Elena C. Rada, Marco Lodi, Federico Teoldi, Marco Ragazzi and Barbara Rossi
– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the qualitative and quantitative knowledge on ultrafine particles in air near a steel making plant located in an Italian site.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the qualitative and quantitative knowledge on ultrafine particles in air near a steel making plant located in an Italian site.
Design/methodology/approach
A combination of experimental methodologies was used for the online and offline monitoring and chemical characterization of particulate matter (PM) in the air near the plant. Two unfiltered twin-sampling systems were adopted, working when the plant was on/off. All condensed air samples were submitted to Ion Chromatography analysis. The same samples were submitted to acid digestion before Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Analysis. Continuous daily PM10 samples were collected to characterize ambient air. PM10 samples were also analysed to estimate metals content. The PM size distribution was achieved by continuous online monitoring. The adopted ultrafine particulate monitor classifies particles in the range 20-200 nm. The overall size distribution was inferred from an Optical Particulate Counter able to classify particles in the range 0.3-10 µm.
Findings
The obtained results show that no causal relationship can be found between the measurements of anions and metal in the air near the plant under investigation and the presence of the steel making plant. The trend in emissions of micro-particles was found quite characteristic of similar semi-urban areas.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates that a steel making plant adopting best available techniques could have a local impact compatible with the surrounding environment.
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Marco Ranuzzini and Giovanni Gallo
This paper highlights to what extent an emporium of solidarity may affect poverty conditions of its recipients, and whether it generates net social benefits to different actors…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper highlights to what extent an emporium of solidarity may affect poverty conditions of its recipients, and whether it generates net social benefits to different actors involved.
Design/methodology/approach
To evaluate the effect of an emporium of solidarity project on poverty conditions of its recipients, we run Probit estimation models. As for the efficiency evaluation, we develop instead a social cost–benefit framework which considers benefits and costs to different actors somehow involved in the program. Results are based on survey data collected by the authors and administrative data.
Findings
Using the emporium attendance length as a measure of the treatment intensity, results underscore that the emporium significantly reduces the monetary poverty only, while it is ineffective on the severe material deprivation. The robustness of our results is confirmed by the implementation of a propensity score matching estimator. Our study suggests that emporia can be efficient in term of resources usage and they can determine positive returns to actors involved, implementing a redistribution of goods toward poor households.
Research limitations/implications
The paper and its conclusions are based on a case study, thus an Italian emporium called “Portobello” and located in the inner-city area of Modena (Emilia-Romagna region, Italy).
Originality/value
The main novelty of our paper to the literature consists of the elaboration of a first comprehensive framework for the social impact assessment of an emporium of solidarity, regarding both its effects on socio-economic conditions of poor recipient households and its contribution to the local welfare as a whole.
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Valentina Cucino, Giulio Ferrigno, James Crick and Andrea Piccaluga
Recognizing novel entrepreneurial opportunities arising from a crisis is of paramount importance for firms. Hence, understanding the pivotal factors that facilitate firms in this…
Abstract
Purpose
Recognizing novel entrepreneurial opportunities arising from a crisis is of paramount importance for firms. Hence, understanding the pivotal factors that facilitate firms in this endeavor holds significant value. This study delves into such factors within a representative empirical context impacted by a crisis, drawing insights from existing literature on opportunity recognition during such tumultuous periods.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative inspection of 14 Italian firms during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The authors collected a rich body of multi-source qualitative data, including 34 interviews (with senior managers and entrepreneurs) and secondary data (press releases, videos, web interviews, newspapers, reports and academic articles) in two phases (March–August 2020 and September–December 2020).
Findings
The results suggest the existence of a process model of opportunity recognition during crises based on five entrepreneurial influencing factors (entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial proclivity, entrepreneurial personality and entrepreneurial purpose).
Originality/value
Various scholars have highlighted that, in times of crises, it is not easy and indeed very challenging for entrepreneurs to identify novel entrepreneurial opportunities. However, recent research has shown that crises can also positively impact entrepreneurs and their capacity to identify new entrepreneurial opportunities. Given these findings, not much research has analyzed the process by which entrepreneurs identify novel entrepreneurial opportunities during crises. This study shows that some entrepreneurial influencing factors are very important to identify new entrepreneurial opportunities during crises.
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Alberto Ceccacci, Luca Camanzi, Cosimo Rota, Riccardo Fiorentini and Giulio Malorgio
As sustainability concerns become increasingly influential in shaping wineries’ strategies at the production and processing stages, this study aims to investigate the anticipated…
Abstract
Purpose
As sustainability concerns become increasingly influential in shaping wineries’ strategies at the production and processing stages, this study aims to investigate the anticipated benefits, incentives and constraints associated with a territorial sustainability certification in the wine industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Focusing on wine producers from the Romagna Consortium (Italy), the research explores the influence of firm characteristics on sustainability attitudes and explores the Consortium potential role in facilitating the ecological transition. Data are collected through an online survey and analyzed by means of factor and cluster analysis.
Findings
Findings reveal the Consortium capacity to expand its scope, incorporating elements of sustainability, resilience and territorial development. In addition, it emerges that the perception of sustainability among local producers extends beyond environmental concerns, encompassing the economic and social domains.
