Search results for "Unity"

A micro-founded approach to regional innovation in Italy

2022

Recent regional studies have taken a micro-founded perspective to uncover the influence of the external environment on the firm-level innovative performance. Despite the marked spatial disparities, there is a general lack of recent evidence on Italian regional innovation from a micro perspective. This paper fills this gap in the evidence base by estimating regional Knowledge Production Functions using Italian micro-data collected in the Community Innovation Survey. In particular, here we focus on the regional differences in the relationship between innovative inputs and outputs and on the ability of firms to absorb external knowledge. This analysis allows us to outline different regional in…

The immune mediators in echinoderms as souce of novel AMPs against microbial biofilms

2012

Marketing and Market Research

2017

In this chapter, the author presents a brief introduction of marketing and market research, and subsequently highlights the contemporary developments that influence current thinking in these areas. By familiarizing marketing academics and practitioners with the state-of-the-art discussions, this chapter aims at improving the knowledge and understanding of marketing and market research, as well as enhancing the rigor of market research applications.

Performance analysis of NTBFs in knowledge-intensive industries: Evidence from the human health sector

2013

Abstract This study aims to shed some light on the differences in performance between New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) and others in a knowledge intensive industry, in this case the Human Health (HH) sector. With that purpose in mind, this work involves applying a new model for performance assessment to a representative sample of firms pertaining to the Human Health sector in the Valencia region of Spain. Application of several statistical techniques confirms the presence of an NTBF effect which ascribes a more favorable performance profile to the NTBF group. The analysis also reveals significant disparities at the territorial level between the core of the region and the rest. The Biomedi…

Network ties in the international opportunity recognition of family SMEs

2011

Abstract The importance of network ties is emphasized in the current literature on opportunity recognition. However, it is unclear how firms with limited bridging networks, such as family SMEs, recognize international opportunities through their network ties. In this case study we found that in gaining foreign market entry, those family SMEs that lack existing network ties recognize opportunities through weak ties formed in international exhibitions. The findings also indicate that rather than being proactive, family SMEs respond reactively to opportunities that emerge coincidentally. The trustfulness of the tie is important when they consider these opportunities and form new ties for inter…

Influence of the Virtual Brand Community in Sports Sponsorship

2016

This study explores how the virtual brand community (VBC) of soccer-team supporters influences the brand's attitude toward sponsorship according to the theory of image transfer. The study provides a comparative analysis using both structural equation modeling (SEM) and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). A total of 609 supporters of a professional, first-division Spanish soccer team provide the data. The results from SEM support the importance of control, attitude toward the team, and identification variables. However, SEM cannot assure the usefulness of variables such as trust and opportunism when evaluating the resulting attitude toward the sponsor. The results from the fuzzy-set QCA …

Facebook brand community bonding: The direct and moderating effect of value creation behaviour

2019

Abstract The present research deepens in the understanding of brand bonding in Facebook brand communities, drawing on value creation behaviours, the parasocial interaction paradigm and the attachment theory. Building up on these theories, our proposed conceptual model posits a direct relationship between value creation behaviour and brand community bonding, resulting from users’ interactions with other community members. The study also examines the moderating role of value co-creation behaviour on community members’ predispositions to develop emotionally based relationships with brands. The sample of the study consisted of 370 followers of brand Facebook pages and the model was assessed usi…

Unveiling heterogeneous engagement-based loyalty in brand communities

2019

Purpose Although recent research appreciates that consumers increasingly interact with brands in brand communities and that brand engagement is an important and complex phenomenon in brand communities, little is known about the nature of individuals’ brand engagement in brand communities. This study aims to identify brand community members’ segments in terms of their brand engagement within the community; help us understand if these segments use a different approach in the development of brand loyalty; and develop mechanisms that can be used to identify members of these segments. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a quantitative approach and uses a total of 970 responses from mem…

I TRE GIOIELLI DELLA PEDAGOGIA BUDDHISTA. BUDDHA, DHARMA E SANGHA

2020

This paper presents Buddhism as a paideia where the personal education takes place through the so-called three jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, or the Master, the Way of Truth and the Spiritual Community. These are three refuges where the disciple carries out an interior search that, contrary to belief, does not happen in solitude but with the careful guidance of a Master and with the spiritual companions of the community. Finally, it’s affermed the great relevance of a millenary religion that today offers practices of interiority education to cultivate spiritual qualities such as wisdom, generosity, patience, love and compassion to build a new humanity.

The predictability of helminth community structure in space: a comparison of fish populations from adjacent lakes

2002

Patterns in helminth community structure can suggest that various processes are acting to shape parasite communities into organised, non-random assemblages of species. It is not clear, however, whether a pattern observed in one host population at one time would be observed again at another time, or at the same time in a different but comparable host population. Here, we test the repeatability of parasite community structure in space, and to a lesser extent time, with data on helminth parasites of two fish species, perch Perca fluviatilis and roach Rutilus rutilus, collected in different seasons from four adjacent lakes in Central Finland. Since populations of the same fish species harbour t…