Bartolomeo & Benedetto Montagna and the Role of The Graphic Arts in Vicenza c.1480-1520

The Italian Renaissance workshop was simultaneously a business, a collaborative practice and a space for experimentation. Disegno, a term that can be interpreted to refer to a physical object –generally a work on paper –or the act of depicting an invention in visual form, served as the thread that connected theseinterests. This thesis investigates the role of disegno inthe workshop operated by Bartolomeo Montagna in Vicenza, Italy, between circa 1480 and 1520. During this period, the Montagna workshop was not only the preeminent workshop in Vicenza, but also ranked among the most prosperous on the Venetian terraferma. Focussing on the output of the Montagna workshop consequently in a manner that has hitherto gone unexplored therefore contributes new insights into the management of Venetic workshops. The graphic arts –here taken to encompass drawings and prints –serves as the prism through which a number of key themes are refracted. The question of an artist’s formation is addressed through analysis of Bartolomeo Montagna’s drawings in their deployment of media and handling of form in relation to the graphic traditions of other Venetic cities. The specialisation of Bartolomeo Montagna’s secondson, Benedetto, as an engraver, invites an extended appraisal of both how artists were instructed in printmaking techniques, and factors that facilitated the workshop’s diversification into print production. Mobility is revealed as a drivingforce: the migration of publishers from Northern Europe was instrumental to the establishment of the print trade in Vicenza, the import of Northern prints fostered an awareness of the medium and its potential, while the reputation of the Montagna workshop attracted ‘peintre-graveurs’ from across the Veneto. Benedetto Montagna is newly afforded a pivotal role in the development of engraving in the Veneto by virtue of the exchanges of ideas and knowhow between engravers that must have taken place around him. When taken in conjunction with the workshop’s concurrent fulfilment of commissions for altarpieces, devotional paintings and fresco schemes, the fundamental concept that emerges in the workshopis that of co-working. Drawings produced by Bartolomeo Montagna and prints acquired from other artists are posited as the basis of the workshop’s visual archive; a repository of designs that was recycled in diverse projects and deployed by various individuals. Access to vital materials such as paper, copper and a printing press is similarly shown to have brought artisans into contact. This pragmatic approach to resources is ultimately shown to have streamlined operations within the Montagna workshop. What, therefore, does this thesis contribute to scholarship on theItalian Renaissance? The collaboration between Bartolomeo and Benedetto Montagna, as father and son, that was fundamental to their printmaking ventures offers a new dimension to our understanding of the interplay between artistic autonomy and the assertion of a workshop identity. The extended analysis of the family’s production and use of prints and drawings demonstratescompellinglythe importance of disegnoto the operation of a Venetic workshop. Finally, and crucially, the potential of the Montagna workshop to attract itinerant artists to Vicenza brings into question the hegemony of Venice in the artistic developments of the Veneto

The effectiveness of university regulations to foster science-based entrepreneurship

In this study, we analyze the effect of the introduction of university regulations supporting academic entrepreneurship. Using a sample of 611 companies spun-off from the 64 Italian Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) universities between 2002 and 2012, we show that university regulations in support of academic entrepreneurship have a positive effect on the creation of academic spin-offs. Nevertheless, their effectiveness is conditioned by specific contingencies. First, the characteristics of university departments influence the positive effect of the regulation: in some cases, there is a substitution effect rather than a complementary one. Second, the design of the regulation impacts the decisions of academic staff regarding whether to start a new venture. Finally, the effect of the regulation is maximized four years after its introduction and then becomes less effective. This paper contributes to the debate on the evaluation of policies supporting science-based entrepreneurship