Practical implications
Acting as a cluster constituent, the Consortium can stimulate collaborative behavior and promote knowledge dissemination contributing to a mature collaborative environment. A territorial sustainability certification is thus viewed as multifunctional tool, enhancing economic performance and collective reputation, while addressing the numerous environmental challenges faced by the sector.
Originality/value
The study’s originality lies in its direct engagement with a considerable number of producers in a geographic area boasting a mature wine industry but with limited research focusing on coordinated efforts for improved sustainability performance.
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Marcos Antonio de Araujo Ventura and Dimária Silva e Meirelles
This study examines the use of a dynamic value-based approach to analyze the business model structuration of smart service providers in Brazil, mapping their value creation…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the use of a dynamic value-based approach to analyze the business model structuration of smart service providers in Brazil, mapping their value creation, configuration and appropriation strategies, and determining how well-defined their current business models are.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs (or CEOs and directors of technology) of seven business ventures in three different phases of business model structuration: (1) academic: companies or innovation and research centers linked to universities; (2) startups: technology-based companies originating from the technological needs of clients, be they new branches of the traditional business of incumbents or new entrants and (3) autonomous service providers whose offerings are related to master’s or doctoral projects.
Findings
We propose a typology of business model structuration with four stages. At first (individual or initial business model), albeit with high skilling of owners, only manual or adaptation services are offered. In the second stage (platform business model), although services offered are oriented toward the entire process automatization of the client (Factory integrated), technologies are restricted to the client company (or even one department) and these clients' needs are mainly data processing and connectivity. In the third stage (scaling digital business model), although the services offered are oriented toward greater digitalization through an entire array of field devices connected to the internet (IoT) and organized in a more formalized structure, the business model is still being constructed, companies in this stage are mainly startups. In the fourth stage (innovation ecosystem business model), the entire manufacturing process is digitized, with integration and network connectivity, both between service providers and the extended supply chain of their clients, and new technologies are customized and developed through the interaction of a whole innovation ecosystem.
Research limitations/implications
Mapping value-based strategies aids in understanding business model structuration in Industry 4.0. Future research should focus on parameterizing the dimensions founded of each value strategy.
Originality/value
This study advances the comprehension of the business model in |Industry 4.0 by providing a value-based strategy perspective of business model structuration. Practically, by focusing on smart service providers, it contributes to a greater understanding of smart service providers in Brazil and their strategic challenges.
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Matteo Moscatelli, Nicoletta Pavesi and Chiara Ferrari
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) recognizes the right of disabled people to access work. Against this legislative backdrop, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) recognizes the right of disabled people to access work. Against this legislative backdrop, this study explores the strengths and weaknesses of the Italian system of targeted placement for disabled people, based on Law 68/1999, which delegates to regional authorities the management of the labor market. The examination centers on the perspective of companies, the primary stakeholders in the inclusion of persons with disabilities within organizational structures.
Design/methodology/approach
The article discusses the results of focus groups conducted with 28 managers of large, medium and small enterprises in Lombardy (Italy). Qualitative analysis was employed, and the results were structured using a simplified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, incorporating practical recommendations.
Findings
The analysis leads to practical suggestions to improve the entire targeted placement process at the regional level, from selection and accompaniment to evaluation, such as improving the networking of local stakeholders who deal with the inclusion of disabled people, homogeneity of the procedures in different regions, making all employees aware of diversity management, etc. The territorial network and the welfare environment are particularly important in achieving a successful targeted placement and to promote an inclusive corporate culture.
Research limitations/implications
This study is not representative of Italy as a whole, as it remains a qualitative investigation focused on a single region.
Originality/value
This contribution accomplishes an in-depth study of the law of labor inclusion of people with disabilities observed from the point of view of companies, which are still usually reluctant to integrate people with disabilities into their organizations or encounter difficulties in doing so.
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Iara Sibele Silva, Patrícia Bernardes, Felipe Diniz Ramalho, Petr Iakovlevitch Ekel, Carlos Augusto Paiva da Silva Martins and Matheus Pereira Libório
The purpose of this paper is to present the innovation management program (IMP) (FAZ Program) and analyze its results according to the public policy goals that support it…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the innovation management program (IMP) (FAZ Program) and analyze its results according to the public policy goals that support it (Pró-Inova) suggesting improvements.
Design/methodology/approach
Intensive-direct-observation method in 43 companies; systematic data gathering and analysis (172 meeting documents); and innovation maturity diagnostics in 30 companies between August 2013 and May 2016.
Findings
The FAZ Program success rate according to the Pró-Inova goals achieved 81 percent. The percentage of completion of FAZ activities decreases during its implementation from 100 percent (strategic module) to 74 percent (management module) and ending at 46 percent (project module). The maturity for innovation of these committees/teams is decisive for those percentages. Companies whose maturity for innovation of the strategic committee and the organizational team are above average or excellent have, respectively, 1.8 and 1.7 times greater probability of implementing the program successfully.
