In such a competitive world government’s effort is providing an effective procedure to develop the international market and economic. Special economic zone (SEZ) is regularly used as a tool for developing economic growth, to attract more foreign direct investment, enhance international interaction and boost the national trade, especially in developing countries. On the other hand, it seems clear that governments seek more effective procedure by involving other sectors in projects of SEZs. In Policy network approach the governments involve more private sectors for solving the general problems. To perform the analysis, we study the main characteristic of special Economic zones such as geographical locations, projects, type of zones, and organizational classifications as well as indicators that reflect the institutional framework: zone’s ownership, main authority, and management. The article presents a comparative analysis of SEZs institutional framework by considering the network policy approach in selected zones in Iran, UAE, and Kazakhstan. The results of this comparison between cases illustrate the main institutional framework, governing procedure, and effect of network approach in special economic zones.

The forms of collaboration and the relationships among public and private actors are crucial to create value for regional development and to enable economic growth. Policy makers promote projects to stimulate innovation and to facilitate knowledge creation and diffusion. The paper aims to investigate the emergence of a network set up to develop a complex project. In particular, our work tries to investigate inter organizational relationships and collaboration among academic institutions, industrial organizations, researchers, policy makers and institutional actors participating to a common project to boost regional development. Firstly, our contribution focuses on the evolution of this network. Moreover, it analyses the role of different actors and the governance of the forming network studying the effects of collaborative processes on knowledge creation and diffusion. The project was set up to introduce and create a SEZ (Special Economic Zone) in the South of Italy (Campania Region) in order to foster regional development and to boost employment as well as local and national growth. The present preliminary study is part of an ongoing program including Universities, institutional actors and organizations from different industrial sectors. The research is based on a qualitative investigation using the case study approach. The findings could be a useful tool for institutional actors, policy makers, organizations and management to develop strategies to enhance local development. At the same time, it is essential to understand and assess the economic impact of the introduction of the SEZ, as proposed by the Regional Council (DGR No. 175 of 28/03/2018) on the entire regional economy. The observation of collaboration interactions while the network is forming is useful to understand the actors’ behavior and governance mechanisms. The development of clusters is a complex process linked to actors’ collaboration and to inter-organizational relationships. Integration task as well as roles in knowledge creation and collaboration among actors are key elements crucial for the development of the local areas.

In recent years an abundant literature has been focusing on the way U-I collaborations work and on the main factors and variables that affect the process. Some studies have related to the role of proximity in explaining inter-organizational collaborations and facilitating interactions between firms and academia. Others reflected on the different mechanisms adopted in order to manage the project in a successful way. In this paper we investigate which kind of coordination mechanisms are adopted and how they influence the U-I collaboration.

Hybridity and organizational fluidity are theoretical approaches that are increasingly challenging our thinking about management. These phenomena blur the previously clear institutional boundaries separating professions and organizational entities and will inevitably have implications for intellectual capital (IC) management as well as knowledge management (KM) more broadly. However, there has been little discussion about these implications, despite the practice of KM, and management more generally, have evolved and changed rapidly during the last decades. This paper embarks on a journey to weave connections to the theoretical discussions on hybridity and fluidity as a purpose of analysing their possible implications on management and especially managing knowledge. The research question this paper provides perspectives to is whether and how knowledge management approaches need to be adjusted to maintain their managerial relevance also when organizational environment gets hybrid and fluid. The main contribution of the paper lies in the recognition of avenues for future research in the areas of intellectual capital management and knowledge management.

Despite the extensive literature on the start-up, an understanding of the main factors influencing innovative performances is still lacking. Our research adds to these previous works by conducting a literature review of the main factors that intervene, at multiple levels, to improve or reduce start-up performances. The study is based on a comparison of 133 articles in the innovation management field and follow the Tranfield methodology. Results highlights a multilevel nature of the various factors that affect start-up performances. The first level explores the main factors affecting performances within the organizational boundaries (Firm Level). The other three levels (Network, Competitive, Macro environment) show that the external environment can positively or negatively affects start-ups performances. The review reveals differences among the solutions adopted in each level summarizing the current state of affairs.

