Raffaele Trequattrini

Systematic errors in decision making processes: the case of the Italian Serie A football championship

The objective of this paper is to investigate the role of systematic errors or decision making traps in the field of decision making processes involving referees of football matches, with particular reference to the Italian Serie A football championship. Therefore, the objective of this research is to examine the actual occurrence of the aforementioned systematic errors, considering that the strong psychological and environmental pressure under which professional referees find themselves working is very similar to the contexts characterised by a high level of dynamism under which contemporary company managers often work. This paper presents theoretical as well as empirical evidence. Empirical research allows for the verification of the incidence of systematic errors on the decision making processes of referees, with the objective of proposing solutions, including those of a modern nature, in order to avoid the distortion of sports competitions, aimed at implementing the decisions made by managers.

Risk of an epidemic impact when adopting the Internet of Things: The role of sector-based resistance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the main types of sector-based resistance that affect the success of the innovation, and specifically the Internet of Things (IoT), with particular reference to professional football, as a prime example of how institutions can prevent the IoT from being used. The starting point for the research is the assumption that innovation has to address institutional obstacles in the form of economic and cultural resistance. The main purpose of the paper, however, is to highlight resistance at individual level and resistance that is company specific and sector specific, in connection with the introduction of the IoT in professional sport, and the risk of an epidemic effect in relation to the general acceptance of (or opposition to) the IoT. Design/methodology/approach – Research is based on the qualitative analysis of a specific football industry case, with reference to the introduction of innovation within the sports sector. Findings – Sector-based resistance in th...

Network analysis and football team performance: a first application

Purpose – This paper aims to illustrate how network analysis can be used to assess the group relationships within a professional football team, starting from the assumption that team results depend, at least in part, on the interaction between team members on the pitch. Elaborating an evaluation model of team relationships can help management in making conscious choices with regards to footballer assessment, selection and acquisition. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on a qualitative/quantitative approach. Data have been acquired through direct observation. UCINET 6.4 software was used to elaborate the data. Findings – An empirical observation was carried out according to the network analysis applicative process, through the analysis of a UEFA Champions League match. The objective was to illustrate the potential of network analysis to assess football team relationships and identify a system of quantitative key indicators, which can be used to elaborate a framework for evaluating the ...

Emerging trends in entrepreneurial universities within Mediterranean regions: An international comparison

Purpose The aim of this paper is to investigate the new role that universities are assuming as entrepreneurial entities supporting the development of regional innovation systems through an international comparison, in order to address the demand for global competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to compare how some universities of the Mediterranean area and of South-East Asia conceive and implement an entrepreneurial culture through their curricula, conducting a two-way comparison between Italy and Singapore. Design/methodology/approach The methodology consists of a multi-method approach, based on a comparative analysis which involves the use of a narrative style and a content analysis carried out on the Italian and Singaporean entrepreneurship programmes. The method consists of comparing different systems with similar characteristics, with an analysis focused on particularly relevant environmental factors, to find an explanation about how an innovative way of teaching entrepreneurship to students can affect the development of regional innovative systems. Findings The study analyses the Italian and Singaporean environmental factors that are helpful in understanding the basis for the promotion of an entrepreneurial attitude, and the end result of the paper is to set out the differences in the evolvement of entrepreneurial universities and innovative teaching programmes between the two countries being analysed. The research uses an international comparison to investigate the relationships between a set of variables that influence government authorities, leading them to invest in programmes on entrepreneurship. Originality/value Studying the Singaporean experience, one of the leading Nation investor in entrepreneurial education, is useful in highlighting limits of less advanced higher education systems and in helping them to encourage an entrepreneurial culture.

Exploring human capital: Discrimination factors and group-specific performance in the football industry

The aim of the study is to investigate whether discrimination factors exist within professional football clubs, concerning the management of their human capital, by analysing the correlation between the footballers’ wages and their performance. An analysis was conducted to show that discrimination, based both on nationality and race, can affect the strategies adopted by football club managers and in the professional footballer labour market, where players are considered to be the human capital of football enterprises. The research framework consists of an analysis of the existing literature on discrimination in sports and of a quantitative analysis based on an exploratory approach, where the wage differences among Italian Serie A league footballers are compared to the performance of each group of players (organised by race or nationality). The results of the analysis of data for all Italian Serie A clubs show that discrimination (in pay) exists against Italian and white players. In contrast, when small and big clubs are considered separately, the findings relating to small clubs highlight that foreign and black players face such discrimination. The results suggest that managers of professional football clubs apply a discrimination strategy. In addition, the results provide practical implications on the types of discrimination errors that are committed by the management of big and small football clubs. Big clubs tend to overrate the contributions of foreign and/or black players compared to those of Italian and white players, while small clubs tend to overrate the contributions of Italian and white players compared to those of foreign and black players. To reduce discrimination, clubs have to correlate how much players are paid with their performance. Further research is recommended to identify the impact of wage inequality on the football labour market and on professional team management. Key words: Human capital, discrimination, wages differences, performance, team management, labour market, football clubs.

