Tiziana Volpe

M&A process: a literature review and research agenda

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present new insights on cross-border merger and acquisition (MA Gogan et al., 2013; Soni and Kodali, 2011) the authors conduct a structured literature review aimed to divide M&A process in three phases evidencing for each of them the specific aspects and future development of researches. Findings – The paper evidences new strategic motivations, implementation and post-merger integration challenges, especially focussing on cultural issues. Finally the authors emphasize the need for novel indicators of acquisition success such as new and distinct capability development post acquisition. Ori...

Innovation in agro-food chain: Policies, actors and activities

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to offer a new perspective on innovation in agro-food industry. Innovations in the agro-food industry depend on multiple forces interacting with each other under specific rules to create new ways to deal with social or economic processes. The relevance of this topic for the whole economy leads the authors to investigate main drivers of innovation in agro-food system. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors provide a framework that considers the role of policies, actors and activities for innovation in the agro-food industry and tests its validity on the Campanian tomato sub-system. Findings - – The authors’ framework applied to Campanian tomato sub-system shows the role of institutions, actors and activities in promoting innovation in agro-food system. Originality/value - – The paper offers a new perspective on innovation in agro-food industry.

Interaction despite of diversity: is it possible?

Purpose – Italy is traditionally one of Egypt’s main trading partners, ranking first both as import and export partner. However, Italian firms face several cultural problems in Egypt. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of cross-cultural differences faced by Italian firms’ operating in Egypt. The investigation of cross-cultural differences is facilitated by the examination of interaction between Italian and Egyptian culture using Hofstede and GLOBE’s cultural attributes and dimensions. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative analysis has been conducted through face to face interviews of individuals working for Italian firms operating in Egypt. These interviews were structured to specifically identify the impact of cultural differences on the interaction between Italian and Egyptian firms. Findings – The results show that Italy is one of the most important commercial partners of Egypt. However, cultural diversity results in Italian small and medium enterprises facing risks when ope...

Policy and institutions facilitating entrepreneurial spin-offs: USA, Asia and Europe

Purpose - – Existing work documents the role that institutional setting plays in the process of spin-off creation. However, despite decades of studies, scholars have not clearly explained why some regions are more involved in spin-off activity than others. Drawing from institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to compare different institutional settings identifying factors affecting the general environment capability to support spin-off activity of a specific region. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors utilize a cross-national analysis of American, Asian, and European areas identifying factors affecting their different rate of spin-off activity. This study contributes to the policy debate concerning entrepreneurship and how best to spur spin-off activities. Findings - – In this paper, the authors identify the general and specific factors that explain the cross-national diversity in spin-off creation. The authors then perform an analysis of the impact of these factors in various regions of the USA, Asia, and Europe, providing evidence for the necessity of specific combinations of these factors. Originality/value - – The paper offers a new perspective on the causes of spin-offs through a cross-national analysis of many areas around the world.

Main rules and actors of Italian system of innovation: how to become competitive in spin-off activity

Purpose - – The purpose of this study is to analyze Italian system of innovation and evidence factors that can affect its global competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach - – The article provides a conceptual analysis of main factors of competitiveness of an innovation system and an empirical discussion of Italian case. Findings - – The article evidences main factors affect Italian systems of innovation that both researchers and practitioners can use in their activities. Originality/value - – The article offers a new perspective on innovation systems.

Innovation and its diffusion: process, actors and actions

ABSTRACT Seeking to understand factors affecting innovation diffusion, research has increasingly focused on process, actors and activities. After two decades of research, however, a systematisation of these three sets of studies is still lacking. Thus, this paper contributes to the existing literature providing a comprehensive framework of factors affecting innovation diffusion between organisations. Specifically it evidences phases of innovation diffusion process, clarifies the role of innovator, adopters and intermediaries and evidences actions that policy-makers can implement to support it.

Innovation in Agro-Foods: A Comparative Analysis of Value Chains

ABSTRACT The innovative activity of firms has been linked to the introduction of a new product or process associated with the development or application of new technological knowledge. New products generally contain innovative techniques that increase the quality of goods. New processes are based on the use of new technologies to increase the efficiency of production. However, the exclusive link between technology and innovation has been criticized for various reasons. It provides a restrictive vision considering innovation as part of the manufacturing and services sectors. Innovation in firms affects not only the development and application of new technologies but also the adoption and the reorganization of business processes, internal organization, external relations, and marketing. The literature in the field of management emphasizes the importance of integrating product, process, and organization to translate new ideas into market success. Thus, to obtain a complete picture of the innovative efforts of firms in the agro-food industry, the concept of innovation has been extended to both technological and nontechnological innovations. This analysis provided evidence of innovations used by agro-food firms. It also identified latent demand for future innovation.

What we do know and what we need to know about knowledge in the growth process

Purpose – There is evidence for major positive effects of knowledge transfer and innovation diffusion on economic growth. Much research has addressed schooling, training, and other aspects of human capital accumulation, but less emphasis has been placed on the interaction between firms and other organizations as a key driver of the development of new knowledge and its economic use. There is an extensive body of literature that discusses various aspects of knowledge transfer and innovation diffusion between firms, and this literature may serve as a microfoundation for understanding the role of knowledge in the growth process. However, we need to understand the role of the entrepreneur as a missing link between knowledge and innovation. The purpose of this paper is to outline some foundations of endogenous (externally driven) growth models, and uses the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship to propose a new model of latent and emergent entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses ...