Well Design Challenges in Geothermal Energy Applications

Geothermal resources represent precious energy sources to ensure sustainable power generation. As proposed in the majority of the future sustainable energy scenarios, geothermal energy exploitation is going to play a significant role in the energy mix to meet carbon neutrality target. Upon the different technologies involved, geothermal wells constitute the core and turning point for proper fluid/heat mining. Indeed, the number of suitable candidates for geothermal applications could be significantly enhanced by overcoming a series of wells related technological issues. Therefore, the object of this work is to provide a general overview of the principal challenges that characterized well design and construction in geothermal applications which are mainly related to the type of geological system and its relative temperature level. As a matter of fact, reservoir temperature guides most of the choices referring to geothermal systems not only in the selection of the final energy application purpose (direct use, power generation, combined heat and power) but also in well design definition. Based on temperature range, geothermal fields are usually grouped in enthalpy classes (low, medium and high) referring to fields characterized by similar energy potential. From a well design and construction perspective, the low and medium enthalpy classes, in the range of temperature lower than 150 °C, do not present specific criticalities. On the contrary, high enthalpy scenarios, for temperatures higher than 170 °C, present many challenges for most of the current drilling and completion technologies. Even though some field applications exist in high/ultra-high enthalpy scenarios, they still present an elevated risk of failure. Therefore, dedicated studies shall be conducted for all the elements involved in the well construction process such as: drilling fluids, cement slurry, metallurgy, drilling and completion equipment to properly account for their specific technical limitations. In this framework, a clear picture of the actual technical gaps constitutes the starting point for current and next research activities. In the close future, the growing interest in geothermal applications will surely boost the born and development of dedicated tools to unlock the enormous potential of geothermal energy

Magnetic Nano Cobalt Ferrite Catalyzed Synthesis of 4H-Pyrano[3,2-h]quinoline Derivatives under Microwave Irradiation

Abstract A microwave irradiated magnetically separable nano cobalt ferrite catalyzed green method for the synthesis of 4-phenyl-4H-pyrano[3,2-h]quinolin-2-amine and 2-amino-4-phenyl-4H-pyrano[3,2-h] quinoline-3-carbonitrile derivatives through cyclization of aromatic aldehyde, acetonitrile/malononitrile and 8-hydoxyquinoline is developed and presented in this paper. The cubic magnetic cobalt ferrite nano particles were synthesized by sol-gel citrate precursor method and characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM and TEM techniques and the structures of the synthesized pyranoquinoline derivatives were assigned by IR, MASS and 1 H NMR techniques. The reaction is carried out in a domestic microwave oven with a heat-resistant microwave safe glass container with a lid

Assessing entrepreneurial ecosystems through a strategic value network approach: evidence from the San Francisco Area

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to develop a model to assess entrepreneurial ecosystems. Specifically, the authors examine how to measure value creation and value capture mechanisms from a single participant's perspective and at the ecosystem level through a strategic value network-based approach. Design/methodology/approach: Building on extant research on strategic networks, value networks and business models and leveraging a qualitative survey, the authors develop and test an assessment tool to measure value creation and capture within the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay Area. Findings: The authors show that value-based measures on entrepreneurial ecosystems provide a systemic approach to assess how ecosystems operate, which can guide policymakers, entrepreneurs and all the other stakeholders of entrepreneurial ecosystems in their strategic decision-making process. Originality/value: The authors provide an original model grounded in the strategic management and entrepreneurship literature for entrepreneurial ecosystems' assessment as few studies have done before. Besides, the authors provide an illustrative attempt to show how to empirically apply the original model by assessing the San Francisco Bay Area's entrepreneurial ecosystem