This paper explores the notion of strategic innovation and examines mediating mechanisms by which it ultimately contributes to competitive advantage for the firm. The underlying premise of the study is that an innovation effort may result in a variety of outcomes. For the purpose of this study, we narrow the possible outcomes to three possible outcomes: (1) differentiation, (2) learning and new knowledge creation, and/or (3) failed innovation effort. Further, the paper argues that the three outcomes are not mutually exclusive; that is to say, an innovation outcome typically encompasses elements of all three outcomes. The three innovation outcomes exhibit varying strategic and competitive impact and time horizons. Differentiation, typically manifests in a measurable, tangible outcome (e.g. a relatively short-term outcome enabling a premium-priced product or service) and is, of course, the sought-after outcome with most immediate strategic impact. However, innovation effort may, in fact, also result in secondary intangible outcomes such as learning, knowledge creation and (intelligent) failure (failure that enables the extraction of rich learning). This paper explores the proposition that despite often overlooked, these intangible innovation outcomes can, in fact, carry greater potential competitive impact for the firm in the long term, provided they are strategically managed. A conceptual model of strategic innovation is proposed that examines the critical linkages between the three innovation outcomes and mechanisms by which learning, knowledge creation and intelligent failure ultimately can contribute to competitive advantage. The conceptual model is tested empirically using a quantitative approach. Preliminary statistical analysis (factor analysis, regression analysis) identifies some key determining factors linking the various innovation outcomes, in particular, mechanisms by which intelligent failure can contribute to learning and knowledge creation in the firm. The analysis draws on empirical data derived from three different R&D organisations –differing in research intensity, size and maturity. The findings highlight key similarities and differences in how the three organisations manage their strategic innovation. The findings of this study are shown to be consistent with current thinking that links strategic innovation with organisational knowledge, practices and culture.

The SNCF Group (French Railway company) splits into different small companies. One of them is “SNCF Réseau” that is in charge of the management and maintenance of the 33,000km network and the 3000 stations. SNCF Reseau is often considered as a bureaucratic and rigid system no longer responding to the changing external and internal environment. We have conducted investigations in various fields of research to understand how to turn SNCF Reseau into a hybrid and malleable system. Our literature review highlighted that organizational innovation could be a key concept in this organization’s ability to evolve, renew, and perform. This paper presents the preliminary results of our study of factors influencing organizational innovation. This study is based on a systemic literature review and on an action research in collaboration with the digital direction and innovation of SNCF Réseau.

In the current political-economic scenario, creativity and innovation are even more considered as the key to the survival of organizations (Magadeley, W. & Birdy, K., 2009). Innovation is a high-risk process that hides various uncertainty factors and several barriers. The key challenge is how to innovate successfully and to cope with the innovation pace, rather than decide if it is worth innovating or not (Prajogo, D.I., & Ahmed, P.K., 2006). This paper aims to investigate the role of the creation and use of Innovation Laboratories to support companies’ innovation. Drawing on a literature review, this research proposes a working definition of Innovation Laboratories and a conceptual framework that describes their key hallmarks. This article is based on a literature review on Innovation Laboratories. Through a taxonomy it compares the most relevant studies that describe Innovation Laboratories and adopt different perspectives of analysis. The research is synthesised in a conceptual framework that helps to clarify the elusive concept of Innovation Lab and to formulate a working definition. The interest on Innovation Lab is growing in economic markets (Burger, T., & Hermann, S., 2010). However, to date there is a lack of exhaustive studies on the topic (Meyer, L.P., 2014) and the term Innovation Lab does not have an agreed definition (Memon, A.B., et al., 2018). The paper, through a literature review, provides a clear definition of Innovation Labs. The definition does not consider, like other researches has been to date, only structural and service-based perspectives, but it considers also a scope-based one. Moreover, the paper provides insights on how Innovation Labs impact on innovation capacity development. The paper provides a taxonomy of Innovation Labs that contributes to shed more light on a relevant phenomenon that is affecting the current innovation dynamics. Especially, the working definition of Innovation Lab offers valuable insights to all stakeholders involved in any way in building, deployment and exploitation of these peculiar innovation catalysers.

