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The objective of the paper is twofold: first, to test a framework of the relationship between satisfaction of knowledge workers and organizational culture, developed in a previous theoretical study, within a specific industry, specifically, the pharmaceutical one; second, to investigate which of the constructs that constitute such a framework are the most important in the above mentioned industry.

In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, the authors adopted multiple case study based research. The case studies were carried out with a series of semi‐structured interviews, with all the knowledge workers operating in the R&D business functions of each company, over a two‐month period during May and June 2009.

The main result of the research is the validation of the research framework by knowledge workers operating in the pharmaceutical industry. It emerged that a bureaucratic organizational culture has a negative influence on knowledge workers' job satisfaction, while innovative or supportive organizational culture have a positive impact. Moreover, the study makes it possible to understand which aspects of their job satisfaction are more influenced by the organizational culture.

Results indicate to managers the essential features of an organizational culture that positively influence job satisfaction, and in particular to introduce in the industries (like the pharmaceutical one) where R&D is the key activity, carrier ladders and forms of participation for the knowledge workers. Moreover, they help managers in detecting the things to be improved in the organization in order to improve the job satisfaction of their knowledge workers.

Since only few studies have investigated the link between the organizational culture on knowledge workers' satisfaction, in general and within a specific industry in particular, the paper adds elements of discussion to the debate about the evaluation of the impact of organizational culture on job satisfaction of knowledge workers.

Family businesses (FBs) share common characteristics and face common problems, among which the generational change is recognized to be the most relevant one. During recent years, there has been a growing interest in the study of FBs. Notwithstanding, little attention has been paid to succession planning, and only few studies tried to identify which factors influence its success. The aim of this paper is to identify which factors may influence the succession process.

First a literature review is conducted, aiming to identify the main phases of a succession process and the factors that are relevant for its planning and management. Then, ten case studies of Italian FBs are analyzed.

The result is the development of a research framework and the identification of the factors that impact on the generational change's success. Moreover, best practices that emerge from the case studies are presented.

The main limitation refers to the case study based research that on one hand provides empirical evidence of theoretical assumptions and to exhaustively examine a problem to be studied, on the other, its results are not suitable to be generalized.

Managers of FBs may understand how to plan and manage successfully the succession process in order to survive the generational change.

The paper adds further elements to the long debate about the theme of succession, trying to better understand the factors of a successful succession.

Turnover intention is one's behavioural intention to quit. The purpose of this study is to compare the relative influences of organizational socialization and career aspirations on turnover intentions of design engineers and to address the design of more effective development programmes and the reduction of dysfunctional turnover.

A study of 442 engineers staffed within “design and development” units is presented, and a research model is tested using structural equation modelling techniques.

The analysis indicates that design engineers report lower levels of turnover intention when organizational socialization is prominent and an adequate range of opportunities that satisfy career aspirations exist within the organization.

The cause‐effect relationships among constructs that are empirically derived from the analysis should be further supported by a longitudinal study. Future research should be aimed at exploring the different patterns of turnover intentions of engineers with different career orientations and in organizations with or without rigid formalized career advancement system.

Managers of technical staff are advised to put an effort to develop and encourage lateral career moves of research and development staff members, particularly for newcomers, by offering a variety of experiences, that is likely to speed up their prompt creation of a better defined self‐concept.

The originality of the research lies in that it addresses an explanation of engineers’ turnover based on a theoretical framework that jointly combines internal career anchors as well as external career opportunities and socialization, thus striving to fill a gap in existing literature.

To identify the problematic areas relating to the current managerial practices in motivating engineers and evaluating their relative contribution to the overall level of engineers' satisfaction.

Based on a conceptual model, an empirical study was conducted within 11 organizations operating in the food machinery industry in Italy. A survey was carried out on 376 development engineers staffed in these companies and a statistical analysis was conducted on the data collected in order to refine and operationalize the conceptual model proposed and to investigate the relative effects of the various factors considered.

From the statistical analysis it emerged that job satisfaction can be split into three dimensions and that it is impacted by five factors related to managerial policies, perception of engineers' status and job‐related motivational mechanisms.

The analysis clearly suggests that engineers in industry are generally dissatisfied and largely demotivated. It also emphasizes the importance of sound managerial practices that enables the organization to establish appropriate reward systems, to understand engineers' expectations as technical professionals and to provide them with task‐related motivational tools fostering challenge and flexibility.

It addresses an explanation of engineers' satisfaction based on a theoretical framework, striving to identify key motivational stimuli effective with engineers.

The paper, covering the actual argument of open innovation, aims to answer two main research questions, namely: “Which open innovation approach is adopted by the companies belonging to the ICTs industry?” and “Which types of collaborations are carried out by the companies and which are the dynamics that characterize it?”.

