Retailers and SME suppliers social responsibility in international supply chains

This paper presents an overview of corporate social responsibility drivers within international supply chains, following a multiple perspective of the different players involved. The study focused on the relationship between European large retailers and small-medium manufacturers in the food sector. In particular, the effects of the retailers’ CSR initiatives on the supply chains in which small suppliers are involved were examinedCSR, Supply Chain, Retailing, SMEs

SME Food Suppliers Versus Large Retailers: Perspectives in the International Supply Chains

The market share of international retail chains substantially increased from the beginning of the nineties. The supplier’s market has been adapted to the evolutions of retailers’ market in terms of modified purchasing processes. Due to these changes, the requirements for food industry suppliers grew in number and quality. The paper shows how the relationship between suppliers and retailers is affected by several important changes, above all at international level. In particular, the analysis is focused on the Italian food SME suppliers related with large retailers. In-depth interviews to 89 Italian food SME suppliers have been conducted in 2008. Results have been analyzed and compared to the retailers’ point of view, resulting from public reports (such as Annual report, CSR report, etc.). Considering the selection criteria used by retailers, one of the main results of the analysis is that the growth of small and medium suppliers is stimulated when they operate with international large retailers. At the same time, the pressure on price and the required organizational qualifications lead to a selection process in which smaller manufacturers seem to be the more vulnerable actors.Supplier-Retailer Relations; Italian Food SME; Large Retailers; International Supply Chains

Structural control on development of karst landscape in the Salento Peninsula (Apulia, SE Italy)

Apulia region (SE Italy) is particularly prone to karst processes, due to the extensive presence of carbonate rocks. Karst marks the whole region, and represent the main landscape features, with a variety of landforms ranging from large-size dolines, to poljes, and fluvial-karstic valleys; given the configuration of Apulia, a great role is also played by coastal karst landforms. The Salento peninsula, in southern Apulia, is characterized by very low relief and cropping out of different types of carbonate rocks, ranging in age from Cretaceous to Quaternary. Recognition of karst features in this setting, and the likely implications for geohazards, is quite difficult, because of the subtleness of the features, and the facility for man to cancel or modify them. Nevrteheless, the presence of dolines is definitely a typical aspect of the area, which also implies some consequences in terms of risk to the built-up environment.This work focuses on the area of Barbarano del Capo, where two cover-collapse dolines are well known in the geological literature as Vora Grande and Vora Piccola. Despite morphometrical and stratigraphical features have already been investigated, few information are available about the hydro-geomorphological and structural settings of the area. This article presents the results of morphological and structural analyses, aimed at understanding the role played by tectonics in the development of karst features, and their evolution

Split and overlapped binary solitons in optical lattices

We analyze the energetic and dynamical properties of bright-bright (BB) soliton pairs in a binary mixture of Bose-Einstein condensates subjected to the action of a combined optical lattice, acting as an external potential for the first species, while modulating the intraspecies coupling constant of the second. In particular, we use a variational approach and direct numerical integrations to investigate the existence and stability of BB solitons in which the two species are either spatially separated (split soliton) or located at the same optical lattice site (overlapped soliton). The dependence of these solitons on the interspecies interaction parameter is explicitly investigated. For repulsive interspecies interaction we show the existence of a series of critical values at which transitions from an initially overlapped soliton to split solitons occur. For attractive interspecies interaction only single direct transitions from split to overlapped BB solitons are found. The possibility to use split solitons for indirect measurements of scattering lengths is also suggested.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

I minibond: alternativa al credito e finanza per lo sviluppo

I minibond rappresentano all’interno del panorama finanziario italiano uno strumento innovativo caratterizzato dalla possibilità per le piccole e medie imprese di far ricorso, per i propri progetti d’investimento, al mercato del capitale di debito. Questo strumento sta riscuotendo un modesto successo nel contrastare il cosiddetto “bancocentrismo” del sistema finanziario italiano. Il presente elaborato si propone di analizzare in maniera approfondita l’intera genesi e validità dello strumento finanziario in esame, dal percorso teorico, attraverso la letteratura di riferimento, fino al mercato potenziale degli emittenti. Nel primo capitolo analizzeremo la letteratura di riferimento dalle teorie sulla struttura finanziaria ottimale al livello d’indebitamento ideale. Nel secondo capitolo passeremo in rassegna il contesto economico italiano che dalla crisi del 2008, passando attraverso quella dei debiti sovrani del 2011, ha visto mutare radicalmente le dinamiche del credito a causa degli elevati tassi di non performing loans, presenti nei bilanci bancari, e delle prospettive economiche di recessione. Nel terzo capitolo svolgeremo l’analisi dello strumento in maniera approfondita e puntuale attraverso l’analisi delle emissioni effettuate finora, le loro caratteristiche, l’analisi degli investitori e dei fondi di private debt. Nel quarto analizzeremo la possibilità per la struttura proprietaria e manageriale delle imprese italiane di creare una nuova prospettiva di visione della propria azienda, affiancando ai rating ufficiali forniti dalle società di rating un nuovo giudizio interno alla realtà aziendale con l’obiettivo di rendere l’azienda intellegibile e trasparente verso l’esterno. Con il supporto di una società di rating nazionale abbiamo selezionato, attraverso stringenti criteri di analisi sui bilanci depositati al 2015, un database d’imprese potenziali emittenti di minibond. Da queste imprese dovrebbe iniziare la svolta del tessuto produttivo italiano e il passaggio concreto da un sistema bancocentrico verso l’orizzonte del mercato dei capitali.The small-size bond, or minibond, is an innovative instrument In the Italian financial world. This instrument allows small and medium companies to tap the debt markets and, thus, bypass the traditional banking channel. The evidence suggests that the minibond has enjoyed modest success so far The potential for future growth looks promising. The thesis, organized in four chapters, discusses the genesis of the minibond, its development, its theoretical underpinnings, its acceptance by market participants and expected future growth. I start, in the first chapter, with the literature on optimal financial structure. Then I move, in the second chapter, to a discussion of the profound changes that have occurred in the bank credit market since 2008, first with the subprime financial crisis and then with the sovereign debt crisis. In particular, I underscore to what extent this market has been clogged as a result of the extraordinary rates of non-performing loans. In the third chapter, I go into a detailed analysis of the minibond, from its properties to incentives for issuing it by small and medium size firms to funding opportunities in the debt market. In the last chapter, I look at the future: the potential for non-financial corporate management to add a new dimension to the traditional business practice; namely, accepting and facilitating the spread of credit ratings with the objective of rendering the business practice intelligible and transparent to the outside. It is this shift in corporate culture that will be critical in assuring a wider acceptance of the minibond and create, as a result, a more balanced mix of bank credit and debt markets in the Italian financial world

