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The purpose of this paper is to propose a new converter topology for integrating PV plants constituted by many panels into the grid. The converter is capable of implementing MPPT algorithms on different subset of modules and can balance the different energy supplied by panels differently irradiated. The output voltage presents a very low ripple also if small filters are used for grid connection.

In the paper, at first the converter configuration is presented. Then a control strategy for obtaining, at the same time the distributed MPPT and the power balancing on the three phases is proposed. Finally, by means of numerical simulations, the good performances of the proposed converter are shown.

The proposed converter, lent from MMC configurations, is deeply studied and a suitable control strategy is well analyzed in the paper. Analytical model for voltage and current balancing are given.

The analysis presented in the paper complete some studies started in the last years and partially presented in previous scientific papers. It reaches a final point and gives all the specific for the realization of the converter and of its control.

The paper gives all the instrument to design and realize a PV power plant integrated into building façade.

The converter and the control for voltage and current balancing presented in this paper represent a significant original contribution of this work.

An optimal maintenance program for electrical power system components should be based on their reliability. Since, for components characterized by high reliability and cost such as HV circuit breakers, available statistical data are in limited number, a physical model for their ageing is opportune. In the paper a Predictive Maintenance Program (PMP), for determining when a HV circuit‐breaker should be rebuilt, is formalized; it is based upon an adequate stochastic model of electrical wear associated with breaking operations due to system faults. In the model, both fault times and amplitudes are described by means of random variables, in order to deduce a reliability function used as input data for a Bayesian discriminant analysis which dynamically estimates, also in the presence of observation errors, the state of the component, determining the optimal times to perform a maintenance action.

Until recently Italian hospitals had no cost accounting or activity data collection systems, being formally required only to do financial book‐keeping. The cost analysis method presented here might be used to set up detailed and complete hospital cost accounting, which would permit a better understanding of patterns of resource distribution among departments, better opportunities for cost saving and cost control for hospital managers and health authorities. The study first identified a framework within which to assess the annual cost related to a hospital ward, then calculated the mean bed day cost for each speciality. Cost data were collected over one year in 1996 from manually compiled records, at one local hospital in Northern Italy. Costs were estimated following a step‐down allocation method. Wards requiring a major amount of resources per day of stay are intensive cardio‐coronary unit (US$650.689), and ophthalmology (US$483.322). The less expensive ward is general medicine (US$148.645). The cost analysis method presented in this study might be used to set a detailed and complete hospital cost database, which is a necessary tool for hospital managers to realise cost control and cost recovery.

The relationships between tourist resorts and transnational crime are rarely analyzed systematically. This paper begins to fill this gap by examining how organized crime groups and individuals linked to them can take advantage of tourist resorts to commit crimes.

The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the different market‐making systems found in most developed capital markets and to provide guidance to emerging market regulators for a possible implementation of such a system.

The paper looks closely at the market design of seven developed countries focusing on the obligations and privileges of market makers. Through a case study and empirical evidence the paper identifies advantage and disadvantage of a possible implementation of a similar design to an emerging market.

The paper identifies three forms of market making applied today: the quote‐driven, the centralized and non‐centralized systems. Four factors are proposed that regulatory authorities in emerging markets should consider when deciding whether, and which of, the three market‐making systems they should implement. These are: current exchange design and the costs of restructuring, international and domestic investors' sentiment towards the exchange, size of the emerging market and the market designs in countries hosting the target foreign capital.

The paper looks at the implementation of a market‐making system in an emerging market. Further research may investigate other ways of how emerging markets authorities can restructure their markets into more efficient, compatible and trustworthy financial venues in order to attract both domestic and foreign investors.

The area of emerging markets' microstructure design and market quality is still relatively under‐studied. We provide evidence of the challenges and benefits of the implementation of a market‐making system in those markets.

This paper aims to deal with the perceptions of banks’ managers about some criteria for assessing creditworthiness related to firms and how these criteria affect non-performing loans (NPLs). The paper wants to respond to the following research question: “Which criteria influence the magnitude of NPLs?” The evidence is based on the improvement of credit quality in the Italian banking system, which the authors study in aggregate and size-specific analyses, creating two subsamples (large and small banks).

The methodology used was a mixed method approach. The values of the variables were quantified according to the information derived from Thomson Reuters (Eikon, Datastream), the financial reporting of the banks and questionnaires directly administered to the bank managers.

