Lucia Marchegiani

Online business social network e strumenti per la gestione delle relazioni di business nelle PMI

Lo sviluppo tecnologico negli ultimi anni ha creato nuove opportunita di business per le imprese rendendo piu efficienti i processi interni alle organizzazioni e consentendo di individuare nuovi e piu potenti strumenti per condurre e sviluppare business di successo. L’accelerazione del Web 2.0 ha fatto emergere aspetti gestionali e di marketing circa la possibilita di superare gli schemi di commercializzazione di tipo push attraverso strumenti tecnologici innovativi Internet-based. Il nostro articolo mette in evidenza come uno strumento di tipo Business Social Network possa aiutare le PMI a consolidare una valida Social Media Strategy e migliorare il proprio network di relazioni.

The two-sided coin of innovative mobile telecommunication market

Technological convergence, digitalization of contents, alongside with the miniaturization of the devices have rendered the mobile phone a powerful instrument in the hand of the end-costumer. Moreover, an even greater effect has been provoked in the supply side of the market. In fact, operators urge to pay attention to the market for complementary assets. We argue in this paper that, in light of the recent innovations, the mobile telecommunication market has become a two-sided market, and that the mobile network operators should reshape their competitive behavior accordingly.

Innovation, Internationalization, and ICTs: Mediation Effects of Technology on Firms Processes of Growth

As innovation and internationalization have increasingly gained importance as core strategies in the processes of growth of firms, it becomes also relevant in the managerial studies related to ICT and to information systems to understand whether such technologies may influence the outcome of these strategic paths. This study focuses on the relevance of ICT adoption in fostering knowledge accumulation, with specific respect to international markets and innovation efforts of firms, and thus in influencing the growth of the international firms.

Experience as a source of knowledge in divestiture decisions: emerging issues and knowledge management implications

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the idea that experience acts as an antecedent in divestiture and triggers an organisational learning process that enables the divesting firm to convert experience into knowledge, increasing the probability that a firm will undertake subsequent divestitures. Design/methodology/approach The approach is quantitative. The research project used a case–control design, with a sample consisting of 274 divesting and non-divesting firms. Given the dichotomous nature of the dependent variable, the relations of the research model are tested using logistic regression. Findings The likelihood of a divestiture increases when firms have already had past experience of divestitures. Firm performance and firm size act as moderating variables, that is, the learning effects are weaker in firms with better past performance and also in larger firms. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to the literature on organisational learning and divestiture. In particular, the knowledge obtained from previous divestitures is positively related to subsequent ones. The results on firm size and performance as contingency factors make it possible to distinguish between the different learning mechanisms in proactive and reactive divestitures, as well as in larger and smaller firms. Accordingly, a two-level framework of experience and knowledge is proposed. Practical implications The results are of interest for practitioners who need a better understanding of the antecedents of their strategic actions in terms of past experience and knowledge. The study also offers insights into the knowledge management practices that fit into the proposed two-level framework of knowledge accumulation. Originality/value The originality of the study consists in the strong evidence of learning effects in divestitures that it finds. This study augments a promising line of research on the effect of experience in rare strategic decisions, enriching our understanding of the learning mechanisms associated with complex experiences.

Collaborative Spaces and Coworking as Hybrid Workspaces: Friends or Foes of Learning and Innovation?

This contribution is oriented toward understanding collaborative workspaces and their impact on innovation. More in detail, the authors propose a focus on Coworking spaces as recent and disruptive innovation in the workspace template. Far from being just a logistic business solution, Coworking encompasses a complex social phenomenon, which combines work solutions, learning opportunities, and social relations. Thus, the contribution will speculate on Coworking as a hybrid organizational layout. Authors analyze this phenomenon from a theoretical standpoint that combines organizational design with innovation management principles. In particular, the contribution is structured in order to account for opportunities and threats provided by such collaborative spaces.

