Sometimes our best solutions come from looking at problems differently. Fresh perspectives can come from working with different partners. When developing strategy in what Vaill (1996) refers to as “permanent whitewater”, organization leaders need to go beyond a firm or industry centric approach and consider a broader, network based or ecosystem view. This paper examines a range of collaborative approaches to change – strategic alliances, public private partnerships, issues management alliances, innovation and enterprise zones, supply chain certification and partnerships, industry self- regulatory systems, and technology incubators – and suggests how these may be part of a bigger adaptation. Such new models may be critical in addressing bigger issues of immigration and workforce development, disruptive technologies, globalization, corruption, and climate change. The paper builds the case that these collaborative responses are not simply new forms, but represent a new logic and values (Austrom and Lad, 1989). They incorporate a “both and logic” and a more ecological perspective. They recognize that going it alone may not be sufficient. Partnering with NGOs, third party organizations and even government agencies may lead to better solutions. Finally, they see leadership in generating new conversations and asking different questions. Knowledge management in this turbulent environment moves from an intra- firm approach to an inter- organization eco-system way of thinking. The paper lays out a model of business government relations derived from Williamson (1996). It goes beyond the typical collaborations of trade associations, strategic alliances, and public private partnerships to include standards organizations such as ISO and LEAD, workforce development partnerships, and business incubators and enterprise zones. The paper provides 3 detailed cases that illustrate new forms of adaptation. These include: Recycling – a unique collaboration between government, business, and new NGOs; Industry self-regulation and standard groups – third party entities helping level the playing field and paving the way for market growth; Maker spaces and innovation centers – helping urban and regional economic development through workforce development. Three elements make this original. It lays out a discussion of the new logics and new values behind these new organization forms, it delineates a model of business, government and NGO interaction, and it offers 3 detailed case studies that represent archetypes of future forms. The paper provides a range of examples of cross organization collaboration that suggests a broader scope for knowledge management. It offers a set of considerations for boundary spanning beyond the firm such as social issues and stakeholder management public policy involvement, and issues management. It illustrates examples of social problem solving by firms that enhance business and the communities where they operate.

The research examines the impact of knowledge spillover effects (in our case, knowledge gained as a result of work of industrial companies in international markets) on the company innovative performance. Innovations are considered in the context of both organizational and technological innovations. Hypotheses about improvement of the performance of innovation activities as a result of companies’ entry into foreign markets, about the importance of stable and long-term exports in order to increase the efficiency of industrial companies, as well as about the impact of work in the markets of countries of the near abroad (CIS countries) and the far abroad on the innovative performance of Russian industrial companies are being tested. Panel data of companies of three manufacturing industry sectors are used: high-, medium-, and low-tech sectors. The research reveals the dependence of the performance increase of companies in high- and medium-tech sector on companies’ investments in new technologies, and of low-tech sector companies – on implementation of organizational and management innovations. Moreover, it shows that the impact of knowledge spillover effects on the performance depends not on the geographic direction of the export: into the markets of the far or near abroad (CIS countries), but on the sector profile of companies.