This research about loans selection criteria provides useful indications for “The Basel Framework”. The results show that managers of the large banks are improving the approach of allocating the loans; the managers of the small banks are getting worse in the period 2006-2016. Therefore, it should be valuable to build a new standard about qualitative and quantitative criteria to recognize credit risk. In particular, these criteria could be adopted to reduce NPLs, and they should be different in small banks and large banks.

The study is part of empirical research investigating the causes of the significant increase in NPLs in the Italian banking system in 2006-2016. Most research interprets the increase in NPLs in the Italian banking system only as an effect of the crisis in the Italian entrepreneurial system. This research offers a different interpretation of the problem, interpreting the phenomenon as a delay of the banking system in investing in an effective information criterion.

The aim of this paper is to explore the family firms' propensity to undertake R&D investments after going public, showing how it varies due to the ownership structure.

The analysis is based on a sample of 132 French and Italian family and nonfamily IPOs in the period 2013–2018.

The empirical findings show a positive relationship between the quantity of post-IPO shares retained by family owners and R&D investments. Furthermore, the abovementioned relationship is negatively affected by the generational stage and positively by the presence of a lone founder.

Outside investors of family firms may be assured in buying shares of founding family firms after going public because they are stimulated to undertake R&D investments and therefore create overall value in the long term. Furthermore, external managers of lone-founder and first-generation family firms can adopt innovation investments without fear of being replaced as a consequence of a hostile takeover. Lastly, private equity should support later generation family IPOs, providing them with capital and managerial skills in order to generate value for shareholders.

Past studies have mostly shown family firms' reluctance to undertake R&D investments; however, scholars have focused on private or public family firms, ruling out the analysis of family firms' innovation behaviour within the setting of an IPO. To the best of the author's knowledge, this study represents the first empirical attempt to investigate the relationship between family firms and post-IPO innovation investments, when the capital infusion relaxes the financial constraints of family firms.

This paper aims to provide a contribution on the diffusion of Industry 4 (I4.0)-related knowledge in industrial districts (IDs). The main goal is to examine the dissemination of I4.0 knowledge, exploring the main mechanisms for its spreading and highlighting the main factors shaping such processes. Focus is on dissemination processes in IDs active in traditional industries, which could represent the “periphery” of I4.0 application context.

The methodology is qualitative. Notably, this paper presents a case study of the Pesaro ID specialized in furniture/woodworking machinery sector. A total of 18 in-depth one-to-one interviews have been conducted with relevant informants from a variety of organizations within the cluster: companies, institutions and universities.

The complexity of I4.0 requires a combination of traditional mechanisms with innovative ones within IDs characterized by the emergence of new players, activities and resources. These changes led to three main evolving patterns: the horizon of I4.0 upgrading shows blurred boundaries in terms of sectors and geographic location, the I4.0 diffusion appears fragmented in terms of initiatives and projects by both firms and institutions and the dissemination of I4.0 knowledge pushes ID firms and institutions to pursue deliberate initiatives leading to innovative forms of “collective” cooperation.

This paper contributes to both theory and practice. From the theoretical point of view, this paper contributes to the literature on innovation in IDs and clusters on two interrelated grounds. First, it provides further research on I4.0 and IDs and clusters. Second, it contributes to the stream of research on knowledge creation and diffusion in IDs and clusters, providing empirically based insights over emerging local learning processes in IDs. Moreover, relevant managerial and policy implications stem from the analysis.

Globalisation is generally defined as the “denationalisation of clusters of political, economic, and social activities” that destabilize the ability of the sovereign State to control activities on its territory, due to the rising need to find solutions for universal problems, like the pollution of the environment, on an international level. Globalisation is a complex, forceful legal and social process that take place within an integrated whole with out regard to geographical boundaries. Globalisation thus differs from international activities, which arise between and among States, and it differs from multinational activities that occur in more than one nation‐State. This does not mean that countries are not involved in the sociolegal dynamics that those transboundary process trigger. In a sense, the movements triggered by global processes promote greater economic interdependence among countries. Globalisation can be traced back to the depression preceding World War II and globalisation at that time included spreading of the capitalist economic system as a means of getting access to extended markets. The first step was to create sufficient export surplus to maintain full employment in the capitalist world and secondly establishing a globalized economy where the planet would be united in peace and wealth. The idea of interdependence among quite separate and distinct countries is a very important part of talks on globalisation and a significant side of today’s global political economy.