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This paper aims to analyze how knowledge networks can be configured within a value chain and provide evidence of the coexistence of multiple knowledge networks in the same value chain.

The empirical setting is the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG wine cluster in the Veneto region of Northeast Italy. Data was collected through the administration by telephone of a semi-structured questionnaire to 37 oenologists, sales managers, production managers and owners of bottling companies in the district. The authors used social network analysis tools to map knowledge networks in the Prosecco cluster.

The results shed light on the importance of singling out knowledge networks in clusters at the value chain level to aid practitioners and researchers in this field. In fact, this research proves the existence of knowledge networks specificities related to the various phases of the production process.

This study has certain limitations. The most relevant is connected to the choice to limit the analysis to a specific cluster. Future research might extend this type of analysis to multiple clusters in different locations.

The authors explain that in the cluster they studied, internationalization, as a common objective, might be made easier if firms could establish a more developed sales knowledge network.

The relational approach to value chain enables disentangling specific roles of each actors. The social dimension of the value chain is taken in consideration.

The authors show that a firm operating in the wine industry can have different knowledge networks in the same value chain. This work adds to previous literature on knowledge networks in clusters by shedding light on an important, but still understudied aspect in the cluster functioning. Knowledge diffusion in clusters is not only uneven but is also value chain stage specific. By intersecting literature on knowledge networks, value chain and cluster research, the authors proposed a new perspective of analysis of the wine industry.

This chapter looks at the discursive dimension of the working environment in research and higher education organizations; more specifically at neoliberal managerial discourse and at how it participates in shaping the way researchers, teachers and support staff perceive themselves and their experiences. It is based on a multiple case study and combines an intersectional and a socio-clinical approach. The empirical data is constituted by in-depth interviews with women conducted in Ireland and Chile, and includes some observations made in France. A thematic analysis of individual narratives of self-ascribed experiences of being bullied enables to look behind the veil drawn by managerial discourse, thus providing insights into power vectors and power domains contributing to workplace violence. It also shows that workplace bullying may reinforce identification to undervalued social categories. This contribution argues that neoliberal managerial discourse, by encouraging social representations of “neutral” individuals at work, or else celebrating their “diversity,” conceals power relations rooting on different social categories. This process influences one’s perception of one’s experience and its verbalization. At the same time, feeling assigned to one or more of undervalued social category can raise the perception of being bullied or discriminated against. While research has shown that only a minority of incidents of bullying and discrimination are reported within organizations, this contribution suggests that acknowledging the multiplicity and superposition of categories and their influence in shaping power relations could help secure a more collective and caring approach, and thus foster a safer work culture and atmosphere in research organizations.