¿Cómo perciben los Relaciones Públicas y los Periodistas sus profesiones? Una mirada desde Italia

Media relations is historically a core activity qualifying public relations from other communication-related professions and is widely practiced in many organizations. Despite the increasing use of digital media to directly communicate with publics, journalists are still key stakeholders for organizations. Also communications by organizations have become more and more mediatized and at the same time more and more journalists are switching to a public relations career. Yet, if more journalists are becoming public relations practitioners and more public relations practitioners are adopting journalistic working practices, does this change the way these communicators perceive themselves and the other profession? The aim of this study is to provide some insights from a southern, Latin country, Italy, on how Italian public relations practitioners and journalists perceive their and the other profession, roles, practices and relationships. A mixed method, including face-to-face interviews and an online survey, was used to collect and analyse the data. Results indicate that public relations and journalism’s converging roles is affecting how these communicators perceive each other in a favorable manner. Furthermore, the impact is more evident in public relations practitioners since their opinions of journalism and journalists correspond to journalists’ selfevaluations

Costituzionalismo trasformativo, diritti sociali ed obblighi di progressiva realizzazione. Il modello sudafricano

Il contributo analizza l’applicazione del sindacato di ragionevolezza ai diritti sociali, con riferimento all’approccio messo a punto dalla Corte costituzionale del Sudafrica, per evidenziarne alcuni aspetti rilevanti dal punto di vista teorico-costituzionale

Deliberative Democracy, Social Rights and the Modulation of Judicial Review

Roberto Gargarella has infused into constitutional theory a deliberative approach to constitutional review and rights adjudication. By this, he has enriched our understanding of deliberative democracy as a political system in which the judiciary can play a central role, especially through the institution of constitutional review. Furthermore, he has provided us with crucial insights into the deliberative potential of this institution, shedding light on the different ways in which it may serve to secure the essential conditions of democratic deliberation. The article centers on this twofold, crucial contribution of Gargarella – to constitutional theory and to deliberative democratic theory – with a focus on the relationship between social rights and constitutional review. First, it presents the main controversial issues raised by this relationship, concerning both social rights justiciability and adjudication. Second it highlights the resources provided by Gargarella to understand and address both orders of issues, based on his account of deliberative democracy and constitutional review. Third, the article addresses the resulting view of the action of courts on social rights. In particular, it inquires into the idea of a “third way” for judicial action, requiring to modulate judicial review so as to mediate between judicial inertia and activism.Roberto Gargarella has infused into constitutional theory a deliberative approach to constitutional review and rights adjudication. By this, he has enriched our understanding of deliberative democracy as a political system in which the judiciary can play a central role, especially through the institution of constitutional review. Furthermore, he has provided us with crucial insights into the deliberative potential of this institution, shedding light on the different ways in which it may serve to secure the essential conditions of democratic deliberation. The article centers on this twofold, crucial contribution of Gargarella – to constitutional theory and to deliberative democratic theory – with a focus on the relationship between social rights and constitutional review. First, it presents the main controversial issues raised by this relationship, concerning both social rights justiciability and adjudication. Second it highlights the resources provided by Gargarella to understand and address both orders of issues, based on his account of deliberative democracy and constitutional review. Third, the article addresses the resulting view of the action of courts on social rights. In particular, it inquires into the idea of a “third way” for judicial action, requiring to modulate judicial review so as to mediate between judicial inertia and activism

Organizing for innovation: R&D projects, activities and partners

We explore how R&D project characteristics condition the governance of an R&D project and its individual activities. Prior literature has tried to understand the factors - both at the industry and at the firm level - that influence the way in which firms partner for innovation. In this paper, through the analysis of detailed data from a subsidiary of STMicroelectronics, we identify the main drivers of partner selection for innovation. Partnering or contracting with universities for innovation is common practice for developing new -original- knowledge, as opposed to applying existing knowledge to a problem. But firms are more reluctant to partner, especially with other firms, when that knowledge directly enhances their competitiveness. However, conditional on cooperation, partners are more likely to act individually when the project is strategically important. Contracting for innovation to universities or research centers, as opposed to partnering, happens for more experimental projects, where highly original knowledge is developed, and typically early on in the project.Innovation strategy; Technological innovation; R&D projects' organization; Partner selection;

The organization and performance evaluation of R&D projects in a dynamic environment

