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GIULIA TAGLIAZUCCHI

Ricercatore t.d. art. 24 c. 3 lett. B
Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi"
Docente a contratto
Dipartimento di Ingegneria "Enzo Ferrari"

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Pubblicazioni

2024 - Assessing Long-term Performance in Manufacturing Companies Hit by a Natural Disaster: The Role of Organizational Resilience and Human Capital [Capitolo/Saggio]
Martinelli, E.; Sarti, E.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Natural disasters represent an increasing threat to businesses, putting at risk their continuity in light of sustainable performance conditions. The present chapter explores the role of organizational resilience and of human capital in manufacturing companies hit by a natural disaster, an earthquake in the current study, by considering performance in the long run. In doing so, a survey has been performed on a sample of 131 manufacturing companies by the Emilia earthquake (Italy) in 2012, considering both perceptual data and balance sheet data. This represents a key contribution of this chapter, as extant literature on the impact of resilience on business performance has mainly used perceptual data; conversely, ourstudy, considering balance sheet data, enables a more comprehensive and realistic view of the phenomenon. The sample was selected from the AIDA database, as it includes revenue data that we could add to the perceptual measures obtained by administering a structured questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was then employed. The results show the importance of developing adaptive processes that leverage on the organization’s human capital and resilience to respond to adverse exogenous events. More specifically, it has been found that human capital and organizational resilience are profitable to post-disaster economic performance in the long run, supporting the economic sustainability of affected businesses. The implications are related to reinforcing new business solutions and adaptive strategies, looking at both organizational resilience and human capital investment to reach a stable economic business performance in the long-run after a detrimental event.

2024 - Improving the small farmers’ agribusiness orientation in the lavender industry: an empirical study in the Emilia-Romagna Apennines [Capitolo/Saggio]
Martinelli, E.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Agriculture can be a key resource for mountain areas. Among the possible aromatic crops, lavender displays an interesting potential but struggles to get out of the local niche for a number of difficulties encountered by farmers in developing a strategic orientation in managing this business. A multi-case study qualitative methodology is adopted to explore this phenomenon by collecting semi-structured interviews from a sample of agricultural firms leased in the Emilia-Romagna Apennines (Italy). The results contribute to the scarce literature on entrepreneurship in agriculture, showing that a farmer’s approach is, to date, more linked to the world of agriculture than of agribusiness, with low process structuring and an individual rather than cooperative approach, highlighting points for improvement for farmers, practitioners and policy makers.

2023 - Academic Spin-Offs’ Growth: Exploring the Role of Team Vertical Diversity and Academic Knowledge Corridor [Capitolo/Saggio]
Tagliazucchi, G.; Balboni, B.; Marchi, G.
abstract

2023 - Design of a living lab for autonomous driving: an investigation under the lens of the triple helix model [Articolo su rivista]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Della Santa, Silvia; Gherardini, Francesco
abstract

2023 - Exploring perceived post-disaster performance in micro-businesses: how does entrepreneur psychological resilience matter? [Articolo su rivista]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; De Canio, Francesca; Martinelli, Elisa
abstract

2022 - A glimpse at team composition and intention to grow in academic spin-offs [Articolo su rivista]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Balboni, Bernardo; Marchi, Gianluca
abstract

Starting from the description of the main traits of the academic environment within which this peculiar form of new venture is born, the authors question—in light of the presented results about the growth rates of a national sample of academic spin-offs—whether and how the intention to grow expressed by the academic entrepreneur influences the composition of the team, and more specifically the integration of nonacademic knowledge and experience—as a vector of a higher growth rate within the target market. In particular, the research question to be answered is: Does the integration of nonacademic team members in the early stages tie with a higher intention to grow of the academic entrepreneur? The contribution is configured as a work in progress, and it introduces an advancement about team formation process. Implications for practitioners relate to the key role of team composition in fostering growth of academic spin-offs.

2022 - Academic spinoffs team formation process: unfolding three micro-phases under the lens of effectuation and causation [Articolo su rivista]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca
abstract

