In his seminal article Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness Granovetter argued that economic action is embedded in social relations and structures that affect its functioning, and that economic action should be analyzed as such. In theories of the business firm the...

This paper proposes a new methodology for training in the field of organization development, named development-training. The approach on the base of the methodology come from a research project of Ceris-CNR and the Association Motiva; it is inspired by complexity, constructivism, personalism,...

The objective of this article is to present the theory of structuring ( A. Giddens) through a plural approach. Indeed, this sociology defines a duality of the structure, matrix through which the social systems are produced and reproduced in and for the collective action: the structural...

In evolutionary economics the firm is the sole locus of economic and technological change, and only little is said about the analytical importance of economic relationships. An emerging theme in the fields of economic sociology, however, is the idea that economic activities are embedded in...

This paper develops and analyses a dynamic model, which combines both the adoption and the industry evolution theories. We model the decision of adoption, learning entry and exit of firms. These decisions depend on the interaction of technology characteristics (effectiveness, machinery and...

Partnering with the Census we implement a new survey of "structured" management practices in 32,000 US manufacturing plants. We find an enormous dispersion of management practices across plants, with 40% of this variation across plants within the same firm. This management variation accounts for...

Partnering with the Census we implement a new survey of "structured" management practices in 32,000 US manufacturing plants. We find an enormous dispersion of management practices across plants, with 40% of this variation across plants within the same firm. This management variation accounts for...

This essay aims at analyzing the factors which are strategic for the performance of firms in knowledge based economies. The essay follows a theoretical perspective along the Schumpeterian tradition, but different from mainstream economics. The theoretical literature on the economics of...

This paper explores the impact of diversity of innovative strategies of firms upon the industrial dynamics through a micro-simulation model. We consider two types of firms each one being characterised by a specific innovative strategy. Basically we assume that some cumulative firms adopt an...