The goal of this paper is to provide a review of the works existing in literature about the effects of knowledge acquisition methods on start-up’s performance. This study aims at identifying: 1) the most significant issues addressed by researchers in the field of knowledge acquisition processes, giving specific reference to knowledge spillover among high tech start-ups; 2) the main results obtained so far in the field; 3) development and future directions of the research in this area. The purpose, in particular, is to investigate how knowledge acquisition methods impact on innovative performance and firm survival in the case of new high-tech firms. The literature review focused on the analysis of journals selected in an international ranking on the portal SCImago Journal & Country Rank. The research was carried out based on four specific steps: 1) selection of papers focused on both knowledge acquisition methods and high-tech start-ups’ performance in terms of both survival and innovation capability; 4) an analysis of the contents of the abstracts of individual articles; 3) definition of inclusion and exclusion criteria; 4) a collection of the relevant articles, in order to examine in detail their content and results. Knowledge acquisition methods has become one of the most well-known concepts in Knowledge Management studies. Knowledge acquisition is likely to influence the chances of a new firm to survive and keep its innovative capabilities. However there is a dearth of studies on this topic. Systematizing the different contributions of the topic “knowledge management methods” in the case of start-ups provides a clearer view of these issues and represents a contribution to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying new firms success. The literature review is a first step of a larger work that will involve an empirical analysis. By means of this first step, it is possible to understand how knowledge acquisition methods influence in start-up’s performance and survival. This paper tries to provide a deeper understanding of the topic of knowledge acquisition in new ventures thus supporting entrepreneurs and researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to present new aspects to how entrepreneurs seek and create knowledge for their entrepreneurial process. The context is the entrepreneurs’ and their personal contact network, identified as the five most important people that entrepreneurs’ confide with, and hence, the organisational focus. The underlying research design is a longitudinal in-depth case study. The paper commences by informing on opportunities in the entrepreneurial process, that primarily are be seen from the development approach or the discovery approach. The value in this paper is the furthering of understandings of: The entrepreneurial process. Characteristics of the personal contact network. How entrepreneurs continuously reshape their personal contact network. Why entrepreneurs continuously reshape their personal contact network. The personal contact network consists of nodes that are either specialists or generalists, and in conjunction, they actively contribute to the shaping and reshaping of new entrepreneurial opportunities. The entrepreneurs’ continuously renew the specialists in their personal contact network, depending on the knowledge needed. Whereas the relatively fewer generalists remain in the personal contact network throughout the entrepreneurial process. Linking of the development approach with the discovery approach contributes to settling the academic debate between the two. Acknowledging the development together with the discovery approach furthers the scope, by combining the more qualitative ‘high-resolution’ understandings from the development approach with the more quantative ‘high predictability’ understandings from the discovery approach, in this way integrating in depth data with big data. The new in-depth understandings of the character and importance of the personal contact network, can lead to a higher ratio of successful entrepreneurs.

Current study intends to probe and analyze the essential role of sustainability practices comprising of integrative, eco efficiency related and ethical or employee centered procedures for improving corporate performance and ensuring higher levels of sustainable innovation performance through the upholding of EEA trait resilience encompassing ecological, engineering and adaptive aspects. Based on the tentative hypotheses derived from triple bottom line of an organization, path analysis has been performed for structural equation modeling (SEM) in order to examine these assumptions. The sample in the intended cross-sectional study contains empirical or primary data collected from managers in petroleum companies in South Asian context,specifically Lahore, Pakistan. With respect to the context of current study, it can be concluded that sustainability practices are fundamental supporting entities of petroleum organizations for satisfying the engineering, ecological and adaptability resilience that can help these organizations accomplish goals of long term corporate efficacy and effectiveness altogether with higher levels of sustainable innovation performance. The study high points the value of sustainability and resilience of petroleum companies consequential from the Systems Theory literature. Petroleum companies can sustain high sustainable innovation and improve their performance by becoming more resilient through deployment of sustainability oriented practices in their processes. Embracing sustainability practices makes these companies strong enough to bounce back the environmental uncertainties by developing adaptive and flexible capabilities. Sustainability and resilience are the most critical issues faced by companies dealing within petroleum sector. Adoption of such dependable practices can surely encourage these companies to achieve and accomplish conservation based, engineering and adaptive qualities and capabilities of resilience. Through this, companies can safeguard their process and accomplish sustainability in innovation as well as entire corporate performance goals in terms of profitability, market share, revenue growth, and customer satisfaction.

This article aims to propose a critical reflection on the process of design and operation of an innovative service by reporting the steps followed from the moment of conception until the moment the idea of his offering to the market. Furthermore, we evaluated the performance of the new service with the purpose of identifying your strengths and opportunities for improvement. The brasilian´s portal is a website aims to create sustainable value and shared in the process of interaction between people and organizations through information, products and services generated by the states Pantanal. In methodological terms, this is an exploratory-descriptive, in the form of a case study. Data were collected from the Google Analytics to a sample of Internet users who accessed the portal for the four years that it is operating. The results indicate that in terms of resources, the portal is considered a platform for synergistic action, acting as a channel for interactivity between the Region of Pantanal and the national and international market. it is important to observe that the knowledge acquired in the four years it took to develop the Portal has shown that it is necessary to create an institutional structure that subsidizes the development of projects that complement its business proposition. Thus, in order to cater to those demands the PANTANAL BRASIL Institute was created – a non-profit organization (OSCIP) that aims at analyzing and developing projects funded by public resources –, characterized as the Portal’s social responsibility instrument.