2022 - Women as an (un)tapped resource for Italy's corporate boards, 1983-2017 [Working paper]
Rinaldi, A.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Corporate boards have been male bastions until very recently and women have been very few and difficult to track. In Italy, this has given rise to growing debates that eventually led to the introduction of mandatory gender quotas for listed companies and state-participated (LP) companies in 2011. This paper addresses this topic by investigating the presence of women among the directors of the top 250 Italian joint-stock companies in four benchmark years spanning from 1983 to 2017. In 1983, women were still nearly absent from Italian corporate boards and their number showed a sizeable increase only in the 21st century, especially after the introduction of mandatory gender quotas. This paper shows that quotas not only increased female presence on boards of LP companies, that were directly affected by this regulation, but also produced some indirect “positive spillover effects”, i.e., a higher proportion of women on boards of non-LP firms, even if the latter were not required to comply with this law. The paper also shows the precocious role of cooperatives in prompting the entry of Italian women in boardrooms. Moral suasion by umbrella organisations – especially the left-wing Legacoop – played a paramount role in this respect and acted as sort of “substitution factor” for the law. Legacoop recommended affiliated coops to appoint more women on boards even before the enactment of the 2011 law for LP companies: this recommendation soon became a good practice adopted by an increasing number of coops. Lastly, the paper shows how the massive increase in seats held by women led to a professionalization of female directors in Italy, even though women are still largely excluded from top executive positions.

2022 - Women directors in Italy: 1913–2017 [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Tagliazucchi, Giulia
abstract

Corporate elites have been male bastions until very recently and businesswomen have been very few and difficult to track. This paper addresses this topic by investigating the presence of women among the directors of the top 250 Italian joint-stock companies in eleven benchmark years spanning from 1913 to 2017. It shows a male preponderance throughout the period investigated. Women were nearly totally excluded from Italian boards until the end of the 20th century and their number showed a sizeable increase only after the turn of the century. Women also occupied marginal positions in the boards: very few of them held multiple directorships and the first female interlocker appeared only in 1972. In a country dominated by family capitalism, for a long time the very few women directors sat on the boards of family firms and were members of the families that owned these firms. The presence of women in Italian corporate boards was boosted in recent years by the introduction in 2011 of mandatory gender quotas for listed firms and for firms participated by the state. This law provided legitimacy to the appointment of women on boards also in other firms not affected by the new regulation. The massive increase in seats held by women led to a professionalisation of female directors in Italy, even though women are still largely excluded from top executive positions.

2021 - A nonlinear relationship between the team composition and performance in university spin-offs [Articolo su rivista]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca; Balboni, Bernardo
abstract

University spin-offs are a peculiar type of venture that encapsulate a core technology or key scientific knowledge stemming from academic research activities and that are founded by university personnel, professors, or researchers. The high level of scientific knowledge of the team is a critical factor for the new academic venture, but previous research shows that the low cognitive variety of the team members, and in particular, the absence of market-based knowledge, may hinder subsequent performance rates. The aim of the paper is to understand how the degree of composition variety of the founding team affects the growth performance of the university spin-offs, given the founders’ roles in shaping the future development path of the new ventures and their origin within the scientific and academic domain. Based on a new hand-picked database of Italian university spin-offs, we evaluate the nonlinear relationship between founding teams with low, moderate, and high levels of composition variety and subsequent growth performance by studying also the role of external backers as moderating variables. Results show a higher performance with high or low levels of founding team variety and a lower performance with moderate levels of variety. In addition, venture capitalist funds play a positive moderating role.

2021 - Coltivazione della lavanda nell’appennino emiliano-romagnolo: metodologia e primi risultati di un’indagine esplorativa [Working paper]
Tagliazucchi, G.; Martinelli, E.; Endrighi, E.
abstract

L’elaborato presenta i presupposti empirici e le fasi di avvio di una ricerca sul campo volta a studiare il fenomeno della coltivazione di lavanda da parte di piccoli imprenditori agricoli locati sulle aree montane dell’Appennino emiliano-romagnolo, con un focus specifico sulla provincia di Modena e di Bologna. Il contributo, di stampo esplorativo, tratteggia quindi il quadro di riferimento e propone una prima analisi di contesto, mappando la realtà dei produttori agricoli delle zone montane e collinari indicate, esplorando le metodologie colturali impiegate, le varietà di lavanda coltivate e gli utilizzi, sia della pianta fresca, che in termini di produzione di semilavorati (olio essenziale, essiccati), i canali di vendita e le modalità di approccio al mercato. Obbiettivo finale del progetto è quello di evidenziare criticità e punti di forza della produzione di lavanda in Appennino.

2021 - Imprenditoria immigrata: quali risorse e competenze per creare valore? [Curatela]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Costantini, Eleonora; Martinelli, Elisa
abstract

La curatela raccoglie relazioni e studi presentati durante il convegno sull'imprenditoria immigrata organizzato all'interno delle attività di Public Engagement dell'Ateneo di Modena e Reggio Emilia. Sebbene già da tempo la letteratura sul tema abbia riconosciuto l'importante ruolo svolto dagli imprenditori immigrati come fonte primaria di creazione di nuove imprese o di rinnovamento di quelle già operanti sul mercato, diversi punti rimangono ancora aperti. Il volume offre una lettura interdisciplinare del fenomeno, con contributi di tipo economico, giuridico, sociologico e manageriale.

2021 - Living Labs key principles: are they always applicable? The Modena Automotive Smart Area case [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
DELLA SANTA, Silvia; Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca
abstract

2021 - Risorse e competenze degli imprenditori Immigrati nel commercio al dettaglio a Modena [Capitolo/Saggio]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia
abstract

Il presente contributo si inserisce nel filone di ricerca che interseca la letteratura manageriale alla condizione dell'imprenditore migrante, ancora scarsamente investigato, e presenta i principali risultati di un lavoro di ricerca volto ad indagare le risorse e le competenze attivate dagli imprenditori immigrati, operanti nel settore della distribuzione commerciale a livello locale. La scelta del settore di indagine si lega all’importanza — derivante dall’osservazione empirica — della distribuzione commerciale al dettaglio nell’avvio di attività imprenditoriali da parte di imprenditori immigrati. Nello specifico, si analizza il contesto della città di Modena, focalizzandosi sugli imprenditori di origine magrebina, titolari di un’attività commerciale al dettaglio, e le risorse e le competenze che posseggono ed implementano al fine di dare continui-tà e mantenere adeguate performance alle proprie attività imprenditoriali.

2021 - The multiple roles of universities in U-I collaborations: The case of Emilia–Romagna motor vehicle industry [Articolo su rivista]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca; Gherardini, Francesco; Leali, Francesco
abstract

This paper investigates the development of collaboration modes between university and local industry, within a regional system having a diffused innovation process. As a case study, we analyse into an appreciative framework the roles of a medium-sized university as producer of knowledge, intermediary organisation and regional orchestrator over time, ultimately assuming a leading role in two specific university-industry programmes supporting the motor vehicle industry of Emilia–Romagna (IT). The paper contributes to the University-Industry stream of research by identifying the factors and mechanisms underpinning the evolution of university’s role in its collaboration with local industry, by the time assuming a leading and central role in spreading innovative technology into the regional system. Our findings provide managerial and policy makers contributions, and could be extended to other similar medium-tech industry for supporting diffusion of knowledge and innovation processes.

2021 - Women entrepreneurs in Italy: A prosopographic study [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, A.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Women entrepreneurs have long been an understudied topic in business history. This article contributes to fill this gap by analysing Italian women’s entrepreneurship from the mid twentieth century to 2016. It is based on a new dataset concerning the profiles of the 80 women who were successful entrepreneurs and became Cavalieri del Lavoro (Knights of Labour), i.e. they were decorated with the Ordine al ‘Merito del Lavoro’ (Order of Merit for Labour), the highest recognition for achievements in the world of business in Italy. The dataset also includes a comparable sample of men who obtained the same award to single out the main similarities and differences between men and women entrepreneurs. This article employs a quantitative prosopographic approach: after presenting some descriptive statistics and some exemplary cases of successful women entrepreneurs, it uses cluster analysis to identify typological groups of women versus men entrepreneurs. The main results show that the institutional context and gender stereotypes slowed down the development of Italian women’s entrepreneurial abilities. Women entrepreneurs tend to cluster in family firms and to have become entrepreneurs by inheritance, whereas they have been handicapped in all other fields relevant to entrepreneurial success: access to education (especially STEM), managerial career, and experience abroad. Nonetheless, women entrepreneurs operated beyond women’s niches tied to the traditional ideology of femininity, e.g. textiles, garment and services. Several women operated in sectors such as chemicals and engineering in which many Italian industrial districts are specialised.

2020 - Enhancing Triple Helix Model Through University Educational Offer [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca
abstract

2020 - Imprenditoria immigrata operante nella distribuzione commerciale modenese. Metodologia e primi risultati di un’indagine [Working paper]
Martinelli, E; Tagliazucchi, G.; Costantini, E.
abstract

La migrazione internazionale, volontaria o forzata, sta diventando il fenomeno economico e sociale più importante dei nostri tempi. L'integrazione degli immigrati nel mercato del lavoro del paese ospitante è cruciale, ed elementi quali l'occupazione, la disoccupazione e i salari dei migranti sono stati ampiamente analizzati in letteratura. Meno attenzione è stata invece dedicata ai fenomeni imprenditoriali a conduzione straniera, una dimensione importante ma poco chiara dell'integrazione nel mercato del lavoro laddove barriere all’ingresso e tetti di cristalli rendono difficoltosi l’ingresso e la permanenza in contesti di lavoro subordinato. L’elaborato presenta i fondamenti teorici, che si radicano nelle teorie della sociologia economica e della letteratura di management, e le fasi di avvio di una ricerca sul campo volta a studiare le risorse e competenze possedute ed attivate dagli imprenditori immigrati. Il contributo, di stampo metodologico, tratteggia quindi le teorie di riferimento, mappa i contributi empirici sul tema, e propone una prima di analisi di contesto e degli elementi che si sono rilevati indispensabili per operare una ricerca sul campo con l’obiettivo di analizzare e comprendere le risorse che gli imprenditori immigrati magrebini, titolari di un’attività commerciale al dettaglio sul territorio modenese, posseggono ed implementano al fine di dare continuità e mantenere adeguate performance economiche sul mercato.

2020 - Redesigning the university educational offer for the Automotive Industry [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca; Leali, Francesco
abstract

2019 - Academic Spin-offs’ team formation processes: an exploratory analysis of academic entrepreneurs’ decision models [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia
abstract

2019 - Bouncing back from a sudden-onset extreme event: exploring retail enterprises’ resilience capacity [Articolo su rivista]
Martinelli, Elisa; De Canio, Francesca; Tagliazucchi, Giulia
abstract

A feature of recent decades has been the sudden and unexpected occurrence of catastrophic events seriously affecting people and territories. From an economic viewpoint, this has led scholars to pay increasing attention to factors and determinants taking enterprises face-to-face with extreme and catastrophic events, through the resilience lens. In this context, this study aims to contribute to the literature on resilience to natural disasters which is currently still limited in the business and management fields, both theoretically and empirically. This is particularly true as regards retailing, despite the key role played by retail in the aftermath and recovery periods following on from sudden-onset extreme events such as earthquakes. The 2012 Emilia earthquake is a case in point with which to explore small retail enterprises’ resilience to sudden-onset disasters. Specifically, our empirical research consisted of administering a structured questionnaire to a sample of small retail enterprises which experienced an earthquake. The unit of analysis adopted was the retail enterprise. Data was processed applying Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM). The structural model aims to verify the impact of sales capabilities, market orientation and networking capabilities on the resilience capacity of retail enterprises affected by an extreme event, controlling for certain financial indicators such as suppliers’ payment timeframes and the use of debt capital, as well as respondent age and gender. The findings show that all the antecedents analysed exert a significant and positive effect on small retail enterprises’ resilience capacity and ability to bounce back from natural disasters. Moreover, suppliers’ payment timeframes showed a direct relationship with retail enterprises’ resilience capacity, with lower use of debt capital equalling higher retail business resilience. Age and gender do not exert any significant effect. Scientific, managerial and public policy implications are derived.

2019 - Bouncing Back from Natural Disasters: A survey on retail entrepreneurs’ resilience [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Martinelli, E.; De Canio, F.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

The paper aims at investigating the resilience capacity of retail entrepreneurs to natural disasters, verifying the impact of some main entrepreneur’s resilience antecedents such as sales capacity, marketing orientation and networking capabilities. The empirical research consisted in administering a structured questionnaire to a sample of small retailers hit by the 2012 Emilia earthquake. Data was processed applying Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM). Findings show that all the investigated capabilities exert a significant and positive effect on small retailers’ resilience capacity of bouncing back from a natural disaster. The study contributes to the literature on entrepreneur’s resilience to natural disasters, currently still limited in the business and management field, both theoretically and empirically. This is particularly true as regards retailing, despite the key role played by retail activities during the emergency and recovery period in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Scientific, managerial and public policy implications are derived.

2019 - Capacità dinamiche e vantaggio competitivo: un’analisi empirica nel retail [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Martinelli, E.; Tagliazucchi, G.; De Canio, F.
abstract

Obiettivi. L’articolo studia il tema delle capacità dinamiche nel retail, verificando l’impatto delle sue componenti sulle performance competitive di un campione di piccoli imprenditori commerciali al dettaglio. Metodologia. La ricerca è stata svolta somministrando un questionario strutturato ad un campione di imprenditori commerciali al dettaglio. I dati raccolti sono stati elaborati applicando una regressione lineare multipla. Risultati. Le evidenze empiriche mostrano come la creazione di conoscenza e di integrazione della stessa impattano in modo significativo e positivo sulle performance competitive, mentre capacità dinamiche legate a processi strutturati di apprendimento e riconfigurazione delle risorse agiscono in senso opposto. Limiti della ricerca. L’articolo esplora come le capacità dinamiche impattano sulle performance di piccoli imprenditori industriali al dettaglio; l’originalità dell’analisi e i pochi studi empirici di riferimento circoscrivono la lettura degli effetti evidenziati, che richiedono ulteriori approfondimenti. Implicazioni pratiche. I piccoli imprenditori commerciali al dettaglio in sede fissa dovrebbero puntare sulla capacità di innovare la propria offerta, rivedendola sia in termini di assortimento offerto che di servizio erogato, migliorando la capacità di alimentare un network con i propri stakeholder, fornitori e clienti in primis. Originalità del lavoro. Ad oggi la letteratura di retail ha scarsamente investigato il tema delle capacità dinamiche, rari sono gli studi empirici sul tema e limitati ad indagini di tipo qualitativo con finalità sostanzialmente esplorative. Il paper intende contribuire a colmare tali gap con una ricerca originale, sulla base di una raccolta dati ad hoc.

2019 - Disastri naturali e Resilienza d’impresa: uno studio applicativo nel retail [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Martinelli, E.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Obiettivi. Il contributo studia il tema della resilienza d’impresa ai disastri naturali, verificando l’impatto di alcune principali determinanti sulla capacità di resilienza di un campione di piccoli imprenditori commerciali al dettaglio colpiti dal sisma 2012 verificatosi in Emilia. Metodologia. La ricerca è stata svolta somministrando un questionario strutturato ad un campione di imprenditori commerciali colpiti dal sisma. I dati raccolti sono stati elaborati applicando una regressione multipla di tipo gerarchico . Risultati. Le evidenze empiriche mostrano che tutte le determinanti indagate hanno un impatto significativo e positivo sulla capacità di resilienza degli imprenditori al dettaglio. Primario appare l’effetto della capacità di orientamento al mercato e della resilienza individuale. Variabili di controllo quali genere, età e titolo di studio non influenzano le evidenze emerse, tranne il possesso della laurea. Limiti della ricerca. L’articolo si pone come un primo lavoro di tipo esplorativo. Studi futuri potrebbero utilmente estendere l’analisi ad altri antecedenti, quali ad esempio una diversa dotazione di risorse e competenze dei retailer esposti ad un evento critico di tipo naturale. Implicazioni pratiche. Una più approfondita conoscenza delle determinanti della resilienza organizzativa permette alle imprese commerciali di meglio valutare su quali fattori investire e di quali conoscenze/capacità dotarsi per fronteggiare eventi imprevisti. Oltre ad implicazioni manageriali, lo studio offre spunti di riflessione di public policy. Originalità del lavoro. Il tema della resilienza d’impresa ai disastri naturali trova limitata applicazione negli studi di management sulla piccola impresa e in particolare in quelli di retail. Poche sono poi le ricerche empiriche e prevalentemente di tipo qualitativo. Il paper intende pertanto contribuire a colmare tali gap, riportando i risultati di un primo lavoro quantitativo.

2019 - Entrepreneurs' resilience dimensions in an extreme context: bouncing forward a natural disaster. [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Martinelli, Elisa; Tagliazucchi, Giulia; DE CANIO, Francesca
abstract

Extreme events like natural disasters pose a number of threats to the survival and prosperity of businesses. Physical and psychological harm, direct and indirect material damages might warn the viability of an organization and its members. Within this context, this paper investigates entrepreneurs’ resilience to an extreme event – i.e. an earthquake, exploring the impact of its constituting dimensions on the business capacity to bouncing forward a natural disaster. Specifically, this study aims at contributing to the business and management literature on resilience, by responding to the call for more systematic and quantitative studies on organizational resilience in order to better understand its underlying dimensions. Moreover, as the research on the impact of natural disasters on small retail businesses is particularly limited, our paper would contribute in deepening the scientific understanding on the resilience dimensions displayed by small retailers when affected by a natural disaster. In fact, commercial activities play a crucial role in the aftermath of an extreme event, providing support and first-aid and strongly contributing in re-creating a sense of community and normality. Empirical research on organisational resilience in general and on entrepreneurs’ resilience in particular lacks too, apart from a small number of qualitative studies on the topic. In trying to fill these gaps, a survey on a sample of small retailers hit by the 2012 Emilia earthquake happened in Italy was conducted, administering a structured questionnaire: 206 retailers were interviewed and data processed applying structural equation modelling (SEM). The purpose is then to assess if and how the identified dimensions of Resilience – namely: Robustness, Agility and Integrity – affect the capacity of small retailers to recover from a disruptive event. Results show that entrepreneurs’ resilience dimensions are significantly impacting the retailers’ capacity to bounce forward a natural disaster, but while robustness and agility display a positive effect, integrity results to act negatively. Theoretical and managerial implications are derived.

2019 - Entrepreneurs’ resilience to natural disasters: a survey in the retail sector [Articolo su rivista]
Martinelli, E.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Purpose of the paper: The paper is aimed at studying entrepreneurs’ resilience to natural disasters by verifying the impact of some of the main determinants of the resilience capacity of small retailers who were affected by the 2012 Emilia earthquake. Methodology: The research consisted in administering a structured questionnaire to a sample of small retailers who were affected by the earthquake. Data was processed applying a hierarchical multiple regression. Findings: Findings show that all the investigated constructs exerted a significant and positive effect on the resilience capacity of small retailers. The greatest impact is exerted by market orientation and individual resilience. Control variables like gender, age and education, apart from the possession of a graduate degree, did not exert any effect. Research limits: The paper consists in a preliminary study that is explorative in nature. Future studies should consider additional organizational resilience antecedents such as different configurations of retailers’ resources and competences. Practical implications: A deeper knowledge on organizational resilience antecedents could enable small retailers to better evaluate their investments and understand with which kind of abilities/competences they should be equipped in order to face natural disasters. Managerial implications are complemented by public policy recommendations. Originality of the paper: In the management literature, the study of entrepreneurs’ resilience to natural disasters in small firms, and retailing in particular, is limited. Empirical research is also lacking, apart from a small number of qualitative studies. Our paper aims at filling these gaps by reporting the preliminary findings of a quantitative survey.

2019 - How does the founding team heterogeneity affect subsequent growth performance of Academic Spin-offs? Exploring the occurrence and the implications of a non-linear relationship [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca; Balboni, Bernardo
abstract

2019 - L'imprenditoria femminile in Italia. Le Cavaliere del Lavoro [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, A.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Il saggio analizza le principali analogie e differenze tra l’imprenditoria maschile e quella femminile in Italia utilizzando le biografie di tutte le donne insignite del Cavalierato del Lavoro dall’istituzione dell’Ordine al 2016 e quelle di un campione comparabile di uomini che hanno ottenuto lo stesso riconoscimento. Il saggio evidenzia che la famiglia appare l’unica istituzione ad avere fornito un sostegno alle donne quando queste si sono trovate ad intraprendere un’attività imprenditoriale. In molti casi, una figura maschile (il padre o il marito) ha agito da garante della donna imprenditrice davanti agli stakeholder e alla comunità degli affari. Inoltre, in non poche circostanze la donna si è trovata catapultata al vertice dell’impresa di famiglia in seguito ad un evento traumatico, quale la scomparsa del congiunto (padre, marito o fratello) che l’aveva gestita sino a quel momento. La famiglia ha svolto un ruolo fondamentale anche nel consentire alle donne di non restare confinate nelle nicchie di attività tradizionalmente femminili. Infatti, tra le imprenditrici insignite del Cavalierato del Lavoro se ne trovano molte che operano in settori tradizionalmente maschili – come la meccanica e la chimica – che sono due delle principali specializzazioni dei distretti industriali italiani. La famiglia ha funto da luogo in cui le donne hanno potuto accedere alle competenze tecniche e manageriali necessarie per affermarsi in queste industrie. Al tempo stesso, anche quando operavano in settori considerati “maschili”, le donne non hanno mancato di introdurre uno stile manageriale che valorizza tratti tipicamente femminili, come una più elevata propensione al coinvolgimento in attività sociali. Di converso, le donne sono state penalizzate in tutti gli altri ambiti rilevanti per il successo imprenditoriale: l’accesso all’istruzione superiore (soprattutto alle STEM e agli studi di ingegneria), l’accesso alla carriera manageriale e la possibilità di svolgere esperienze di studio e di lavoro all’estero. Questo appare come un grave fallimento delle istituzioni italiane. Gli stereotipi di genere e il “soffitto di cristallo” sembrano essere particolarmente forti soprattutto in settori come l’intermediazione finanziaria e le public utilities che sono dominati da imprese a gestione manageriale e in cui non operano le imprese familiari. Al tempo stesso, a differenza che in altri paesi, anche lo stato non ha usato l’impresa pubblica quale strumento per promuovere la formazione di una classe manageriale femminile. Infine, il saggio evidenzia il ruolo cruciale svolto dall’accesso all’istruzione terziaria – specialmente nelle STEM e in ingegneria – quale leva per promuovere la qualificazione dell’imprenditoria femminile e renderla più simile a quella maschile in termini sia di specializzazione settoriale che di capacità innovativa.

2018 - Academic Spin-offs team composition: a hypothesis of non-linear relationship between team heterogeneity and growth performance [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca; Balboni, Bernardo
abstract

The main objective of this on-going research project is to explore a non-linear relationship between academic spin-offs’ (ASOs) founding teams’ composition and their performance. A growing body of empirical researches highlights ASOs relatively low performance rate when compared to independent start-ups (Heirman and Clarysse, 2004; Ensley and Hmieleski, 2005), and the composition of the founding team appears as the critical issue (Clarysse and Moray, 2004; Visintin and Pittino, 2014). Albeit a certain degree of functional heterogeneity seems to be desirable, the positive linear relationship between team heterogeneity and performance is controversial and empirical investigations show mixed results (Klotz et al. 2014). Drawing from previous researches on teams’ functional diversity (e.g. Tekleab at al. 2016; Visintin and Pittino, 2014), the study tries to open the black box by offering new exploratory perspectives in the study of the relationship between founding teams’ heterogeneity and growth performance of ASOs.

2018 - Academic spin-offs' team heterogeneity: an exploratory analysis on growth performance [Articolo su rivista]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca; Balboni, Bernardo
abstract

The study seeks to shed light on the relationship between team background diversity and growth performance in academic spinoffs. Academic spin-offs are an important means to exploit and transfer the results of academic and scientific research. However, empirical investigations highlight that they tend to have more homogeneous teams and lower performance than independent new ventures.

2018 - Exploring a non-linear relationship between academic spin-offs’ team heterogeneity and growth performance [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca; Balboni, Bernardo
abstract

Academic Spin-Offs (ASOs) emerge out from universities with the specific purpose to market technologies or researches’ discoveries settled within a scientific domain. Hitherto, the association between team heterogeneity and performance is mainly assessed using linear relationships, offering controversial and mixed results. Based on a new hand-collected database, this work-in-progress study explores and offers argumentations for the occurrence of a non-linear relationship between founding teams’ composition in terms of functional background and subsequent ASOs’ growth performance.

2018 - Resilienza e Impresa. L'impatto dei disastri naturali sulle piccole imprese commerciali al dettaglio [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Martinelli, E.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

L’opera tratta della resilienza d’impresa ai disastri naturali, con riferimento ai piccoli imprenditori commerciali al dettaglio colpiti dal sisma del 2012 in Emilia. Le domande di ricerca a cui si intende rispondere sono le seguenti: cosa rende alcune imprese e relativi imprenditori maggiormente capaci di rispondere a eventi critici inattesi? Su quali dimensioni si fonda la resilienza organizzativa e come impattano sulle performance dell’impresa retail? Durante quali fasi di un disastro naturale (prima, durante e dopo) le dimensioni della resilienza emergono? Il lavoro intende contribuire in modo originale alla letteratura sull’entrepreneur’s resilience, supportando la prospettiva che vede la resilienza non semplicemente come ripristino o “bouncing back”, ma come modalità strategica di affrontare situazioni di crisi, ovvero “bouncing forward”, trasformandole in capacità di crescita d’impresa e nuove opportunità. La letteratura sul tema ha trascurato la capacità di resilienza delle piccole e medie imprese (PMI): seppur limitate in dimensione e risorse, le PMI si caratterizzano per particolari doti di flessibilità e adattabilità, caratteristiche fondamentali della resilienza, e quindi particolarmente interessanti come ambito di studio. L’opera mira a contraddistinguersi anche per l’originalità del contesto settoriale analizzato, ovvero il commercio al dettaglio, su cui mancano contributi specifici nonostante l’importanza di questo settore per i territori e le comunità locali colpiti dalla calamità. La letteratura sul tema della resilienza si presenta poi sostanzialmente concettuale, con scarse analisi empiriche, lacuna che questo studio intende contribuire a colmare, riportando i risultati di una ricerca empirica che tratta il tema della resilienza dei piccoli imprenditori al dettaglio sia da un punto di vista qualitativo (tramite focus group e interviste semi-strutturate) che quantitativo (tramite la somministrazione di un questionario strutturato a un campione di imprenditori colpiti dal sisma del 2012 in Emilia).I risultati delle analisi svolte ci dicono che ad ogni fase del disastro naturale i retailer sono chiamati ad attivare differenti dimensioni della resilienza, con diversa intensità. Ne derivano interessanti implicazioni manageriali e di policy. Le imprese commerciali potranno meglio comprendere su quali fattori investire e di quali conoscenze/capacità dotarsi per superare la crisi. Le istituzioni potranno invece ottenere utili riferimenti per supportare il recupero commerciale e quello delle comunità locali.

2018 - The resilient retail entrepreneur: Dynamic capabilities for facing natural disasters [Articolo su rivista]
Martinelli, E.; Tagliazucchi, G.; Marchi, G.
abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the formative dimensions of organizational resilience – namely dynamic capabilities (DCs) and social capital – displayed by retail entrepreneurs in the face of natural disasters (i.e. the 2012 Emilia earthquake). The paper evaluates social capital and the various types of DCs that support small entrepreneurs’ resilience during three temporal units of analysis: before the earthquake, during the emergency period, and during the recovery process. The study was performed by applying a qualitative approach based on two focus groups and a double set of semi-structured interviews administered to a sample of eight small retail entrepreneurs hit by the 2012 Emilia earthquake. Content analysis was then applied. The findings show that DCs and social capital are instrumental to enhancing organizational resilience; moreover the contribution of each category of DCs (reconfiguration, leveraging, sensing and interpreting, learning and knowledge integration) and social capital to entrepreneurs’ resilience changes according to the temporal phase of the natural disaster under analysis. This study will provide small retailer entrepreneurs and public authorities with useful insights on how DCs and social capital can practically support recovery paths at different times in the occurrence of a natural disaster. This study contributes to the scientific debate on organizational resilience in disaster management, studying it through the lens of DCs and social capital, and analyzing the role of different types of DCs in developing entrepreneurs’ resilience during the various periods of a natural disaster. Moreover, it contributes by applying the concepts of resilience and DCs to a poorly investigated entrepreneurial context such as the retail one.

2018 - Women Entrepreneurs in Italy: A prosopographic Study [Working paper]
Rinaldi, A.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Women entrepreneurs have long been an understudied topic in business history. This paper contributes to fill this gap by analyzing Italian women’s entrepreneurship from the mid-20th century to 2016. It is based on a new dataset concerning the profiles of the 80 women who were successful entrepreneurs and became Cavalieri del Lavoro (Knights of Labour), i.e., they were decorated with the Ordine al “Merito del Lavoro” (Order of Merit for Labour), the highest recognition for achievements in the world of business in Italy. The dataset also includes a comparable balanced sample of men who obtained the same award to single out the main similarities and differences between men and women entrepreneurs. This paper employs a quantitative prosopographic approach: after presenting some descriptive statistics and some exemplary cases of women entrepreneurs, it uses cluster analysis to identify typological groups of women versus men entrepreneurs. This paper show that the institutional context and gender stereotypes slowed down the development of Italian women’s entrepreneurial abilities. Women entrepreneurs tend to cluster in family firms and to have become entrepreneurs by inheritance, whereas they have been handicapped in all other fields relevant to entrepreneurial success: access to education (especially STEM), managerial career and experience abroad. Nonetheless, women entrepreneurs operated beyond women’s niches tied to the traditional ideology of femininity, e.g., textiles, garment and services. Several women operated in sectors such as chemicals and engineering in which many Italian industrial districts are specialized.

2017 - Academic spin-offs' team heterogeneity: an exploratory analysis on growth performance [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca; Balboni, Bernardo
abstract

2015 - Disastri Naturali e Dynamic Capabilities nel Commercio [Working paper]
Martinelli, E.; Tagliazucchi, G.; Marchi, G.
abstract

Il presente contributo descrive i primi risultati emersi da un’indagine esplorativa volta ad esaminare l’impatto che il terremoto del 2012 ha prodotto sulle attività commerciali al dettaglio della bassa emiliana. L’obiettivo specifico è quello di analizzare la capacità di risposta di tali tipologie di imprese all’evento critico adottando la prospettiva teorica delle capacità dinamiche. Si tratta di temi che la letteratura corrente non ha affrontato in modo sistematico ed adeguato in condizioni di criticità, soprattutto con riferimento al contesto della distribuzione al dettaglio. La metodologia scelta si è basata sull’utilizzo di strumenti di analisi qualitativa quali focus group e interviste semi-strutturate a un campione di dettaglianti colpiti dal sisma, caratterizzati da diverse specializzazioni merceologiche e parametri dimensionali. I primi risultati hanno evidenziato le risorse e le competenze ritenute necessarie per essere competitivi prima del sisma (qualità del servizio e assistenza alla clientela nel momento della vendita), nella gestione dell’evento critico (tempestività di reazione, creatività e flessibilità nella gestione dell’emergenza, sia nei rapporti con la clientela che con i fornitori; la necessità di rivedere l’offerta e di modificare l’assortimento) e in prospettiva futura (capacità di lettura del mercato, innovazione, acquisizione di nuove competenze tramite percorsi di formazione). Ne emergono alcune implicazioni manageriali e di policy.

2015 - L’impatto del sisma 2012 in Emilia sulle imprese commerciali: primi risultati e riflessioni [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Martinelli, Elisa; Tagliazucchi, Giulia; Marchi, Gianluca
abstract

L’articolo presenta i primi risultati emersi da un più ampio lavoro di ricerca volto ad esaminare l’impatto che il terremoto del 2012 ha prodotto sulle attività commerciali della bassa emiliana e le reazioni di tali imprese all’evento critico in un’ottica di dynamic capabilities. Nello specifico, nel presente articolo si presenterà una sintesi dei risultati preliminari emersi dall’analisi esplorativa svolta tramite focus group e interviste semi-strutturate a un campione di dettaglianti colpiti dal sisma. Si tratta di temi che la letteratura corrente non ha affrontato in modo sistematico ed adeguato in condizioni di criticità, soprattutto con riferimento al contesto della distribuzione al dettaglio.