Patterns of international R&D cooperation for new product development: the Olivetti multimedia product

Abstract
The aim of the paper is to identify a number of different patterns of international R&D cooperation during the initial phases of the product development process. This is a case-study of new product development based on the work of the Olivetti Multimedia Laboratory in Pisa, how it set up its own pattern of multinational collaboration in the idea generation and pre-competitive phase; how, in turn, this collaboration led to new R&D collaboration agreements to satisfy specific problem-solving requirements connected with the confirmation of a dominant design, though limited to a certain extent by previous agreements between Olivetti and other firms; the role played by marketing in the choice of alternative solutions. Finally, in the product implementation phase, the emergence of a defined technological paradigm leads to a highly competitive environment, where R&D collaboration is increasingly directed towards multifunctional requirements (R&D, manufacturing, marketing) within a strategic network of alliances that involves large sized companies, start-up firms, industrial and university research units.     

Su Una Estensione Bidimensionale del Teorema di Scomposizione di Peccati

Facendo ricorso all’introduzione di una opportuna condizione di sincronia fra due coppie di tassi (i, j), esterna, e (i*, j*), interna, si dimostra che condizione necessaria e sufficiente per la validità finanzíaria di una estensione hidimensionale del teorema di scomposizione di Peccati è che le due coppie (i, j) e (i*, j*) soddisfino tale proprietà di sincronia.

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A two-dimensional extension of peccati’s decomposition theorem

Summary This paper keeps as starting poing the Peccati’s decomposition of the d.c.f. of an enterpreneural project seen as a present value of single-period results, recently given by the author in an unidimensional framework. The goal of the paper is twofold: the first is to provide a bidimensional extension of the decomposition in order to keep account of mixed projects, that is projects that according to any internal couple (i*, j*) reveal alternance of investment and respectively collection periods. A straightforward extension is given on the basis of a simple analogic argument. But a more careful evaluation of the problem suggests that if we require that the decomposition be meaningful from a financial point of view. things are no more simple either in one or in two dimensions. To solve the problem we introduce a proper synchrony condition: precisely, the pair of couples (i, j) and (i*, j*) are said to satisfy the synchrony condition if and only if the sequences of the signs of the partial balancesM _t (i, j) andM _t (i*, j*) are the same. After that we are able to show that, with reference to a couple (i, j) of external rates, a bidimensional decomposition centered on an internal couple (i*, j*) is meaningful if and only if the pair (i, j) and (i*, j*) satisfy the synchrony condition. Formally, the result comes as a nice byproduct of a rule on the factorization of particular bivariate polynomials recently given by Stucchi. In particular going back to a one-dimensional world, it turns out that for pure investment (Soper) projects the synchrony condition works as a condition of applicability of the Peccati’s decomposition.

Il testo è frutto di una riflessione congiunta degli autori che ne condividono l’impostazione generale e i risultati. In dettaglio, la stesura dell’introduzione e delle conclusioni deriva da una claborazione comune, quella dei paragrafi 4, 5 e 7 è dovuta a Pressacco mentre quella dei rimanenti è dovuta a Stucchi. Il lavoro è stato svolto nell’ambito della ricerca nazionale “Modelli per la Finanza Matematica”.     

Conditional cooperation in a sequential move game

Cooperation is a pervasive social phenomenon, but more often than not economic theories have little to say about its causes and consequences. In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that cooperative behaviour might be motivated by pure self-interest when the “social” payoff in a game is increasing. We report the results of a series of experiments on the Centipede game. The experiments are organised in two subsequent steps. Subjects first participate in a 2-period trust game, randomly matched with unknown partners. We apply the strategy method in order to elicit their social preferences. On the basis of their pre-game behaviour, individuals are divided into three main social groups: selfish individuals, pure altruists and reciprocators. At the second step of the experiment, subjects play a repeated 6-move Centipede game with an increasing final payoff. Each subject plays twice, in a low and in a high-stake Centipede game, and he/she is informed about his/her co-player social preferences. We provide statistical evidence to identify the origin of cooperation within homogeneous and heterogeneous social groups. We construct a Poisson regression model to assess the determinants of the duration of conditional cooperation in the Centipede.     