Born to Be Alive? Female Entrepreneurship and Innovative Start-Ups

Research into gender in management and organizations is constantly and rapidly evolving. Recently, the spur of innovative start-ups has provided unprecedented opportunities for female entrepreneurship as a remedy to gender gap in occupation. Studies on the way female entrepreneurs running an innovative start-up face new business challenges can contribute to understanding the new drivers affecting value creation dynamics in our knowledge-based society. Stemming from the argument that entrepreneurship is a trigger to foster female work, the main research question of this paper is: What are the peculiarities of female entrepreneurship and innovative start-ups? In particular, how do women behave in terms of propensity to innovation, approach to creativity, decision making, networking and co-creation when running innovative start-ups? This paper first relies on a literature review of gender and innovative start-up enterprises. Then, an empirical investigation is developed on a sample of innovative start-ups run by female entrepreneurs included in the Register of Italian Companies. This analysis aims to elucidate objective characteristics related to the business (i.e. sectoral and geographical breakdown). Finally, the quantitative inquiry is complemented with the analysis of soft variables through semi-structured interviews with the aim to gather data on personal characteristics and behaviour of female start-uppers. This paper contributes to expanding the literature on gender studies by supplementing the debate on innovative entrepreneurship and the gender gap. Moreover, it offers a new perspective applied to a topic of high relevance: how women create, process and share knowledge in innovative start-ups, through application and exploitation of novel creative ideas and solutions. The major implication is to advance knowledge and practice in the area of gender in management by focusing upon theoretical developments, practice and current issues as far as innovative start-ups are concerned. Better understanding of the factors that motivate and encourage female entrepreneurs to run an innovative start-up is useful for policymakers, practitioners, and educators. This understanding can help when allocating resources for the purpose of encouraging innovation and when trying to train entrepreneurs to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of new ventures.

Gender Effects in Injustice Perceptions: An Experiment on Error Evaluation and Effort Provision

As performances are rarely observable, evaluation errors may occur. We observe how women react to evaluation errors and wrongful reward assessment in organizations. In particular, we focus on severity and leniency errors in the evaluation of performances. Severity errors occur when workers do not receive the reward although they exerted high effort and reached the target. Leniency errors occur when workers are rewarded even when they exerted low effort and did not reach the target. They are both detrimental to motivation and effort provision. Our findings from a laboratory experiment show that, when gender is considered, asymmetric results are shown for men and women. Whereas males drop their contribution more under severity errors rather than leniency errors, female tend to do the opposite. We discuss these results contributing to the literature on organizational justice by investigating the role of gender in the perception of justice within organizations.

From Mecenatism to crowdfunding: engagement and identification in cultural-creative projects

ABSTRACT The aim of the research is to analyse the behaviours of potential micro-investors and their willingness to participate in crowdfunding campaigns to sustain cultural and creative projects. The author proposes a quantitative approach, through a first exploratory survey and second an experimental design. This experiment designed alternative crowdfunding schemes and posted them online to solicit behaviours by the potential crowdfunders. The vast majority of respondents would contribute to projects with minimum amounts of crowdfunding, whatever the economic model adopted, or even not bring any financial contribution. This methodology puts in evidence that content variables and context variables are important. The results show that crowdfunding is a viable model to overcome the public expenditure liabilities related to the valorization of cultural heritage, given that specific conditions are satisfied. First, risk perceptions must be mitigated with full disclosure of information. Second, two clusters of potential crowdfunders can be engaged using different approaches.

Technology Applied to the Cultural Heritage Sector has not (yet) Exceeded Our Humanity

Changes in traditional sectors, such as cultural heritage, have stemmed from technological innovations, which brought new opportunities for the valorization of cultural heritage, as well as new competences requirements. With a specific focus on cultural organizations, the technology can provide greater efficiency in the coordination of processes and facilitate the development of new activities that can generate economic returns. Touristic guides have a prominent role in cultural heritage valorization as they contribute to deliver a full and comprehensive experience to the visitors. Therefore, the technology adoption and usage of the touristic guides should have a direct impact on the valorization of cultural heritage through ICTs. In this paper, we aim at identifying the sensemaking that each actor confers to the technological innovations, and its impact on cultural heritage valorization.

Are Innovative Mobile Business Models Including Assets Complementarities

Drawing from the consolidated resource based view, dynamic capabilities are considered among the main driver to foster innovation. Underlying is the assumption that the performance of a corporation is ultimately affected by the ability to either match over time its set of resources and competencies to the changing environment, or to implement effective strategic alliances with external actors. Complementarities are to be sought when changes in the strategic configuration of resources and competences are required, especially within information intensive industries. Dynamic environments suggest adopting a systems dynamics perspective, when it comes to investigate business-related behaviour. Business models analysis combined with systems dynamics approach provides powerful frameworks of analysis to study non-linear dynamic networks, which are at the basis of resources acquisition or development processes.