Research limitations/implications
The FAZ Program represents only 4 percent of the programs supported by Pró-Inova. The innovative products, processes and businesses produced by the FAZ Program implementation are not measured. These innovations usually happen several years after an innovative management models implementation.
Practical implications
The maturity for innovation diagnosis is useful both to evaluate the company’s innovation capacity and to predict its chances of implementing the program successfully. Adjusting the structure of the model (e.g. PDCA cycle for the organizational module) and improving the program’s implementation (e.g. ensure management module resources and maturity for innovation capacity) can increase the program’s success rate.
Originality/value
Previous research works on IMPs supported by Pro-Inova focus on describing their methodology or benefits. The results allow answering what and how one of these programs offers in a return to the public innovation support received.
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Rangan Gupta and Damien Moodley
Recent evidence from a linear econometric framework infers that housing search activity, captured from Google Trends data, can predict housing returns for the USA at a national…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent evidence from a linear econometric framework infers that housing search activity, captured from Google Trends data, can predict housing returns for the USA at a national and regional (metropolitan statistical area [MSA]) level. Based on search theory, the authors, however, postulate that search activity can also predict housing returns volatility. This study aims to explore the possibility of using online search activity to predict both housing returns and volatility.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a k-th order non-parametric causality-in-quantiles test allows us to test for predictability in a robust manner over the entire conditional distribution of both housing price returns and its volatility (i.e. squared returns) by controlling for nonlinearity and structural breaks that exist in the data.
Findings
The analysis over the monthly period of 2004:01 to 2021:01 produces results indicating that while housing search activity continues to predict aggregate US house price returns, barring the extreme ends of the conditional distribution, volatility is relatively strongly predicted over the entire quantile range considered. The results carry over to an alternative (the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity-based) metric of volatility, higher (weekly)-frequency data (over January 2018–March 2021) and to over 84% of the 77 MSAs considered.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study regarding predictability of overall and regional US housing price returns and volatility using search activity, based on a non-parametric higher-order causality-in-quantiles framework, which is insightful to investors, policymakers and academics.
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Susan L. Golicic, Daniel J. Flint and Paola Signori
The purpose of this paper is to address how wine businesses build sustainability – the ability to survive and be successful over the long-term – in a complex market environment.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address how wine businesses build sustainability – the ability to survive and be successful over the long-term – in a complex market environment.
Design/methodology/approach
To understand how managers in a wine supply chain (i.e. from grower to consumer) are trying to sustain business within a hyper-competitive industry, the authors used a standard grounded theory, constant comparative research method using formal depth interviews along with additional data sources from wine businesses in nine global wine regions in the USA, Australia, Italy and New Zealand.
Findings
A framework emerged from the data to improve business sustainability and counteract the complexity in the wine market by developing resilience through innovating and experimenting, obtaining resources/developing capabilities and relying on supply chain connections.
Research limitations/implications
This conceptual framework contributes to the existing theory on institutional transitions and resilience in business, and extends and broadens it by proposing that resilience is needed to combat entropy in the wine industry for businesses in this industry to survive and thrive.
Practical implications
Managers can learn from and apply the examples mentioned in this study and follow the framework presented to implement the strategies to build resilience to increase their chances of sustainability.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first empirical studies to the authors’ knowledge that identifies the impact of entropy in the wine industry and examines resilience as a means to combat an entropic market and obtain business sustainability.
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Lise Johns, Stacey Weightman, Pippa Blackburn and Donna McAuliffe
The purpose of this study is to explore the psychosocial aspects of palliative care provision for incarcerated persons drawing on a human rights perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the psychosocial aspects of palliative care provision for incarcerated persons drawing on a human rights perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Seven databases were searched to identify empirical studies published from 2010 to 2020. Articles included were qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, written in English and with westernised health/prison settings, with a key focus on the psychosocial aspects of palliative care provision and human rights. The quality of the articles was appraised using the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool (2018).
Findings
The results from 26 articles revealed multiple models of care, with the US prison hospice program depicted as optimal, because of the use of trained incarcerated caregivers, working as aides to the interprofessional team. The bereavement needs of caregivers were highlighted. The barriers to adequate psychosocial care were negative public discourse, prison processes and resources, provider attitudes and the incarcerated person’s level of knowledge and trust. Identified facilitators were related to incarcerated persons’ caregiving programs, a sense of purpose and visitation leniency. Human rights principles were identified in studies that featured compassionate release and advance care planning.
Research limitations/implications
There is inconsistency in the literature regarding what constitutes psychosocial care, which meant that the authors needed to draw on multiple literature sources to formulate a definition. Additionally, the review only included studies written in English, meaning some high-quality studies could have been missed. The articles that conducted interviews with incarcerated individuals were undertaken in male prisons only and not female prisons.
Practical implications
Understanding the importance of psychosocial care for incarcerated persons with a life-limiting illness requires a shift in negative public discourse and the need for a stronger human rights focus. Some countries, such as the USA and UK, are achieving effective outcomes; however, countries such as Australia are yet to contribute to this knowledge base.
Originality/value
If palliative care is a human right, then its philosophy should be considered in its entirety, with the inclusion of psychosocial care.