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1 – 10 of 20Himani Naesstroem, Frank Brueckner and Alexander F.H. Kaplan
This paper aims to gain an understanding of the behaviour of iron ore when melted by a laser beam in a continuous manner. This fundamental knowledge is essential to further…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to gain an understanding of the behaviour of iron ore when melted by a laser beam in a continuous manner. This fundamental knowledge is essential to further develop additive manufacturing routes such as production of low cost parts and in-situ reduction of the ore during processing.
Design/methodology/approach
Blown powder directed energy deposition was used as the processing method. The process was observed through high-speed imaging, and computed tomography was used to analyse the specimens.
Findings
The experimental trials give preliminary results showing potential for the processability of iron ore for additive manufacturing. A large and stable melt pool is formed in spite of the inhomogeneous material used. Single and multilayer tracks could be deposited. Although smooth and even on the surface, the single layer tracks displayed porosity. In case of multilayered tracks, delamination from the substrate material and deformation can be seen. High-speed videos of the process reveal various process phenomena such as melting of ore powder during feeding, cloud formation, melt pool size, melt flow and spatter formation.
Originality/value
Very little literature is available that studies the possible use of ore in additive manufacturing. Although the process studied here is not industrially useable as is, it is a step towards processing cheap unprocessed material with a laser beam.
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Mariarosalba Angrisani, Lorella Cannavacciuolo and Pierluigi Rippa
This research aims to shed new lights on the most shared constructs developed on Innovation Ecosystems, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Technology Transfer Ecosystem proposing an…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to shed new lights on the most shared constructs developed on Innovation Ecosystems, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Technology Transfer Ecosystem proposing an additional stand-alone ecosystem.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is built upon a qual-quantitative analysis of an empirical case. The latter analysis is performed through a single case study methodology on the San Giovanni Hub of the Federico II University of Naples.
Findings
Evidences show how a technological hub orchestrates three main ecosystems for the knowledge exploitation: the technology transfer ecosystem, devoted to gather knowledge form universities' labs towards industries; the innovation ecosystem, able to manage the exploration and exploitation of new knowledge and techniques; the entrepreneurial ecosystem, that supports startup/spinoff creation process.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations mainly concern the fact that it is centred on just one case study.
Practical implications
Practical implications imply new opportunities of collaboration involving different stakeholders as university administrators, researchers, businesses and policymakers, creating a supportive environment for innovation.
Originality/value
The research offers a new vision about the role of Universities as creators and enablers of ecosystems pursuing diverse value propositions. The Academic Innovation Ecosystem is a new conceptualization of this role played by a university, and it can convey innovation and entrepreneurial attitude within its ecosystem leveraging on the transfer of university knowledge and technology.
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Marcelo Royo-Vela, Juan Carlos Amezquita Salazar and Francisco Puig Blanco
This paper aims to address research gaps with regard to the relationship between market orientation and marketing performance when small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to address research gaps with regard to the relationship between market orientation and marketing performance when small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are located within a service cluster. The three main objectives of this research are to determine the effect that the cluster can have on both the market orientation of clustered companies and their marketing performance and to furthermore evaluate the effect of the market orientation of companies in the cluster on their marketing performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used executive-level data that were obtained by carrying out a survey involving a unique dataset of 133 Colombian health-related businesses located in the city of Cali (Colombia) in 2014. A system of equations was modeled using SMART PLS. This analysis was complemented by a qualitative study that involved conducting in-depth interviews in six companies.
Findings
The results showed that, among the SMEs, membership in an urban services cluster did not significantly influence marketing performance or the implementation of marketing orientation practices. No differences were observed in internal managerial practices implemented between companies that were co-located and isolated. However, a higher level of competitor orientation was associated with greater marketing performance. Given the verified absence of moderating and mediating effects, our work provides a reasonable basis for proposing future research and practical recommendations.
Originality/value
While research has demonstrated the relationship between a company's market orientation and marketing performance, this type of analysis has not been carried out on service SMEs in geographic concentrations or clusters.
研究目的
本文旨在處理涉及市場導向與營銷績效間的關係的研究缺口. 當中小型企業處於服務群集內, 市場導向與其營銷績效間存在相互關係;本文旨在處理涉及這關係的研究缺口. 本研究有以下的主要目標:(1)找出群集對群集公司的市場導向及其營銷績效兩者的影響;(2)繼而評估在群集內公司的市場導向對其營銷績效的影響.