Suit the action to the word,the word to the action: Eliciting motives for trust and reciprocity by attitudinal and behavioural measures

Two important primitives of social capital are the disposition to trust and to reciprocate manifested in social life. In this paper, attitudinal and behavioural evidence is used to investigate the nature of the motivations underlying behaviour in Trust and Dictator games. In doing so, we have three aims. First, to find out whether, and to what extent, answers to a questionnaire about attitudes towards trust and civicness predict subjects’ behaviour. Second, to disentangle strategic from other-regarding motivations by comparing behaviour in Trust and Dictator Games. Third, to investigate to what extent a correspondence could be found between subjects’ attitudinal ‘type’ and their behaviour in the two interactive experimental settings. The paper builds on previous work in the area and in particular finds that using surveys to distinguish between the behavioural responses of different attitudinal types–“Trusting” or “Prudent” on the one hand and “Trustworthy” or “Untrustworthy” on the other, allows us to dig deeper into the underlying motivations of the experimental subjects. The self-declared trusting tend to manifest trust by investing more in the risky interaction than the prudent, and the self-declared trustworthy are inclined to return more than the untrustworthy. Moreover, the self-reported trustworthy and untrustworthy tend to manifest positive or negative reciprocity, respectively. The evidence suggests that the former are moved by the intention to reward and the latter by the desire to punish a stingy Sender by returning an even smaller amount than received. This seems to confirm the “multiple self” view (Elster, 1986), whereby in the personality of each individual many components–possibly distant in terms of the motivating sentiments–are gathered together.     

A meta-design approach to agroindustrial buildings: A case study for typical Italian wine productions

The study is part of a wider research aiming at defining building design criteria for small and medium-sized wine-growing and producing farms. The goal of this paper is to work out and validate a specific meta-design process, suitable to lead to the definition of possible layout solutions optimized in terms of functional requirements. The production process has been resolved into two macro-phases, in their turn composed of sections consisting of various series of operations and functions. The in-depth analyses performed on the spatial requirement of these operations and functions allowed to define the functional areas and spatial units suitable for building design. Finally, their functional and spatial relations were analysed through flow charts and matrix approach. The results allowed us to outline examples of possible layout solutions.     

e‐Participation Model for Sustainable Cultural Tourism Management: a Bottom‐Up Approach

The paper presents a ‘bottom‐up approach’ for cultural tourism management, based on the development of an e‐participation website for an Italian city, where the stakeholders are placed at the centre of the decisional process. The analysis provides an indication on how to personalize and differentiate the cultural tourism offer according to the stakeholders’ perspectives and to specific territorial characteristics. Innovative techniques of stakeholders’ engagement are offered by information and communication technologies tools that can play a vital role in today's cultural destinations. However, the study shows that the Web is yet to be utilized as an effective tool in stakeholders’ participation processes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of team characteristics on the supervisor’s attitude towards telework: a mixed-method study

Abstract

This study examines the impact of team characteristics on the supervisor’s attitude towards telework through a mixed-method approach. First, in the quantitative part, we test hypotheses drawing on disruption and dependency theory, using data of 205 supervisors from four Belgian organizations. The data confirm the hypothesized negative correlation between task interdependence and supervisors’ supportive attitude towards telework, as well as the moderating role of supervisor’s dependency on his or her team on this relation. We found no impact of team heterogeneity and lack of team effort and low performance. Second, we use qualitative data collected through 39 semi-structured face-to-face interviews with supervisors to gain a better understanding of supervisors’ reasoning behind their attitude towards telework. These data provide insight into how task interdependence, team heterogeneity and lack of team effort and low performance affect it. Our team-centred conceptualization of the antecedents of supervisors’ attitude towards telework enables to highlight the key role of structural aspects in shaping supervisors’ attitudes towards telework. This is particularly important for policy, as organizations are better placed to remediate aspects at the team level that contribute to supervisors’ negative attitude towards telework, rather than those at the inter-individual one.