‘Paesaggio urbano’ e tecnologie informatiche. Per una nuova lettura del Catasto di Ascoli del 1381

L’articolo propone nella prima parte una analisi, attraverso una disamina della storiografia urbana a partire dagli anni ’50 del XX secolo, della definizione di città. La storiografia, che ha infatti di volta in volta privilegiato l’aspetto materiale su quello istituzionale o viceversa, negli ultimi anni si è posta di fronte alla questione con un approccio diverso, proponendo una definizione assai più complessa di città. In questo contesto alcuni specialisti hanno sviluppato linee guida per la ricerca futura che potessero garantire il raggiungimento di risultati attendibili. Nella seconda parte si prende in considerazione l’uso delle tecnologie informatiche e la loro capacità di inserirsi efficacemente nelle nuove metodologie di cui s’è parlato. Si esaminano dunque i casi di Carpi e Cingoli in cui l’uso dell’informatica a partire dalle fonti ha prodotto risultati inediti, smentendo anche quanto affermato tradizionalmente dalla storiografia. Nell’ultima parte si propone una rilettura con una tecnologia GIS del Catasto di Ascoli Piceno del 1381. In its first part this article proposes an analysis of the concept ‘urban space’ through a close examination of the definitions given by urban historiography since 1950. In urban historiography exist in fact two definitional strands: the first is a conception of the urban space that relies on ‘material’ aspects, the second on institutional ones. Recently, however, the issue has been tackled according to a different approach, that proposes a more complex definition of urban space. In this effort, some specialists have developed guidelines for future research that could ensure the attainment of reliable results. The second part discusses the use of information technologies in urban history argues in favor of their full integration in the new methodology mentioned above. Therefore the article examines the cases of Carpi and Cingoli: in the case of these two towns, the application of information technologies on the extant primary sources, gave new results, refuting what had been traditionally maintained by previous scholars. In the last part the author proposes a new interpretation of Ascoli Piceno’s cadastre (1381) by means of a geographic information system (GIS)

Managing solid urban waste in Italy. An economic, financial, and environmental performance analysis

This work focuses on municipal solid waste management companies operating in Italy, with the aim of ascertaining whether "best practices" - here expressed in terms of separate collection - are adequately disseminated, to light of the provisions of the EU with reference to the circular economy. This analysis is accompanied by the evaluation of the economic and financial performance of the selected companies, which in carrying out their activities must operate in \u201clasting economic balance\u201d conditions, to ensure continuity of management and provision of the service to the community. The results concern a group of companies operating in about 900 municipalities located throughout the country and highlight a rather varied situation; nevertheless, the North appears to be the area in which the most efficient companies on average operate, which perform the service with a higher level of separate waste collection despite the lower unitary revenue both per ton collected and per inhabitant served

Innovation and profitability in a population of Italian listed companies during a time of crisis

The analysis examines the relationship between the number of patents registered and the trend of performance indicators, such as turnover and return on invested capital (ROI), in a population Italian listed companies. Although the results do not identify a precise trend for the entire sample, regular behaviours appear: with the approaching crisis, a high reduction in the average number of patents and a worse performance are recorded. Nevertheless, with reference to these trends, no positive relationship between the two variables was identified

Untangling sustainability reporting: theoretical approaches informing non-financial disclosure

This study analyses different theoretical frameworks used in the literature to explain corporate social and environmental sustainability (SES) reporting. A systematic literature review of 232 scientific articles published in top-tier journals was performed through bibliometric visualizations, quantitative statistics and narrative analyses. Results highlight that legitimacy, institutional, and stakeholder theories most commonly inform studies on SES reporting. Recent works also show the use of theoretical approaches less frequently employed in accounting and management that usually distinguish other research fields, such as sociology, psychology, and communication, highlighting crossfertilization among different research areas. This systematic literature review specifically focuses on the many theories related to SES reporting and offers an extensive overview of theoretical frameworks underpinning thirty years of studies on non-financial disclosure. Moreover, encourages scholars to engage with critical and emerging theories in the study of SES reporting following multidimensional and multidisciplinary perspectives

