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1 – 10 of over 5000The Italian government enacted two laws: ruling innovative startups (Law 221/2012) and innovative SMEs (Law Decree 3/2015), respectively. Despite renowned differences between…
Abstract
Purpose
The Italian government enacted two laws: ruling innovative startups (Law 221/2012) and innovative SMEs (Law Decree 3/2015), respectively. Despite renowned differences between them, the parameters selected and included in these laws are the same: investments in research and development (R&D) activities, hiring specialized researchers and holding patents/property rights. Taking a cue from the Italian case, the following research question emerges: whether small business policies, concerning innovative startups and SMEs, should be differentiated to be effective and support enterprise development. The Italian case is invoked to offer suggestions and recommendations to policymakers around the world.
Design/methodology/approach
Stochastic frontier analyses (SFA) were conducted by using data provided by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) about 14,595 innovative startups and 2,338 innovative SMEs.
Findings
Statistical results reveal that enterprise development processes are different between innovative startups and SMEs. Innovative startups may start a virtuous model, while innovative SMEs may not. This corroborates the idea that small business policies need to be differentiated in order to be effective.
Originality/value
Unlike other papers, small businesses are not considered as a whole. Innovative startups and SMEs are two different types of firms, so specific investigations are conducted to remark on the already-known differences and disclose new ones.
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Simone Guercini and Andrea Runfola
This paper deals with the international expansion of manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the opening of retail outlets in foreign countries. The paper…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper deals with the international expansion of manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the opening of retail outlets in foreign countries. The paper develops and discusses five research questions.
Methodology/approach
The paper discusses emerging data from the analysis of a database set up in recent years. In particular, it deals with 1,419 retail operations regarding 246 Italian fashion brands in 77 foreign markets during the period from 2005 and 2010.
Findings
The paper points out that retail operations are largely used by Italian fashion SMEs to internationalize. This form of entry in foreign markets is used to develop in both mature and emerging markets and it seems related to the brand potential of Italian fashion SMEs abroad.
Research limitations
The paper is limited to the case of Italian fashion brands and to the period 2005–2010.
Originality/value
The paper considers an unexplored area of the internationalization theory of SMEs, that of the development abroad through retail store openings. The paper offers insights on the extent to what this strategy is used by Italian fashion brands.
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Nicola Raimo, Ivano De Turi, Michele Rubino and Filippo Vitolla
Digitalisation represents an important opportunity for SMEs or, in other words, a fundamental factor to help them implement competitive strategies aimed at innovation, cost…
Abstract
Purpose
Digitalisation represents an important opportunity for SMEs or, in other words, a fundamental factor to help them implement competitive strategies aimed at innovation, cost reduction and internationalization. This study aims to investigate the determinants of the level of digitalisation of Italian SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
This study firstly involves a survey based on short telephone interviews to measure the level of digitalisation of 101 Italian SMEs and, secondly, uses a regression model to identify the drivers of this level of digitalisation.
Findings
Empirical findings reveal that the Italian SMEs have an average level of digitalisation. Besides, they show that firm size, firm profitability and financial leverage represent drivers that positively influence the digitalisation of the Italian SMEs.
Originality/value
This study provides an important contribution to the academic literature by providing a first operationalization of the concept of business digitalisation and by broadening the knowledge of the drivers of the level of digitalisation in the SMEs context.
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Antonio Crupi, Nicola Del Sarto, Alberto Di Minin, Gian Luca Gregori, Dominique Lepore, Luca Marinelli and Francesca Spigarelli
This study aims to understand if and how European digital innovation hubs (DIHs) filling the role of knowledge brokers (KBs) can support the digital transformation (DX) of small…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand if and how European digital innovation hubs (DIHs) filling the role of knowledge brokers (KBs) can support the digital transformation (DX) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by triggering open innovation (OI) practices.
Design/methodology/approach
After presenting a conceptual model of reference, a survey and a subsequent in-depth interview were conducted to capture evidence from Italian DIHs. These structures were selected for their growing importance, as confirmed by the National Plan for Industry 4.0.
