Technological and Organizational Tools for Knowledge Management: In Search of Configurations

Knowledge Management (KM) is becoming a growing concern in management research and practice because of its role in determining firm innovation capability and in enhancing working life quality of knowledge workers. This requires, even for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) the creation of a sustainable work organization in terms of configuration of organizational and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. With a particular emphasis in the area of Product Innovation (PI) and on the basis of a survey on 127 Italian SMEs, this paper aims at analysing the emergent technological and organizational approaches to managing knowledge in the PI process. Three different KM Configurations emerge: the `technical', the `relational' and the `advanced' approach.     

Managing multiple forms of strategic training fit through the Balanced Scorecard

Although the literature recognizes training as an essential driver of organizational effectiveness, little is still known about how to explicitly focus and align training to organizational strategic priorities. This note proposes a model that bridges the strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature and the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) literature – which is one of the most widely recognized strategic performance evaluation approaches intended to foster organizational alignment by translating the firm's strategy into a multidimensional set of financial and non‐financial measures. After having briefly discussed the main differences between the return on investment (ROI) model, which represents one of the major attempt to make training strategic within the existing evaluation research, and the BSC model applied to training management, this note highlights multiple forms of strategic training fit and suggests how to manage training through various scenarios of BSC development. Specifically, the note illustrates four forms of strategic fit – the vertical fit, the horizontal inter‐functional fit, the horizontal intra‐functional fit and the human capital readiness – and discusses their pursuit in terms of six scenarios of training management through the BSC. The note expands some exploratory empirical evidence on the feasibility and usefulness of training scorecards (i.e. the application of the BSC to training) in order to develop some theoretical insights and practical guidance on how they can be leveraged to foster the strategic alignment of training.     

The Role of Migration in the Variety and Quality of Trade: Evidence from Germany

We explore the migration‐trade nexus in the case of Germany over the period 2000–09, disentangling the two dimensions of intra‐industry trade (vertical and horizontal). We find that immigration is positively and significantly related to intra‐industry trade. However, the magnitude and statistical significance of migration's impact on trade are considerably higher for horizontal intra‐industry trade and increase with the difference in the level of development between Germany and the partner countries. This pattern is consistent with the view that information flows between migrant communities and their country of origin may be more important for consumer goods (where trade in varieties prevails) and that this information effect is more important if trading countries are very different.     

Selection,Market Size and International Integration: Do Vertical Linkages Play a Role?

We analyze how increases in the market size and in the level of international integration affect the process of selection among firms with heterogeneous productivity levels when they are interconnected by vertical linkages. We show that when vertical linkages among firms are relatively weak (strong), an increase in the market size softens (toughens) the competition facing firms in this market and more firms of a lower (higher) efficiency survive, increasing (decreasing) the welfare level. Moreover, an increase in the level of economic integration softens competition only for intermediate vertical linkages, worsening the welfare level only for strong linkages.     

Circular business models for sustainable development: A “waste is food” restorative ecosystem

Our aim is to provide a better understanding of a business model based on circular principles. In particular, we focus on two issues that support the development of a circular business model: (a) the focal actor as orchestrator of the circular network and (b) the circular ecosystem encompassing suppliers, customers, research centers, and public authorities, in which each actor/stakeholder plays a specific role, based on effective interorganizational relationships. The research method applied is an in‐depth nested single case study of a circular project. Our results highlight an exemplar case of an ecosystemic business model in agriculture, involving different types of innovation and strong collaboration among network members, orchestrated by a focal firm. The abductive approach used led to the formulation of some research propositions and to the identification of some adoption factors and barriers to growth in circular business models.     

Unionization,international integration,and selection

Abstract We study how unionization affects competitive selection between heterogeneous firms when wage negotiations can occur at the firm or at the profit‐centre level. With productivity specific wages, an increase in union power has: (i) a selection‐softening; (ii) a counter‐competitive; (iii) a wage‐inequality; and (iv) a variety effect. In a two‐country asymmetric setting, stronger unions soften competition for domestic firms and toughen it for exporters. With profit‐centre bargaining, we show how trade liberalization can affect wage inequality among identical workers both across firms (via its effects on competitive selection) and within firms (via wage discrimination across destination markets).     

On the causes of the changes in income shares: Some reflections in the light the United States experience

The last 30 years have witnessed a dramatic change in the distribution of income, with the wage share falling in all major industrialized countries. Main-stream analyses, including New Keynesian ones, which retain the notion of factor substitution leading to a “factor intensity” inversely related to its rate of return, have encountered some difficulties in the interpretation of this change. Nonmainstream approaches present an advantage in the explanation of the phenomenon, consisting in the fact that they entail no a priori connections between the changes in distribution and the changes factor proportions. Hence if a change in institutions or in the bargaining strength of the parties affects distribution, income shares may vary significantly (i.e., changes in wages need not be accompanied by changes in labor to output ratio in the opposite direction as in mainstream analyses). Yet empirical observation may question also some of the analyses that have been advanced outside the mainstream. The article will explore the ways in which nonmainstream approaches have interpreted the described changes in distribution, and assess them from an analytical viewpoint and with reference to U.S. data. The purpose is that of pointing at some open questions and problems.     

BRAND ACTIVISM: A Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Brand activism is a new and fragmented phenomenon that has been attracting growing attention from scholars. Research on this topic is still at an exploratory stage and in need of advancement and conceptualization. The aim of this study is to systematize the extant literature on brand activism by attempting an in-depth exploration of the antecedents that identify the construct along with the influencing and consequence factors that will need to be tested and validated by future research. This study adopts the guidelines provided by the SPAR-4-SLR protocol and considers 76 papers with no time limitation. To the best of our knowledge, this seems to be the first scientific systematization of brand activism. From the in-depth analysis of the extant literature, two conceptual frameworks were constructed that can guide both researchers, in their understanding and investigation of the phenomenon, and practitioners in their implementation strategies of brand activism. The no time restriction of the analysis has allowed an investigation of the phenomenon from its prodromes until recent years, also highlighting important gaps that will have to be filled by future research.     

Does economic policy uncertainty matter for financial reporting quality? Evidence from the United States

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We examine the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the financial reporting quality of US firms over 1999–2015. We use accruals-based...     

Estimating Lower Tail Dependence Between Pairs of Poverty Dimensions in Europe

This article provides an innovative method for measuring the dependence between pairs of poverty dimensions using a semiparametric copula approach that permits us to account for the importance of extreme low values. The association between pairs of poverty dimensions at the lower tail is easily measured using the parameter estimates of the specified parametric copula, and no further calculations are needed. This approach is used to measure the bivariate lower tail dependence between the dimensions of the AROPE rate in Europe at two time points (2009 and 2018). The findings reveal a statistically significant increase in the lower tail dependence between 2009 and 2018 in several European countries.