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This paper explores to what extent and under what conditions resilience can be developed to cope with radical innovations in the industrial district context. Based on a comparative analysis of an Italian and Spanish cluster, this paper provides and in-depth examination of the transformation at the firm and cluster levels at the introduction, development, and diffusion of disruptive technologies, that enable clusters to cope with it and thrive. Our findings identify cluster attributes that support resilience and propose different measures of district resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the literature on environmental sustainability in global value chains (GVCs) focuses on how 'lead firms' (usually global buyers or retailers) can improve the environmental conditions of production among their various layers of suppliers. This approach focuses on the vertical governance dynamics of environmental upgrading along with GVCs. In our contribution, we emphasize the role of horizontal governance as a driver that underpins environmental upgrading processes. These horizontal elements include institutional support, pressure from civil society groups and political dynamics at the local level – which have been relatively overlooked in this literature so far. We examine environmental upgrading in Italian wine value chains, focusing on the fast-growing but environmentally-contested Prosecco and Valpolicella districts. Our analysis suggests that firms within the same industry may follow different processes of environmental upgrading – through certification, going 'back to tradition', technological innovation and/or as an articulation of local politics – also depending on their size. We conclude that horizontal governance is playing a more important role than previously thought in shaping environmental upgrading and provide some suggestions for future research in this realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key concern of the global value chain (GVC) and global production network (GPN) literature relates to whether and how actors, especially in the Global South, upgrade by generating and capturing more value. To date, such research has predominantly focused on the economic and social aspects of upgrading. In this article, we leverage selected insights from economic geography to advance our understanding of the environmental dimensions of upgrading and downgrading in GVCs and GPNs. We develop an analytical framework that distinguishes the processes of environmental upgrading, in terms of value creation and appropriation, from the resultant outcomes (biophysical manifestations, impacts on market access, and reputation). Furthermore, the framework is considered from the upgrading perspectives of multiple actors instead of focusing only on lead firms and other powerful actors. We illustrate how to apply this framework through a case study of the Kenya–UK horticulture value chains. We show that despite the uptake of environmental upgrading practices, as required by UK supermarkets and transmitted by Kenyan export firms with the facilitation of government agencies, Kenyan farmers have mostly experienced environmental downgrading, with some negative effects also affecting farmers and other resource users beyond the value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the role of business support organisations (BSO) in overcoming barriers to the adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, especially in disseminating knowledge on such technologies among cluster firms. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on in-depth interviews conducted in 2021 with representatives of BSO in three manufacturing clusters (furniture, metal and automotive) in the Wielkopolska region in Poland. Findings: Companies in clusters face important barriers impeding the adoption of I4.0 technologies, in particular, the unawareness of the characteristics and potential of those technologies. BSO might be particularly helpful in overcoming this barrier by supporting knowledge dissemination among companies. This study's analyses suggest they can do so in three roles: as knowledge gatekeepers, as brokers of purposeful knowledge transfer and as facilitators of spontaneous knowledge diffusion. Evidence suggests that different types of organisations are more likely to be associated with each of these three roles, despite such a combination of the three often being in one place: public agencies are gatekeeping, selecting and passing on certain knowledge on I4.0; research-oriented organisations (such as technology parks) play a knowledge transfer brokerage role; industry associations and cluster initiatives are actively facilitating spontaneous knowledge diffusion. Originality/value: This paper is a contribution to the emerging literature on digital transformations of clusters by investigating the difficulties preventing firms from adopting I4.0 technologies and the roles BSO can take on to support overcoming them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to adopt the absorptive capacity (ACAP) framework to understand radical innovation in industrial districts (IDs), adopting a multi-level perspective. By performing a longitudinal case study on an ID that has successfully introduced a radical innovation – the plastic ski boot innovation developed within the Montebelluna Sportsystem district in Italy – the paper highlights how key elements of the ACAP framework (i.e. its components, antecedents, and contingent factors) allow understanding wherein IDs might indeed successfully introduce radical innovations, and what are the specificities as respect as considering a single organisation as unit of analysis. Important policy implications arise, regarding how to support IDs competitiveness and resilience thanks to radical innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the characteristics and performance of university–industry (U-I) collaboration for knowledge transfer in relation to environmental sustainability, considering for both parties of the collaborations. Design/methodology/approach: The study is explorative in nature, based on an original data set of more than 350 U-I research and consultancy contracts signed