This paper examines the activities carried out in the UK by credit refer agencies, current business practices, and the legal standing of credit reporting.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the activities carried out in the UK by credit refer agencies, current business practices, and the legal standing of credit reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
Legal analysis that aims to demonstrate that the current legal framework is inadequate.
Findings
It suggests areas and issues for further legal debate and policy consideration. Ultimately, this study puts forward the case for specific legislative intervention to strike a balance between privacy rights, discrimination concerns, and the needs of the credit industry.
Originality/value
Little or no research has been conducted on the topic by lawyers.
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The purpose of this paper is to contribute for the special number Protest and Activism With(out) Organisation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute for the special number Protest and Activism With(out) Organisation.
Design/methodology/approach
Elisée Reclus (1830-1905) wrote in 1851 that “anarchy is the highest expression of order”. This statement, clashing with the bourgeois commonplaces on anarchy as chaos, anticipated the theories, elaborated collectively by the anarchist geographers Reclus, Pëtr Kropotkin (1842-1921), and Léon Metchnikoff (1838-1888), on mutual aid and cooperation as the bases of a society more rationally organised than the State and capitalist one. If a (minority) part of the anarchist movement, in the following decades, assumed this sort of “natural order” to argue that there was no necessity of a political organisation, many militants stated on the contrary the necessity of a formal anarchist (or anarcho-syndicalist) organisation to prepare the revolution and to put in practice the principle of an horizontal and federalist society starting from daily life.
Findings
The author’s main argument is that the idea of a public and formalized anarchist organisation has been consistent with the claims of the anarchist geographers for the possibility of an ordered anarchist society and that it was a very geographical conception, as the spatial and territorial activity patterns of anarchist individuals, groups, and federations was a central issue among anarchist organisers.
Originality/value
Drawing on present literature on geography and anarchism and on the multidisciplinary transnational turn of anarchist studies, the author addresses, through primary sources, the contentions and openings of the organisational question in anarchism from Reclus, Kropotkin, and Metchnikoff to the anarchist federations of present day, and its links with the issue of constructive anarchism and with the problem of violence.
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Francesco Schiavone, Maria Cristina Pietronudo, Annamaria Sabetta and Marco Ferretti
Total quality management is a valuable approach to continuously improve the quality of organizations; however, scholars debate its applicability to services, which require…
Abstract
Purpose
Total quality management is a valuable approach to continuously improve the quality of organizations; however, scholars debate its applicability to services, which require specific best practices that are different from those related to manufacturing. Moreover, digitization is pervading all kinds of services, but little has been written about total quality service practices in digital-based companies. For this purpose, the authors provide a holistic model of total quality service that reflects the peculiarities of such companies, guided by the question: how do total quality service practices change in digital-based service organizations?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct an illustrative case study on Healthware Group, a global integrated digital health organization, to evaluate theoretical assumptions about total quality service practices in the digital environment.
Findings
The findings allow to validate the model provided. In addition, the study enables them to observe the changes the authors are witnessing in service provision in the digital era and the consequent transformation of best practices. To be accurate, the authors cannot refer to a full transformation in digital-based companies but rather to the enrichment and extension of TQS practices. The best illustration of these conclusions has been summarized in a set of propositions corresponding to seven of the key levers of a TQS model.
Originality/value
The paper represents the first attempt to discuss the relationship between total quality service and digitalization, offering a set of propositions for academics and insights for practitioners. The model can be used as a tool to visualize the different levers that successful implementation of TQS in digital-based services companies can rely on.
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Rachele Anconetani, Federico Colantoni, Francesco Martielli, Duc Bui Huu and Do Binh
SPACs are reshaping the world of digital entrepreneurial finance. Firms in the digital sector often need access to public markets for long-term competitiveness. SPACs offer a…
Abstract
Purpose
SPACs are reshaping the world of digital entrepreneurial finance. Firms in the digital sector often need access to public markets for long-term competitiveness. SPACs offer a viable solution for these entities to collect capital and transition to public ownership quicker than IPOs. In this context, the paper aims to analyse and compare the performance of SPACs with those of IPOs in the post-business combination phase. The objective is to provide novel insights into the determinants of SPAC operating and market performance by considering firm-specific and deal-specific characteristics and the broader implications of market uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis applies univariate and multivariate OLS regressions to a sample of 96 SPACs to investigate the drivers affecting SPACs' performance vis-a-vis IPOs.