Findings
The findings highlight that Italian DIHs act not only as KBs but also as knowledge sources that give rise to a digital imprinting process that is able to shape the DX of SMEs.
Originality/value
Research on knowledge sharing and OI has mainly focused on large firms. The study covers the gaps identified in the literature by considering the role of KBs in enabling SMEs to embrace DX.
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Fabio La Rosa and Francesca Bernini
This study aims to explore how the economic recession and some corporate governance (CG) provisions can affect the performance of Italian gambling small and medium-sized…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how the economic recession and some corporate governance (CG) provisions can affect the performance of Italian gambling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across different business segments.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a panel sample of 2,135 observations before and during the global financial crisis. Specifically, the roles of ownership, boards of directors, chief executive officer gender and gambling business segments are investigated in the Italian gambling market.
Findings
Ownership concentration has a negative relationship with the performance of foreigner- and financial-owned firms, while boards exert a positive role on performance. Interestingly, the financial crisis does not impact the performance of Italian gambling SMEs and some business segments, such as bingo, perform even better during the crisis.
Research limitations/implications
Further investigations should analyze the role of single games on firm performance. The consumer- and firm-level examinations offer very different perspectives and scholars should be aware of this when investigating the gambling industry.
Practical implications
This study might help both policymakers and other gambling firms, such as casinos, to better understand which appropriate CG model should be adopted and how it can positively influence performance, especially in recessionary times.
Originality/value
This study contributes to studies on hospitality and tourism by focusing on the complementary role of gambling SMEs with respect to casinos. It also increases knowledge on the role of CG in privately owned gambling firms, which thus far has been scantly investigated by scholars.
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Entrepreneurship and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a pivotal role in the socio-economic development worldwide. They are, indeed, recognised as important economic…
Abstract
Entrepreneurship and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a pivotal role in the socio-economic development worldwide. They are, indeed, recognised as important economic drivers as their activities can boost economic growth in various ways, such as being source of employment, promoting equality among socio-economic groups, and fostering the development of new products. In line with this, SMEs contribution to innovation has been extensively investigated by researchers and policymakers. European Union, for example, has developed numerous programmes to foster innovation in and by SMEs, even identifying, categorizing, and periodically analysing the so-called ‘innovative SMEs’.
However, very scant is the attention, at the international level, devoted to the analysis of the role of gender in innovation per se and in innovative SMEs. This chapter fits into this underinvestigated stream of research by specifically analysing the impact, if any, of gender on Italian innovative SMEs’ performance.
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Riccardo Calcagno, Roman Kraeussl and Chiara Monticone
The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the 2007 Italian severance payment reform on the cost and the access to credit for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the 2007 Italian severance payment reform on the cost and the access to credit for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors study the implications of the reform adapting the theoretical credit‐rationing model of Holmstrom and Tirole, then estimate the capital outflows due to the reform and, using the theoretical prediction, assess its impact using mathematical simulations.
Findings
The authors predict that the reform may cause severe credit constraints to SMEs which cannot pledge enough collateral in order to obtain credit. The most direct consequences are to reduce in the long run the amount of liquid assets available to Italian firms, and to reduce their aggregate investment in a more than proportional way, due to access to credit restrictions. However, it will not increase the cost of intermediated finance, ceteris paribus.
Practical implications
The fact that the reform restricts access to credit, but does not increase the cost of debt, has important policy consequences, as public interventions subsidizing credit through a constant cost of debt may be ineffective.
Originality/value
While the topic has been analyzed in several respects (e.g. workers' participation to the reform, cost of an access to credit subsidy, etc.), no other study proposed an integrated view of these effects with a rigorous micro‐economic approach.
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Kamalesh Kumar, Giacomo Boesso, Francesco Favotto and Andrea Menini
The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities and differences in the strategic orientation and innovation patterns of small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and large…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities and differences in the strategic orientation and innovation patterns of small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies and to investigate their implications for market performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Miles and Snow's strategic typology is applied to 592 new products to determine their companies' strategic orientations. Data collected over a two‐year period by 62 companies in the Italian yogurt industry are analyzed.
