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The paper proposes a maturity assessment method to measure the state of maintenance practices in a company.

The method assumes that a maintenance department is evaluated in terms of its managerial, organizational and technological capabilities. By its adoption it is possible to analyse the maturity level reached by a company, in order to classify the criticalities in its maintenance processes; a company can also make a benchmark with the best companies of a reference sample.

The paper presents the method as a support to identify the levers to improve the maintenance management system. The method is demonstrated on a company whose maturity is assessed before making a benchmark against a sample of other manufacturing companies located in the Northern Italy.

The paper presents a scoring method for maturity assessment and a procedure to use it in order to identify the criticalities in maintenance processes and to subsequently drive the improvement of the maintenance management system. The paper should be useful both to researchers and maintenance professionals interested in using new methods for long‐term planning in maintenance.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for the engineering of E-maintenance platforms that is based on a value-driven approach.

The methodology assumes that a value-driven engineering approach would help foster technological innovation for maintenance management. Indeed, value-driven engineering could be easily adopted at the business level, with subsequent positive effects on the industrial applications of new information and communication technologies solutions.

The methodology combines a value-driven approach with the engineering in the maintenance scope. The methodology is tested in a manufacturing case to prove its potential to support the engineering of E-maintenance solutions. In particular, the case study concerns the investment in E-maintenance solutions developed in the framework of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system originally implemented for production purposes.

Based on literature research, the paper presents a methodology that is implemented considering three different approaches (business theories, value-driven engineering and maintenance management). The combination of these approaches is novel and overcomes the traditional view of maintenance as an issue evaluated from a cost-benefit perspective.

Spare parts management plays a relevant role for equipment-intensive companies. An important step of such process is the spare parts classification, enabling properly managing different items by taking into account their peculiarities. The purpose of this paper is to review the state of the art of classification of spare parts for manufacturing equipment by presenting an extensive literature analysis followed by an industrial assessment, with the final aim to identify eventual discrepancies.

Not only is the attention put on the literature about the subject, but also on an on-field analysis, that is presented comprehending an extensive survey and two in-depth exploratory case studies. The copper mining sector was chosen being representative for the case of capital intensive plants where the cost of maintenance has relevant weight on the total operating cost.

The paper highlights the status of the scientific literature on spare parts classification by showing the current situation in the real industrial world. The paper depicts the existing barriers that leave gaps between theory and real practice for the application of an effective multi-criteria spare parts classification.

The paper provides a review of the theory on spare parts classification methods and criteria, as well as empirical evidences especially for what concern current situation and barriers for an effective implementation in the industrial environment. The paper should be of interest to both academics and practitioners, since it provides original insights on the discrepancies between scientific and industrial world.

Purpose – The chapter aims to analyse specific management tools which can be used to facilitate public governance practices, such as the process of stakeholder involvement.Methodology/approach – By means of both a theoretical discussion and an empirical research conducted on Italian local public utilities (LPUs), the chapter attempts to understand: (a) the degree of application of quality management, sustainability mechanisms and stakeholder's involvement; (b) the correlation between the application of these tools stakeholder involvement processes.Findings – Not all the tools imported from the private sector have the same ‘attitudes’ for stakeholder involvement evidencing a gap of Italian LPUs in quality management systems in ensuring that stakeholders and their contribution to product value is considered. These results give support to the necessity to move beyond New Public Management. Therefore, governance becomes a new process for developing and implementing public policies: this requires original mechanisms of coordination among institutional actors, public authorities and stakeholders.Research limitations/implications – This study gives rise to new research path in LPUs corporate governance research. Looking for the creation of a series of suppositions and considerations as to why LPUs actively venture into the practice of good corporate governance trough stakeholder involvement. Accordingly, it is necessary to invest in the debate on the tasks of the board of directors.Originality/value of paper – This study gives a new path of research, asking board of directors to move toward a stakeholder-conscious governance model, with broader input and ongoing engagement, as an important aspect for a better corporate governance in public administrations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of strategic communication during a change management process within the internationally famous Ferrari corporation. The aim is to show that strategic communication, through its main components, can be a pivotal lever that supports continuous improvement and helps drive organizational success.

The change management process at Ferrari is described and interpreted through the framework of the entrepreneurial organization theory (EOT), from which the four components of strategic communication are derived.

The paper explores the case of Ferrari, which started a reorganization process in which the main actors were employees and strategic communication represented the crucial component.

This paper focuses on one single organization. Additional research is needed to generalize the effectiveness of the proposed strategic communication model.

The paper shows that the four strategic communication components (i.e. aligning, energizing, visioning, and constituting), if applied in an integrated manner, can give insightful stimulus for the management of important change programs.

The paper contributes to the change management literature by linking strategic communication, continuous improvement and entrepreneurial theory.

