MANAGING LEVERS OF ORGANIZATION DESIGN TO ENHANCE SMES’ LONGEVITY: An Agenda for Further Research

SME success is often primarily linked to the personal traits of entrepreneurs and vice versa. In terms of SME failure, most of the literature, research and popular press, seems focused on individual factors, such as those related to the owner/entrepreneur’s profile and behavior, or contextual factors like those associated with relationships between the firm and its own stakeholders, especially on the competitive and financial systems arenas. That said, some scholars have emphasized the relevance of organizational design for SME longevity, though there seems to be little inter-relating of the two sides. This paper examines the relationships between owner/entrepreneur attributes and organization design and infrastructure in an attempt to gain a clearer understand of SME longevity and failure. It examines critical issues in appropriateness and comprehensiveness of organizational design, control and decision-making flexibility and risk perception. It concludes that these linkages are not well understood and may lead to unhelpful misdiagnoses of small business failure. It consequently suggests a research agenda based on a structural analysis and modeling using the system dynamics approach

Microvascular alterations in hypertension and vascular aging

Hypertension and aging are characterized by vascular remodelling and stiffness as well as endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial function declines with age, since aging is associated with senescence of the endothelium due to increased rate of apoptosis and reduced regenerative capacity of the endothelium. Different phenotypes of hypertension have been described in younger and adult subjects with hypertension. In younger patients functional and structural alterations of resistance arteries occur as the earliest vascular alterations which have prognostic significance and may contribute to stiffness of large arteries through wave reflection. In individuals above age of 50 years as well as in subjects with long-lasting elevated blood pressure, vascular changes occur predominantly in conduit arteries which become stiffer. Activation of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and endothelin systems plays a key role in endothelial dysfunction, vascular remodelling, and aging by inducing reactive oxygen species production, and promoting inflammation and cell growth

Unleashing growth potential in 'stunted' SMEs: Insights from simulator experiments

The literature recognises the phenomenon of 'dwarf' or 'stunted' small and micro firms (in Italian nanismo aziendale) and that they might represent potential lost opportunities for owners and the local economy. This paper describes the development of a simple 'insight' model to simulate the behaviour of such firms. The model replicates the basic no-growth, cyclical behaviour attributed to them and shows how changes in targets and attitudes towards asset management can change that behaviour to one of stable growth. In this simple form, the model does link behaviours to system structure and could support individual entrepreneurs in understanding the reasons for dwarfism in their firm and the potential for unleashing their growth potential. It could further form the basis for a more detailed model that could support the identification and evaluation of strategic alternatives in individual firms. Copyright © 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Scritti in onore di Pellegrino Capaldo

La qualità dei servizi è stata riconosciuta come un rilevante aspetto caratterizzante la performance dell’azienda pubblica, analogamente alla capacità di operare secondo criteri di efficienza e nel rispetto dei vincoli di bilancio. Sebbene sia possibile riscontrare alcuni significativi casi di adozione di politiche di customer satisfaction nelle amministrazioni pubbliche italiane, a tutt’oggi il tema presenta significative criticità, specialmente in ordine agli aspetti metodologici e agli strumenti operativi che consentano di integrare dette politiche nel sistema di programmazione e controllo delle aziende che erogano tali servizi. Il presente lavoro adotta una diversa prospettiva di analisi del miglioramento della performance in ottica di “customer satisfaction”, rispetto a quella tradizionalmente utilizzata, specie con riferimento al settore pubblico. Piuttosto che focalizzare soltanto l’interazione tra “cliente/utente” esterno all’amministrazione pubblica e unità direttamente preposte all’erogazione dei servizi, in questa sede si propone di una chiave di lettura di tipo interistituzionale. Tale prospettiva è volta a comprendere le criticità e i generatori di prestazione connessi allo svolgimento dei processi gestionali da cui deriva il conseguimento di “prodotti” dell’attività amministrativa a beneficio dei “clienti/utenti” interni ed esterni, rispetto all’amministrazione pubblica. La rappresentazione della “catena del valore” alla luce della quale sia possibile esplicitare le responsabilità e i connessi indicatori di performance volti a collegare in sequenza diverse unità di “back-office” nel settore pubblico, ai fini del miglioramento del servizio all’utenza finale, costituisce un momento fondamentale per internalizzare nella pubblica amministrazione gli stimoli provenienti dalle tradizionali indagini di “customer satisfaction” e tradurli in concreti miglioramenti ai processi gestionali e ai connessi “prodotti” dell’attività amministrativa

The mtDNA 15497 G/A polymorphism in cytochrome b in severe obese subjects from Southern Italy.

Background and aim: A large number of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations have been implicated in degenerative diseases and aging. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the 15497 G/A mtDNA polymorphism (G251S) in the cytochrome b subunit of respiratory complex III, which has been associated with obesity-related variables and lipid metabolism in a Japanese population, is associated with severe obesity also in adult Caucasians from southern Italy. Methods and results: Unrelated severely obese patients (n Z 317; BMI > 40 kg/m2) and controls (n Z 217; BMI < 25 kg/m2) from Southern Italy were genotyped by allelic discrimination TaqMan assay for the 15497 G/A mtDNA polymorphism. In obese patients fasting serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and glucose were measured enzymatically and sitting blood pressure and heart rate were also collected. Mean levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose were below the upper reference limit for healthy subjects. Female obese subjects showed lower levels of blood pressure and heart rate and higher levels of HDL cholesterol than male obese patients (P < 0.001). All the control subjects and 315/317 severely obese patients were homozygous for the G allele (wild type), whereas only 2/317, were females homozygous for the A allele. Conclusions: The mtDNA 15497 G/A polymorphism in cytochrome b was present in 0.6% obese subjects, two females whose lipid parameters and BMI were similar to those of the overall group. Therefore, this mutation may appear to contribute in rare instances to severe obesity but does not explain the majority of cases in our population. A more extensive genetic haplogroup characterization is required to identify associations to obesity in Caucasians

Generation of strong magnetic fields by r-modes in millisecond accreting neutron stars: induced deformations and gravitational wave emission

Differential rotation induced by the r-mode instability can generate very strong toroidal fields in the core of accreting, millisecond spinning neutron stars. We introduce explicitly the magnetic damping term in the evolution equations of the r-modes and solve them numerically in the Newtonian limit, to follow the development and growth of the internal magnetic field. We show that the strength of the latter can reach large values, $B \sim 10^{14}$ G, in the core of the fastest accreting neutron stars. This is strong enough to induce a significant quadrupole moment of the neutron star mass distribution, corresponding to an ellipticity |\epsilon_B}| \sim 10^{-8}. If the symmetry axis of the induced magnetic field is not aligned with the spin axis, the neutron star radiates gravitational waves. We suggest that this mechanism may explain the upper limit of the spin frequencies observed in accreting neutron stars in Low Mass X-Ray Binaries. We discuss the relevance of our results for the search of gravitational waves.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

‘Candidatus Phytoplasma cynodontis’ (16SrXIV group) affecting Oplismenus burmannii (Retz.) P. Beauv. and Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. in India.

n/