An Evolutionary Transparency Approach to Public Accountability

The concept of accountability reflects the growing importance that transparency has assumed in Italy and elsewhere. The evolutionary path of transparency in the Italian public sector from the post-war period to the present day emerges as in increasingly pervasive transparency, both in form and substance. The general, specific, and prospective guidelines are aimed at: strengthening the constitutional principles of impartiality and the good performance of public administrations; increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration activities, safeguarding public finances and preserving public management legitimacy; measuring and externally communicating the value created; producing and organising meaningful data in support of open government policies to increase the welfare of the economy

The Emilia-Romagna System for Start-Up Growth

EmiliaRomagnaStartup (ERSU) is one of the pillars of the Emilia-Romagna regional policy to promote innovative business creation. Launched in 2011, it represents nowadays one the most developed regional instruments at EU level to support start-up creation through information, orienteering, services provision and networking opportunities. The initiative is coordinated by ASTER, the regional Consortium for Innovation and Technology Transfer. Designed by ASTER Start-up Dept on the basis of an intensive benchmark activity to provide up-to-date services, today it is constantly improving the variety and the quality of its offer which is directed to start-ups and business projects, but also to the various regional actors that are part of its network.Initiatives such as sector-focused acceleration programs (e.g. on Green or Creative sectors), opportunities to go global (through, for instance, the partnership with the Tech Venture Launch Program in Silicon Valley) and planning of new services through the participation in EU projects, represent the key added value ERSU can offer to its community of users

Companies and Consumers Together for a More Ethical Market

The market of fairtrade products is increasingly present in major large-scale retailers. The fairtrade mark signals that producers and traders have met the fairtrade standards designed to address the imbalance of power in trading relationships, unstable markets and the injustices of conventional trade

The Creation of a Champagne Brand

The history of Champagne Encry is marked by the courage and the strong desire to embark on a journey that makes us unique in the world of Champagne. The art of making Champagne has grown together with the value of our wines and merged wisely with the emotion and passion to create the finest champagne Encry

Weather Risk Management in Tourism Industry

Globalisation, climate change, the global economic crisis, and the increasing political instability have multiplied the risk factors in the tourism industry. Climate change, in particular the variability of weather, hevily affects decision-making in the tourism industry. Indeed, tourism can be considered a highly weather-sensitive economic sector, but, at the same time, the tourism industry has a key role to play in dealing with the challenges of climate change. For their own survival, tourism firms should adopt actions aimed at promoting a risk reduction through urgent measures designed to combat climate change (reduction of energy consumption, switching to renewable energy sources, etc.). On the other hand, they should enable complementary interventions to share weather risks: from “accessory services”, such as tasting events, sport activities, wellness centers, which promote tourism attractiveness safeguarding territory sustainability, to rainfall derivatives, which are designed to protect tourism firms from excessive rainfall

Chinese Outbound Shopping Tourism: A Market-Driven Approach for the Luxury and Fashion Industry

The relations between tourism and luxury and fashion industry are subject to significant changes because of the quantitative and qualitative discontinuity introduced by the growth of the outbound flows of Chinese tourists and the importance of shopping in their travel experience. The most important implications concern the emergence of a new global market space (the “Sixth Continent”) and of new patterns of integration between the two industries. 

Craftsmanship and Made in Italy in the Fashion Market

Fratelli Rossetti is synonymous with style, both in Italy and abroad: an enduring milestone of timeless craftsmanship. Over the years, the firm has grown but has always preserved its flare for craftsmanship. Each shoe embodies a meticulous production process, entirely executed in the workshops in Parabiago by the Company Master Craftsmen. Tradition and quality have always gone hand-in-hand with insatiable curiosity and a commitment to innovation and have led Fratelli Rossetti to be competitive in the Italian and global market through a network of boutiques spread all over the world and located in the best spots

The Business Model Canvas

With global and local markets being transformed by the new techno-culture of digital and social technologies, more and more entrepreneurs need to be guided through their entrepreneurial journey. Whilst the management literature declares that there are numerous widely recognised tools available which the entrepreneur can use to help build or develop their business model in order to keep abreast of technological changes such as the business plan, lean start up and experimental lab, we propose that the Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a better fit for the market - orientated entrepreneur. This paper applies the Business Model Canvas to a single case study in order to investigates how a real entrepreneur relies on the nine blocks of the BMC namely; value proposition, key activities, key resources, cost structure, key partners, customer relationships, customer segments, channels, and revenue streams.

R&D and Product Engineering in Global Pharmaceutical Companies

In the global pharmaceutical market, innovation and imitation processes play a key role in companies’ development policies. Through the analysis of the main pharmaceutical companies (originator and generic pharmaceutical companies), this paper aims to identify features that qualify companies themselves, with a particular focus on new product R&D processes

Smart Specialisation for Economic Change: The Case of Spain

Smart specialisation concept acquired a remarkable importance in the current regional policy as a model to understand the role of territories in international competitiveness. In fact, the definition of Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3) has become an ex ante conditionality for European regional policy in the period 2014-2020. Although the process of definition has been a good opportunity to rethink and improve the policymaking, it has not been out of difficulties and barriers since it is not always easy to translate academic concepts to real policies in the field. These difficulties are analysed from a threefold perspective: the definition, implementation and evaluation of RIS3. These three aspects are seen in the recently finished Spanish RIS3, with specific attention to: priority setting, policy instruments, and evaluation