Retinal micro-vascular and aortic macro-vascular changes in postmenopausal women with primary hyperparathyroidism

Aim of the study was to evaluate the micro and macro-vascular changes in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) compared to controls. 30 postmenopausal PHPT women (15 hypertensive and 15 normotensive) and 30 normotensive controls underwent biochemical evaluation of mineral metabolism and measurements of arterial stiffness by 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Retinal microcirculation was imaged by a Retinal Vessel Analyzer. PHPT patients also underwent bone mineral density measurements and kidney ultrasound. PHPT patients had higher mean calcium and parathyroid hormone values compared to controls. Evaluating macro-vascular compartment, we found higher values of 24 hours-systolic, diastolic blood pressure, aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) and aortic augmentation index (Aix) in hypertensive PHPT, but not in normotensive PHPT compared to controls. The eye examination showed narrowing arterial and venular diameters of retinal vessels in both hypertensive and normotensive PHPT compared to controls. In hypertensive PHPT, 24 hours systolic blood pressure was associated only with parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels (beta = 0.36, p = 0.04). aPWV was associated with retinal diameter (beta = −0.69, p = 0.003), but not with PTH. Retinal artery diameter was associated with PTH (beta = −0.6, p = 0.008). In the normotensive PHPT, only PTH was associated with retinal artery diameter (beta = −0.60, p = 0.01) and aortic AIx (beta = 0.65, p = 0.02). In conclusion, we found macro-vascular impairment in PHPT and that micro-vascular impairment is negatively associated with PTH, regardless of hypertension in PHPT

Le forme del paesaggio raccontano: la cartografia geomorfologica in ambiente carsico

Il paesaggio che osserviamo sulla superficie terrestre deriva da una serie di processi e fenomeni che ne hanno determinato la genesi e la successiva evoluzione, sino a creare le morfologie attualmente visibili. Negli ultimi secoli, con un ritmo via via crescente nei decenni a noi più vicini, l’uomo è divenuto egli stesso un agente modellatore del paesaggio, spesso modificandolo anche in maniera sostanziale. Cartografare le forme del paesaggio significa riportare su carte, a scala adeguata alle morfologie esistenti, gli elementi caratterizzanti il paesaggio stesso, e “descriverlo” mediante opportuni simboli anche ai non esperti. Si tratta di documenti di estrema importanza, che però talora risultano eccessivamente complessi, e poco si prestano a illustrare a non tecnici il paesaggio. Alcuni esempi di cartografia geomorfologica in aree carsiche dell’Italia meridionale sono utilizzati in questo lavoro per discutere, da un lato, la maggiore o minore complessità delle carte geomorfologiche e, dall’altro, i loro potenziali utilizzi ai fini scientifici, didattici, divulgativi e di conoscenza del territorio

Update on Pathophysiology of Premature Ejaculation: The Bases for New Pharmacological Treatments

Even though premature ejaculation is the most widespread pathology of sexual behavior, it is still considered a psychological disease. Organic etiologies are only now becoming more evident. Premature ejaculation is largely under-diagnosed and under-treated, while erectile dysfunction has received great scientific and clinical attention in recent years. There are plenty of reasons for this: (i) PE is classically considered as psychogenic in nature; (ii) it is traditionally treated with behavioral psychotherapies; (iii) clear and accepted clinical definition(s) are lacking; (iv) the etiologies are largely unknown; (v) the pathogenesis is still obscure - there is a lack of awareness and acknowledgement of PE as a symptom of medical disease; (vi) lacking a medical presence in the field, requests for help from patients are low. Finally, erectile and ejaculatory dysfunctions frequently overlap. For all these reasons, an update on pathophysiology of premature ejaculation is to be considered the base for new pharmacological treatments. © 2006 European Association of Urology and European Board of Urology