Idle Asset Hunters—The Secret of Multi-sided Platforms

Since the dot-com revolution in the early 2000s, traditional, vertically integrated firms have attempted to innovate using multi-sided digital platforms, matching customer and supplier groups to resolve the needs of both. These firms’ underlying logic has disrupted traditional business models, enabling them to introduce new and counterintuitive value creation, delivery, and capture configurations. Using Uber and Airbnb, two prominent cases of multi-sided platforms, we present an overview of the dynamics governing value mechanisms within a platform through the theoretical lens of the business model. Multi-sided business models undergo three evolutionary phases: they solve the market friction; they exploit the critical mass they develop; and they unveil and capture new value derived from cocreation based on data. Our study reveals how successful platform providers act as idle asset hunters that can identify and leverage untapped assets. We propose a framework that helps companies move from a two-sided to a multi-sided platform

Opening up to startup collaborations: open business models and value co-creation in SMEs

Purpose: This study aims at exploring how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can implement a more open and co-creational business model by actively collaborating with startups. Design/methodology/approach: Because of the novelty of the SME–startup collaboration phenomenon and to the depth of the investigation required to grasp the mechanisms and logic of an open and co-creational business model, a single-case study has been performed related to investigating a collaboration between an SME and a startup. Findings: The authors provide detailed empirical evidence on how SMEs may structure a “systematic” approach to design and execute an open business model enabled by startup collaboration. Moreover, this study suggests that the business model innovation process represents a necessary forerunner of an open business model. Finally, the authors contend that research on open business models should entail a broader perspective beyond the innovation process, to include business model validation through testing approaches like the lean startup. Originality/value: This study takes as the locus of investigation the original perspective of the external partner of a focal firm willing to innovate. This study offers a unique contribution because, to date, few studies adopted such view within a relevant and under-remarked empirical setting linking SMEs and innovative startups

Innovation of Meaning through Institutional Work

Innovating a product or service’s meaning implies working on its symbolic and emotional values to provide customers a new “why” for its purchase and use (Verganti, 2009). Product meanings have been associated to tangible attributes that constitute product languages and their signs: color, shape, materials and any other tangible attributes that can communicate meaning (Dell’Era et al., 2008). However, the way a new meaning can be conveyed through services is still unclear. Due to their intangible characteristics, value in a service interaction is thought to emerge during the experience, rather than being communicated by signs (Vargo and Lusch, 2008). In this paper, we aim to understand how companies can convey new meanings through new customer experiences. The study is based on a paired comparison between two paradigmatic cases: McDonald’s and Starbucks, which proposed an innovation of meaning for their retail services based on the same socio-cultural changes. To compare the differences in the translation of the new meaning in practice we analyze the customer perception of meaning through text analysis, specifically topic modelling, running the LDA algorithm on nearly 8,000 customer reviews. Findings show that customers’ perception of Starbucks meaning is aligned with the company’s intention. On the other hand, McDonald’s’ attempt to introduce a new meaning has not found confirmation in customer perceptions, who have rather remained attached to the old one. We read this empirically-observed discrepancy through the lenses of the institutional theory, analyzing the different mix of strategies enacted by the two companies to change their retail services meaning. McDonald’s strategy to introduce values related to sustainability and authenticity mainly worked on breaking the current meaning to perform an opposite positioning. On the contrary, Starbucks built on their current meaning by maintaining some core elements of its offering, as well as making new ones. We state that companies might reach a higher alignment between the intended and the perceived meaning by choosing how to leverage institutions to translate a new meaning in a new retail service. By understanding what happens in the context of the service experience, this paper contributes to the innovation management discourse, advancing the innovation of meaning framework and applying an institutional perspective on service innovation

Pivots as strategic responses to crises: Evidence from Italian companies navigating Covid-19

The Covid-19 outbreak in 2019 and beyond severely threatened global supply chains and markets. Firms worldwide saw their operations limited by governmental restrictions, compromising the viability of their business models and challenging previously established assumptions. This situation offered an opportunity to investigate new ventures’ processes of business model transformation (or pivoting) during a major crisis. Specifically, adopting a multiple case study design, we investigated how four Italian firms operating throughout the Covid-19 emergency pivoted in response to the crisis. We develop a conceptual model of pivots-as-process that comprises three stages: reaction to shock, response, and retrospection, leading to longer-term strategic reorientation. Our findings suggest that pivots play out across the three distinct layers of enactment, reflection, and awareness. Our study contributes to the ongoing debate on strategic responses to crises, borrowing from the entrepreneurship literature to investigate how pivots can support firms when they are faced with a need for swift responses, while coping with the temporariness that characterizes crisis situations