Faster technological development, shorter product life-cycles, and more intense global competition have transformed the current competitive environment for most firms. This new competitive landscape forces organizations to actively acquire knowledge, as a firm's competitive advantage is now more dependent on continuous knowledge development and enhancement. Therefore, knowledge has become a central theme in strategic management. Against this background, we argue that the knowledge characteristics of R&D projects are fundamental variables to explain governance decisions. Drawing upon the case of STMicroelectronics, we provide evidence that partnering or contracting with universities for innovation is common practice for developing new -original- knowledge, as opposed to applying existing knowledge, for solving a problem. However, the firm is more reluctant to partner, especially with another firm, when this knowledge directly enhances its competitiveness. Moreover, we find that R&D project performance is a bi-dimensional construct. One dimension picks up project efficacy and immediate benefits, while the other includes learning and long-term benefits. Though spanning firm boundaries for innovation does not seem to have appreciable effects on perceived project efficiency, it nonetheless brings about intertemporal benefits related to learning and capabilities development. In a dynamic environment, building knowledge may be more important than protecting it. Thus, an open innovation process may be an exceptionally effective way to build and develop the firm's technological future.Innovation strategy; R&D projects' organization; R&D projects' performance; open innovation;

Customers’ emotions in service failure and recovery: a meta-analysis

This service failure/recovery emotions’ synthesis showed: 1) Conceptual models of emotions affect the relationship between emotions and their correlates; 2) Perceived fairness is most important in triggering negative/positive emotions; 3) Recovery satisfaction and loyalty are stronger related to positive emotions; 4) Methodological characteristics explain systematic variation in the effect sizes

Manufacturing EU Consensus: The Reasons behind EU Promotional Campaigns

Abstract: This article provides a new interpretation of EU information and communication actions developed in the last 5 years from a public relations standpoint. This study responds to five main questions concerning EU promotional campaigns towards its different publics. Specifically it seeks to understand the reasons behind such campaigns, whether they have produced certain changes in EU image formation and increased trust in its institutions and whether they have increased Europeans' commitment and involvement in EU affairs. Firstly I will review the main concepts of image, collective identification, trust, commitment and involvement for public organizations. Then, I will present the data concerning Europeans' perception of the image of the EU, trust in European institutions, collective identification and overall support for membership. This date together with the theoretical framework will engage these five central concerns. I will then conclude with some comments and discussion about EU information and communication actions

Political Public Relations in the European Union: EU Reputation and Relationship Management Under Scrutiny

This article examines the state of political public relations in the European Union by specifically focusing on reputation management and relationship management. Its arguments are based on a theoretical review of the literature of political public relations, reputation and relationship management, and EU communication. The article suggests an in-depth examination of the nature of some of the EU’s major problems in political public relations, and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the possibilities and limitations of applying reputation and relationship management constructs to a political context. The nature of the analysis is exploratory rather than definitive, and specific investigations are needed to thoroughly explore and better theorize political reputation and relationship management in various political contexts

Il futuro dei diritti sociali tra garanzie essenziali e garanzie ragionevoli

The article addresses the controversial issue of the justiciability of social rights, arguing that the normative statute as well as the costs connected to their guarantees do not prevent their judicial implementation. The article thus points out that the possibility of a judicial implementation is confirmed by the most recent developments in social rights' constitutional adjudication, looking into the different judicial approaches to it. More specifically, the article analyses the caselaw of the South-african Constitutional Court and the reasonableness test applied to social rights arguing for its merits in contrast to the "categorical\u201d approach propounded by the General Comments of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and adopted by many Constitutional Courts (such as the Colombian, the German and the Spanish Court)

Post‐budburst hand finishing of winter spur pruning can delay technological ripening without altering phenolic maturity of Merlot berries

Background and Aims Global warming can lead to technological ripening occurring in advance of phenolic maturity for red wine cultivars. This study evaluated the effect of post‐budburst winter pruning on the phenology, yield components, berry composition and phenolic maturity in Vitis vinifera L. cv. Merlot. Methods and Results Mechanically pre‐pruned vines followed up with hand pruning during winter (Control) were compared to vines that were mechanically pre‐pruned and followed up with hand pruning after budburst when distal buds developed shoots with either three unfolded leaves (DF3) or eight unfolded leaves (DF8). Late pruning delayed budburst, flowering and, to a lesser extent, veraison. The delays were greater for DF8 than DF3 treatments. Yield decreased by about 40 and 71% in DF3 and DF8 vines, respectively, while sugar accumulation and reduction of TA were delayed by both pruning treatments. The concentration of anthocyanin and tannin and of extractable anthocyanin and tannin (of skin and seeds analysed separately) were not influenced by the DF3 treatment while tannin concentration increased in DF8 berries. Conclusions Delaying hand pruning of mechanically pre‐pruned vines until after budburst of distal nodes can delay technological ripening without affecting the concentration of anthocyanin and tannin of berries. Yield, however, is substantially reduced. Significance of the Study We verified the feasibility of a cost‐effective technique that can be adopted to counteract the hastening of sugar accumulation and organic acid decline caused by global warming on valuable black grapes