Does Network Matter in International Expansion? Evidence from Italian SMEs

In order to face the new competitive scenario, Apulian textile firms are involved in a process of change and are trying to adopt a networking approach in analysing the international propensity of SMEs. The case of the textile network in Apulia has been analysed using a semi-structured questionnaire submitted to a sample of family businesses in order to verify the influence of network on their internationalisation process. The contribution that the network can give to the single firm in its internationalisation process depends also on the level of cooperation in the network. In fact, relationships – at least dual vertical relationships – are the key to overcoming size limit and providing value to all the partners involved. The research attempted to offer a better academic understanding of the role of network in international competitive advantage. Future research should be based on cross countries analysis, in order to determine whether or not the set of internal determinants of internationalisation pensity remain stable from one country to another. The findings should also be useful to local governance for a better understanding of the network phenomenon in order to develop appropriate programmes for training and supporting SMEs in the global market. This paper provides a wide analysis of the network role in the internationalisation process in a low technology sector.Internationalisation Strategies, Network Approach

Resilient SMES, Institutions and Justice. Evidence in Italy

AbstractThe recent financial crisis (2008) seriously affected the credibility of European and Italian institutions. It was also characterized by a general pessimism and low expectations of economic operators, especially firms. In literature, relationships between the quality of institutions and economic activities have been widely investigated. They show how the judicial system, the regulatory authorities and governance are important aspects for the quality of institutions.The main conclusion of existing literature, or the necessity of a reform of judicial system, is the basis of this work. Thus, here there is an attempt to investigate the performances of the judicial system, considering the low and poor level of its effects on firms' performances. In particular, in this work, there is a simple empirical analysis (data paucity is the big limit) in order to investigate the consequences of an efficient, long-time justice on resilient firms' confidence and perspective. Those resilient firms, able to overcome the financial crisis, show their ability in surviving, even if justice doesn't help them

Efficiency of Justice and Economic Systems

The growth of an economy depends not only on economic factors, but also on institutions, the citizens' trust in them, by the sharing of values and expectations. The differences between public policies and institutions are often regarded as one of the key explanations of the wide differences in levels and growth rates of per capita across countries. Among the institutions that have the greatest impact on economic performance, the legal and judicial system plays a prominent role. Understanding how laws and regulations affect economic behaviour is fundamental in modern economies and the economy facilitates the identification of those that are, in each country system, the incentives to the litigation, the process of litigation itself and the costs, in order to verify the distributive impact of the different legal and judicial systems and what features they should have to encourage economic growth. The operation of a legal system may impact on many dimensions of development: equity, the optimal allocation of resources, and the increase in total factor productivity. Moreover, the role of the judicial system in determining its dysfunctions can affect economic growth. In fact, Italian economic growth has been and is definitely hampered by the length as well as by the civil and criminal justice processes, which reduces legal certainty and confidence, increases the risk of economic activities and therefore reduces the propensity to invest. The Italian judicial system has many efficiency and organization problems, resulting in a lack of its credibility. These are very intricate, and are the product of a mixture of features that are very difficult to isolate. The aim of this work is to assess the ways in which the administration of justice in Italy influences the choices and behaviours of the two main economic actors - households and businesses. In fact, there are many factors that determine the failure of Italian justice, and among these also the users of the justice services produce a collapse in justice system when they take legal actions only for postponing a payment or avoiding an obligation. Thus, the source of the problem and its resolution could be identified in the distorted incentives generated by all of the rules connected with the process

Innovation, Income, and Waste Disposal Operations in Korea: Evidence from a Spectral Granger Causality Analysis and Artificial Neural Networks Experiments

The aim of this paper is to assess the causal relationship among innovation in environment-related technologies, per capita income, and three major waste disposal operations (landfill, recycling, and incineration) for Korea. A time-series analysis over the frequency domain (Breitung–Candelon Spectral Granger causality) is applied, followed by Artificial Neural Networks experiments over the 1985–2016 period. Empirical results highlight that economic growth is tightly linked both to the growth of recycled waste and to the increase of environment-related innovations. Findings also highlight that waste recycling operations can spur the level of economic activity

Système de parentèle et transmission intergénérationnelle des compétences dans les petites entreprises du Sud de l’Italie

L’Italie a toujours été caractérisée par une présence considérable de petites et moyennes entreprises à gestion familiale. Selon les estimations du Family Firm Institut, notre pays enregistre une présence d’entreprises à gestion familiale d’environ 83 %. L’histoire récente de l’industrie italienne démontre que la famille y détient encore un rôle déterminant. Le présent travail aura pour but d’analyser les déterminants du succès des entreprises familiales en considérant certains aspects socio-démographiques. Plus particulièrement, nous essaierons de vérifier si et dans quelle mesure les changements générationnels et les relations parentales à l’intérieur de l’entreprise peuvent devenir des facteurs de croissance ou limiter son évolution. Nous tenterons d’analyser l’impact de la nouvelle catégorie de dirigeants à l’intérieur d’une entreprise familiale, pour savoir s’il peut être considéré comme le résultat d’un processus de stabilité et de continuité, dans un pays comme l’Italie qui oscille encore entre valeurs du passé et nouvelles cultures d’entreprise.Italy was always characterized by a considerable presence of small and medium-sized enterprises with family management. According to estimates’ of Family Firm Institute, our country records a presence of enterprises to family management from approximately 83%. The recent history of Italian industry shows that the family still holds a determining role there. The purpose of this work will be to analyze the determinants of the success of the family companies by considering certain socio-demographic aspects. More particularly, we will try to check if and up to what point the generational changes and the parental relations inside the company can become growth promoters or limit its evolution. We will try to analyze the impact of the new category of leaders inside a family company, to know if it can be regarded as the result of a process of stability and continuity, in a country as Italy which still oscillates between values of last and new cultures entrepreneurial

strategic alliances between japanese western companies a win win or win lose relationship the case of the automobile industry

Inter-firm cooperative arrangements involving flows and linkages that use resources and/or governance structures from autonomous firms based in different countries help in accomplishing both the individual objectives and the collective ones. Through collaboration with foreign partners, firms are able to exploit new market opportunities, minimise investment risks, set up more efficient and effective distribution channels or create products, product features, brands or services and, above all, absorb key capabilities and technologies from the partner. Literature on strategic alliances raised the issue on an alleged appropriation of benefits by Japanese firms when participating in strategic alliances. Japanese companies have experienced higher shareholders' returns in strategic alliances with Western partners, both in the short term and in the medium one. The choice of Japanese and Western companies calls for a deeper understanding of the drivers of the alliances and the determinants of value creation without misleading influences deriving from different business environments.This paper analyzes the wealth distribution taking into account the reaction of the market to the alliance as an indicator of a successful strategy. It explores the case of the automobile industry, which is characterised by a high use of inter-firm cooperation, such as strategic alliances and mergers & acquisitions, to effectively compete in the global market and face the global crisis

Knowledge Network Dissemination in a Family-Firm Sector

The literature on network often assumes that all firms in the net can benefit from knowledge externalities often reserved to the network area. Based on network analysis (historical and social) we will attempt to confirm the idea that social proximity plays a crucial role, especially in Italian clusters of small firms. We demonstrate that local knowledge relations are confined in the investigated area due to the high socio-familial substrate, the firm’s capacity to recognise opportunities and co-ordination ability. The empirical analysis is based on the influence of both the characteristics of each entrepreneur and of each unit of innovation, and of the absorptive capacity (cognitive proximity) and social capital on relationships