Roberto Cafferata

Arthur Stinchcombe's “liability of newness”: contribution and impact of the construct

Purpose – This conceptual paper aims at providing the readers of the Journal of Management History with an evaluation of the overall impact of Arthur Stinchcombes liability of newness construct on the management literature about organizational evolution over time.Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts an historical approach for discussing the development of those theoretical and empirical trajectories which, drawing on Stinchcombes seminal underpinnings, have been developed by scholars over the second half of the twentieth century. The most recent enhancements on this topic are also discussed.Findings – The analysis demonstrates that the impact of the liability of newness on the related literature is great and twofold. On the one hand, it emerges that this concept has directly inspired a number of subsequently formulated constructs, such as the liabilities of smallness, adolescence and aging. On the other hand, it is evidenced that Stinchcombes seminal insights still constitute one of the most ...

Nonprofit organizations, privatization and the mixed economy: A managerial economics perspective

This paper is divided into two parts. The first illustrates the present characteristics and future prospects for the development of the third sector in Italy. It then examines the social context in which the third sector develops not only in Italy but also in the rest of Europe. The theoretical perspective that seems to be the most appropriate to the dimensions the third sector has taken on in most Western countries is that of dynamic complementarity between state agencies, for-profit organizations and nonprofit organizations. In order to foster economic and social innovation, there is a need for collaboration and complementarity of roles among organizations of different types. An economic policy implemented on a rational basis should select its own intervention instruments after building a set of strategic and organizational alternatives, avoiding the exclusive adoption of only one of these, as happened at the time of the almost unlimited provision of state aid to enterprises and with the unproductive rescues of ailing public enterprises.

Real estate management: what boundaries? A European approach

Real estate has always played a key role in the economy of industrialised countries. To date, fine-tuned studies have started to grow and develop to inform about the evolution of real estate management as a per se discipline for education, research and practice. Increasing reviews have also systematised what is hot and what is not in terms of research trends within this field. However, what seems to remain largely unaddressed is the appropriate conceptual and methodological classification of the boundaries delimiting the field itself. We do believe that this gap is not minor for both the research and practice, in that it negatively affects the possibility of conducting appropriate analyses from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. We have thus conceived this article as an intended contribution to filling the stated gap.