by more than 70 professors specializing in environmental sustainability-related academic disciplines at the University of Padova (Italy) for the period 2008-2012. A mixed-method approach is adopted. Social network analysis and regressions are used to explore the impact of U-I on performance considering for characteristics of the firms, the professors and the collaboration. Interviews with key informants at University of Padova is used to complement and validate the emerging evidence. Findings: Results suggest that U-I positively impacts the performance of firms, but not of professors. Indeed, the hypothesis that professors' performance (measures in terms of academic publications) is positively associated with academic engagement is not supported. On the contrary, firms' financial performance is positively associated with U-I collaboration focused on knowledge transfer for environmental innovation; the higher the contracts activated the better the economic performance. Originality/value: While most previous research has focused either on the university or the firm side of U-I, this study looks at both sides and focuses specifically on engagement in green contracts. The analysis of the geographical scope of U-I collaborations contributes to the growing body of literature by outlining geography's role in U-I collaborations related to sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of emerging economies in the global economy via embeddedness in Global Value Chains (GVCs) is increasing, but their ability to become innovation leaders is less certain. The GVC approach stresses that the inter-firm linkages afforded by being part of a chain are crucial for transferring knowledge. However, their impact on the innovation performance of the developing country firms involved in these GVCs remains controversial and requires more research. The present study provides a systematic review of the literature on developing country GVCs to investigate the learning channels used by local firms, both within (firm level, collective level) and outside of these value chains (i.e. external sources of learning), and the extent to which this activity promotes innovation. We use cluster analysis to classify the cases identified in a literature review to propose a novel typology of local GVC innovators: (a) GVC-led Innovators that achieve high levels of innovation, relying mainly on sources of knowledge within the GVC; (b) Autonomous Innovators whose innovation activity is based on external sources of learning; (c) Marginal Innovators, which constitute the largest group and are characterized by low levels of innovativeness and some use of knowledge available within the GVCs, but scarce use of external sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study reported in this paper concerns the temporal variation in the b-value of the Gutenberg–Richter frequency–magnitude law, applied to the earthquakes that struck Italy from 2009 to 2016 in the geographical areas of L'Aquila, the Emilia Region, and Amatrice–Norcia. Generally, the b-value varies from one region to another dependent on earthquake incidences. Higher values of this parameter are correlated to the occurrence of low-magnitude events spread over a wide geographical area. Conversely, a lower b-value may lead to the prediction of a major earthquake localized along a fault. In addition, it is observed that each seismic event has a different "occurrence time", which is a key point in the statistical study of earthquakes. In particular, its results are absolutely different for each specific event, and may vary from years to months or even just a few hours. Hence, both short- and long-term precursor phenomena have to be examined. Accordingly, the b-value analysis has to be performed by choosing the best time windows to study the foreshock and aftershock activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence of how environmental regulatory stringency relates to firms' offshoring decisions, while controlling for firms' characteristics and (environmental) strategies. Relying on an original dataset of Italian manufacturing firms, a distinction is drawn between international outsourcing and foreign direct investments, and between offshoring destinations in Northern versus Southern regions. Our estimates show that a stricter environmental regulation is related to a higher probability of production being outsourced to foreign suppliers in the South, but not to foreign direct investments. The magnitude of this effect is very low, however. Offshoring decisions are mainly affected by firms' ICT endowment, marketing and internationalization strategies, and adoption of environmental product innovations and standards. In particular, eco-innovative firms are found more likely to adopt governance decisions that enable a stricter control over the supply chain, as in the case of foreign direct investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on regional innovation systems (RIS) has focused so far just on a few exemplary cases of regions where innovation resulted from systemic interactions between firms and institutions. This paper aims at evaluating quantitatively which regions can be considered RIS using Community Innovation Survey data on Italy. The analysis reveals a new geography of innovation in the country as compared to results emerging from studies on the 1990s, suggesting a high dynamism in innovation capabilities of Italian regions. Four clusters of regions are identified, but none of them can be described as a true RIS: the most innovative ones lack 'systemicness' and those that come closest to the RIS model have not the best innovative performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensions are an unavoidable experience for companies dealing with social and environmental issues because of their inherent complexity and diversity. Paradox and sustainability literature are proposing the crucial role of cognitive frames in effectively managing sustainability tensions. Indeed, denying and suppressing them can spur vicious downward spirals that paralyze actions, reduce their effectiveness, or lead to unintended consequences. On the contrary, recognizing the interrelation and the persistence of opposing sustainability elements and