem to support efficiently the entry of private firms and citizens in public collaborations.,The research performed an exploratory and qualitative evaluation based on the case study method built on the evaluation of organizational behavior and urban boosting innovation through smart city initiatives. In doing so, after a literature review in smart city as well in lean methodology fields, the case of Turin Smart City follows.,As acknowledged by international literature, the paper shows how a lean approach enables local government to define and realize smart projects and initiatives in a faster and more effective way. Particularly, the government in one of the main cities in Italy, id est Turin, combines a lean methodology with the job-to-be done approach, according a new concept of smart initiatives involving a startup mentality for the lead users which enables interesting predictions relating the human aspects of open collaborations.,The specificity of this inquiry highlights valuable insights from double-gate smart cities’ innovation, social and urban as well. The research is largely interpretative and exploratory and while this provides a solid scientific foundation for further research, it does not, itself, subject any hypothesis to statistical testing and validation.,Since the city approached the smart city subject in a lean way, it was able to realize some projects in a faster way. Through specific initiatives, the city acquires the ability to involve more and better all its stakeholders such as citizens, companies, and public employees, among others. In this regard, the paper invigorates managerial debates concerning the urban and social aspects of open innovation ecosystems which represent in our minds a superior level of open innovation, testbeds of positive knowledge, and stimulus of knowledge dissemination process around the city.

Improving innovation performance through knowledge acquisition: the moderating role of employee retention and human resource management practices

Purpose This paper aims to study the effects of knowledge acquisition on innovation performance and the moderating effects of human resource management (HRM), in terms of employee retention and HRM practices, on the above-mentioned relationship. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 129 firms operating in a wide array of sectors has been used to gather data through a standardized questionnaire for testing the hypotheses through ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models. Findings The results indicate that knowledge acquisition positively affects innovation performance and that HRM moderates the relationship between knowledge acquisition and innovation performance. Originality/value With the increasing proclivity towards engaging in open innovation, firms are likely to face some tensions and opportunities leading to a shift in the management of human resources. This starts from the assumption that the knowledge base of the firm resides in the people who work for the firm and that some HRM factors can influence innovation within firms. Despite this, there is a lack of research investigating the link between knowledge acquisition, HRM and innovation performance under the open innovation lens. This paper intends to fill this gap and nurture future research by assessing whether knowledge acquisition influences innovation performance and whether HRM moderates such a relationship.

L’esperienza delle public utilities locali: un modello di rapporto impresa-territorio?

Dopo un primo inquadramento concettuale, il presente lavoro propone un’analisi dei servizi di pubblica utilita a livello nazionale secondo diverse prospettive, soffermandosi sulla struttura delle filiere produttive delle principali public utilities. Considerato il ruolo tradizionalmente svolto dalle imprese municipalizzate nell’ambito dei servizi di pubblica utilita, il paper intende indagare i motivi del successo e del declino di tale tipologia di intervento pubblico. Tra le ragioni di insuccesso si ravvisa, significativamente, la diffusa percezione di insoddisfazione da parte dei cittadini-clienti, in particolare per quanto riguarda i livelli di qualita offerti in situazioni di monopolio. Tuttavia, anche i processi legati all’apertura del mercato pongono alcuni dubbi e problemi che meritano una riflessione approfondita e pongono l’accento sulla necessita di far si che i business ad alta redditivita non vengano privilegiati a scapito di altri che pur conservano una rilevante valenza sociale. Al fine di riuscire a bilanciare gli aspetti di governance locale con le sinergie di business derivanti da possibili aggregazioni, il presente contributo propone quindi un modello a supporto dei processi decisionali, nel quale viene esplicitato il peso specifico assegnato a ciascuna delle variabili in gioco. L’analisi del rapporto tra impresa e territorio nei termini sopra enunciati prospetta, infine, anche la possibilita - attraverso la considerazione della particolare natura delle reti infrastrutturali – di ridisegnare la trama dei rapporti tra enti locali, imprese locali di pubblici servizi ed istituzioni finanziarie radicate nel territorio. Key words: servizi di pubblica utilita, qualita, liberalizzazione, governance, sinergie di business, radicamento locale

Competitiveness in new technology-based firms: between local high-tech clusters and global technological markets

This paper adopts a resource-based view (RBV) and analyses what conditions support the local and international competitiveness of small companies in both their local high-tech clusters (HCs) and global markets. The question we are trying to address in this paper is therefore: what makes the resources in a new technology-based firm (NTBF) sources of competitive advantages both within its local industrial network and on global markets? We argue that NTBF resources (especially those related to knowledge and expertise of firms) are likely to achieve both goals solely if they are both locally homogeneous and globally heterogeneous. Resources that fail to fulfil these two conditions can only be effective in one (or maybe neither) of these two external environments.

Economic Performance and Capital Structure Choices: A Nonparametric Analysis of the Southern Italian Textile-Clothing Industry

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between the economic performance of a sample of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in the southern Italian textile-clothing industry and the different financial structures they may have chosen to adopt, and then to examine the extent to which the performance itself may change the economic burden imposed by the various financial sources available to these companies. Performance data were collected through the AIDA Bureau Van Dijk Electronic Publishing (BvDEP) database, while an online questionnaire allowed data collection of the other variables. The results of a Mann-Whitney U test show that the financial structures chosen by the SMEs under investigation are closely linked to their economic performance, which in turn changes the burden of some of the available funding sources. Limitations and recommendations for future research are presented.

The link between mergers and acquisitions and innovation: A systematic literature review

The link between mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and innovation has been analysed in both corporate finance studies and the innovation literature. Despite this attention and the practical evidence that highlights different connections between these two terms, there is a need to investigate the latest trends with regard to these important topics, and to put a particular focus on the emerging paradigm of open innovation. Thus, this paper aims to provide a systematic literature review (SLR) about the relationship between M&As and the concept of innovation in the current scenario.,Through an SLR from 2012 to June 2017, 55 papers have been identified and analysed to give a better understanding of the motivations and the methodologies adopted in past studies.,This paper identifies various conceptual and research methodological characteristics of studies that have connected, directly or indirectly, M&As and innovation in recent years. In addition, the results highlight a scarcity of studies that explicitly or implicitly refer to the open innovation paradigm, marking only a partial understanding of this emerging phenomenon.,This paper improves the knowledge on the link between extraordinary corporate transactions and innovation, and it highlights that a clear consensus, particularly regarding the open innovation paradigm, is lacking. Thus the authors propose that future studies should carefully evaluate M&As by following the open innovation approach.