Balanced sampling of boxes from batches for assessing quality of fruits and vegetables in EU countries

Quality & Quantity - The best evaluation for the proportion of defective units in a batch of fruits and vegetables can be achieved by an exhaustive checking of all the boxes in the batch, that...     

Financial innovation: theoretical issues and empirical evidence in Italy and in the UK

In the first part of the paper, we try to clearly identify financial innovations and draw a general framework. Despite the relevance of financial innovations, a unique definition is difficult to find. We then provide empirical evidence of such innovations on a sample of Italian and UK listed banks over the period 2005–2007 using financial account data. First, the absence of any mention of a specific organizational unit in charge of research and development (R&D) is highlighted. However, the existence of a research and developmental function involving different organizational units cannot be excluded. Second, innovation seems to be mainly concentrated in the product area, both in Italy and in the UK. This could be accounted for by the difference in the “life cycles” of innovations and by the different operational conditions of banks in both systems. Third, larger banks seem more innovative, both in Italy and in the UK. No clear relation between innovation and cost reduction/revenue increase seems to exist, at least in Italy. In the light of the above considerations, policy implication comes to light on whether the choice of not establishing a specific organizational unit dedicated to R&D could turn out effective in the medium-long term.

Proximity Services in Belgium: An Analysis of Public and Nonprofit Relations

In this paper, we analyze the interaction between nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and government with regard to the provision of proximity services. Given the characteristics of these services and the organizational features specific to each sector, we argue that the relationship between the public and the nonprofit sectors is necessary but rather complex. We illustrate our analysis with some empirical evidence collected by the CERISIS-UCL in 1996 for the city of Charleroi (Belgium). This survey shows that NPOs are the major producers of proximity services but are, on average, largely subsidized by government. Public intervention is also significant in the production of these services but is the most striking in their financing. These results evoke the existence of a multifaceted interaction between the public and nonprofit sectors, that we try to understand in this paper. Our analysis highlights that the tension between the current focus of public policies on job creation for the low-skilled unemployed and the service-based mission of most NPOs might generate inappropriate responses to the needs of the community. It also suggests that this conflict of objectives, given the current organization of proximity services, is likely to threaten the autonomy and originality of the nonprofit sector.     

Labour Markets and Flexibility in the 1990s: The Europe-USA opposition revisited

Economists' contest on labour market flexibility has quickly pivoted around the stylised trade off between more flexibility and growth on the one hand and increased inequality of income on the other, the welfare implications of this trade off being too often assumed rather than verified. This article uses the essays collected in the Special Issue on Labour Markets and Flexibility in the 1990s of the International Review of Applied Economics to challenge the terms of this trade off as well as the related welfare assumptions. Some of the most popular tenets in the literature are assessed in the light of the evidence and the arguments put forward by the authors contributing to the Special Issue, in particular, the notion that the European labour market is rigid, the contention that more flexibility is imposed by international competition, or that labour market regulation weakens both employment and output growth, the belief that the main welfare cost of flexibility is increased inequality of earnings or the fear that flexibility may be primarily 'female'.     

Sustainability report in small enterprises: case studies in Italian furniture companies

The recent evolution of the economic and social context has led enterprises to consider and assess corporate environmental and social impacts integrated with the traditionally measured economic and operating performances. From this point of view, the international debate on the advantages given by the firms' adoption of socially responsible behaviour has been developed; the increasing consciousness of the social character in enterprises' activities has enlarged the interest in communication. For this reason, several different standards have been developed in order to transmit, to the stakeholders, data, information and approaches about environmental, social and sustainability topics related to the firm's activities. In this dynamic context, the features of SMEs require specific guidelines, which address the contents of an SME‐oriented sustainability report. In this perspective the aim is to design guidelines able to meet with these SMEs' requirements; seven case studies, on Italian furniture small enterprises, complete the study. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Scrutinizing local public service provision

Set in the context of an expansion of scrutiny by local authorities of local service provision, this article explores the key challenges ahead for managers and politicians in this area of local governance. Drawing on an evaluation of the development of health scrutiny, it outlines the different types of activities health scrutiny committees are engaging in to fulfil their legislative commitments and suggests lessons for the expansion of external scrutiny.     

Service Science Management Engineering and Design (SSMED): a semiautomatic literature review

ABSTRACT

SSMED (Service Science, Management Engineering and Design) is multidisciplinary by nature. However, some authors stated that SSMED publications remain focused on single scientific domains. This paper proposes a Semiautomatic Literature Review (SALR) using integrated techniques for knowledge extraction –‘Time Aware Knowledge Extraction’ (TAKE) – to analyse the interdisciplinarity of SSMED publications and the potential for transdisciplinarity based on the actual adoption of Service-Dominant Logic as the foundation of SSMED research. Findings reveal that: 1) most SSMED publications are not interdisciplinary and are mainly related to Management; 2) Service-Dominant Logic has been adopted very often in SSMED publications, paving the way for SSMED transdisciplinarity.

This paper offers theoretical and practical insights by enhancing the knowledge about SSMED literature and enriching the state of the art related to techniques to perform literature reviews. Furthermore, it stimulates the expansion of scholars’ and managers’ views of holistic approaches to service systems while fostering SSMED viability.     

The ‘Duce hometown effect’ on local industrial development: The case of Forlì

Abstract

The history of fascist intervention and rescue in support of Italian banks and firms (either through nationalisation or direct aid) in the inter-war years is well known. The case of Forlì adds an important piece of information to the broad literature on state-sponsored development. Benito Mussolini was born in Predappio, a small village in the Apennines in the province of Forlì. And Forlì was meant to become ‘la città del Duce’ (‘the Duce’s hometown’). The case of Forlì offers an original perspective: entrepreneurs who chose Mussolini’s hometown to obtain special concessions, a novel element in the crowded panorama of special relationships between government and industry in Italy. But on the other hand, this article will also underline the unsuitability of big business to local economic characteristics (and post-war challenges) and the return to a traditional growth path centred around the small-firm model specialising in traditional sectors and family-owned, centralised management. State-sponsored business failed and provided no stimulus to local growth: any talk of ‘industrial continuity’ in Forlì requires us to acknowledge that it is based on the steady presence and continuous regeneration of locally grown, small family businesses.