accepting the inherent conflicts can generate virtuous cycles, where the potential of these tensions is released and superior outcomes achieved. Existing literature is providing the first qualitative empirical evidence regarding the potential of a paradoxical cognitive frame for corporate sustainability. However, research on the role of paradox as organizational cognitive frame in fostering sustainability outcomes is still underdeveloped, and moreover, quantitative research to make such evidence more generalizable is missing. Therefore, this study aims at quantitatively investigating whether organizations embracing paradox as collective frame – i.e. accepting contradictions by accommodating competing yet interrelated elements simultaneously, and continuously integrating them – to address sustainability tensions are able to improve their sustainability outcomes – i.e., going beyond compliance in limiting their impact on social and natural systems and preventing social and environmental crises. Based on original survey data regarding how firms perceived the experience of sustainability tensions, how they frame such tensions, and how they perceived their social, environmental, and financial outcomes, results reveal that framing sustainability tensions as paradoxes fosters firms' social and environmental outcomes; however, they also highlight the limitations of this approach. Indeed, a paradoxical organizational cognitive frame supports companies in achieving higher social and environmental outcomes, but not economic ones. Thus, this research contributes to paradox literature by providing a better understanding of the role and the nature of paradox as potential organizational frame to cope with sustainability complexity. • A paradoxical cognitive frame has a positive moderation role between the experience of tensions in organizations and their perceived social and environmental outcomes. • Framing sustainability tensions as paradoxes—i.e. avoiding focusing just on one element of the tension at once—allows companies to achieve better (perceived) social and environmental outcomes. • However, companies with higher paradoxical cognitive frame perceive to worsen their economic outcomes when sustainability tensions are salient. • Framing tensions as paradoxes might create what was called a 'socio-ecological case' perspective for corporate sustainability, prioritizing improvements in environmental and social outcomes even to the disadvantage of economic benefits. • A paradoxical cognitive frame in sustainability is an appropriate approach for those companies that want to improve their social and environmental outcomes first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, environmental innovations are getting increasingly at the center both of the scientific debate and of the policy-maker agenda. Adopting the resource-based view, this paper provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the specific role of – internal, external and hybrid – resources in the environmental innovation development. Using a dataset of 4829 Spanish manufacturing firms and estimating probit models, it is found that internal resources have greater importance for environmental innovations. Moreover, green innovators seem to be characterized by more intensive external relationships. For hybrid resources, acquisition of equipment but not of patents is more relevant. Finally, evidence suggest the relevance of complementing the analysis of the external factors triggering environmental innovations with those of the internal resources the firm has access to in order to fully understand and support the development of environmental innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and the recent recession crisis are significantly challenging Italian industrial districts (IDs), leading to deep transformations in their internationalization, innovation and organization strategies. With our empirical focus on a single industry (gold jewellery) and a specific country (Italy) and through the theoretical lenses of the global value chain (GVC) approach, the evidence in this article sheds light on the differences in how three IDs within Italy's gold jewellery sector (Valenza Po, Arezzo and Vicenza) compete in the global arena. Our comparative analysis reveals striking differences among these districts with regard to their upstream and downstream internationalization strategies in response to two industry shocks: increasing global competition in the early 2000s and the world economic recession of 2008–2009. Our explanation for the varied gold jewellery district responses to these two global crises involves both internal and external factors: (1) structural differences between the three IDs; (2) distinct business strategies; and (3) how these districts are linked to the gold jewellery GVC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The literature on Sustainable Business Models (SBMs) has burgeoned, identifying different archetypes to capture the variety of business models applied. Little is known, however, regarding to what extent such SBMs are effectively driving sustainable performance. This paper addresses this gap by exploring how SBMs relate to sustainability performance, considering both overall sustainable performance and the balance across the three dimensions – environmental, social, and economic (integrated performance). Based on original survey data on B Corps located in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, our findings suggest that the implementation of most SBMs results in the prioritization of one sustainability dimension over the others, especially when it comes to economically-oriented SBMs. Furthermore, our study suggests that none of the SBM archetypes considered is associated with a balanced sustainable performance, that is, none of them are inherently better able to overcome tensions across the Triple Bottom Line. • We study how SBMs archetypes relate to sustainability performance (SP). • Most SBMs prioritise a triple bottom line (TBL) axes over the others. • Economically-oriented SBMs are not connected with superior SP. • No SBM archetype drives a balanced performance across TBL axes. • A means-end divide emerges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have