Application of chitin and chitosan extracted from silkworm chrysalides in the treatment of textile effluents contaminated with remazol dyes

Chitin extracted from silkworm chrysalides was used to prepare chitosan applied in this investigation. Adsorption studies were carried out in column and in aqueous suspension with two dyes, blue remazol (RN) and black remazol 5 (RB). The study showed that adsorption is better in the chitosan-packed column than in the chitin-packed one. However, the comparison of the adsorption in column and in suspension revealed better results for the latter. The plotted Langmuir isotherm did not indicate significant difference in the theoretical capacity of saturation of the monolayer (Qo) for either dye. The application of the adsorption process to actual conditions was evaluated by adsorption assays of actual textile effluents. In acid pH, chitosan adsorbed the dyes responsible for the effluent coloration completely. This study showed that the use of chitosan obtained from silkworm chrysalides is a viable alternative for the immobilization of dyes in textile industry effluents

Global Entrepreneurship and Market-Driven Management

Global entrepreneurship defines the orientation of the firms in the direction of growing interdependence and integration. On the contrary international entrepreneurship is just a combination of innovative, proactive, and risk seeking behaviour that crosses national borders and is intended to create value in organizations. In global markets, the strategic leverage of the firms moves from goods to knowledge. Information systems and inter-firm collaboration become fundamental ways to access to knowledge and to exploit its potential. Market-driven organizations possess superior capabilities in anticipating and exploiting trends and market changes as well as competitors’ moves. Firms, in order to be successful, must combine market-driven management with an entrepreneurial attitude

Transforming Industrial Districts: Large Firms and Small Business Networks in the Italian Eyewear Industry

This study is an evolutionary comparative analysis of how large, vertically integrated firms and networks of small firms perform, in response to the challenges posed by globalization. It focuses on the Italian eyewear industry which represents an ideal laboratory for studying the establishment and transformation of such diverse production models under ceteris paribus conditions (same industry, same challenges, same product, and same geographical location). Looking at longitudinal statistical data for the Belluno eyewear district and case studies of the four leading companies in the industry, this study demonstrates that, locally embedded networks of small firms no longer represent an organizational structure as robust and stable as in the past. Globalization challenges such networks and demands adjustments that transform the nature of the Belluno eyewear district, away from the traditional stereotype so widespread in the literature, towards a configuration characterized by the presence of leading firms and moderate hierarchy.