OUTSOURCING STRATEGIES. HOW TO FORMALIZE AND NEGOTIATE THE OUTSOURCING CONTRACT.

In the globalized economy multinational firms have given rise to local firms able to produce at a low cost and at acceptable quality levels. A growing number of firms have outsourced production and manufacturing activities of all types to these firms, not only to reduce production costs but also to make their organizational structures more streamlined and flexible. Outsourcing decisions, which originally were limited to production which had a modest technological content and was of marginal importance for the business in question, is increasingly adopted for activities which, requiring core competencies or belonging to the core business, were considered inseparable from the organization and thus not outsourceable. Gradually an outsourcing strategy has developed which has found it convenient to outsource even core competencies and functions, such as specialized manufacturing, which require a particular technology, marketing, product design, and the search for know-how (Prahalad and Hamel 1990: 79-91).\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nSuch an outsourcing strategy has a number of advantages, among which quality improvement, a greater focus on managing other core competencies, a greater flexibility and leverage regarding resources, along with the possibility of entering new markets, even ones with a high rate of development.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nThis article analyzes the fundamental stages for an outsourcing strategy. It will demonstrate how, in order to achieve an outsourcing strategy, it is necessary to include outsourcing in the general strategy, gather suitable information for choosing the outsourcer, negotiate the contract with the supplier, choose the type of relationship to have with the supplier, and, finally, plan the transfer of activities and functions from the outsourcee to one or more outsourcers or providers.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\noutsourcing, outourcing decision, strategic perspective, outsourcing contract, contract negotiation, outside information, organizational culture

Delteil en détail, sous la direction de Anne-Lise Blanc

Il presente volume raccoglie i contributi di studiosi dalle personalità estremamente eterogenee, accomunati da un vivo interesse per l’opera di Joseph Delteil. Alcuni di essi hanno partecipato alla giornata di studio intitolata Delteil en détail organizzata all’Université de Perpignan nel marzo 2010, altri invece hanno offerto successivamente il loro contributo aggiungendo le loro voci al progetto iniziale. Tutti gli studi qui riuniti contribuiscono a tracciare un ritratto letterario di Josep..

Mireille Blanchet-Douspis, L’influence de l’histoire contemporaine dans l’œuvre de Marguerite Yourcenar

Frutto di una tesi di dottorato, lo studio di M. Blanchet-Douspis si propone di dimostrare che al di là di un palese interesse verso la storia classica, Marguerite Yourcenar fa delle sue opere una continua evocazione della storia contemporanea, dalla quale viene profondamente influenzata. Il confronto con i documenti storici dimostra che sia Les Mémoires d’Hadrien, sia L’Œuvre au noir, sia ancora Le Labyrinthe du monde rispecchiano fedelmente gli avvenimenti politici, le realtà sociali e il c..

Georges Schéhadé, Le Théâtre du poète. Correspondances dramatiques et dossier de réception

L’opera drammaturgica di Georges Schehadé può essere annoverata fra le più celebri del Nouveau Théâtre. Pur essendo composta soltanto da sei pièces e da una pantomima, è caratterizzata da una voce poetica unica nel coevo panorama teatrale. Il volume in questione intende esaminare le caratteristiche di tale creazione e tracciare il percorso della sua ricezione critica in Francia. In tale prospettiva sono qui pubblicate per la prima volta integralmente le principali corrispondenze dell’autore d..

Europe and Contentious Cultural Heritages

This second issue of TRACES Journal has been designed as a dialogue among the scientific coordinators of some of the most recent European Union’s flagship research projects focusing on museums and heritage studies, including some recently concluded programmes as well as some newer researches launched under the H2020 umbrella. We called upon them to question what roles heritage can and should play to address social division and crisis in Europe. We asked them about the focus and the scope of their projects and their relevance in view of contemporary social, political and economic issues affecting Europe and its inhabitants; the expected impact of their research as well as the influence of EU political and funding agendas on the framing of their programme, its lines of enquiry and methods

Guillaume Apollinaire, Casanova e altre opere per il teatro

Pur essendo universale la fama di Guillaume Apollinaire come prosatore e poeta, la sua produzione drammaturgica resta invece poco nota. Il numero ridotto delle sue più importanti opere teatrali e l’eterogeneità che le caratterizza, a fronte di una ben più ricca produzione in versi e in prosa, hanno contribuito a relegare il drammaturgo in una posizione secondaria rispetto al poeta e al narratore. Eppure il teatro sembra aver attratto Apollinaire sin dai suoi esordi nella scrittura: l’eclettis..

Relevance of the pig stomach for the detection of dietary factors and gut maturation and control

In this thesis two approaches were applied to achieve a double general objective. The first chapter was dedicated to the study of the distribution of the expression of genes of several bitter and fat receptor in several gastrointestinal tracts. A set of 7 genes for bitter taste and for 3 genes for fat taste was amplified with real-time PCR from mRNA extracted from 5 gastrointestinal segments of weaned pigs. The presence of gene expression for several chemosensing receptors for bitter and fat taste in different compartments of the stomach confirms that this organ should be considered a player for the early detection of bolus composition. In the second chapter we investigated in young pigs the distribution of butyrate-sensing olfactory receptor (OR51E1) receptor along the GIT, its relation with some endocrine markers, its variation with age, and after interventions affecting the gut environment and intestinal microbiota in piglets and in different tissues. Our results indicate that OR51E1 is strictly related to the normal GIT enteroendocrine activity. In the third chapter we investigated the differential gene expression between oxyntic and pyloric mucosa in seven starter pigs. The obtained data indicate that there is significant differential gene exression between oxintic of the young pig and pyloric mucosa and further functional studies are needed to confirm their physiological importance. In the last chapter, thymol, that has been proposed as an oral alternative to antibiotics in the feed of pigs and broilers, was introduced directly into the stomach of 8 weaned pigs and sampled for gastric oxyntic and pyloric mucosa. The analysis of the whole transcript expression shoes that the stimulation of gastric proliferative activity and the control of digestive activity by thymol can influence positively gastric maturation and function in the weaned pigs

Enhancing the Face Validity of Choice Experiments: a Simple Diagnostic Check

We propose a simple diagnostic check for face validity assessment of willingness to pay (WTP) estimates derived from choice experiments (CEs). The check is based on a threshold value for WTP that is related to the highest cost attribute level, which can be used to assess plausibility of estimated WTP. If the threshold value is exceeded, WTP estimates are considered to overshoot. This may be due to issues with (i) the design of the CE and/or (ii) respondents’ behavior deviating from assumptions underpinning CEs. Applying the check to a sample of publications, this paper provides evidence on the incidence and magnitude of overshooting of WTP in the agricultural and environmental CE literature. Based on a random sample of publications including 304 observations representing individual studies and population samples, the results show that overshooting of WTP is widespread, with 65% of observations exceeding the overshooting threshold value. An exploratory analysis to identify factors associated with overshooting of WTP across studies reveals that study design factors, and in particular the design of the cost attribute, play an important role. We recommend that researchers apply the diagnostic check for the design of choice experiments and to motivate further scrutiny of choice experiment results