Producing abroad while making profits at home:Veneto footwear and clothing industry

Over the last twenty years globalisation has brought about a sharp increase in the real and financial integration of the worldwide economy. In this closely knit context, the outsourcing of some of the productive and trade activities abroad has become one of the focal points of the policies followed by businesses in order to handle competition at worldwide level. In the 80s Italian clothing and footwear firms faced the increased competition in the international markets by outsourcing to domestic subcontractors and in the 90s transferred much of the previous outsourcing abroad, in countries with low labour costs, mainly in Eastern Europe, North Africa and East Asia. This paper is aimed to assess the impact of the offshoring strategy on firms. performance. It is based on a survey delivered to a group of 70 final producers, operating in the Veneto, that during the 90s began to manage production on a global scale. Direct investments, subcontracting and partnerships that materialize in product manufacturing abroad are considered as forms of international outsourcing. On this basis, by combining direct observations with balance sheets data, and data on employment stock at the firm’s level, the impact of the offshoring decision is evaluated. The study shows the importance of production management along the global value chain in giving new competitivity to the Veneto traditional sector.production organization, global value chains, fragmentation, internationalization, clothing industry, Italy

Theoretical interpretation of GRB 011121

GRB011121 is analyzed as a prototype to understand the ``flares'' recently observed by Swift in the afterglow of many GRB sources. Detailed theoretical computation of the GRB011121 light curves in selected energy bands are presented and compared and contrasted with observational BeppoSAX data.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of "Swift and GRBs", Venice, 2006, Il Nuovo Cimento, in pres

challenging aspects in removing the influence of environmental factors on modal parameter estimates

Abstract Modal based damage detection is a well-established procedure for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of civil structures. The development of robust algorithms for automated output-only modal parameter identification and tracking has renewed the interest towards modal based damage detection. However, the influence of environmental and operational variables on modal parameter estimates still represents a relevant shortcoming to their extensive use for SHM, because it can yield changes in the experimental estimates of the same order of magnitude of those induced by damage. As a consequence, there is the need to remove the effects of those factors in order to effectively detect damage. Different approaches can be adopted, some of which do not require measurements of the environmental and operational variable influencing the modal parameter estimates. Nevertheless, the effective removal of the environmental influence on modal parameters still remains a challenging aspect in SHM. In the present paper, different approaches for compensation of environmental effects are applied to a very large database of modal parameter estimates from a bridge in operational conditions. The objective of the paper is to investigate their performance under the concurrent influence of different environmental/operational variables (for instance, temperature and traffic) on modal parameter estimates. Static (effect on the estimate at time t depends only on the value of the variable at the same time instant) as well as dynamic (effect on the estimate at time t depends on the values of the variable at time t and also at previous time instants) methods are considered. The results of the study remark the relevance of identifying all sources of variability of the modal parameters in operational conditions

Labour Market Assimilation and Over Education: The Case of Immigrant Workers in Italy

In this paper we study the assimilation of immigrants into the Italian labour market using over-education as an indicator of labour market performance. The main objective is to assess the extent to which work experience in the host country’s labour market favours the international transferability of immigrants’ human capital. Using data from the Istat Labour Force Survey for the years 2005-2007, we find that foreigners are much more likely to be over-educated than natives upon their arrival in Italy and that work experience gained in the country of origin is not valued in the Italian labour market. Moreover, we find that not even experience acquired in Italy is helpful in improving immigrants’ educational job matches, suggesting that catch-up by foreigners seems unachievable, even after they adapt their skills to the host country labour market.Assimilation, Over education

How accurately can we measure the hydrogen 2S->1S transition rate from the cosmological data?

Recent progress in observational cosmology, and especially the forthcoming PLANCK mission data, open new directions in so-called precision cosmology. In this paper we illustrate this statement considering the accuracy of cosmological determination of the two-quanta decay rate of 2s hydrogen atom state. We show that the PLANCK data will allow us to measure this decay rate significantly better than in the laboratory experiments.Comment: v2: matched with the version accepted in JCAP (minor changes

The value of international outsourcing: an empirical study of Veneto clothing industry

This paper investigates production outsourcing of the Veneto footwear and clothing industries. It is based on a survey delivered to a group of final producers that in the 90s began to manage production on a global scale. Direct investment, subcontracting and partnership that materialize in product manufacturing abroad are considered. The positive impact of the delocalization decision on firm’s value added and gross earnings is estimated by combining direct observation with the data from the balance sheets and employment stock at the firm’s level. The study shows the importance of production management along the global value chain in order to give new competitivity to the Veneto traditional sector. In the 80s Veneto clothing and footwear firms faced the increased competition in the international markets by outsourcing to domestic subcontractors and in the 90s transferred much of the previous outsourcing abroad, in countries with low labour costs, mainly in Eastern Europe and East Asia. This decision has been accompanied by a significant increase both in value added per capita and gross profi

Mitogen-activated kinase kinase kinase 1 inhibits hedgehog signaling and medulloblastoma growth through GLI1 phosphorylation

The aberrant activation of hedgehog (HH) signaling is a leading cause of the development of medulloblastoma, a pediatric tumor of the cerebellum. The FDA‑approved HH inhibitor, Vismodegib, which targets the transmembrane transducer SMO, has shown limited efficacy in patients with medulloblastoma, due to compensatory mechanisms that maintain an active HH‑GLI signaling status. Thus, the identification of novel actionable mechanisms, directly affecting the activity of the HH‑regulated GLI transcription factors is an important goal for these malignancies. In this study, using gene expression and reporter assays, combined with biochemical and cellular analyses, we demonstrate that mitogen‑activated kinase kinase kinase 1 (MEKK1), the most upstream kinase of the mitogen‑activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation modules, suppresses HH signaling by associating and phosphorylating GLI1, the most potent HH‑regulated transcription factor. Phosphorylation occurred at multiple residues in the C‑terminal region of GLI1 and was followed by an increased association with the cytoplasmic proteins 14‑3‑3. Of note, the enforced expression of MEKK1 or the exposure of medulloblastoma cells to the MEKK1 activator, Nocodazole, resulted in a marked inhibitory effect on GLI1 activity and tumor cell proliferation and viability. Taken together, the results of this study shed light on a novel regulatory mechanism of HH signaling, with potentially relevant implications in cancer therapy

From learning to partnership : multinational research and development cooperation in developing countries

The authors analyze the determinants of interfirm agreements between industrial and developing countries for research and development (R&D) - that is, between firms with asymmetric endowments of knowledge. They develop a model in which a multinational has two options: a) setting up a subsidiary and competing with a local firm in a duopoly, or b) implementing an agreement and sharing monopoly profits. The two firms, if they chose the agreement, may also cooperate in R&D. The model shows that: a) the choice of cooperating in R&D is influenced by the intertemporal preferences of the developing country firm, the relative efficiency in R&D of the two firms, and the extent of knowledge spillovers; and b) the choice of cooperating R&D increases both the profitability and stability of the agreement. The empirical analysis is based on a data set of international arm's length agreements, part of which involve joint R&D. Testing the two-choice model supports some of the key theoretical results and assumptions. R&D agreements are particularly likely to emerge when firms are operating in knowledge-intensive industries, when the partners have a nonhierarchical contractual relationship, and when technological asymmetries between home and host countries exist but are not too great.Economic Theory&Research,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Environmental Economics&Policies,Small and Medium Size Enterprises,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Science Education,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems