The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of technology and spatial agglomeration in decisions about vertical integration. It starts from the hypothesis that the business group, defined as a set of firms under common ownership and control, is the appropriate unit to delimit the firm's...

The smart specialisation strategy (S3) requires the identification in each region of one or more thematic areas where R&D and innovation policy should be focused on to create and sustain a competitive advantage. Not necessarily the chosen areas will belong to the core, general purpose technology...

The aim of this paper is to empirically verify the hypothesis of a U shaped relation between size and unrelated diversification. Specifically we test the so called “survivalist hypothesis” according to which unrelated diversification is observed not only in large firms but also in small...

Several empirical papers have shown that firms belonging to business groups have a higher propensity to engage in R&D. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that this higher propensity depends on the ownership share of controlled companies, besides the presence of co-ordination mechanisms....

In this paper we analyse whether belonging to a business group enhances firms’ R&D propensity and intensity as a result of the greater opportunities to co-ordinate R&D strategies and internalize the positive spillovers. We analyse the organization of R&D management within a business group and...

Purpose – This paper aims to show that the business group – i.e. the set of firms under common ownership and control – is the most appropriate unit to study the behavior and organization of firms and define their boundaries. Particular emphasis is given to notions such as unitary direction...