AFTER the trenchant paper by Mr. A. O. Jennings, read at the Brighton meeting of the Library Association, and the very embarrassing resolution which was carried as a result, one can only approach the subject of the commonplace in fiction with fear and diffidence. It is generally considered a bold and dangerous thing to fly in the face of corporate opinion as expressed in solemn public resolutions, and when the weighty minds of librarianship have declared that novels must only be chosen on account of their literary, educational or moral qualities, one is almost reduced to a state of mental imbecility in trying to fathom the meaning and limits of such an astounding injunction. To begin with, every novel or tale, even if but a shilling Sunday‐school story of the Candle lighted by the Lord type is educational, inasmuch as something, however little, may be learnt from it. If, therefore, the word “educational” is taken to mean teaching, it will be found impossible to exclude any kind of fiction, because even the meanest novel can teach readers something they never knew before. The novels of Emma Jane Worboise and Mrs. Henry Wood would no doubt be banned as unliterary and uneducational by those apostles of the higher culture who would fain compel the British washerwoman to read Meredith instead of Rosa Carey, but to thousands of readers such books are both informing and recreative. A Scots or Irish reader unacquainted with life in English cathedral cities and the general religious life of England would find a mine of suggestive information in the novels of Worboise, Wood, Oliphant and many others. In similar fashion the stories of Annie Swan, the Findlaters, Miss Keddie, Miss Heddle, etc., are educational in every sense for the information they convey to English or American readers about Scots country, college, church and humble life. Yet these useful tales, because lacking in the elusive and mysterious quality of being highly “literary,” would not be allowed in a Public Library managed by a committee which had adopted the Brighton resolution, and felt able to “smell out” a high‐class literary, educational and moral novel on the spot. The “moral” novel is difficult to define, but one may assume it will be one which ends with a marriage or a death rather than with a birth ! There have been so many obstetrical novels published recently, in which doubtful parentage plays a chief part, that sexual morality has come to be recognized as the only kind of “moral” factor to be regarded by the modern fiction censor. Objection does not seem to be directed against novels which describe, and indirectly teach, financial immorality, or which libel public institutions—like municipal libraries, for example. There is nothing immoral, apparently, about spreading untruths about religious organizations or political and social ideals, but a novel which in any way suggests the employment of a midwife before certain ceremonial formalities have been executed at once becomes immoral in the eyes of every self‐elected censor. And it is extraordinary how opinion differs in regard to what constitutes an immoral or improper novel. From my own experience I quote two examples. One reader objected to Morrison's Tales of Mean Streets on the ground that the frequent use of the word “bloody” made it immoral and unfit for circulation. Another reader, of somewhat narrow views, who had not read a great deal, was absolutely horrified that such a painfully indecent book as Adam Bede should be provided out of the public rates for the destruction of the morals of youths and maidens!

The aim of the study is to examine the role of crowdfunding in entrepreneurial development with the help of a systematic review of the literature and bibliometric analysis.

The present research employed bibliometric analysis to study collected data from the database. Using proper keywords, data was retrieved from Scopus. With the scaler and analytical method of bibliometric analysis, the research attempts to answer the following questions, including prominent journals, authors, keywords and cluster analysis based on keyword occurrence. The mapping/networking chart is created using the VOSviewer software.

The result of the study suggests that it is an attractive and emerging phenomenon for academicians. The most papers were published in 2021, Small Business Economics and California Management Review are the most prolific journals, while Vismara S is the most significant author with 4 publications and 488 citations. Short JC, School of Management, Royal Holland and USA collaborate most. Cluster analysis of the study will help the future researcher to broaden the existing literature utilising the distinct topics.

This research aids entrepreneurs, academia, crowdfunding practitioners and policymakers in identifying application areas for crowdfunding. In conclusion, crowdfunding will enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This study elaborates the significance of crowdfunding in the development of entrepreneurship, using SLR and bibliometric analysis. The study findings identified crowdfunding's usage, applications and potential future research areas, as well as evaluated, reviewed and assessed their significance in entrepreneurial development. The theme-based cluster was determined based on the frequency of occurrence of the keywords.

The aim of the present paper is to examine how the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICTs) can have positive implications in a territorial context, where healthcare organizations are characterized by limited organizational independence and lack of individual statutory autonomy, with limited level of integration between the involved parties (healthcare operators, managers, and patients) and an uneven management of data and of information‐sharing.

The approach taken was an investigation based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods for information‐gathering and data‐analysis in the context of diabetes care. A case study approach was adopted with the aim of enhancing general practitioners' (GPs') performance levels through an evaluation monitoring and by controlling care paths dynamics.

The realization of the target care path for chronic–degenerative pathologies in the Local Health Trust “Naples 4” in Campania Region (Italy) led to the identification of a suitable framework that modifies, through the implementation of ICT tools, the communications dynamics and the interaction/integration for those actors involved in a patient's care path.

Healthcare markets are currently experiencing an acceleration of technological developments; the study tries to show how the appropriate adoption of new technologies can lead to improvements for the quality of care, managing at the same time the consequent rising costs in the sector.

Spare Parts Management (SPM) and Industry 4.0 has proven their importance. However, employment of Industry 4.0 solutions for SPM is at emerging stage. To address the issue, this article is aimed toward a systematic literature review on SPM in Industry 4.0 era and identification of research gaps in the field with prospects.

Research articles were reviewed and analyzed through a content-based analysis using four step process model. The proposed framework consists of five categories such as Inventory Management, Types of Spares, Circularity based on 6Rs, Performance Indicators and Strategic and Operational. Based on these categories, a total of 118 research articles published between 1998 and 2022 were reviewed.

The technological solutions of Industry 4.0 concepts have provided numerous opportunities for SPM. Industry 4.0 hi-tech solutions can enhance agility, operational efficiency, quality of product and service, customer satisfaction, sustainability and profitability.

The review of articles provides an integrated framework which recognizes implementation issues and challenges in the field. The proposed framework will support academia and practitioners toward implementation of technological solutions of Industry 4.0 in SPM. Implementation of Industry 4.0 in SPM may help in improving the triple bottom line aspect of sustainability which can make significant contribution to academia, practitioners and society.

The examination uncovered a scarcity of research in the intersection of SPM and Industry 4.0 concepts, suggesting a significant opportunity for additional investigative efforts.