In the last years the competitive landscape is experiencing a transition process from the industrial to the digital age. Digital innovations and digital transformation processes are increasingly influencing the productive system impacting in a disruptive way and revolutionizing it, modifying traditional operative system, introducing new forms of value and generating or innovating business models. Therefore, organisations that want to keep up with changing times have to implement as soon as possible digital transformation processes. So, they have to acquire culture, competence and digital skills that could allow them to continue to profitably innovate and interact with the innovative ecosystem within which they operate. In this regard, understanding what are the key factors influencing the organisation’s digital innovation capacity is becoming a relevant research topic. Based on a literature review, the study describes the key factors that allow an organisation to develop its digital innovation capacity and proposes a conceptual framework describing how organisation’s innovativeness turns into digital innovation capacity by leveraging and managing these key factors. This paper is based on a literature review on the concepts of innovativeness and innovation capacity. It analyses the most relevant studies that describe these concepts and proposes a definition of digital innovation capacity and a conceptual framework that describes how to lead an organization in the process of transformation of innovativeness into digital innovation capacity. In the current competitive scenario, the interest on digital innovation capacity is growing However, to date there are few attempts of revising the concept of innovation capacity under a digital perspective. Based on the results of a literature review, the study proposes a first definition of digital innovation capacity and analyses the factors underpinning its development. The paper offers valuable insights to organisations that want to embrace digital transformation challenges and that aim to develop a digital innovation capacity.

Consumer knowledge is a crucial organizational resource which can help advance research and development or create processes which facilitate effective management of the organization-consumer relationship. Consumer objective and subjective knowledge discrepancy is one of the critical factors influencing consumer attitudes to product / brand and buying behaviour. This study aims to reveal the consumer knowledge discrepancy about added sugar discrepancy scenarios. Knowledge discrepancy can go in two scenarios: a consumer’s subjective knowledge is greater than their objective knowledge (overestimation), or their subjective knowledge is lower than their objective knowledge (underestimation). Both underestimation and overestimation may negatively affect consumer’s attitudes and behaviour. Therefore, it is important for organisations to proactively identify a possible knowledge discrepancy scenario, as well as manage negative impact on consumer attitudes to product and brand and buying behaviour. Empirical research was grounded by a positivist approach and quantitative strategy. Consistent with the quantitative, descriptive research design, a questionnaire was designed to measure the relevant constructs. The questionnaire consisted of three sections measuring objective and subjective added sugar knowledge and information related to the potential antecedent variables. Most of the variables were measured through a multi-item scale and were extracted and adapted from previous research. The data were collected from 432 residents of Lithuania. The findings have revealed that five possible knowledge discrepancy scenarios exist in the study case. The results of research increase understanding and ability to identify and manage consumer knowledge discrepancy. Following it, organizations become more flexible and gain sustainable competitive advantage.

In this paper we investigate the existing limits of explanatory power of UTAUT2 as a source of consumer experiences and customer knowledge structuring. We apply a structured analysis of existing UTAUT2-based research to identify an extended conceptualization of UTAUT2 components in various contexts and with specific contextual add-ons. Based on pilot data collected in 2018 on digital wallets adoption (study 1) and barriers on musical streaming services adoption (study 2) we analyse 2 extended UTAUT2 models with PLS-SEM. The results of the analysis demonstrate consumer tendency to risk aversion (added variable) significance in the context of digital technologies usage, whereas effort expectancy and gender effects (original UTAUT2 variables) turned out insignificant in both studies. The results of the pilot studies preliminary confirm the research idea of UTAUT2 possible contextual limitations.

Although some researchers tried to differentiate the term knowledge ecosystem (KE) from other types of the ecosystem (such as business, innovation) the exact meaning and definition of the term remains still blurred. The indefiniteness of KE is caused partially by the fact that not much research that would specifically mention KE has been published. In WoS, only 41 articles that use the term knowledge ecosystem in the title were indexed, and only 17 from them investigate KE in the knowledge management context. When searching not only in title but more broadly in the topic, 88 articles were found, and 28 were eligible. Thus, to truly investigate KE, the focus should be on other management disciplines which are interrelated with KE through knowledge intensity. Customer Knowledge Management or Closed Loop Supply Chain are disciplines that will be used in this study to suggest how KE can be conceptualised for further research. This paper is theoretical, and the main output is a conceptual model.