emphasized the role of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in fostering innovation in metropolitan areas and regional innovation systems. Such areas are capable of expressing a strong demand for KIBS and consequently stimulate the rise and growth of KIBS. Despite an abundance of literature on KIBS emphasizing the relevance of spatial proximity to customers, many KIBS develop relationships on a broader national or even international scale. No studies have focused explicitly on this apparent discrepancy as yet. The aim of this paper is therefore to fill this theoretical and empirical gap by explaining the firm-level factors relating to the market extension of KIBS within the framework of regional innovation systems. Our analysis is based on a quantitative study on more than 150 KIBS supplying design or communication services located in the Veneto region (north-eastern Italy), an area that can be described as a regional innovation system. Five variables were considered, that is, size, experience, service standardization, investments in network technologies and relational intensity. Our results confirm that three of these variables, but not service standardization and relational intensity, correlate positively with the market extension of KIBS. Policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore if firms located in industrial districts (IDs) have different adoption paths concerning Industry 4.0 technologies and get different results with respect to other similar firms located outside IDs. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a quantitative analysis related to an original data set of 206 Italian manufacturing firms specializing in made in Italy industries and adopting Industry 4.0 technologies. A case study of a district firm is also presented to explain the rationale of investment strategies and results obtained. Findings: The analysis shows that there are differences between district and non-district firms when Industry 4.0 technology investments are concerned (higher investment rate in big data/cloud and augmented reality for district firms than non-district ones). In contrast to a breakthrough view of the fourth industrial revolution, the study suggests that 4.0 technologies emphasize the peculiarities and competitiveness factors typical of the district model in terms of customization and flexibility. There are differences in the motivations of adoption (product diversification for district firms vs productivity enhancement for non-district firms) and in the results achieved. Originality/value: The paper is one of the first attempts to empirically explore the technological innovation paths related to Industry 4.0 within IDs, therefore, contributing to the debate on the possible evolution of the district model [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clusters are places that facilitate knowledge sharing and dissemination among firms and institutions working in functionally-related fields. Structural changes that take place within clusters over time influence knowledge-related processes and require new approaches towards external knowledge sourcing. In this paper, we use a mixed-method approach to investigate different knowledge sources that firms use at different stages of a cluster life cycle. The empirical research comprises the investigation of two clusters that specialize in the same kind of economic activity, i.e. in the furniture industry, but are at different stages of their life cycle. These are, a mature cluster – the Livenza district in Italy and a growing one – the Kępno cluster in Poland. The analysis revealed that firms in a mature cluster use a greater variety of external knowledge sources and more knowledge-intensive sources than those in growing clusters do. This may be explained by more homogeneous and well-established knowledge pools at later stages of a cluster life cycle and/or by higher competition between firms offering similar products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: High levels of sedentary behaviour (SB) and physical inactivity (PI) are associated with an increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and are responsible for a substantial economic burden. Previous studies acknowledge the cost-effectiveness of physical activity (PA) intervention, but few is known in specific local settings. This study aims to provide cost-saving data of PA intervention in Veneto Region in Italy. METHODS: Pilot study investigating the cost-saving potential of PA in NCDs, in particular in sedentary population. Further percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in coronary artery disease, hospitalisations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), surgery in colorectal cancer and in femur fracture were considered in the evaluation. Disease-specific epidemiological, SB an PA data were obtained from national or regional registries, and relative risks reduction due to PA were derived from literature. Health-care costs were assessed using Veneto Region data from Diagnosis Related Groups reports. For each NCD, costs reduction due to PA intervention were calculated. All costs were expressed in Euros (€). RESULTS: Estimated cost-savings that would result from PA intervention could amount to: 10.320.249 € in the whole population and 3.199.277 € in the inactive population for further PCI; 5.671.016 € in the whole population and 2.035.895 € in the sedentary population for hospitalisations in COPD; 6.805.326 € in the whole population and 1.810.217 € for bowel resection in colorectal cancer; 3.020.567 € in the whole population and 803.471 € in the sedentary population for surgery intervention in femur fracture. Veneto Region Health System could save per year between 5.716.008 €, in a more conservative analysis considering just the sedentary population, and 18.936.992 € in a less conservative one. CONCLUSIONS: PA interventions seem to be cost-saving in Veneto Region if direct health-care costs are considered. It can be assumed that taking into account indirect costs would have an even greater effect. Veneto Region should seriously consider investing in PA implementation to improve the health of its citizens and to save public money. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]