This paper aims to integrate theoretical approach on corporate sustainability, with international standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR), applied to human resources management. In particular, it proposes a model linking sustainable management practices of human resources with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI-G4), which is an important international standard of CSR. The work highlights the contribution of organizational learning in the Sustainable Human Resources Management (Sustainable HRM), also with reference to a business case on which it was tested the proposed model. We proposed a theoretical and practical an approach. This work includes three parts. The first part concerns a literature review on Sustainable Human Resources Management and its relationship with organizational learning and CSR measurement, according the main international standards (ISO 26000, GRI4, SA8000). The second part proposes a model showing a connection between indicators of corporate social responsibility, provided by GRI-G4, with elements of the Sustainable HRM related to work, organization, and society; it links these aspects with the principles and tools of organizational learning. The third part concerns an application of the model to an Italian company. This methodology puts in evidence the possibility to integrate two levels that often remain parallel: theoretical reflections and models on corporate sustainability, and current practices that companies take as evidence the commitment on sustainability. In particular, an original model is proposed to measure the practices of sustainable human resources management through CSR international standards. The outcomes of the application can help companies in the voluntary reporting on sustainability, according important international standards. In addition, the proposed reflections in this paper may contribute to the development of an organic model that relates the Sustainable Human Resource Management, Organizational learning and some of the CSR indicators. Finally, the work can stimulate the reflections at the level of international standards, about some necessary measurements that are not yet present or others that remain isolated and not are very functional to a holistic understanding of the considered issues.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current research trends in Knowledge Management (KM). To achieve this objective, a scientometric analysis of all literature published in Knowledge Management Research and Practice (KMRP), a leading journal, is conducted ranging from the year 2003 to 2015. A comprehensive literature review framework is synthesised from previous studies in KM. The analysis is designed based on three sets of review questions addressing Research Productivity, Research Themes and Methods, in addition to Citation Analysis. A total of 344 articles are reviewed and coded according to the adopted framework. To examine research output, Equal Credit and Direct Count methods are applied to assign authorial credit, while Normalized Citation Impact Index (NCII) is used for research impact analysis. A qualitative approach is introduced for thematic and methodological analysis. The study elucidates an increasing trend towards multi-author collaboration especially in recent years. The KMRP’s publication list includes more than 400 academic and research institutions showing the wide global interest in KM research. It also points at no particular dominant institution in the field. More than 50 different industries are represented in the ranking of sector application. Nevertheless, certain knowledge-intensive business fields have featured less such as pharmaceuticals and aerospace. Country productivity shows few nations taking the lead with research initiatives. Interestingly, statistics reveal a correlation between research activity and economic prosperity. There is a growing tendency towards empirical methods in contrast to a drop in literature review papers which is a sign of the field’s maturity. Results have also demonstrated that there is an increased contribution from practitioners. It is noticed that there is a recent rise in number of articles that present the integration between KM and Information Technology (IT). This is a natural trend given the current inconceivable advances in technology. This study also looked at the most influential publications in the journal’s history, taking into consideration their issuing date. Finally, insights on the current status of the KM research landscape is discussed in line with future trends. It is the first comprehensive scientometric research of KMRP. The paper describes the state-of-the-art value and provides an outlook of the future.

The major focus of the current paper is historical analysis of knowledge visualization (KV) field. The great interest and growth of research on knowledge visualization results in the need of defining its present state-of-the-art. The paper addresses the question of solidness of theoretical basis and completeness of empirical evidence within the field. It presents the main results of the critical literature review with the focus on the works of Professor Martin J. Eppler and co-authors, whose articles and books cover broad and diverse area of research on visual business knowledge models. This research team forms the pioneering group in this field and may be called the St. Gallen School of KV. The papers is based on a systematic literature review of 23 works on the given topic followed by in-depth analysis of the key papers. The analysis was focused on research methods and applied methodology. The paper proposes the novel definition of three phases of KV research: preliminary, empirical and theoretical phase. The first phase answers the question “What are visual business knowledge models? How can different visual knowledge models be classified in accordance with certain business purposes?”. It explores wide range of visual models which represent all types of business information. In the second phase, the focus shifts from pure data to business knowledge with the main research question “How does it influence on business processes?”. It explores number of visual business knowledge models via empirical research. In the third phase, research is aimed at answering the question “Why?”. Namely, why it works this way, why there are certain restrictions, and why combination of visualization procedures is more efficient. The papers may serve as an introduction to the researchers to state-of-the-art of the modern KV field. For managerial practitioners, it shows the rich palette of popular business diagrams (mind maps, concept maps, business diagrams). It also cautions managers about the existence of cognitive pitfalls related to visualization, suggesting to pay attention to emotional and social aspects of their use.

