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The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of information on origin, “typicalness”, production method and flavour on the willingness to pay and the sensorial appreciation of Tuscan sanguinaccio (Italian Salami).

The goal of the study was to explore how differences between willingness to pay and sensorial appreciation (measured using a hedonic score) for the three types are influenced by the nature of the sensorial and non-sensorial information available to the consumer. To evaluate reaction to sensorial information, typical information regimes used in works on degree of disconfirmation (Schifferstein, 2001) were adopted, that is, visual examination of the product with indication of the name and tasting of the labelled product.

Analysis of the results of the experiments indicates that Mallegato and Biroldo have particular characteristics that make it critical to promote them to a vast public. The information on the production methods and ingredients seemed to interact negatively with the sensorial perception of the product after tasting, probably because of the presence of blood and other problematic components (for example, components of the pig head in Biroldo) among the ingredients.

Limited size of the sample and a gastronomic niche product analyzed.

The negative influence of the processed information has to be considered to efficiently communicate the typicalness of these salami products. In fact, whilst for other traditional products, different kinds of information related to process, raw materials, recipes and, more generally, tradition can be jointly used to increase the arousal and the expectation on products quality characteristics, in this case, the communication strategy has to carefully consider the limit of these product components.

For the first time the use of experimental auctions investigate the role of problematic information, such as the presence of blood, on consumers’ preference towards a typical gastronomic product.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the history of poor corporate transparency in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and show how one company, Zawya LLC, has succeeded in turning this persistent problem into a business opportunity by creating a successful information collection and dissemination business or “infomediary”.

Through interviews with knowledgeable individuals, the author examines the techniques the Company has used to develop its corporate database in Lebanon, where much of its operations are now based, and elsewhere in the region.

While government control and influence represents a major challenge to entrepreneurs throughout the Middle East, its nature varies considerably. The fundamental key to breaking down traditions of secrecy in both the private and public sector is to promote a virtuous circle of information provision and use. The success of “infomediaries” who do this is consistent with the concept of “self‐regulating sub‐systems” suggested in the literature.

Being a single case study, the conclusions have to be treated with appropriate caution. Examples of other successful “infomediaries” are given and avenues for future survey research among their clients are suggested.

Entrepreneurs looking for opportunities to develop “infomediaries” in other contexts will benefit from the discussion of factors that led to Zawya's success. The conclusion that the private sector can provide valuable help in breaking down corporate secrecy without the need for direct government intervention has important social implications.

This is the first case study of an “infomediary” in the MENA region.

In our media‐orientated, image‐conscious contemporary society the librarian may very well seem particularly unfortunate, reflected in the imagination of the general public as a fussy old woman of either sex, myopic and repressed, brandishing or perhaps cowering behind a date‐stamp and surrounded by an array of notices which forbid virtually every human activity. The media, for whom the librarian is frustration personified, have reinforced this stereotype, hitherto transmitted solely by superstition and hearsay; its greatest impact has no doubt fallen on the two‐thirds of the population who never use the library. One of its effects will be to ensure that they never do so in the future. As Frank Hatt has pointed out: “The controllers of the new media of communication … have shown a tendency to limit choices by using the considerable power of the media to limit their audience's established attitudes, simply because such limitation is good business.” The popular BBC television series, The last of the summer wine, portrayed a librarian whose vicarious sex‐life through the pages of D. H. Lawrence led to inevitably frustrated attempts to act out his fantasies in occasional under‐the‐counter forays with his similarly repressed female assistant. A Daily mail leader on an appeal against unfair dismissal made by a London Deputy Borough Librarian reiterates this concept:

A computer analysis of the Italian canned meat market and a synthesis to bring out the salient factors to develop a strategic approach and definition of operating activities. Qualitative studies reveal a strong resistance in consumer attitudes, mainly due to prejudice. However, the recent research helps in the interpretation of these attitudes towards the canned meat market.

Knowledge acquired by employees from co-workers through social networks may serve to reduce technostress during the use of a new and complex information system. The role of gender-based employee preferences in forming and acquiring system-related knowledge through friendship, advice, and expertise networks, and the impact of network-embedded expertise on performance outcomes are explored.

The research hypotheses were empirically tested through survey data collected from employees of a large organization that had implemented an enterprise system.

The advice networks of female employees were an extension of their friendship networks, whereas that of male employees were configured to include co-workers with system-related expertise. Exposure to high quality knowledge flows resulted in lowered technostress levels among male employees compared to their female counterparts. However, there was only a marginal difference in performance outcomes. The “expertise-deficit” in the advice network of female employees was apparently compensated through their dependence on the helpdesk.

Research on system-related knowledge support through social networks has focused on the structural features of interaction ties with little or no emphasis on networking employees and their individual preferences. Moving away from this structural orientation, this study validates the contention that gender-driven motivations impact employee networking preferences, determine network-embedded expertise levels, and influence employee technostress. This study can help configure implementation environments that maximize network acquisition of high-quality knowledge, reduce technostress, and enhance performance outcomes.

To examine whether OFCOM's Public Service Broadcasting Review has responded adequately to the contestable values entailed in this dimension of media policy.

Analysis of OFCOM's premises and reasoning, in particular its use of competition language, to test the implications for its statutory requirement to maintain and strengthen public service broadcasting.

OFCOM adopts a utilitarian approach when discussing normative issues relating to culture and media values. This is inappropriate in itself, but also reflects a desire to narrow the scope of its remit.

The paper challenges the current regulatory style of OFCOM and points to problems that need to be rectified for its legislative mandate properly to be fulfilled.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the present situation and recent evolution of entrepreneurship education in Italian universities and to discuss whether these courses and curricula match the demand for entrepreneurial competences.

The empirical analysis is based on a census of entrepreneurship courses and curricula run by universities. The information collected through the internet refers to the academic years 2003‐2004 and 2009‐2010.

Compared with the situation observed in the USA and in other European countries, entrepreneurship education in Italy is rather “underdeveloped”. Only a few universities have courses or specific curricula dedicated to entrepreneurship. The courses are concentrated within business faculties while very few exist in science and engineering faculties. The slow pace with which Italian universities are keeping up with the global trend in entrepreneurship education at university level seems in vivid contrast with the need for the Italian economy to change its industry structure from the so‐called “traditional” to “high‐tech” sectors. The paper discusses the reasons for this situation.

The paper does not evaluate the impact of entrepreneurship education. A suggestion for future research could be to analyze the role of these courses in encouraging entrepreneurial activity of students.

Entrepreneurship education at university level can play an important role in the Italian economic system, fostering the creation of new business in knowledge‐intensive sectors.

The exploratory analysis of the state of entrepreneurship education in Italy suggests the need to develop these courses and spread the presence, especially in the science and engineering universities.

The paper covers a lack of research on the attitude of higher education institutions towards entrepreneurship education in Italy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the trajectory of cultural stereotypes on Uncertainty Avoidance emergent from two French multinational corporations. The exploration of respondents' comparisons of their own culture with other cultures illustrates that cultural stereotypes are derived from structural conditions that had developed over time, but came to be (mis)attributed to innate and prevalent cultural habits.

Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources, characterized by qualitative methodologies. Primary data respondents were predominantly ethnic Chinese Singaporeans, and secondary data respondents were predominantly French. In‐depth interviews were introduced in three phases.

The stereotype of the “uncertainty avoidant” Chinese Singaporean employees was employed by the top manager in one of the case studies (ECI) to lend legitimacy to the employees' exclusion from top management positions. The converse argument was made that “uncertainty avoidance” is absent among the French, who are hence more qualified as ECI top managers. Both claims were unfounded in this inquiry. Further evidence points to structural factors mediating employee behavior.

Structural factors were found to lend greater credibility in accounting for employee behaviors outlined in this study, more so than cultural ones. Future research surfacing complementary statistical insights will provide more concrete and representative evidence to this exploratory inquiry.

An alternative view of Uncertainty Avoidance through a structural account is proposed, based on evidence from qualitative inquiries.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on data from interviews with six Italian migrant service providers and media stories in Italy and Australia to weave a comparative snapshot of the plight of precarious migrant and refugee communities in these two countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The article draws attention to prejudicial shortcomings towards vulnerable migrant communities enacted by the states of Italy and Australia in response to COVID-19.

While the unequal ecology of the pandemic has flared up the need for the State to strengthen participation and inclusion policies, it has also provided opportunities to foreground the disadvantages vulnerable communities face that also demand policy attention and sustained funding. Governments in migrant-receiving countries like Australia and Italy need to articulate culturally sensitive and inclusive responses that foreground agencies give vulnerable migrants, asylum seekers and refugees clear, supportive messages of solidarity leading to practical solutions.

This paper relays preliminary data from the coalface (migrant service providers) and media as the pandemic evolved in the two countries, whose support mechanisms had never before been critically compared and evaluated through the lens of racial inequality in the face of a health and social crisis.

The economic and financial crisis, especially the sovereign debt crisis, discovered many deficiencies and weaknesses in the banking sector in the European Union (EU). The need for special surveillance and supervision of cross-border banking cooperation and termination of the toxic link between sovereign debt and banking sector have accelerated the process of forming and establishing a Banking Union (BU). An integrated financial framework has been established in which the European Central Bank (ECB) through the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) has a key role and the responsibility for the overall supervision of the banking sector of the euro zone. The Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and schemes of the Single Deposit Guarantee Mechanism (SDGM) are under the national supervisory authorities while the European Banking Authority (EBA) is responsible for developing the Single Rules. From the new architecture is expected the preservation of the single market and a common currency, breaking “toxic connections” between sovereign debt and banks, mitigation and removal of financial instability and economic growth. The research shows that the BU together with the ECB in a certain sense, also contributes to the normalization of credit and financial conditions in the single mark. Estimates through SSM, conducted by the ECB and the EBA, during, 2014 and 2015 on 107 banks in 21 countries indicate progress toward solvency and resilience of the banking system of the euro area. Despite some initial success the entire project BU seems to have missed on opportunities, resulted in late reactions, and was too complex to be feasible. The political will of national governments to give up sovereignty over its banking sector and transfer competencies to the supranational institutions is a key factor in the success or failure of a BU. It seems so but past experience indicates that there is no political willingness to solve problems. Mainly most of the government avoids cleaning a hidden “skeleton in closets” due to lack of means for recapitalization while some are trying for loans from the ECB to help their banks. The ECB plays a key oversight role at the EU level and has too much power, which can cause risks caused by conflicting goals. The ECB is losing the role of the final refuge of liquidity, which is the main disadvantage of a BU. The SSM is susceptible to criticism due to difficulty in operation because of slow incorporation of European legislation into national law. Slow implementation carries risks of fragmentation of the market, regardless of the responsibility of the ECB. The financial capacity of the temporary agreement with the SRM is insufficient in solving the crisis of more banks while procedural application is complex and time-consuming. Planned backstop with a centralized resource is a resolution that is insufficient for solving the failure of big systemic banks, which are too big to bail. The heterogeneity of the existing Deposit Guarantee Schemes (DGS) and the banking systems of the member states of the euro zone caused controversy in terms of setting of common insurance schemes. The procedures for the recovery and resolution of critical banks are problematic.