In this exploratory study, we track beliefs, preferences, knowledge and information-search strategies of high school students in their final year leading to university enrollment. Namely, labor markets and societies of the modern world are presently troubled by skill- mismatch problems and rising numbers of unemployed and inactive graduates, with significant negative financial and public consequences. While macro indicators seemingly point out a generalized problem, recent analyses pinpointed the issue as being significantly specified by differential under- and over-supply of graduates from specific fields. These results have prompted us to explore the actual decision-making process behind the choice of degree program. We have construed a tailor-made survey to investigate awareness, choice sets, determinants and locus of choice behind this important decision. Our results, while reiterating the complexity of this research object, point out significant difficulties and inconsistencies students and their families face in this pivotal choice. First, ever-growing availability of information is not mirrored by enhanced quality of students’ knowledge neither by the level of their awareness of available curricula. While schooling decisions may depend on individual’s joint expectation of many different events, the data underlying these expectations seems to be scarce and low-quality. Students also manifest significant belief ambiguity regarding their own preferences. Furthermore, in a view of schooling decisions as investments in human capital, future work prospects, while featuring prominently among individual stated choice motivations, are not backed up any sort of thorough and coherent information search strategy, so much so that almost half of the students declare to have never looked up the expected employment and earnings associated with their preferred choice. Finally, we discuss both research and policy implications of our findings. In the case of the former, we identify some novel research questions while for the latter we delineate possible action paths for policymakers, mainly regarding the need for precocious and carefully designed information campaigns and centralized and frictionless databases of reliable university-related information.

This paper presents the Consensual Big Data Maturity Assessment System (CBDAS) implementation in a multinational company leader in the Consumer Goods sector. The business case illustrates the objective and the approach which has been taken with the CBDAS initiative. The paper aims to justify the assessment system as a dynamic and flexible system for enterprises operating in the Consumer Good sector. It can be leveraged to understand the maturity stage in the big data domain and guide organizations about their status of advancement in proposing successful big data initiatives. Some results of the first cycle of evaluation by the Senior Managers and IT decision-makers of Procter & Gamble Company are pinpointed to illustrate the advantages and the exchange of good practices following the evaluation. The paper introduces the CBDAS initiative, implemented on a web application, organized in eight business-relevant domains, comprehensively covering all aspects impacting big data initiatives’ success. The assessment contains weights to evaluate the corresponding relevance of a certain domain within the organization’s reality. Company data activities generate value in synergy with other assets. Therefore, to estimate whether it is a priority to intervene, i.e., on the technologies, data strategies, or organizational culture, we isolate the processes and flows deriving from data initiatives in the company, mapping two exemplary processes to intercept priority actions of intervention. Therefore, by determining the type of interventions on processes and maturity levels in each data maturity domain, we derived concrete actions to bridge the existing maturity gap in higher priority areas.

Nowadays, companies works in a context characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. In this scenario, digital technologies represent an important means to enable organizations and entrepreneurs to adapt in an efficient way to the changing external conditions. Digital transformation is considered one of the most important topic for the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In fact, in order to get more efficient and profitable business, companies implement digital transformation to support business change, strategy and innovation. Thanks to the use of technology the companies have the opportunity to improve efficiency and profitability, making the organization agile, fast and economic. The aim of the present work is to study the changing of business models and the evolution of entrepreneurship skills due to the adoption of digital transformation technologies. The methodology used is a qualitative method, through the development of the literature review analysis. It is a conceptual article through a bibliographic analysis.

The objective of this work is to identify the strategies of digitalization embraced by the European Capitals of Culture 2020 (ECoC) in replying to the limitations due to COVID-19 emergence and to understand how digital technologies have impacted on their communities by developing resilience and innovation. This study aims to fill this important gap by analysing, firstly, the effects of the digitalization level of ECoC 2020 and, secondly, the impact of COVID-19 on the digitalization choices of ECoC. In particular, it is relevant to examine the role of COVID-19 as it has disclosed the vulnerability of the cultural sector. This study contributes to the academic literature by providing a better understanding of the level of resilience generated vis-à-vis the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of digital technologies in promoting participation in culture and implementing cultural initiatives of ECoCs. In the EU, the Coronavirus health emergency has badly affected the activities of the 2020 designated ECoC. Moreover, a Decision adopted by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Decision that modified the calendar of the European Capitals of Culture . In other words, both 2020 ECoC found in a turning point: either succumb to the pandemic crisis or bounce back to express resilience and creativity by re-imagining digitally their cultural programmes. However, despite the relevance of the topic, the attention from the academic literature on the topic of digitalization in cultural and creative industries is still limited. Moreover, even more limited is the knowledge about the effects of digital technologies and if their opportunities are actually transformed in positive outcomes. This paper aims to fill this gap through an exploratory multiple case study methodology. As a suitable investigative tool for the analysis of a contemporary phenomenon in their natural settings, case study methodology allows to integrate evidences resulting from multiple sources (Yin, 2006, 2008; Eisenhardt, 1989). Data collection, monitoring and analysis rely on the combination of Web-based desk analysis and social big data analytics. The integration of such sources has been addressed towards the investigation of the strategies of digitalization undertaken by the two ECoC cities, Galway in Ireland and Rijeka in Croatia, respectively. Evidences in terms re-organization of the cultural projects, digitalization of the tourist experiences, commitment of local communities and visitors have been derived from the study while the cross comparison of the two cases has allowed to identify common and specific patterns.

Intangible assets (i.e. intellectual capital, brand, patents, R&D) have a strategic role in creating value for company. According to Fombrun (1996) corporate reputation is defined as “a perceptual representation of a company’s past actions and future prospects that describes the firm’s overall appeal to all of its key constituents when compared with other leading rivals” (p.72). ‘Reputation’ is increasingly recognized for its influence on stakeholder support and engagement with companies (Fombrun, 1996; 2012). Corporate reputation (CR), which represents the knowledge and sentiment that stakeholders hold about a company, can lead to long-term benefits and sustainable growth for a company (e.g., Waddock and Graves, 1997; Walker, 2010). Positive CR helps in better sustaining strong profit outcomes over time (Roberts and Dowling, 2002). Several studies have focused on the relationship between corporate reputation and firm performance with mixed results. Based on previous research this study extends the literature on corporate reputation (managerial reputation) and firm performance. Benefiting from upper echelons theory (Hambrick and Mason, 1984), this paper investigates a sample of 68 listed and unlisted Italian firms for 220 firm-year observations during the period 2017-2020. The sample includes eight economic sectors (i.e., energy, industry, infrastructure, fashion & beauty, food & retail, media & telco, transports, and sport). Using three econometric models (Logit, Probit and Weighted Least Squares Estimation (WLS)) this study finds a positive relationship between the score as calculated by Top Manager Reputation and firm performance as measured by DUMMY_ROA (return on assets).