Findings
The study finds that SPACs underperform the matched group of IPOs on both operating and stock market performance (buy-and-hold strategy). The time to execute a business combination negatively correlates with SPAC performance, and proximity to the 80% deal threshold negatively affects share price performance and EBITDA margin.
Practical implications
The objective is to offer insights for institutional investors to effectively select prime targets within the SPAC framework.
Originality/value
This study strengthens the findings related to the drivers influencing the long-term performance of SPACs that were previously identified in prior research.
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Federico Dell'Anna, Marta Bottero, Cristina Becchio, Stefano Paolo Corgnati and Giulio Mondini
The cost-optimal analysis is not able to address the multi-dimensionality of the decision according to the new European objectives and International sustainable development goals…
Abstract
Purpose
The cost-optimal analysis is not able to address the multi-dimensionality of the decision according to the new European objectives and International sustainable development goals in the field of the nearly-zero energy building (NZEB) design. The purpose of this paper is to study the role of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) for guiding energy investment decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the Preference ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations II (PROMETHEE II) application to support the project of transforming a rural building into a NZEB. The evaluation provides an estimate of the effects of alternative energy efficiency measures, involving energy consumption, life cycle costs, carbon emissions, property value and indoor comfort criteria. The study performs a multi-actors analysis in order to understand how different consumers' point of views can influence the final choice of the best investment. Furthermore, a multi-site analysis explores the spatial variation of NZEB building appreciation in the real estate market.
Findings
The PROMETHEE II-based model ranks 16 alternative solutions for the NZEB according to energy, economic and extra-economic criteria. The multi-actors analysis highlights the configuration of the NZEB building that best meets the needs of different end-users, respecting the European directives and national standards. The multi-site analysis concludes that location does not change users' appreciation and not influence the output for the best solution.
Originality/value
The MCDA occurs as a support tool that helps to optimize the preliminary design phase of NZEB through the exploration of the optimal solution considering crucial criteria in the energy and environmental and real estate market rules.
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Valentina Della Corte, Giovanna Del Gaudio and Fabiana Sepe
Increased awareness about the importance of a safe, healthy nutrition has changed human interactions with food and increased worldwide demand for high quality and ethical food. In…
Abstract
Purpose
Increased awareness about the importance of a safe, healthy nutrition has changed human interactions with food and increased worldwide demand for high quality and ethical food. In this respect, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the concept of ethical food and the nature of kosher food production, assessing common traits and the main differences between the two. A literature review was undertaken in order to verify the direction in which further studies might proceed.
Design/methodology/approach
A research review on current literature was carried out exploring concepts of ethical food and food certification underpinning kosher businesses by means of an analysis of both producers’ and consumers’ perspectives. In order to proceed with an accurate analysis, the paper matches both the conceptual analysis and the bibliometric one. The overlap between these two forms of analysis makes results robust and useful for future research.
Findings
This review reveals common points between ethical and kosher food because attention is given to both processes and products and the way the market perceives them as expressions of trustworthy and safe production. Furthermore, the analysis reveals an under emphasis on kosher food in the academic world and the results reveal the importance of empirical analysis.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis is focused mainly on kosher food production as an expression of ethical food. It would be interesting, however, to expand the analysis to other types of ethical certification such as Halal food, for example, in order to perform comparative evaluations.
Practical implications
From a practical point of view, it is interesting to note that kosher food is conceived as very safe food and that non-religious people are sensitive to this, which opens new horizons for ethical food. It also offers the possibility that firms that have never considered entering the field of ethical food certification may do so to expand their businesses. This implication also reveals that there is a higher attention on sustainability and safety in agro-food market. Therefore there are great opportunities of expansion for ethical food.
Social implications
From a social point of view, this paper is of importance for several reasons. It deals with a relatively new and relatively unexplored issue; it points out the relevance of sustainability and safety in food market and consumer behavior, it presents the possibility of exploring knowledge interactions between different perspectives (multidisciplinary approach) and cultures which, in the opinion, will present significant challenge in relation to agro-food business research in the future.
Originality/value
The originality of this work is that of systematizing a literature review of ethical food, enlarging its scope and boundaries with specific reference to kosher food. It also highlights the need to focus on both management and marketing, since up to now there has been a lack of academic contributions to these areas of research. Directions for further research are outlined.