The development of a new approach to working with knowledge based on the technology for the direct imposition of knowledge (TDIK). The technology was developed in the framework of the approaches to creation of expert systems (ES), but each component is different. The result is a software tool, called elinga with unique features compared to traditional ES . There are other technologies and analytical knowledge management system (AKMS), library of analytical knowledge (LAK) with other applications and possibilities, which are also based on the technology of elinga . The basic model of knowledge is molinga having a core containing a simple sentence, with an additional code descriptions and postconditions. The fuzziness is taken into account the certainty factor, as in MYCIN. The result is a knowledge base (KB) of molingas can be considered as a KB large number of short semantic networks. It molinga allow you to apply TDIK . To create integrated KB using published sources from a particular domain of scientific and technical sphere. As postconditions apply graphic images or formulas and models. The result solves the problem of intertextuality, synonyms, metaphors, concepts with different semantic meanings, etc.. As a logical inference (LI) to retrieve intermediate results in elinga used abductive inference on the basis of modified modus ponens rule. The process of finding solutions is based on the dialog-associative search in the process of discourse of human – computer uses the interim results obtained in the work of the LI , and output parts of the text (listed in the KB). The result is a final file, which contains the necessary steps of finding solutions, explanations and definitions, calculations and studies, and in several versions. Everything happens quite quickly and there is no need to appeal to other sources and professionals. The emerging situation is quite similar in some characteristics to the situation quick solutions in the method of “brainstorming” and in the application of technology solutions to inventive problems. Complex technology is original, is protected by two patents , is outlined in three books, published in several dozen print articles for 14 years. The new technology allows to create complex software in the form of elinga/AKMS/ LAK potentially begin to replace printed books as the main medium of knowledge with the aim of dramatically accelerating the performance of people with knowledge and a sharp decrease errors when making decisions.

The purpose of this research is the evaluation and development of intellectual potential as a main part of the intellectual capital (IC) management process on the basis of an interdisciplinary complex model of multidimensional thinking and social competencies development. The model and methodology of its implementation allow for the choice of technologies for the different components of intellectual potential (IP) formation in the process of staff training and retraining, in the educational system at all levels. We propose an approach, based on the integrated multifactor methodology of IP development consisting of a flexible integration of sociological, psychological, pedagogical, information and communication criteria for analysis, private techniques on evaluation of the IP components, based on a set of concepts. According to the chosen meta, general, social and personal criteria, we propose 4 stages of socio-cognitive studies of intellectual potential. The article covers the principles of choosing concrete technics on: intelligence (logical thinking), creative thinking and social intelligence competencies of potential innovators such as creativity, originality and design, etc. This methodology provides data on using technology for formation and development of special types of applied thinking, which are crucial for effective business communications in the intellectual potential (IP) and human capital (HС) management. The methodology points at different ways to implement the development of intellectual potential at school, university and for retraining purposes. The methodology is based on levels of “thinking activity” competencies: system (strategic), advanced, critical, problem, lateral and creative. Using this classification, it is possible to develop specific mental competencies and methods of their formation for different age groups and subject areas. The outcomes of the application of the methodology and the developed techniques are in the possibility of creating effective development programs to form competencies for staff training, assess and modify conditions of the non-material and material environment, determine types of communications and the nature of managerial impacts.