Innovative start-ups and equity crowdfunding

This paper aims to analyse the development process of innovative start-ups with special attention to the equity crowdfunding regulations. The main objective of this analysis is to interpret the effects of equity crowdfunding on the development mechanism of innovative start-ups and compared with other methods of existing loans (for example, the American JOBS Act and the venture capital regulation). The research uses a qualitative method with an exploratory approach. The differential finding of the contribution summarises the main similarities and differences of the financial instruments available to innovative start-ups, highlighting in the new regulation on equity crowdfunding a sustainable financial instrument, capable of reducing the effects of the problem of informative asymmetries.

Social Media as a New Opportunity for Female Entrepreneurs: An Analysis of the Fashion Industry

This paper aims at analysing new entrepreneurial organization models resulting from the integration of female and male elements and at finding a valid facilitator instrument for the sharing of values and objectives in the use of new technologies and communication, such as social media. On the basis of the theoretical framework of the androgynous organization, the study concentrates on the field of fashion that, in the last few years, has experimented new forms of female business connected with the creation of new markets deriving from development of the Web 2.0. The main objective of the paper is to provide greater comprehension of the role of new technologies and in particular of the social media in the development of female entrepreneurial activities, thanks to greater visibility of these new businesses, with the phenomenon of the fashion influencer at the base. The methodology of the study is based on a qualitative analysis related to the elaboration and application of the theoretical framework of the androgynous organization (Granelli and Robotti in Il valore premiante delle diversita, Harvard Business Review Italia, StrategiQs, Milano, 2016), in the case study by the fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni, at the first place in the Forbes’ Top Influencers list 2017. Through an analysis of a case study in the field of the fashion industry, an attempt has been made to illustrate the characteristics of organizations that are handling technological change in the best possible way, from the point of view of gender questions. The study carried out identifies a model that allows organisations to be much more generative and, in particular, to identify the specific characteristics of women that companies must introduce in order to become more generative. The archetypes identified are essentially hospitality, fertility and generativity, consistency, intimacy and practicality.

The Rise and Decline of the Bank of Italy's Autonomy between 1893 and 1936. A historical interpretion

The aim of this paper is to analyse the autonomy of central banks from a historical perspective, with reference to the founding and development of the Bank of Italy in the period between its inception (1893) and the issue of the Italian Banking Law of 1936. A central bank’s autonomy from governments and budgetary policies is a topic of studies carried out by several scholars, but, in their eyes, these events are linked exclusively to subjective factors, connected to those wielding power or influence at the time, and objective factors, dependent on the contingent historical and economic situation. Not many studies are available where the aim is to investigate the causes explaining how a central bank’s degree of autonomy evolved by framing them within the overarching process of independence simultaneously pursued by the central state. In this perspective, the progress of the Bank of Italy’s level of autonomy will be analysed in the light of the theoretical framework proposed by Michael Mann.

Knowledge transfer and managers turnover: impact on team performance

The paper aims to investigate the emerging issue of knowledge transfer and organisational performance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of knowledge transfer in obtaining high and positive results in organisations, in particular, studying the role of managers’ skills transfer and which conditions help to achieve positive performance.,The research analyses 41 cases of coaches that managed clubs competing in the major international leagues in the 2014–2015 season and that moved to a new club over the past five seasons. The authors employ a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) methodology. According to the research question, the outcome variable used is the team sport performance improvement. As explanatory variables, the authors focus on five main variables: the history of coach transfers; the staff transferred; the players transferred; investments in new players and the competitiveness.,The overall results show that when specific conditions are realised simultaneously, they allow team performance improvement, even if the literature states that the coach transfers show a negative impact on outcomes. Interestingly, this work reaches contrasting results because it shows the need for the coexistence of combinations of variables to achieve the transferability of managers’ capabilities and performance.,The paper is novel because it presents a QCA that tries to understand which conditions, factors and contexts help knowledge to be transferred and to contribute to the successful run of organisations.

Intellectual Capital as driver for controlling managers’ performance. An innovative approach

The purpose of the paper is to analyse how Intellectual Capital (IC) of contemporary companies can be used as management control tool, by proposing it as a driver for sport and financial performance from a value creation perspective. Through a quantitative method with an empirical application, the research investigates the football industry. The IC of professional football clubs has been identified in three components: the first team players, the brand and the right of qualification for the competition on sporting merit. The outcomes of the new model based on IC enhancement allow defining a new use of it as management control tool and a driver for clubs’ managers, overcoming the traditional models of traditional objective functions, which do not consider the managers’ role. Furthermore, the new objective function, defined by the research, allows managers to make strategic decisions finalized to achieve clubs success in compliance with ownership aims. Therefore, this study provides a control tool and a driver for managers’ performance that can be used by company ownership.