Three Essays on the Politics of Reorganization and Public Management

Reorganization in public administration is an expression of bureaucratic and institutional politics, as well as a response to crises. Public leadership can also exert pressure on citizens’ perceptions of crises, building political capital for institutional politics and creating room for reform. However, when politically construed, such reforms need not increase system efficiency or performance, and they can even be counterproductive. The three essays of this dissertation address critical issues in the scholarship of public management and reorganization using a diverse range of research methodologies. The first essay conducts a systematic review of the literature on reorganization in the public sector to provide a clearer theoretical picture of its definitions and determinants. It discovers that political considerations are virtually always behind explanations based on efficiency, managerial rationality, and reactions to external crises, yet public administration and political science scholars have rarely spoken with each other to discuss these issues. The review also highlights a surprising lack in the use of mixed methods to understand the problem of reorganization, which is expected to overcome the limitations of qualitative or quantitative-only approaches. The second essay of this dissertation attempts to do precisely this. Indeed, it seeks to uncover the ‘bureaucratic politics’ behind the efficiency argumentation promoting public health mergers, and it does so by combining a staggered difference-in-difference analysis of quantitative indicators for financial and quality of care outcomes with a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with managerial figures of merged agencies. The combination of the two methodologies enables quantifying a causal effect as well as grasping the mechanisms behind the observed results, some of which go against the expectations of the literature. Finally, the third essay exploits a fortuitous quasi-natural experiment to assess the causal impact of leaders’ public communication concerning the measures taken by the government to counteract a health and economic emergency. As such, it speaks to the literature on blame management following crises, as these can trigger reorganization efforts or result from poorly conceived reorganization reforms. What these essays teach us is that there can be room for improving the design and targeting of reorganization reforms and welfare aid programs as a response to crises, since we observe frequent mismatches between the stated goals and the effective results. Indeed, Essay 2 highlights a limited realization of cost savings and performance improvements following the mergers of public health agencies, whereas Essay 3 shows that fiscal policy measures proposed to face the Covid-19 recession did not convince the targets of these measures. Improving the design of public reforms thus requires a more comprehensive understanding of the theory behind them, as Essay 1 advocated; and by taking stock of interdisciplinary and cross-country comparisons from the past and adopting the new methodologies that have been developed in recent years there is still a lot that policymakers can learn from academic research and vice versa

Assessment of Future Water Efficiency Measures

The Victorian water utilities have been active in the implementation of water efficiency for many years. Similar to other jurisdictions this intensified during the Millennium drought. The approaches employed during the drought involved both individual and joint water utility initiatives, often in collaboration with the Victorian government. These initiatives covered both the residential and non-residential sectors and were supported by the important collaborative research initiated in 2003 under the $50m Smart Water Fund (now closed). This research report “Assessment of Future Water Efficiency Measures” has been developed by the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF), University of Technology Sydney, on behalf of the three Melbourne retailers, Melbourne Water, Barwon Water and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. The rapid study does not aim to be exhaustive but to begin to gather information to assist in taking stock of the current efficiency situation and to look on the horizon in terms of how efficiency might change. It aims to gather information that will be useful to assist in testing alternative potential scenarios of long term demand forecasts and new potential short and long term efficiency program opportunities that can be actioned when deemed appropriate into the future. There is significant additional conservation potential available as we look to the future in terms of new more efficient appliances and ways to interact with customers by tapping into new technical and behavioural opportunities

Modeling and Selection of Software Service Variants

Providers and consumers have to deal with variants of software services, which are alternative instances of a services design, implementation, deployment, or operation. This work develops the service feature modeling language to represent software service variants and a suite of methods to select variants for development or delivery. An evaluation describes the systems implemented to make use of service feature modeling and its application to two real-world use cases

Critical success factors for implementing supply chain information systems : insights from the pork industry

