From Which Source Do Small Firms Derive Their Innovative Inputs? Some Evidence from Italian Industry

This paper relies upon the hypothesis that the “knowledge production function” – defined in the geographical sense – is characterized by coefficient estimates which vary with firm size. In particular, large firms depend for their innovative output on direct and indirect R&D inputs, whereas small firms more extensively exploit the spillovers from research activities carried out by universities and by other firms. This hypothesis is tested against two different sets of data: the first based on patent statistics and dealing with 20 Italian regions over the period 1978–86; the second consisting of a selected number of product innovations identified by a literature-based counting procedure and dealing with 46 Italian provinces in year 1989. The results of regression analysis support the hypothesis that firms belonging to different size classes resort to different sources for the knowledge relevant to their innovative output. In particular, industry R&D prove to play a relatively more important function than do spillovers from university research in generating innovative output in large firms, whereas the opposite is true in the case of small firms.     

Development, democracy, and mass killings

Using a newly assembled dataset spanning from 1820 to 1998, we study the relationship between the occurrence and magnitude of episodes of mass killing and the levels of development and democracy across countries and over time. Mass killings appear to be more likely at intermediate levels of income and less likely at very high levels of democracy. However, the estimated relationship between democracy and probability of mass killings is not linear in the full sample. In the XXth century, discrete improvements in democracy are systematically associated with episodes involving fewer victims.When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe. – Elie Wiesel– Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1986.     

Knowledge Diffusion and Networking in the Organic Production Sector: A Case Study

Knowledge Diffusion and Networking in the Organic Production Sector: A Case Study
Recent uncertainty throughout the food system has put pressure on European farmers, now facing economic globalisation, changing consumer preferences, and a new legal and regulatory framework. Under these new circumstances, policy-makers must identify new strategies for developing food production systems in ways that benefit the whole of society, whilst minimising negative effects upon the environment. In this regard, the organic food sector, characterised by an ever more complex legislative framework and policy environment, presents an opportunity and a challenge for policy-makers as well as for farms and firms. This article reports findings from a case study of knowledge diffusion in the organic sector in the province of Foggia, a developmentally backward area in Southern Italy. Our study shows that despite a cohesive'network of interactions' among organic producers, exchanges of knowledge are fairly marginal. This communication void is partially filled by local institutions that are shown to be effective in diffusing juridical and technical knowledge but less effective in providing commercial/market information. Further institutional efforts are required to cover these knowledge gaps. The study draws attention to some policy issues that can be shared by groups of organic producers elsewhere with characteristics similar to the Foggian case study, similarities that call for institutions to facilitate the creation, interpretation, and sharing of knowledge.     

The Determinants of Nicaraguan Nonagricultural Exporters: A Firm-Level Perspective

Nicaragua, as a small emerging market with a challenging history of economic and political turmoil, is understudied within the international business context. Utilizing the World Bank's 2010 Nicaragua Enterprise Survey, this article explores which nonagricultural Nicaraguan firms are best suited to export. Important findings include firm location, firm size, ownership composition, performance, firm industry, firm quality programs, and firm origin in the informal sector. These findings are discussed within the Nicaraguan context.     

A resilient social economy? Insights from the community food sector in the UK

At a time of global economic and environmental crisis, academic and policy debates are re-emphasizing the potential of the social economy in providing an alternative development model that reconnects communities with their resource-base and enhances their ‘resilience’. The goal of this paper is to explore this potential through a focus on the practices and values of those who are concretely involved in the social economy. Based on data collected on five community food enterprises in Oxfordshire, UK, the analysis focuses on the perceptions of social entrepreneurs in relation to the ‘alternativeness’ of the social economy, its potential for expansion and its resilience. The research highlights the capacity of social entrepreneurs to empower local communities through a process of collective mobilization of local resources. Theoretically, this study generates new insights into the nature and meanings of resilience as a process of creation of more self-reliant communities of people, places, tools, skills and knowledge. From a policy and practice perspective, the paper raises the need for regional development strategies that capture the gains of these isolated initiatives, particularly in relation to their innovative capacity to create a shared vision that fosters synergies between local ecological, social and economic resources.     

Stakeholder Pressures as Determinants of CSR Strategic Choice: Why do Firms Choose Symbolic Versus Substantive Self-Regulatory Codes of Conduct?

To encourage corporations to contribute positively to the environment in which they operate, voluntary self-regulatory codes (SRC) have been enacted and refined over the past 15?years. Two of the most prominent are the United Nations Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative. In this paper, we explore the impact of different stakeholders?? pressures on the selection of strategic choices to join SRCs. Our results show that corporations react differently to different sets of stakeholder pressures and that the SRC selection depends on the type and intensiveness of the stakeholder pressures as well as the resources at hand to respond to those pressures. Our contribution offers a more specific and finely variegated analysis of firm-stakeholder interactions.     

Measuring Generation Y consumers’ perceptions of green practices at Starbucks: An IPA analysis

Following the trend of sustainability, many organizations in the restaurant industry have considered this movement as an opportunity and have started to “go green.” In this study, we analyzed Starbucks, the American global coffeehouse chain. Through an importance-performance analysis, we investigated the gap between the importance assigned by customers to a set of green practices that can be implemented by restaurants and their perception of Starbucks’ performance. The results suggest that, by making some green practices visible to their customers, Starbucks is creating the perception that the company is performing well in several other “green” areas.     

CSR,Sustainability and the Meaning of Global Reporting for Latin American Corporations

Although the ethical judgment of consumers in the United States and other industrialized countries has received considerable attention, consumer ethics in Asian-market settings have seldom been explored. The purchase and making of counterfeit products are considered common, but disreputable, attributes of Southeast Asian consumers. According to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia ranks third among the leading countries of counterfeit items in Asia. Retail revenue losses attributed to counterfeiting amounted to US $183 million in 2004. Therefore, elucidating the ethical perspectives of Indonesian consumers is an effective means of clarifying an important cultural influence on consumer behavior. This exploratory study of 230 Indonesians has many meaningful findings. First, certain personal attitudes apparently affect the ethical judgments of Indonesian consumers. Second, Indonesian consumers who exhibited high ethical concern over actively benefiting from illegal actions had high levels of materialism and idealism, as well as low levels of relativism. Third, materialism, idealism, and relativism significantly influenced whether benefits were created from actively engaging in some questionable activities (DELEGAL). Analytical results indicated that Indonesians with high materialism and relativism were more likely to engage in actions that were questionable but legal. Finally, consumer ethics were compared by applying demographic variables such as gender, age, education, religion, and occupation, indicating that all variables significantly varied except for religion.