The recent evolution of Italian capitalism shows the increasing relevance of medium-sized enterprises (MSE) at three levels: the economic and institutional environment, the ownership structure and the financing policy. A comparison of the financial structure of Italian MSEs with some European...

In our modern economy, the increasing weight of the services sector is not sufficient, per se, to start and boost an environmentally sustainable economic growth. Whatever the public policies pursued on the supply side of the production system, a strong intervention is needed on the demand side,...

Logistics is a critical issue of the new globalized world. Innovative technologies, integrated transportation systems and transport nodes are becoming crucial factors for competition in the international markets and for ensuring a sustainable development in the medium-long term. More investments...

The recent global financial crisis is having an extraordinary impact on real economy: a slowdown in growth, consumption and industrial activity trends, as well as an unsustainable increase in the rate of unemployment. The crisis blew up with the collapse of the US subprime mortgage market,...

The relationship between environmental regulation and firm competitiveness has been deeply investigated over the last twenty-five years, especially after the debate on the so called Porter hypothesis asserting that firms can benefit from environmental rules. Academic literature mainly focused on...

The Italian gambling industry expanded rapidly in the last decade, facing an unexpected boom in terms of numbers and volume of funds raised. It spreads from old betting experiences established in famous venues (i.e. Venice casino) and soccer games «schedina» to a new and wide variety of online...

In the spirit of the famous aphorism associated to Galileo's thought, the aim of this paper is to offer a simple, updated balance on the impacts and effects, in terms of growth and development, associated to service sector in the economic systems. Nowadays, service industries account for an...

There is a long-standing debate on the consequences of the Walmarting phenomenon, namely the spread of Wal-Mart's business model and the national or global implications of its proliferation. On the one hand, Wal-Mart's business practice is based on optimization concepts from logistic, purchasing...