研究方法
本研究使用透過進行一項調查而取得的管理階層數據,而這調查涉及於2014年位於卡利市(哥倫比亞)133間與健康衛生有關的哥倫比亞企業的獨特資料集。一個方程式體系透過使用SmartPLS被模擬出來. 這分析有個補充輔助,就是一個涉及在六間公司內進行的深層訪談的質性研究.
研究結果
研究結果顯示,就有關的中小型企業而言,擁有城市服務群集身份並沒顯著地影響營銷績效或市場導向慣常做法的施行。對處於同一地點的公司,抑或是隔離的公司,其內部施行的管理慣常做法並沒觀察到有所不同。但是,高水平的競爭者導向與更佳的營銷績效兩者是相關的。考慮到調節及仲介效果被證實不存在,我們的研究為日後研究及實際建議的提出提供合理的基礎.
研究的原創性
從前的研究證實了公司的市場導向與營銷績效是相關的,唯這類研究分析從來沒有在地理集中或群集內的服務中小型企業上進行過.
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Edgard Alberto Méndez-Morales and Carlos Andrés Yanes-Guerra
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role that different financial sources and financial specialization have on private research and development (R&D) activity in OECD…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role that different financial sources and financial specialization have on private research and development (R&D) activity in OECD countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed several panel regressions choosing as a final model a two-way random effects regression to understand which funding sources are related to the R&D expenditure, and how financial specialization has links to the private portion of R&D aggregated expenditure. The authors include data from the years 2000 to 2016 for OECD countries.
Findings
The results reinforce the critical role that stock markets have in enhancing private R&D and that bond markets have an inverse relationship with private R&D national expenditures. The authors do not find evidence of a link between bank sources and private R&D. Specialized financial systems (banking or market) support innovation in a better way than a mixed arrangement of those two systems.
Practical implications
The findings of this study have considerable policy implications. Policymakers need to be aware of these results, given that some variables related to financial markets, seems to boost the inputs for R&D. In the long term, this could be a signal that national and regional systems of innovation need a broad view of the factors hampering scientific activity, and also a signal that there are other ways to impact the results of the complex innovation activity through the development of stronger financial systems backing up national systems of innovation.
Originality/value
The authors found that the long discussion about the financial system that a country has to choose to enhance growth with R&D&I may have been misleading the public policy. The findings show that rather than a bank or a stock market financial system, economies looking to boost R&D&I, must specialize in one of the two systems, deepen these and generate the appropriate policies to promote science, technology and innovation using those financial markets.
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Francesc González-Reverté and Anna Soliguer Guix
Focusing on critical discourse analysis, this paper aims to propose a framework for analysing the way activist anti-tourism groups construct their social action of protest. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Focusing on critical discourse analysis, this paper aims to propose a framework for analysing the way activist anti-tourism groups construct their social action of protest. The authors argue that activist groups use different narrative strategies to construct and legitimise their discourse of protest to convey social meanings for social action practices. This study represents an attempt to explain how anti-tourism activist groups have the agency to build different paradigms of protest rooted in particular views of tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
As a result of the lack of research in this area, this study used a comparative case study methodology drawn on four case studies in the field of anti-tourism protest. Case study is deemed adequate to explore a complex social phenomenon, how activist groups differ from each other, in a specific socio-economic context. A critical discourse analysis method is used to study primary (interviews) and secondary sources (reports, websites and online campaigns documents) of information, which express the activist group motivations and objectives to protest against tourism.
Findings
This study’s findings provide evidence in how discourse differs among the protest groups. Three narrative paradigms of protest are identified, which guide their agency: scepticism, based on a global and ecological approach; non-interventionist transformation, rooted in local community issues; and direct transformation, based on a sectoral problem-solving approach. These differences are interpreted as the consequences of the emergence and the development of different paths of protest according to specific social contexts and power relations in which anti-tourism groups are embedded.
Originality/value
This paper provides a contemporary approach to anti-tourism activism within the context of social movements. This case study may be of interest to practitioners and international destination managers interested in gaining a better understanding of anti-tourism protest strategies, new anti-tourism narratives following COVID-19 and the opportunities and challenges for opening a dialogue with those involved in activism and social urban movements as part of sustainable tourism governance. Our results can also help activists to rethink how they integrate differences and particular strategic positions to avoid hindering collective action. This knowledge is especially useful for managers and authorities seeking to develop more accurate collaborative governance practices with local activists, and especially those interested in fostering participative action without marginalising the diverse range of local community perspectives.
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