Critical success factors for implementing supply chain information systems – Janne M. Denolf Due to intensified competition, companies realize that they should closely collaborate with their supply-chain partners to further cut costs and stay competitive. To do so, supply-chain partners should intensify information sharing, which is often facilitated through supply chain information systems (SCIS). Implementation of such a system is a complex undertaking due to the umpteen technical and organizational aspects that require consideration. Multiple theories have given valuable insights into the complex interplay of organization and technology. However, tangible tools that consider these theories for implementing a supply chain information system are scarce. To provide more ready-to-use methods, the main objective of the thesis is to identify organizational and technical critical success factors (CSFs) for sharing information and implementing supply chain information systems (SCISs). CSFs are the factors that must go well during an implementation and must, therefore, be given special and continual attention in order to successfully implement an information system. This central objective is investigated by means of the pork industry. In Chapter 2, we pay particular attention to (supply chain) information sharing. The literature indicates that the relationships among the supply-chain partners have to be managed, and effective governance structures need to be chosen for effective and efficient information sharing. Despite initial research, the literature has not accounted for the multi-dimensionality of information sharing and does not consider the complete supply chain as the unit of analysis. This leads to the first research objective: to investigate how and to what extent supply chain information sharing can be explained by supply chain governance structures. To gain insights regarding the research objective, three European pork supply chains with different governance structures were investigated. Through cross-case analysis, the study stipulates that apart from governance structures, quality regulations, the financial strength (of one or more supply-chain partners) and relationship management seem to influence information sharing to a great extent. As stated in Chapter 2, supply chains increasingly share information through implementing automated SCISs. To manage these implementations carefully, the study of CSFs for SCIS implementations forms a promising approach. Since to date no consensus has been reached on SCIS critical success factors, the second objective is to identify critical success factors for implementing SCISs. Based on 10 key articles focusing on ERP implementations, we have built a list of CSFs as a starting point for the SCIS literature search. Thereafter, based on 21 SCIS articles, 14 CSFs for supply-chain information system implementation have been defined. To indicate the nature of the CSFs and highlight the interaction of the organizational and technical system, the CSFs are classified in the MIT90s framework of Scott Morton (1991) (See Figure 1). Figure 1. Framework of CSFs for SCIS implementations Chapter 3 identifies a comprehensive framework of CSFs for implementing SCISs. Concrete guidance for applying CSFs has, however, not been provided by the CSF literature. There is a gap between the rather abstract CSFs for SCIS implementations and operational project management. Consequently, the following third objective is posed: to make critical success factors for implementing supply chain information systems “actionable”. To deal with this objective, we investigated the completed implementation of SCISs in four German pork supply chains. Respondents were asked to describe crucial challenges during the project and actions taken to cope with these challenges (i.e. Critical Incident Technique). Challenges were assigned to CSFs and form a basis upon which to take actions. Our results suggest that “convince future users to use the new SCIS” – part of the CSF “manage change and deliver training” – and “define the functional requirements of the SCIS” – part of the CSF “select standards, vendor, and software package” – are frequently mentioned challenges. Furthermore, possible critical actions – with connected supply-chain responsibilities – are identified for implementing a SCIS. All in all, through this research, we link the concepts CSFs, challenges, and actions and bridge the gap between CSFs and operational project management for the implementation of a SCIS. The fourth research objective deals with traceability systems, which are specific SCISs, aiming at the collection, documentation, maintenance, and application of information related to all processes in the supply chain in a manner that provides guarantees to consumers and stakeholders on origin, location, and life-history of a product. Despite a number of traceability and RFID publications, these publications fall short as they often deal with the general issue of traceability and are not really applicable for practitioners. Identification of critical traceability points (CTPs), which are points where information regarding traceability may get lost, is a suitable method for making traceability research more applicable. At last, the following fourth research objective is posed: to identify CTPs in organic pork supply chains and to investigate how these CTPs can be managed through the application of RFID in these chains. Data were collected through an in-depth case study in the European organic pork industry. After having mapped the production processes and information flows for farm and slaughterhouse, CTPs were identified. To keep such information available for actors in the supply chain, pigs should be uniquely identified throughout the supply chain and transformations at farm and slaughterhouse recorded. In the supply chain investigated, 18 CTPs are identified. Then, it was verified how and to what extent CTPs could be managed using RFID applications. The results indicate that several CTPs can be managed using RFID, but additional organizational measures, and the use of other identification technologies, such as DNA profiling, are imperative to manage all CTPs. On top of that, a new SCIS should be built, coupling different existing computer systems of actors involved. On a general level, this thesis makes a contribution to the theories examining and explaining the mutual interaction of organizational and technical aspects. Specifically, tangible tools are provided that consider these theories for implementing SCISs. Organizational and technical critical success factors – and connected actions – are identified and classified in the MIT90s framework, which is in line with the Structuration Theory of Orlikowski (1992) and reflects the project life cycle of Markus and Tanis (2000). Using the framework of 14 CSFs, a more ready-to-use method is provided for implementing SCIS. Specifically, the thesis makes contributions to the literature on critical success factors (CSF) and critical traceability points (CTP). First, by identifying critical success factors (CSFs) for implementing SCISs, the CSF literature base is extended. Moreover, through identification of key actions for the CSFs, this thesis responds to a stream of researchers claiming that CSFs are not “actionable”. Second, compared to previous research, we investigate how and to what extent critical traceability points can be managed using new technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). By verifying best practices and applications for RFID deployment, we provide a response to a group of researchers who stated that RFID and traceability research are not really applicable for practitioners.</p