An analytical framework for strategic alliance formation between a cooperative bank and a fintech start-up : an Italian case study

CEL: Celem artykułu jest identyfikacja cech charakteryzujących analizowane podmioty, motywacje oraz procesy tworzenia aliansów strategicznych pomiędzy małym bankiem spółdzielczym a start-upem typu fintech. Artykuł wypełnia lukę badawczą w literaturze dotyczącej tej tematyki oraz wyjaśnia czynniki sukcesu aliansu strategicznego zawieranego pomiędzy badanymi podmiotami. METODYKA: Zastosowano jakościowe podejście badawcze, które składa się z dwóch etapów. Pierwszym krokiem było opracowanie ram analitycznych, umożliwiających zrozumienie kluczowych czynników sukcesu w tworzeniu aliansów strategicznych między bankami i start-upami typu fintech. W drugim kroku zastosowano ramy analityczne do analizy studium przypadku, którym był alians strategiczny pomiędzy Banca Popolare di Cortona i start--upem NetFintech. WYNIKI: Z przeprowadzonych badań wynika, że istnieją różne motywy tworzenia aliansów strategicznych między bankami i start-upami typu fintech. Z teoretycznego puntu widzenia motywacje banków opierają się na outsourcingu, innowacjach, ewolucji modelu biznesowego, przewadze konkurencyjnej, oszczędnościach, poprawie jakości świadczonych usług oraz uczenia się. Główne motywy fintechów to dostęp do klientów, pożyczki, licencja bankowa, ekonomia skali, zaufanie i wiarygodność. W części empirycznej ustalono, że głównymi czynnikami sukcesu są strategiczne dopasowanie i hybrydyzacja, kompetencje i doświadczenie, wartość kulturowa i bliskość terytorialna oraz profesjonalizm. IMPLIKACJE: Wyniki poszerzają wiedzę na temat aliansów strategicznych między bankami spółdzielczymi i start-upami typu fintech. Głównym ograniczeniem jest to, że artykuł opiera się tylko na jednym studium przypadku i dotyczy wyłącznie banków spółdzielczych, pomijając inne rodzaje banków. Może on być punktem wyjścia do dalszych badań w tym obszarze. Opisane studium przypadku może być dobrym przykładem do porównywania innych przypadków takich aliansów. Banki spółdzielcze i fintechy typu start-up zaangażowane w alianse strategiczne powinny dzielić swoje zaangażowanie na poziomie zarządzania. Istotne są również procedury tworzenia aliansów strategicznych. ORYGINALNOŚĆ I WARTOŚĆ: Artykuł wnosi istotny wkład do dotychczasowych badań na temat transformacji sektora bankowego pod wpływem technologii finansowych w dwóch obszarach. Po pierwsze opracowaliśmy teoretyczny model kluczowych czynników sukcesu podczas budowania aliansów strategicznych między bankami a start-upami typu fintech. Po drugie, zastosowaliśmy nasz model w kontekście kształtowania aliansów strategicznych między bankami i startupami na lokalnym rynku we Włoszech. W przeciwieństwie do wcześniejszych badań, które dotyczą głównie banków komercyjnych, nasz artykuł dotyczy relacji między bankami spółdzielczymi i start-upami typu fintech.PURPOSE: The paper aims to identify the characteristics of the entities involved, the motivations and the processes of forming strategic alliances between a small cooperative bank and a fintech start-up. The paper bridges the research gap in the literature and explains the success factors of strategic alliance between considered entities. METHODOLOGY: We applied a typical qualitative research approach that consists of two steps. The first step was to develop an analytical framework to understand the critical success factors for the strategic alliance formation between banks and fintech start-ups. In the second step, we applied the analytical framework for a case study analysis, considering the strategic alliance between the Banca Popolare di Cortona and the NetFintech start-up. FINDINGS: Our research shows that there are different motives for strategic alliance formation for banks and fintech startups. From a theoretical point of view, banks’ motivations are based on outsourcing, innovation, the evolution of the business model, competitive advantage, saving costs, improving service quality, and learning. The main motives for fintechs include access to customers, loans, banking license, economies of scale, trust, and credibility. In the empirical part, we found that the crucial success factors are strategic alignment and hybridization, competence and experience, cultural value and territorial closeness, and professionalism. IMPLICATIONS: The results develop the knowledge about the best conditions for cooperative banks and fintech start-ups strategic alliances. The main limitation is that the paper is based only on one case study and it is related to cooperative banks and does not embrace other groups of banks. For this reason, it can be a basis for further research in this area. The described case study can be a good example to compare other cases of such alliances. Cooperative banks and fintech start-ups involved in a strategic alliance should share the commitment at the governance level. Critical are also the procedures of the alliance formation. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: This article provides two main contributions to the literature on the technology-driven transformations of the banking sector. First, we elaborated a theoretical framework of the critical success factors for the bank and fintech start-up strategic alliance formation. Second, we applied the framework with the bank–fintech start-up cooperation in the local market in Italy. Contrary to previous research, which focuses mainly on commercial banks, this article presents the relationship between cooperative banks and fintech start-ups

