In this paper we discuss the challenges for the European SMEs facing increased global competition, and how it is possible to design innovative strategies through the new Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective. First, the paper offers an assessment of the importance of SMEs in the EU...

We examine maximum likelihood estimation procedures in multilevel models re-latedto two-level hierarchically structured data. Usually, for fixed effects and variance com-ponentsestimation, multivariate normal distribution is assumed. Here we consider for randomeffects multivariate exponential...

In this work we redefine governance in a way that goes beyond the traditional separation between power and control in a multi-stakeholders model setting. Governance is defined as a sustainable/ecological process of power sharing and legitimacy acquisition both within and outside the company. Our...

In this paper we propose a set of overall indexes for measuring quality and satisfaction of a University Degree Course. These indexes are given by a linear combination of partial indexes according to the "Formative Model", like SERVQUAL or SERVPERF. The differences among them are due to unlike...

This paper presents the results of two experiments testing reaction to risk and uncertainty of a sample of 66 Italian university students. Risky prospects were based on games of chance, while uncertain lotteries were based on the forthcoming results of either the May 2001 Italian general...

This paper analyses empirically whether skill-biased technological change and foreign direct investment play a role in explaining the skill-upgrading in Italian manufacturing industry during the 1990s. To test this issue I use, simultaneously, industry level data from two groups of firms:...

Assessing the welfare impact of a policy on the scale of the British privatisation programme is a daunting task. Four sets of issues raised in the impressive study by Florio et al of the British privatisation programme merit further discussion. One such set of issues relates to the different...

Eritrea is listed among those countries of Africa, whose independence has been lately achieved. Notwithstanding the monetary and banking history of Eritrea goes back to the Italian colonial settlement on the Red Sea shore of 19th century. The paper offers an overview of the early stages of the...

In this paper we consider the experience of transport and environmental evaluation in the framework of the Cohesion Fund, established by the EU in 1993 to co-finance through grants infrastructure projects in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece, and more recently in the new Member States. We...