The goal of this paper is to describe Multidisciplinary Projects and Internships (MP/I) going on the Polytechnic of Porto (P.PORTO).These projects are oriented for co-creation and co-development in the form of challenges and programmes based on the Learning Process of Students. Usually these projects/internships result from challenges posed externally, namely by enterprises and other organizations. For responding to these challenges multidisciplinary groups of students are created, involving at least 3 different scientific areas. Innovation and Internationalization are two other valences developed during the project. Our experience demonstrates that students develop soft skills in a much more rapid way. We propose an approach and a methodology to train soft skills and to establish the connection University-Enterprise by means of co-creative and co-development multidisciplinary projects and internships. The constraints are the following: challenges posed externally by enterprises and other organizations; challenges allowing to open the mind of students in a two-phase process: breadth analysis of alternatives; and focus on the chosen alternative; multidisciplinary and multicultural groups, with at least 3 very different scientific fields, and participants from at least 2 countries; groups with students of different graduation levels; co-creation and co-development of the projects. The used approach and methodology puts in evidence that co-creation and co-development can be experimented in the learning process of students of different levels by means of Multidisciplinary Projects and Internships (MP/I) with students from different fields. A much better understanding of soft skills, innovation and globalization is possible with MP/I. We will describe here some examples of Multidisciplinary Projects and Internships. We will describe here 3 MP/I: MUDEI, HEADS, and TheRoute. MUDEI (Music, Design and Engineering with Innovation and Internationalization) is a project resulting from a challenge from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to develop new musical instruments, or to adapt existing instruments, with two mandatory specifications: a new design, and embedding technology. HEADS (Health Devices & Systems) is a project joining students from Health allied technologies, Electronics, Mechanics, Information Technology, and Design. The challenge was placed by NORTEXCEL, an Association for the Development of Medical Equipment. TheRoute is a project to for the automatic generation of routes for tourists and visitors of points of interest related with Tourism and Heritage, an excellent balance between the Social & Humanities and the technological part. This challenge has been placed by Douro Azul, the leading Douro river cruise company in Portugal. Finally we launch LAPASSION project an experience for MP/I to develop between Europe and Latin America.

This paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate concerning the role of collaborative public-private relationships in fostering innovation in public procurement. We focus on a particular form of public procurement that relies on the collaboration between the private and the public sector, namely the public-private partnerships (PPPs). In particular, the paper aims at overcoming limitations of the existing literature on PPPs by providing answers to the following key research questions: Which are the PPP features that favor innovation? How properly structure a PPP in order to foster innovation? Drawing upon the main streams of studies on innovation, we develop a conceptual framework theoretical framework on the relationship between PPP and formulates the research hypotheses. An econometric analysis is then applied to empirically test the hypotheses. The developed framework identifies the relations existing between each PPP feature and the level of innovation. Specifically, we find that a wider involvement of the private sector will increase the level of innovation. The market concentration seems to be positively correlated to the innovation. As for the contract structure, repayment mechanisms based on performance favour innovation in PPPs, whereas the existence of risk-sharing mechanisms in the contract decreases the likelihood that some innovative activity related to the PPP project occurs. Finally, in relation to the network structure, we found no significant effect on innovation. The contribution of our research is twofold. First, we contribute to fill the gap in the academic literature on PPP and innovation by proving whether and in which conditions the PPP model is capable of developing innovative solutions. Second, we contribute to the practice by defining how PPP features have to be structured in order to foster innovation, thus providing meaningful guidelines to those called to structure these arrangements.

In the knowledge economy, relational capital is a strategic, intangible and relevant asset of contemporary companies such as micro, small and medium enterprises. In this context, micro-enterprises are key drivers of economic growth and woman entrepreneurs are key developers of these businesses. From here, the aim of this paper is to carry out a literature review to investigate how relational capital contributes to the startup phase of women-owned micro-enterprises. Another aim is to understand whether and what extent the studies conducted so far have addressed these issues: How and why women entrepreneurs using relational capital? What are the main benefits they get using relational capital? What are the main obstacles? The article relies on a literature review about relational capital and women entrepreneurs in the current scenario. For this purpose, a literature searches on Scopus has been conducted, using a set of selected keywords. Scopus has been used as it allows us to be confident on the quality of publications. Selected papers have been analyzed and classified them, in an attempt to identify main topics and results obtained thanks to research and analysis carried out so far. This paper contributes to expand the international literature on connection between gender studies and relational capital. Our literature review emphasizes the topic analyzed as emerging issue, which gives us the possibility to identify new trends and future directions for research. The major implication of the paper is to advance knowledge and practice in the area of gender in management and use of relational capital by focusing upon empirical research, theoretical developments, practice and current issues. Relevant evidence of paper are related to a better understanding of the debate on “Gender and relational capital” considering that female entrepreneurship is regarded as central to the development and welfare of economies, the deepening of knowledge of how women entrepreneurs manage the relation of her business can contribute to improving the effectiveness policies aimed at promoting the participation of female entrepreneurs in the economy.