Entrepreneurship, innovation and the scientific method: A critical analysis of five experimental approaches

According the empiricists, science is based on experience and observation, the only means humans have to access real knowledge. Companies often find themselves operating in uncertain, fast-moving and unpredictable environments, where experimental and discovery-driven approaches may result beneficial for both established companies and startups. Experimentation and hypotheses falsification can play a key role in validating and legitimizing business model choices and shifts by aiding executives and entrepreneurs in selecting the most suitable strategic alternatives to pursue and reducing uncertainty related to decision-making. The learning school of strategy and the adaptive approach have extended and built on the argument supporting the adoption of an approach based on learning, testing and the use of empirical data to reduce uncertainty in decision-making. An increasing number of scholars have since been igniting the discourse on the role of scientific methods in entrepreneurship and strategy-making although often lacking comprehensiveness in analyzing and including approaches and methods that are actually employed in entrepreneurial and corporate practices. This study aims at addressing the similarities and differences between different experimental approaches undertaken by startups and established companies in dealing with uncertainty, often connected to renewal processes or the launch of new products and services. By means of a critical discussion, we provide conceptual considerations about the different experimental approaches and their relationship with the scientific method

Achieving Agility in High-Reputation Firms: Agile Experimentation Revisited

Agility has become a key capability for contemporary firms, constantly facing fast-changing markets and evolving customer needs. The greatest challenge firms encounter today is to endure continuous change and successfully navigate through uncertainty, hence developing agility to identify and exploit market opportunities while striving within uncertain contexts. In recent years, several approaches have emerged to spur agility in business model innovation (BMI), advocating the principles of gathering customer feedback, through continuous testing and iteration, thus promoting the implementation of a quasi-scientific, experimental approach to cope with uncertainty. However, companies - particularly those fearing reputational threats - may face significant barriers when trying to implement such approaches. Indeed, in high-reputation firms, the risk of failure associated with the experiments performed may put their reputation at stake. By means of a multiple-case study on three high-reputation firms, this study aims at understanding how these high-reputation firms carry out BMI and strive to practice agility through experimentation notwithstanding their contingent and idiosyncratic constraints. Our findings suggest that high-reputation firms adopt already-validated assumptions on the most critical aspects of their BM, such as the value proposition, while still extensively experimenting on other BM elements. We then propose a process model highlighting how the Agile experimentation process in high-reputation firms unfolds. Our study holds relevant implications for both theory and practice, extending the domain of theory on BMI and experimentation to the context of high-reputation firms, while providing managers with useful guidelines to implement Agile when reputation is at stake

Entrepreneurship as design: A design process for the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities

Although firms constantly seek opportunities to launch new products, services, or business models, little is known about the way opportunities emerge and develop. In particular, despite current ontological and epistemological knowledge of entrepreneurial opportunities, the process that drives their emergence and development remains understudied. To enrich our understanding, we conduct an exploratory multiple-case study of six design agencies that supported firms in developing their entrepreneurial endeavours by leveraging design sprint, a hybrid method combining design and entrepreneurship. A primary contribution of our study is the conceptualization of a process model illustrating how design (sprint) can support the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities. The model advances four actions that enable translating insights into opportunities: defining, framing, experimenting, and learning. Our findings also offer interesting insights on the role of third-party agents in this process. Indeed, design agencies can act as facilitators in enacting entrepreneurship as design by supporting the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities. Our research also contributes to the debate on the timing of entrepreneurial endeavours, offering an empirical portrayal of their chronology. In this sense, our model also contributes to managerial practice, providing a sequence of actions that can guide the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities