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This study aims to explore the resource development process implemented by a small consulting firm, active in a traditional industrial context, pursuing the innovation path to develop solutions within the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) domain.

This study undertakes a single qualitative case study of Sinergia, an Italian innovative small consulting firm. The case study is analyzed through critical events and adopting the 4 R model, developed within the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) approach.

The analysis highlights a transition from knowledge broker to solution provider, based on a process of networking, with a relevant strategizing effort, and of assembling internal, external and shared resources. Three patterns in the evolution of the company’s innovation path emerge: resource-oriented networking, hybrid resource development and resource assembly.

The empirical study provides novel empirical evidence over localized innovation processes in I4.0 by exploring the innovation path pursued by a small consulting firm in connection with the local business. The study represents a theoretical development in terms of the 4 R model as it suggests the need to further conceptualize the category of technical resources – including products and facilities – in the increasingly complex I4.0 domain and provides insights on the changing role of actors in networks underpinned by emerging resource structures.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the internationalization of Chinese new global players through innovation-oriented Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As).

The paper combines the analysis of East-Asian and Chinese multinationals’ international expansion within international business (IB) and innovation domains, with the “latecomer” perspective. It is a conceptual contribution, based on the role of local institutions and firm’s absorptive capacity. A theoretical framework is developed, and further elucidated with two illustrative cases of Chinese M&As abroad in the automotive sector. Implications for theoretical development and practical application are then drawn.

Chinese firms’ M&As abroad have become one of the preferential modes of developing innovation capabilities. The success of these endeavors is argued to be the result of a combination of a strong push from government industrial policies, along with significant internal knowledge assimilation and transformation capabilities.

The paper extends IB literature integrating the latecomer firms’ perspective within a novel conceptual framework, which adds to the traditional resource-based arguments about incumbent MNEs asset and knowledge-seeking internationalization modes, as well as institutional and multi-dimensional absorptive capacity perspectives.

This paper aims to provide a contribution on the diffusion of Industry 4 (I4.0)-related knowledge in industrial districts (IDs). The main goal is to examine the dissemination of I4.0 knowledge, exploring the main mechanisms for its spreading and highlighting the main factors shaping such processes. Focus is on dissemination processes in IDs active in traditional industries, which could represent the “periphery” of I4.0 application context.

The methodology is qualitative. Notably, this paper presents a case study of the Pesaro ID specialized in furniture/woodworking machinery sector. A total of 18 in-depth one-to-one interviews have been conducted with relevant informants from a variety of organizations within the cluster: companies, institutions and universities.

The complexity of I4.0 requires a combination of traditional mechanisms with innovative ones within IDs characterized by the emergence of new players, activities and resources. These changes led to three main evolving patterns: the horizon of I4.0 upgrading shows blurred boundaries in terms of sectors and geographic location, the I4.0 diffusion appears fragmented in terms of initiatives and projects by both firms and institutions and the dissemination of I4.0 knowledge pushes ID firms and institutions to pursue deliberate initiatives leading to innovative forms of “collective” cooperation.

This paper contributes to both theory and practice. From the theoretical point of view, this paper contributes to the literature on innovation in IDs and clusters on two interrelated grounds. First, it provides further research on I4.0 and IDs and clusters. Second, it contributes to the stream of research on knowledge creation and diffusion in IDs and clusters, providing empirically based insights over emerging local learning processes in IDs. Moreover, relevant managerial and policy implications stem from the analysis.

In this study, we aimed at examining the unique and interactive effects of peer violence in cyberspace on adolescents’ emotion regulation and socioemotional adjustment, as well as the mediational role of resilience in the link between adolescent’s pathogenic relational experiences and behavioral outcomes. Specifically, we intended to explore emotion differentiation and regulation in reaction to bullying perpetration and victimization and in terms of positive (proud, confident, good) and negative (ashamed, excited, guilty), Passive (sad, embarrassed, humiliated) and Reactive (angry, scared) emotions and how it impacted and predicted positive and negative outcomes.

A stratified convenient sample of 494 Italian students aged 13–19 years (M = 15.27, SD = 1.23) was selected to represent all different school types in Italy and the students were administered a self-report questionnaire on school bullying involvement. General Linear Models, ANOVA, and T-tests were employed to explore gender differences, the relationships between variables, and their contribution to the predictive model. A two-step Cluster analysis was used to profile adolescents based on patterns of resilience, health outcomes, and cyberbullying involvement.

Results showed significant gender differences, with females using internet and Facebook more than males and being more resilient, positive, and prosocial, but also responding to victimization with higher levels of alienation, anger, humiliation, and psychosomatic and emotional symptoms. Males perpetrated peer violence more than females, were less likely to be victimized, and were generally less emotionally impacted by it. Victimization rates (63.7%, n = 296) were higher than perpetration rates (51.7%, n = 233) and bully-victimization was prevalent (47.1%). Victims prevalently experienced passive emotions (sadness, humiliation, embarrassment) while perpetrators experienced negative ones (guilt and shame). Cluster analysis evidenced different pathways and trajectories of resilience and cyberbullying involvement: Resilient victims (RV), Healthy uninvolved (HU), Healthy Bullies (HB), Alienated Bully-Victims (ABV), and Resilient Bully-Victims (RBV). RV, HU, and HB resulted all well-adjusted, despite the different involvement in cyberbullying, and also RBV and despite the double involvement in cyberbullying, ABV were the only maladjusted and at-risk group in our sample characterized by very low Positivity, very low Resilience, and extremely high Alienation.

This study proposes a comprehensive, developmental, ecological, relational, and self-regulatory resilience approach to cyberbullying, which represents an innovative and advanced contribution to the literature with significant implication for research and practice. Fully understanding and measuring the emotional impact of cyber peer violence and resilience following cyberbullying victimization and perpetration can help in developing targeted interventions for both victims and bullies. This study highlighted the need for a self-regulatory model of resilience for modulating emotions, arousal, and behaviors across contexts, relationships, and difficulties. It also evidenced that moderate levels of resilience and positivity are sufficient to buffer youth from involvement in cyberbullying and to predict healthy adjustment and less pathological outcomes.

By profiling adolescents based on resilience levels, health outcomes, and cyberbullying involvement, we evidenced five distinct trajectories of risk evaluation for cyberbullying beyond participating roles. Our results confirmed the fundamental importance of assessing resilience and emotion regulatory resources together with peer violence involvement in identifying and targeting adolescents at risk.

Despite growing attention to the prevalence and consequences of cyberbullying within the social sciences, research on cyber-bystander reactions has been largely overlooked. Drawing from Latane and Darley’s (1970) bystander engagement model, the current study sought to fill this gap by exploring how common it is for adolescents to encounter cyberbullying on social networking sites (SNS), how youth react to the cyberbullying witnessed on SNS, and most importantly to uncover factors that may be related to two potential bystander trajectories on SNS, namely traditional bystanding and prosocial bystander engagement.

Data was drawn from the 2011 Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project (Princeton Survey Research Associates International, 2011). The secondary analysis was restricted to only adolescents who ranged in age from 12 to 17. Grounded in existing research on face-to-face bystander behaviors, two Ordinary Least Squares regression models were run testing which independent variables (age, gender, frequency of SNS use, perceived peer norms, and prior cyberbully victimization) were related to traditional and to prosocial bystander behavior online.

Approximately 88% of youth reported they’ve witnessed a cyberbullying exchange on an SNS. Among these witnesses, the majority reported engaging in both prosocial (62%) and traditional (74%) bystander practices. Based on the regression analyses, a key factor for bystander practice online appears to be observed peer behavior.

The findings from this research provide an initial exploration into cyber-bystander behavior, with potential implications for both future research directions and cyberbully prevention programming.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the complexities and challenges involved in retailing luxury motorcycle brands in India.

This study has been developed by carrying out in-depth interviews of company officials of Triumph Motorcycles. The researchers also reached out to various distributors of luxury motorcycles in Tiers I and II cities, and through the interview process, tried to understand the problems/issues faced while selling luxury motorcycles.

There has been a marked increase in the branding and marketing of luxury products in the recent years. Although the two wheelers account for 80 per cent of the domestic demand, the luxury motorbike market in India is still in its introductory stages. This study discusses the challenges faced at Triumph Motorcycles and raises questions on what should be done to increase the market share of Triumph Motorcycles in India. Readers would get insights into the activities carried out to build customer connect and would be able to suggest marketing strategies and customer relationship programmes for luxury motorcycle brands.

This study can be used for the core course on marketing management or for elective courses on customer relationship management, brand management or consumer behaviour course in MBA programme.

This study aims to investigate about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) (man machine relationship) regarding organizational behavior. The aim of this research paper is to analyze whether the current AI is used also to replace man in “creative” activities.

This study is based on a qualitative and explorative approach. It is made a review of the literature with “Scopus” and “Web of Science” databases. The research fields are AI, organizational behavior, man-machine relationship and creativity.

Analyzing whether the intensive use of AI in organizational behavior can replace human work in creative activities.

The connection of AI with creative activities within the organization is only just beginning. For this reason, other sources, like Harvard Business Review, public reports and professional papers found on the internet have been considered. The most important limitation of this paper is that all the results presented here do not concern a single case study.

In this paper, there are some examples that can show the use of AI in creative activities; however, this does not complete the situation facing companies in any sector because the AI technologies used within enterprises are constantly evolving. It is possible to continue to do research in this field.

The paper is meaningful because highlights the development of AI toward creative activities typically of human resources. It is also interesting because it analyzes the exploratory use of AI in increasingly human work, generating positive and negative externalities.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of social isolation of minors with a parent or grandparent suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and to determine whether the psychological support offered by an Italian no-profit association helped them to manage stress.

Methodology: This study followed a qualitative research design. The participants responded to in-depth interviews that were processed with inductive thematic analysis.

Findings: Five themes emerged: feedback on the psychological intervention; learning and changes after the intervention; discourses on illness and death in the family; experiences and difficulties during the lockdown and suggestions for other peers who might face the same situation.

Social Implications: Psychological support is necessary for these minors, and it helped them to manage both the stress of living with ALS and the limitations of social relationships during the pandemic. It showed the importance of authentic and honest communication about illness and death that allowed minors to manage anxiety and fear. Positive reinterpretation of these experiences by transforming them into opportunities was also revealed.

Originality: Studies on families with ALS patients are numerous, but studies on children of these patients are still rare, and no study has investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these children. This research investigated a topic that has not been covered previously and it also provided the opportunity to know how these children, preadolescents and adolescents living in an already complex environment, have experienced lockdown and restrictions. The study also enriched the literature on this important issue.

This chapter assesses public administration in Paraguay. It argues that the country's public administration and public personnel structures have been shaped by a predominance of informal decision-making norms, patron–client relations, exceptional legislative interference in what elsewhere tend to be executive prerogatives, and weak accountability mechanisms of a state largely captured by a small oligarchy. In this context, administrative reform has been mostly instigated by external actors—donors and international financial institutions—and only achieved incremental progress in, in particular, the modernization of public finance institutions during periods of economic crises or political change when external demand coincided with domestic pressure. Except for some “pockets of efficiency,” Paraguay thus remains a benchmark case of a neopatrimonial state in a formally democratic Presidential system, in which informal patron–client relations trump formal bureaucratic structures—albeit one in which the legislature has exceptional influence over administrative matters and public sector jobs are exceptionally dominant in clientelist exchanges of state resources.

This study addresses foreign markets selection decisions by Russian mobile telecommunications operators and the impact of top management team composition on the degree of firms’ internationalization.

The qualitative exploratory study analyzed 24 foreign market entry decisions and the composition of the top management team of the two leading Russian mobile telecommunications operators, VimpelCom and Mobile Telesystems (MTS/AFK Sistema).

Russian mobile telecommunications operators adopted a gradual approach to foreign market selection, as the study revealed the positive impact of the target market’s geographic proximity to Russia on the investment decision. The international background of the top management team was positively related to the increasing distance of the selected foreign markets.

Further studies may include quantitative evaluation of investment decisions by mobile telecommunications operators from other emerging-market firms, as well as a longer observation period and investment decisions by firms operating in other industries.

Russian and other emerging-market firms should evaluate the importance of the top management team composition and international experience prior to initiation of the internationalization process.

Russian multinationals represent a relatively understudied phenomenon, despite the importance of outward foreign direct investments from Russia among other emerging-market firms.