Simple approaches on how to discover promising strategies for efficient enterprise performance, at time of crisis in the case of SMEs : Voronoi clustering and outlier effects perspective

This paper analyzes the connection between innovation activities of companies -- implemented before a financial crisis -- and their performance -- measured after such a time of crisis. Pertinent data about companies listed in the STAR Market Segment of the Italian Stock Exchange is analyzed. Innovation is measured through the level of investments in total tangible and intangible fixed assets in 2006-2007, while performance is captured through growth -- expressed by variations of sales or of total assets, -- profitability -- through ROI or ROS evolution, - and productivity -- through asset turnover or sales/employee in the period 2008-2010. The variables of interest are analyzed and compared through statistical techniques and by adopting a cluster analysis. In particular, a Voronoi tessellation is implemented in a varying centroids framework. In accord with a large part of the literature, we find that the behavior of the performance of the companies is not univocal when they innovate. The statistical outliers are the best cases in order to suggest efficient strategies. In brief, it is found that a positive rate of investments is preferable.Comment: 31 pages; 13 figures; 6 tables; 51 references ; ; in D. Grech and J. Miskiewicz (Eds.), Simplicity of Complexity in Economic and Social Systems, Springer Proceedings in Complexity (Springer, Cham, 2020) pp.1-20. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1808.0589

The impact of government support on firm performance in Vietnam. New evidence from a dynamic approach

Using a sample of private manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the period 2007\u20132015, this paper examines the effect of government support on firms\u2019 financial performance in Vietnam. Contrary to many previous studies, the study finds that government assistance affects firms\u2019 financial performance after controlling for heterogeneity, unobservable factors, and dynamic endogeneity. The finding supports the viewpoint of institutional theory. The study also reveals that assistance measures, such as tax exemptions, soft loans, and investment incentives to promote financial performance, are vital for the development of Vietnamese private SMEs

Government support and firm financial performance: New evidence from a transitional economy

Using a panel dataset of five waves of private manufacturing SMEs surveys in the period 2007-15, this paper contributes to literature by considering for the first time the effects of government support on firms’ financial performance in Vietnam. Interestingly, contrary to the many findings of previous studies, we find that government assistance affect firms’ financial performance after controlling for heterogeneity, unobservable factors and dynamic endogeneity. This finding supports for the viewpoints of institutional theory. Also, the study shows that technical supports from government such as export promotion, human resource training and technology programmes have insignificant linkages with firm financial performance, but financial supports play an important role, suggesting that supporting measures as tax exemptions, soft loans and investment incentives promote financial efficiency and are vital for the development of Vietnamese private SMEs