As stated by economic literature, Female entrepreneurship creates economic value, whether it is mainly considered a factor of production or a business function. The goal of the paper is to put in evidence that even if business economics establishes that Female entrepreneurship creates value, political economics – via applied economics and national accounting – usually cancels this contribution by means of the variation of the purchasing power of money. This is due to the theoretical framework which characterises the procedure of deflating economic aggregates and determines that a change in one price can’t represent a variation of an overall economic value. On the basis of an our previous work, in which we have found that in economic literature Female entrepreneurship is mainly considered a production function, we first discuss the theoretical reasons why current economics recommend to express the value of an economic aggregate in constant prices; second, we discuss the way current National Accounting determines the underestimation of the Female entrepreneurship contribution to value creation. The work specifies the differences between business economics and political economics theoretical frameworks, in relation to the measure of Female entrepreneurship value creation. The article puts in evidence that even if Female entrepreneurship is considered a variable that creates value, its contribution can’t be measured at an aggregate level since we won’t be able to adequately separate a change in price from a change in wealth. This work puts in evidence that Female entrepreneurship value creation which results in a higher market price of the output, at present, is measurable only at corporate level, because at macroeconomic level it can’t be identified if a change in one price is not related, or, to a change in wealth, not to be deflated. This could stimulate scholars to create different procedures in order to distinguish if an entire economy is merely redistributing economic resources by means of a changing in relative prices, or if a price variation indicates a buying and selling of an increased economic value, created by Female entrepreneurship.

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the strategic role of relational capital for the achievement of sustainable development in Italian micro and small tourist businesses run by women. The paper focuses on the tourism enterprises because that sector constitute 10 % of the Italian GDP. The qualitative research methodology that has been used is that of case study research (Yin, 2009). Such process consisted in a survey with an ad-hoc questionnaire developed to analyze the distinctive features of a woman-owned micro and small enterprise that can be identified with the CAOS model (Paoloni, 2011). The paper applies the CAOS model examining the personal characteristics of the female entrepreneur (C); the environment in which the in SMEs operates (A); organizational and managerial aspects (O); and the motivations for manage a new business (S). This model is able to link these factors and classify different types of connections, it is possible to identify the kind of existing relations. The paper intends to help address a gap in the existing literature regarding the management and governance of tourism firms run by women. The paper can contribute to improving the competitiveness Italian enterprises studying how women entrepreneurs manage her business..