In order to answer the research questions a multiple case study methodology is adopted. The research framework was structured in three main phases: first, a literature review on the matter of open innovation in general and within the ICTs industry in particular, as well as of the specific features of the industry investigated, was carried out. Second, a list of questions containing the main issues that arose from the previous step has been designed for the case study protocol, to be used in the following structured interviews. Finally, structured direct interviews were conducted on three important Italian companies active in the telecommunications area.

Results highlighted different ways to manage the open innovation processes, based on teamwork or task forces, and the different roles, more or less proactive, that an information communication technology (ICT) company may undertake within this process. Moreover, they show that ICT companies acquire external knowledge and skills mainly from universities and research centers, as well as from value chain's actors (suppliers in primis).

Still little attention has been paid to the understanding of the open innovation approach of Italian firms belonging to the ICT industry, thus the authors believe that this paper may represent a valuable basis for future research on the open innovation issues in the field of ICT.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the process of knowledge creation and transfer in project‐based organizations, with particular reference to a construction firm, emphasizing first the importance of knowledge transfer, in tacit or explicit form, between the various actors of a project, and then the importance of the information and communication technology (ICT) in supporting project‐based organizations (PBOs).

Above all, a series of round‐table meetings were developed with six managers of as many construction companies, with a twofold purpose: to understand how companies are managing knowledge, and to understand how a company may reach the excellence through its knowledge activities. Then, one out of these six companies was chosen as example of excellence and described as case study to further develop and investigate the knowledge management (KM).

The adoption of a phased approach to manage knowledge appears to be a promising means of enhancing the management and transfer of new knowledge derived from the different projects; moreover, the case study shows how ICTs may be effectively used in KM.

The findings are limited due to the focused nature of the case study.

This case study shows that KM is a powerful tool for PBOs, and allows every company to generate and disseminate knowledge, and to transfer it into activities that produce value for the enterprise as the main source of their competitive advantage.

This paper is a real case study showing KM applications in the construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to present the main findings of an empirical study conducted in the Italian food machinery industry, on identifying the technological innovation determinants in small or medium enterprises.

On the basis of a research framework, a study was carried out on 98 Italian firms operating in the food machinery industry, by means of a questionnaire survey. A statistical analysis was conducted on the data collected, in order to understand which are the most important factors influencing innovation and the relative effect on the innovation output of the various factors considered.

The results of the statistical analysis conducted show that, in contrast with the trend of the industry investigated, great importance is attributed only to collaboration with universities and research centres. Network actors are not perceived as an important source of information for innovation, while universities, conferences and scientific papers are significant sources of information in explaining the share of total turnover from new products or processes and process innovations, respectively. As far as, obstacles to innovation are concerned, the results indicate that both financial and informative obstacles are consistently associated with the innovative output. Finally, firms focusing on market and efficiency related innovation objectives realise higher levels of process related innovative output.

The study provides some empirical evidence on identifying and prioritising the technological innovation determinants for enterprises operating in the context of a northern Italian district.

The aim of this paper is to develop a balanced scorecard (BSC) model delimited for research and development (R&D) performance measurement.

A research methodology that is a combination of literature analysis, Delphi technique and case study‐based research was adopted. Specifically, starting from the analysis of the literature about performance measurement and metrics in general, and applied to R&D environment in particular, the relevant indicators (both financial and non‐financial) suitable to be used for the R&D activities were identified. These indicators were then submitted to a panel of experts, which, following the Delphi technique, determined the final list of indicators and the final BSC model. Finally, in order to validate the BSC model obtained, it was tested on a company operating in the automotive industry.

The preliminary result obtained from this case study, that is a BSC model suitable for R&D, helps in the development of a general BSC model to be tested on a wide sample of firms that actively operate in the R&D field.

The research methodology adopted has, on the one hand, the advantage that allows the study in depth of a specific issue (the BSC) and, on the other, the results presented are not suitable to be generalized or extended to other contexts, although some extrapolations can be made.

The paper provides a structured performance measurement system designed for R&D that may be used as a reference for companies where R&D activities are the core activities, to establish applicable performance appraisal indicators.

Total quality management programmes applied to research and development often produce great improvements in productivity because they follow trajectories that are lateral and parallel to the principal thrust which is aimed at client satisfaction. Such improvements are obtained through a better definition of the objectives of research activity, and through organisational overhauls which highlight the contribution to the innovation process made by the marketing, engineering, and production functions, through the adoption of more efficient management systems (programming, control, and management of human resources in particular). These changes are met with strong resistance from researchers and technologists who, during the start‐up phase of such programmes, often refuse to operate in accordance with the internal supplier‐client scheme. Such resistance, which was confirmed by the two Italian case studies presented, can be overcome by the intervention of strong leadership and with the setting up of an intense training programme.