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Mauro Sciarelli, Giovanni C. Landi, Lorenzo Turriziani and Anna Prisco
This research focuses on the relationship between Top Management Team heterogeneity (TMT) and University Spin-Offs (USOs) economic performance according to a micro-foundational…
Abstract
Purpose
This research focuses on the relationship between Top Management Team heterogeneity (TMT) and University Spin-Offs (USOs) economic performance according to a micro-foundational perspective. The purpose consists in exploring whether a high academic representation in TMTs may improve USOs’ performance and how their competencies and backgrounds affect USOs’ economic success.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed data from the Italian platform Netval to identify the entire population of USOs in southern Italy. They selected both pure and hybrid spin-offs that had at least one academic member on the TMT. Applying these conditions to our sample selection, the authors came to a population of 136 firms. They applied a hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Our main findings reveal that the USOs’ economic performance improves with more academicians in the TMT and even in the same scientific field. Our data also shows that CEO duality has a negative impact on economic performance.
Originality/value
This work takes for the first time a micro-foundational perspective to analyze individual-level factors that affect USOs’ performance. The authors tried to bridge a research gap in the USO literature, shedding light on the relationship between TMT composition and new venture performance, considering some significant interactions between team members. Our expected findings also contribute to the general literature on entrepreneurial teams in new ventures and suggest a means to reconcile some inconsistent literature results on TMT heterogeneity and USO performance.
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Federico Bertacchini, Gianluca Gabrielli, Ennio Lugli and Pier Luigi Marchini
This study aims to identify the principal changes that digitalization has brought about in the internal audit functions (IAFs), focusing on the main characteristics that have been…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the principal changes that digitalization has brought about in the internal audit functions (IAFs), focusing on the main characteristics that have been affected by this phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
The study follows a qualitative approach, involving the thematic analysis of semistructured interviews. A total of 22 professionals working in Italian-listed companies’ IAFs were interviewed. The framework of institutional theory was used to analyze the results.
Findings
The elements most affected by the digitalization of IAFs in Italy are: the skills required in IAFs, the relationship with external consultants and the types of activities performed by internal auditors (IArs). Nevertheless, the extent of the level digitalization within the IAFs of the companies analyzed appears to vary in accordance with the level of institutional pressures experienced by the organizations.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature on IA and digitalization by delineating the principal elements that are influenced by the digitalization process of IA. Moreover, it highlights how these elements develop and evolve as the level of digitalization of the IAF changes.
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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some…
Abstract
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.
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Timotej Jagrič, Dušan Fister, Aleksandra Amon, Vita Jagrič and Sabina Taškar Beloglavec
Purpose: This chapter aims to lay out the issues regarding the world of digital currencies, private and central bank digital currency (CBDC). In that connection, the authors want…
Abstract
Purpose: This chapter aims to lay out the issues regarding the world of digital currencies, private and central bank digital currency (CBDC). In that connection, the authors want to, as much as possible, systematically present the terminology, examples of various digital currencies and the technology behind that phenomenon. The chapter also highlights the occurrence of CBDC and the possible implications of its introduction to day-to-day commercial banking practice, possibly taking the payment systems and transactions alternation, balance sheet and profits’ issues into consideration.
Need for the study: Digital currencies already have and are also soon going to have an enormous impact on society as such, where payments for everyday goods and services are taken on a whole new platform and level, in the sense of how the payments are made and payment systems are constructed, as also in the sense of quantity, as the number and sum-wise payments carried out via such platforms are growing.
Methodology: A triangulation method, a mixed qualitative methodological approach was implemented, so the research offers a synthesis of previously published contributions in this field, followed by deductive and inductive reasoning interconnected with descriptive and comparative analyses.
Findings: As digital currency already have a vast impact on payment systems and modes of payment, the CBDC, an imperative of today and not the matter of the future, will have implications for commercial banks, probably in the field of lowering banks’ commissions, no big customer data-selling ability, accumulating the deposits and deposit policies and credit policies due to higher funding costs for banks. There is an interwovenness among the central bank activities, bank customer’s behaviour and commercial bank activities. Therefore, the change of payment and spending behaviour of customers because of central banks’ introducing novelties will also have consequences for the banking industry.
Practical implications: The choice to handle cash or digital currency will be obsolete, and an individual’s or a firm’s financial knowledge must be upgraded in the field of new money using angles. The issue of digital currencies and CBDCs are no longer a matter of choice but are becoming a new reality. Therefore, it is necessary for the common public, economy and banking system, especially now carrying out most of payments and transfers of money, to study this field and foresee the possible consequences and risks emerging.