The purpose of this paper is to deliver new perspectives on and an improvement of innovation management by critically analyzing the role of knowledge management within the innovation process. This is accompanied by an assessment of organizational learning and the innovation diffusion theory that will lead to a better understanding of the distribution of innovation-related knowledge within today’s organizations to benefit the innovative capacity. We propose a mixed methods approach that includes a review of the literature to gather qualitative insights on the theories used in this research and a quantitative study that has been conducted in Saxony, Germany in 2015. The data of this study has been collected and used jointly for several innovation- and knowledge management related research projects that are linked. The Methodology of Theory Building enhances the research design of this paper by delivering a strong theoretical basis for the development of the conceptual model of knowledge diffusion within the innovation process that is proposed in this paper. The adoption of innovation diffusion theory for knowledge and innovation management and the process of distributing and sharing knowledge within organizations as a basis for creative ideas constitute a fundamentally new approach to the topic that has not been part of the academic debate yet. It enhances the understanding of innovation processes within today’s organizations and how they are permeated by knowledge. The outcomes of this research project include a new approach to understand corporate innovation processes and especially how they emerge and how knowledge flows within organizations’ work to support the innovation process. The conceptual model developed in course of this paper shows where diffusion processes within the innovation process take place and provides information on how to support or improve such processes and therefore today’s companies’ innovative capacity.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to carry out a literature review in order to know whether and to what extent the studies conducted so far have addressed relation capital in Universities, then to provide a new framework for good practice that combines research, education, external universities (third mission) and internal relations. Our investigation aims to answer the following RQ: “How is relational capital formed in universities? How is it managed?” From a methodological point of view, we start with a literature review on relational capital and then we develop a case study. As far as the literature review is concerned, a search on Scopus was conducted, using a set of selected keywords, because it guarantees a high quality for publications. Selected papers have been analysed in an attempt to identify the main issues. The case study is a research strategy particularly suitable for an in-depth examination of current real life events. The case chosen focuses on the foundation and development of the scientific observatory on gender issues entitled “Ipazia”. All relationships built in order to merge research, teaching and third mission within universities will be analysed and discussed. The analysed case study allow us to investigate whether and how the use of relational capital enables universities to combine research, education and third mission. Meanwhile, our research highlights how “Ipazia” can be seen as an activator of relationships for gender studies. Our research project aims to extend the analysis of relational capital in universities. This project could allow us to gain a greater understanding of a relevant subject, especially for those, scholars or politicians, who are involved in developing, managing and measuring relational capital in universities. Finally, this paper contributes to the expansion of the literature on gender studies and, for this reason, it offers a new perspective applied to a topic of high relevance such as relational capital in universities.

The role of intellectual capital has become increasingly important in the modern competitive system. The main objective of this study is to analyze the role and the relationship between intellectual capital and academic entrepreneurship. The intellectual capital created or existent in the universities is not capable by itself to generate new entrepreneurship. For this reason, it is necessary to understand all the changes that the intellectual capital undertakes to become entrepreneurship. The final aim of this research is to understand how intellectual capital is transformed and developed within the process of creation of new academic entrepreneurship: spin-offs. We propose a first critical approach on a longitudinal study of literature on intellectual capital in academic entrepreneurship process. In particular, we want to understand the main theory linked to the intellectual capital in the university and the spin-off creation processes. The methodology used consists of two phases. In a first step, we proceed to an analysis of the literature. In the second phase, we will attempt to theorize the main aspects of the relationship between IC and academic entrepreneurship This methodology puts in evidence the relationship between intellectual capital present in the universities and the forms of academic entrepreneurship. The process of creating a spinoff generates profound changes on intellectual capital present in the universities. This study highlights these changes. The outcomes of this study have different applications. First of all the outcomes will help the university to better manager the process of exploitation of the intellectual capital produced through the creation of spin-off. At the same time, the results can help the external actors of the university to understand the business opportunities based on intellectual capital and competitive advantage in the market.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the concept of “university third mission”, whose growing importance has led institutions and researchers to look for indicators to assess this dimension. The need to evaluate these activities not only comes from the recognition that indicators could allow universities to understand their performance and foster accountability and improvement of management practices, providing effective value to society, but also from the greater emphasis put by governments on quality assurance in universities. However, while commonly accepted evaluation and ranking systems for the two traditional missions of the university now exist, the third mission lacks any cohesive methodology. Despite several initiatives in this direction, the collection of data and the development of indicators on third mission activities still keep many limitations. Starting from these considerations, we will try to answer the following research questions: Which are current indicators and methods to measure and evaluate the university third mission? What are the perspectives of development for the evaluation system of third mission activities at international level? We propose an approach based on the following steps. We will start from an analysis of the main international ranking systems, examining the extent to which they include an assessment of third mission activities; we will then investigate the main international research projects aimed at identifying comprehensive indicators for these activities; finally, we will conduct a case study analysis based on the Italian evaluation system, which recently included third mission as a dimension to be measured and evaluated in higher education institutions. This methodology puts in evidence the importance of finding adequate indicators to assess and evaluate the university third mission. The aim of our work is to map the main approaches to these topics at the international level, as well as to systematize the theoretical contributions, which are currently fragmented and lacking a systemic vision. The outcome of the application of appropriate indicators and methods to measure and evaluate the contribution of universities to social and economic value, is the improvement of quality assurance, which could allow universities to understand how they perform, to develop best practices and to provide efficient and effective value for society.