Edizioni FrancoAngeli - Last issue of STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI (1/2011)

Environmental events in the tourism sector. An analysis model based on organizational capabilities

Sun, 15 Oct 2011 8:00:00 GMT

Filomena Buonocore, Maria Ferrara
The tourism sector in recent years has been exposed to many relevant environmental events: wars, terrorist attacks, medical emergencies, etc.. All these events produce great uncertainty among traders, because of the difficulty predicting the volume of demand, with relevant consequences on organizational structures and behaviours. Shock events and shift events are the names used to describe the main topic of the present study. Shock events refer to sudden turbulence which are difficult to predict, both regarding the time of their occurrence and their consequences on firms. Otherwise, shift events do not produce a state of emergence for the organization or a high pressure, and they often may be predicted, allowing a longer period for analysis and decisionmaking. In the present paper we describe a theoretical model revealing three distinctive features to distinguish shock events and shift events, which therefore require different behaviours by operators: the predictability of the event, the rapidity of its manifestation, the rapidity with which operators must react to the event. Our analytical model describe a relationship between environmental events and organizational skills, suggesting the need for a proactive approach by the organization, in order to predict and anticipate the events and to exercise more control over them.

Birth of an organization in West Africa

Sun, 15 Oct 2011 8:00:00 GMT

Guido Fioretti
Africa has largely remained at the margins of globalization and world economic growth, to a large extent because of foreign interests in its natural resources but to some extent also because of its cultural specificities. This article reports on the endogenous formation of a non-profit organization in West Africa, its difficulties as well as the solutions that have been and are being explored. Albeit some cultural attitudes in this continent may slow down its economic development, they also provide an interesting natural laboratory for scholars of organization science.

Exloring the impact of co-opetition on organizational performance: evidences from health care

Sun, 15 Oct 2011 8:00:00 GMT

Daniele Mascia, Fausto Di Vincenzo
The present paper explores the impact that co-opetition - simultaneous cooperation and competition - has on organizational performance, proposing that performance of organizations is contingent upon the embeddedness of firms in a network of inter-organizational relationships. To explore the effects on performance resulting from both collaborative network ties and competitive relationships between organizations, we used panel data collected between 2003-2007 from 31 hospitals in Abruzzo, one of the most populated regions of the central Italy. We employed secondary data of hospital activities regarding both clinical and administrative aspects. For each year, we examined the intensity of inter-hospital competition and the unique position each provider has within a larger network of relationships with other hospitals. As well, other idiosyncratic organizational characteristics were examined. Our results show that hospital performance is both negatively related to the degree of competition an organization faces, and positively related to the degree with which hospitals establish collaborative relationships. We also found that the negative impact on organizational performance due to competitive aggressiveness was lessened when hospitals were more likely to create cooperative network ties.

Factors of talents’ attraction and retention. The case of a dance company

Sun, 15 Oct 2011 8:00:00 GMT

Fabrizio Montanari, Annachiara Scapolan
Both management and academic literature have increasingly selected talents’ attraction and retention as an important area for research. Despite such a great attention devoted to this issue, there are still some under-investigated areas of interest. For example, previous research has devoted limited attention to cultural industries despite the fact that talents are the key asset of the organizations operating in these industries. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring this under-investigated issue by addressing three research questions. First, we will analyze a cultural organization’s characteristics that are able to attract and retain creative talents; second, we will investigate if attraction and retention are influenced just by organizational elements or also by external factors such as the city where the organization is located. Finally, we will analyze potential differences between attraction and retention factors. In doing so, we will analyze the case of the most important Italian dancing company - Fondazione della Danza Aterballetto. We combined different qualitative methods such as interviews, document analysis, and direct observation. Findings show that a cultural organization’s characteristics that are able to attract and retain creative talents are partially different from those highlighted by previous literature. In particular, the most important attraction factor seems to be the opportunity to work with the main choreographer, while the most important reasons to stay are represented by the creative process and the possibility to meet and work with other artists operating in different creative sectors. This opportunity is appreciated by the dancers who perceive Aterballetto as the centre of a relational network, which extends beyond the organizational boundaries. In the same way, the local socio-cultural context plays an important role in influencing the retention of dancers. Finally, the attraction factors are partially different from the retention ones. At the end of the paper, some possible future lines of research are presented and discussed.

How Firms Sustain Innovation Through Employee Training: Evidence from Italian Enterprises

Sun, 15 Oct 2011 8:00:00 GMT

Paolo Neirotti, Emilio Paolucci
Although organizational studies usually consider training a practice allowing firms to create new competencies, there is not a broad agreement on the idea that companies must involve the majority of their employees in continuous training for developing their human capital and innovation. The study here discusses these arguments using evidence from 304 large enterprises in Italy. Specifically, by using data on the firms’ organizational and technological innovations and training investments, the study shows that innovation positively affects the employees participation rate and the time intensity of their training programs. Furthermore, when training is combined with other practices firms show a higher propensity to innovate. Firms’ internal development of human capital does not affect, however, the average intensity of training programs, suggesting that only few employees are actively involved in organizational learning processes.

The essence of a company able to complete: the fire-dimensional Italian Way of Doing Industry

Sun, 15 Oct 2011 8:00:00 GMT

Federico Butera
Starting from the contradictions of the Italian economy, two key questions are proposed. A. Everyone agrees on the fact that the strength of the Italian system is due largely to those excellent organizations that produce economic and social value in industrial concerns, services, Public Administration. Therefore, what are the distinctive characteristics of these organizations and how can we develop them? B. Inadequate public goods and services for competitiveness - i.e. facilities, services, attractiveness of the territories, support for productive activities, equitable regulation and legality - heavily influence the Italian system. Therefore, what are the specific characteristics of public goods and services suited to the Italian Way of Doing Industry, and how can we develop them? According to the model here expounded, whether in an individual company or in an enterprise system, competitiveness depends on the optimal combination of five factors: market positioning, strategies, organizational and working models, the soul behind the enterprise and the quality of the entrepreneur. The emerging model is defined as "whole company", that is to say a company pursuing economic and social performance in an integrated way, acting to protect and to develop the integrity of the stakeholders and the physical, economic and social environment, and having a moral line of conduct.

Abstracts

Sun, 15 Oct 2011 8:00:00 GMT

Notizie sugli autori

Sun, 15 Oct 2011 8:00:00 GMT