The Performance Assessment of Energy Companies

Abstract In the last two decades, in Europe and in Italy, the energy sector undergone a process of liberalization and opening up to competition that involved markets, institutions, companies and consumers. Liberalization has increased the environmental complexity of energy companies, shifting the priority of the management towards the formulation of strategies to gain market share and, at the same time, keep the old customers. The implemented strategies have been different depending on some company characteristics. In Italy, the geographical position has always influenced the company performances. Our paper aims to assess the economic and financial performances of companies, following the beginning of the liberalization process, focusing in particular on how geographical position have influenced the results

Competiveness and Innovation in High-tech Companies: an Application to the Italian Biotech and Aerospace Industries

Innovation activities are a critical factor in national and regional development. The innovative behaviour of companies is one of the main sources of competitiveness, business survival, economic growth and employment in a territory. It is therefore important to identify and understand the factors that determine innovation behaviour among enterprises. In line with this, the aim of this study is to analyse the relations between innovation‐related variables and the impact that they have on company performance. The research model proposed is applied to two high‐tech sectors of the Italian region of Lazio to verify its validity. The examination concerns the aerospace and biotech sectors, which are characterized by strong innovative activity

A New Approach for Assessing Dealership Performance: An Application for the Automotive Industry

The competitive nature of the contemporary business scenario requires productivity‐driven organizations to be aware of the efficiency level of their dealers. The recent economic and financial crisis has highlighted the need for effective evaluation methods going beyond the limits of traditional performance assessment methodologies in the retail industry. The automotive industry is no exception to this logic. In this sector, traditional methods are often based only on market share performances, ignoring the key role of input‐output ratios on the overall productivity of the parent company. Following this lead, in this paper we propose a method to evaluate the performance of dealerships taking into account both their market share performances and their efficiency. In order to assess dealership efficiency we use the DEA technique, and apply the proposed methodology to a multinational automotive company considering its Italian dealer network

The Effects of Online Brand Communities on Brand Equity in the Luxury Fashion Industry

Quoting the fashion genius Coco Chanel: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” This is even more true today than it was back then. Indeed, Web 2.0 technologies have made luxury fashion more accessible to everyone. Nowadays, consumers can instantly access a wide variety of fashion goods on the Internet and share brand experiences with other consumers. In this scenario, Online Brand Communities (OBCs) allow fashion customers to communicate with each other without any restrictions of time and place. For this reason, OBCs are viewed by fashion marketers as powerful instruments to influence customers’ purchasing behaviour. The aim of the current study is to analyse the effects of OBC dynamics on brand equity. The proposed research model is applied to eight spontaneous OBCs of the luxury fashion industry

Understanding How the Strategic Similarities between Energy Companies Influence the Post-mergers and Acquisitions Performances

The energy sector has experienced rapid evolution in recent years, following the liberalization of the electricity and natural gas markets, driven by the European Union. These developments have led to a certain level of dynamism in Italy, particularly as concerns mergers and acquisitions (M&As) within the sector. This article examines the influence of strategic similarities between the target and bidder companies on their post-M&A performances. The model used involves a hierarchical regression relating the indexes of similarity between the merging companies, regarding their economic-financial management. The results reveal the influence of the strategic similarities and differences on the post-M&A performances of the companies, showing how the positive or negative effect depends on certain characteristics, such as their structure of share capital, business segments and size. The study evidences the strategic variables that should be considered in choosing the optimal target companies. Keywords: Liberalization of energy sectors, M&As, Company performance evaluation, Strategic similarity index, Target company's characteristics. JEL Classifications: G34, L25, L98, Q43, Q4

Definition and utilization of a series of parameters to evaluate an e-business idea

In this paper we will present an innovative set of parameters that aim to contribute in the evaluation of the soundness and effectiveness of a new e-business idea during the selection phase. We will present a method that integrates the traditional business analysis concepts through the identification of new effectiveness measures that are specific to the e-business. The parameters identified, named "conceptual accessibility" and "technological accessibility" have been tuned through a reference panel of potential users and measured on a enterprise reference group of well known e-business ventures to assess the soundness of the identified parameters. For each of these parameters we will present a definition and a metric that will allow a quantitative evaluation of the idea with respect to each of them

Blockchain during COVID-19: The Technology to Help Society

At the end of 2019, a new coronavirus was reported in the form of unknown pneumonia: It was the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. It is crucial to develop the strategies to manage this new pandemic in order to improve their effectiveness, as opposed to the ones adopted in 2003 during the SARS pandemic. In 17 years, new digital technologies and tools have been created; therefore, we can take advantage of them in the social management of the pandemic. The aim of our paper is to evaluate how blockchain technology can be used and what advantages it brings in managing an emergency situation such as of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the effects of the adoption of this technology will be assessed when applied both to the management of the information flow between health infrastructures, and to track monetary, technical, and medical supply donations to hospital structures. We therefore propose a high-level, decentralized architecture that assists in administrating large-scale information and stores the gathered data in a blockchain supervised by the authorities. The distrust suffered by institutions today, the fear experienced in the last year due to the pandemic, and the birth of a technology that allows for the creation of reliable networks, pose thoughtful challenges to be faced to recover trust and hope for the future again

Blockchain and Healthcare: Opportunities and Prospects for the EHR

Health protection has always been a primary concern for mankind. Despite its important social role, current systems for managing the health records are slow, complicated, sometimes expensive and exposed to human errors and misunderstandings. In the health sector, the Medicalchain project seems to have the potential to become a new standard for managing health records using blockchain technology as a platform. In this paper, we propose a new model consisting of a permissioned blockchain to manage and store the electronic health records (EHR) of registered patients. This system guarantees transparency and especially immutability, which are essential for secure management and storage, ensuring a system that is efficient both for doctors and patients and, hopefully, bringing about renewed trust in the public health system. Our aim is that our work may contribute to gain momentum on the application of the blockchain technology to EHR and stimulate further discussion with health institutions to fully exploit the potential of the technology