Findings
The results show that, while large firms operate with a “prospector” orientation, SMEs have a “defender” or “reactor” orientation. Only a small number of SMEs can innovate successfully, and an ex post facto investigation reveals that these firms follow an “open innovation model”.
Originality/value
The findings fill a gap in the literature by clarifying the similarities and differences in the strategic orientations, innovation patterns and performance of SMEs and large companies in a dynamic industry environment. The study also provides insights for managers in new food product development who are concerned about low rates of innovation and high rates of failure.
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Maria Palazzo, Pantea Foroudi, Alfonso Siano and Philip J. Kitchen
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between community of place and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lombard industrial districts in Italy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between community of place and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lombard industrial districts in Italy.
Design/methodology/approach
A brief literature review of international authors from the stakeholder approach and Corporate Community Relations (CCRs) field is presented. This paper refers to a survey of Lombard industrial districts conducted by ALTIS. The data were collected via a telephone survey from 834 firms.
Findings
The main finding is that managing CCRs is of major importance for company success. The results of the survey show that there are some tools and actions that Italian industrial district SMEs use to interact with their particular communities of place to develop effective and coherent relationships with their stakeholder groups. Moreover, although the survey shows that though SMEs do implement different CCR activities, they are not able to communicate these effectively through systematic communication strategies. However, the narrow sample includes only a sample of some Lombard districts. Nonetheless, the findings indicate that effective CCR seems to confer competitive advantage based on stakeholder responses and rewards sought.
Research limitations/implications
The framework could assist in supporting CCR developments between industrial districts as various players would know how to improve CCR activities. One further suggestion is that University and Research Centers could have a role to play in creating and communicating codified knowledge concerning community relations in industrial districts, while other public players still have to develop specific tasks in improving infrastructures.
Originality/value
This study is in line with the main focus of CCR, which is in striving to meet stakeholder and societal needs. However, industrial district SMEs have to learn how to communicate their CCR activities from the examples set by large Italian companies. The paper links the notion of CCR with tools and actions to develop meaningful relationships with both community of place and interest. Moreover, considering the survey results, a new framework for local player roles is proposed.
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Martina Neri, Federico Niccolini and Luigi Martino
Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly widespread, and cybersecurity is therefore increasingly important. Although the technological aspects of cybersecurity are its best-known…
Abstract
Purpose
Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly widespread, and cybersecurity is therefore increasingly important. Although the technological aspects of cybersecurity are its best-known characteristics, the cybersecurity phenomenon goes beyond the detection of technological impacts, and encompasses all the dimensions of an organization. This study thus focusses on an additional set of organizational elements. The key elements of cybersecurity organizational readiness depicted here are cybersecurity awareness, cybersecurity culture and cybersecurity organizational resilience (OR). This study aims to qualitatively assess small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) overall level of organizational cybersecurity readiness.
Design/methodology/approach
This study focused on conducting a cybersecurity organizational readiness assessment using a sample of 53 Italian SMEs from the information and communication technology sector. Informed mixed method research, this study was conducted consistent with the principles of the explanatory sequential mixed method design, and adopting a quanti-qualitative methodology. The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire. Qualitative data were subsequently collected through semi-structured interviews.
Findings
Although many elements of the technical aspects of cybersecurity OR have yielded very encouraging results, there are still some areas that require improvement. These include those facets that constitute the foundation of cybersecurity awareness, and, thus, a cybersecurity culture. This result highlights that the areas in need of improvement are exactly those that are most important in fighting against cyber threats via organizational cybersecurity readiness.
Originality/value
Although the importance of SMEs is obvious, evidence of such organizations’ attitudes to cybersecurity are still limited. This research is an attempt to depict the organizational issue related to cybersecurity, i.e. overall cybersecurity organizational readiness.
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