Studies on corporate governance have undergone rapid development since the last decades of the twentieth century, when both entrepreneurs and company men began to pay considerable attention to the subject. However, the actual debate began in the early nineties when, following the numerous financial scandals, companies were forced to better define the control mechanisms within them. Most reported cases of corporate failure are attributed to corporate governance practices (Appiah, 2013). We have begun to assist on a global scale, the important role attributed to the mechanisms of Corporate Governance as their correct application is closely related to company performance (Donaldson, 2003). On the basis of these considerations, the idea of the present work arises which, through a quantitative approach, investigates how the different composition and structure of the board influences the performance of the companies. The companies being analyzed are the mechanical companies listed on the Milan stock exchange for the three-year period 2015-2016-2017. We chose to analyze the mechanical companies thanks to the role they play in our country, in terms of employment, in terms of international trade and above all with reference to the strategic role they fulfill, strongly contributing to the development of the country and to the preservation of the levels of competition from the entire industrial sector. In the elaboration of the dataset, with regard to the governance data, the analysis of the corporate governance relations published annually by each company was used. To relate the governance variables to company performance we used a single financial statement indicator: the ROE (accounting measure), the most popular financial measure was used. I risultati del presente lavoro dimostrano che la dimensione del Consiglio di amministrazione ha un’influenza positiva sulla redditività delle società ed anche la maggiore presenza di donne all’interno del CdA. This study intends to examine how board diversity in companies operating in engineering, impact on performance. After a brief introduction to Corporate governance and firm performance, the work shows an adequate review of the most significant national and international literature on the subject. The research method used to analyze the topic is empirical using governance variable from corporate governance reports. This work tries to study deeply the impact of board diversity on firm performance by some listed company.

The debate on performance evaluation of start-ups, especially the academic-based ones, is still open. The traditional assessment methods are designed for companies that operate in a structured manner, in which analysts have developed a certain experience and benchmarking capabilities. Therefore performance measurement systems suitable for this context have to be still identified and ‘calibrated’: stakeholders need specific tools in evaluating investments towards a spin-off rather than another. The paper proposes a partly qualitative and partly quantitative methodology to evaluate the performance of a spin-off. The methodology has been developed within an Erasmus+ research project, co-funded by the European Commission, called SOLA (Spin-off Lean Acceleration). The partners involved in this project are 9 European and Latin-American universities and their Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). A new Canvas model (the so-called LAC- Lean Acceleration Canvas) was developed and tested, more specific and suited to the context of academic spin-offs. The methodology proposes to monitor the main risk areas (market, technological, implementation, governance, and financial risk). For each of these areas, at first a framework is proposed that can support the qualitative assessment of the potential. In the second part, a set of metrics is proposed that helps to monitor the performances and to understand if the spinoff is growing in the right direction. Moreover, the methodology was applied to the spin-offs at the University of Calabria (Italy). This paper describes the first results obtained by the application of the methodology.

Active development of the digital economy influences all market agents, including consumers. Moreover, consumers become a driving force behind adoption of technology in their economic activities. They learn through this adoption process, developing both objective and subjective knowledge components. As an outcome, consumers’ satisfaction, trust, value and overall perception of a win-win nature of economic interaction are affected, influencing consumer performance, e.g. causing innate dissatisfaction or stimulating inferences of manipulative intent. Current conceptual paper addresses and critically revises existing research on measuring consumer digital activities, decomposing existing indices and screening them for consumer knowledge components. Most of the indices are biased towards objective consumer knowledge, while the large body of consumer research on the relevance of subjective components, associated, for example, with the overall marketplace perception, persuasion knowledge and skepticism are omitted and thus represent potential contribution to strengthening our understanding of the knowledge perspective of consumer digital performance.

The essential of presented paper is to introduce the outcomes of own research based on questionnaire survey, interviews, observation, analysis of educational events and experimental lessons, which aims to understand the principles and complexity of teaching in the MBA professional study programs in the context of application of activation methods of teaching towards the support of desirable managers‘ competencies gaining.

Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are private enterprises or organizations mainly concerned with providing knowledge-intensive inputs to the business processes of other organizations, including private and public sector clients, that rely heavily on professional knowledge and which involve economic activities intended to result in the creation, accumulation or dissemination of knowledge. KIBS firms, such as advertising and market research, accountancy and management consulting, IT services, engineering and technical services, represent a core feature of the knowledge-based economy functioning as innovation carriers, knowledge facilitators and innovations sources. KIBS play, also, an important role in local and regional economies as source of added value and their growing importance as emergent players is a major attribute of knowledge economy and more generally in the debate about innovation systems, knowledge driven economic dynamics and competitiveness. Their role, as co-producers of innovation, in enhancing Small and MEdium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is particularly relevant because of their prominent support in enabling SMEs to innovate in a more effective, cost-effective, and/or timely manner. The paper investigates the application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in conjunction with Financial Ratios Analysis (FRA) to estimate and compare the performance of KIBS industry in Italy over the period 2012-2017. In particular, we evaluated the three main NACE (Nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les Communautés Européennes) segments that identify KIBS services: NACE 72 (computing services), NACE 73 (research and development) and NACE 74 (other professional business activities). FRA, for its simplicity, has been achieved a widespread use in practice. A financial or accounting ratio is a relative magnitude of two selected numerical values taken from an enterprise’s financial statements. DEA is a mathematical programming technique that estimates the relative efficiency of production units (Decision Making Units – DMU), computing a comparative ratio of weighted outputs to weighted inputs for each DMU and identifies best-practice frontiers over the examined data. The results obtained from the efficiency estimates and the financial ratios are used to rate firms according to these performances. The empirical investigation proposed reveals that the results of FRA approach do not provide sufficient and complete information on the efficiency of KIBS firms, while major advantages behind using of DEA are related to its structural characteristic in measuring performance and identifying opportunities for possible efficiency improvements by looking at the differences between efficient companies and inefficient ones. The empirical results obtained from the analysis of the general sector of KIBS can be further extended and focused to the comparison of firms belonging to a more specific industry sub-sector in order to benefit managers of those companies to gain insight from the industry financial performance benchmarking process.

The paper analyzes the VAIC (Value Added Intellectual Coefficient) and the subsequent developments 20 years after the first formulation made by Ante Pulic. The paper deeply analyzes the concept and proposes future directions for research and applications of the methodology. Three main directions for research are described: (i) value creation for stakeholders and investment in human capital; (ii) sustainability of knowledge-based strategies from an economic and social point of view; (iii) a framework for continuous increase of knowledge work productivity. Two real applications of calculation of the Knowledge Work Productivity are described.

An Italian company, which some years ago activated an Information Technology (IT) innovation process, has had to manage several requests pertaining to the founding of new IT projects or of introducing procedure improvements. After some years, the office in charge of this work activated an in-depth study of the procedure and its results to maximise the value of the IT implementations. Some weak points were identified and some different procedures were simulated to analyse the impact of the data and of the data treatment on the results. A new approach, which methodologically improved the data acquisition procedure as well as the request evaluation and selection, was then defined. At the same time, the office decided to activate the knowledge resources of the organisation, in order to actually improve the whole IT innovation process and reduce or control the complaints that are inevitable after any selection activity that has to reject some proposals and fund and activate others. Some actions were implemented to involve other offices in the IT innovation process, for their competences in relation to some aspects of the innovation requests, and to facilitate cooperation and improve communication with the company sectors that were and are still used to proposing projects or procedure improvements. After one year, the new approach produced interesting results, in relation to the IT request quality and to the reactions to the first steps of an organisational change process that was oriented towards improving knowledge sharing, cooperation and effective and transparent communication. Some procedural improvements have not yet been implemented, because such a drastic change could produce a negative reaction, and the possible consequences still need to be studied not only in relation to the quality of the request evaluation and selection, but also considering any possible organisational effects. A synthesis is here proposed of the analytical tools, which were used to methodologically and operationally analyse the past experience and to identify some weak points, and the organisational tools, which were then used to activate and share knowledge, starting from a new relationship between the involved actors, and to attempt to activate an organisational change, that is, from a centralised activity to a shared communication space, and finally to put it to the test.

The aim of this paper is to present ways to make explicit the existing knowledge of the specialty coffee agribusiness system. The recognition of agriculture as a rapidly expanding segment involving primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy necessitates solutions from various areas of knowledge. Specialty coffee, among the products of the agribusiness system, will be addressed in this paper as an example due to the complexity of maintaining quality during the various stages of transformation from coffee beans into the finished product. This research is based on field visits, interactions and a systematic search of the literature. Perspectives from the agribusiness sector present managerial focuses and address critical factors for its success. It is in the novelty of generating value through knowledge as a fundamental element that the originality of this paper stands out. Explicit knowledge of the specialty coffee agribusiness system will contribute to the evolution of the market in all links of the agribusiness system, resulting in a collaborative, knowledge-intensive agribusiness system. The results show the domains, elements and value of knowledge in the Specialty Coffee Agribusiness System (SCAS), which will serve as the basis for the elaboration of the Specialty Coffee Domain Ontology and a Conceptual Framework of SCAS.