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Industry 4.0 is the current fourth industrial revolution, which is continuously modifying industrial environments towards technology evolution dealing with ongoing social, economic, and political changes. As a result, companies working in several industries are facing the need for disruptive industrial applications and their business evolution. Small and Medium Enterprises, that traditionally strive to keep up with industrial revolutions since they often are unprepared to understand novelties and to deal with changes that revolutions bring, often fail to identify how they must adapt to new industrial scenario. Dealing with this issue, especially the lack of knowledge of manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises about new technologies and their gap in recognizing new business principles, this thesis proposes a two-fold approach. Firstly, the recent literature on Industry 4.0 in the engineering field is reviewed for identifying a simple technology stack of Industry 4.0, that can be easily understood also in environments that lack advanced knowledge of technology evolution. The technology stack is provided in the form of a Reference Model, since its suitability for identifying components needed for coping with industrial changes. The model is tested verifying its interoperability with other relevant Reference Models and Architectures of Industry 4.0. Secondly, a Maturity Model is designed, capable of assessing whether manufacturing companies have adopted recent disruptive technologies of Industry 4.0 and they comply with its new business principles, and in which direction they must evolve considering the supply chain in which they do business. The Maturity Model is then tested in the manufacturing and processing agro-food industry of the food valley, located in the Parma district of the Emilia-Romagna region, in Italy. ; L'Industria 4.0 identifica l'attuale quarta rivoluzione industriale, in cui la continua evoluzione delle tecnologie permette di rispondere con successo ai continui cambiamenti sociali, economici e politici. Di conseguenza, le aziende, a prescindere dal settore in cui operano, affrontano la necessità di realizzare applicazioni industriali totalmente nuove e far evolvere il proprio modo di fare business. Le piccole e medie imprese, che tradizionalmente soffrono le rivoluzioni industriali poiché spesso sono impreparate a comprenderne le novità e ad affrontare i cambiamenti che ne derivano, spesso non riescono a conformarsi al nuovo scenario industriale. Per affrontare questo tema, e in particolare la mancanza di conoscenza delle nuove tecnologie da parte delle Piccole e Medie Imprese del settore manufatturiero, e la loro incapacità di riconoscere nuovi principi di business, questo lavoro di tesi propone un duplice approccio. In primo luogo, la recente letteratura sull'Industria 4.0 nel campo dell'ingegneria viene rivista per identificare un semplice stack tecnologico dell'Industria 4.0, che possa essere facilmente compreso anche in ambienti che non hanno una conoscenza avanzata delle recenti evoluzioni tecnologiche. Lo stack tecnologico viene proposto nella forma di Reference Model dell'Industria 4.0, in quanto questa tipologia di modello è adatto a identificare i componenti necessari per affrontare i cambiamenti industriali. Il modello viene testato verificandone l'interoperabilità con altri rilevanti modelli e architetture di riferimento dell'Industria 4.0. In secondo luogo, viene progettato un Modello di Maturità in grado di valutare se le aziende manifatturiere hanno adottato le nuove tecnologie dell'Industria 4.0 e si sono adeguate ai nuovi principi di business, e in quale direzione devono evolvere considerando la supply chain in cui operano. Il Modello di Maturità viene poi testato in un ambiente specifico, cioè l'industria agroalimentare manifatturiera e di processo della food valley situata nella provincia parmense in Emilia-Romagna (Italia).

Following the findings of the study "Exploring and proposing mechanisms for labour matching across the Mediterranean", this short report provides a strategic analysis of labour matching policy in 7 selected European Neighbourhood Instrument South Partner Countries (ENI SPCs): Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon. On the one hand, it describes the external environment of this policy area through a summary of key macro-economic, demographic, educational and labour-market indicators. On the other, it presents the labour matching mechanisms that policy-makers can use to address labour matching problems within ENI SPCs, as well as between ENI SPCs and third countries, including the European Union (EU). The paper concludes with a number of policy recommendations

Following the findings of the study "Etude sur le surplus de main d'oeuvre qualifiée et non qualifiée en Tunisie", this short report provides a strategic analysis of labour matching policy in Tunisia. On the one hand, it describes the external environment of this policy area through a summary of key macro-economic, demographic, educational and labour-market indicators. On the other, it presents the labour matching mechanisms that policy-makers can use to address employment issues within the Tunisian boarders, as well as between Tunisia and third countries, including the European Union (EU).

Over the last five decades, European public sectors have undergone a profound process of organizational change, where managerial tools and principles from the private sector have permeated through governments and administrations of many countries. New Public Management (NPM) reform ideas were crucial to this change. Mainstream studies on NPM reforms commonly see it as a mere pragmatic and apolitical framework of reform to downsize State bureaucracies and render public service delivery more efficiently and effectively responsive to users' demands. Following the Critical Management Studies tradition, this PhD dissertation questions this taken-for-grantedness of NPM and denaturalizes the mainstream idea of NPM reforms as a technical, rational analytic and evidence-based domain. It rather presents them as the result of a historical process marked by politics and power. We choose the European rail industries as empirical context of analysis. Firstly, we examine the EU-driven implementation of NPM reforms in this sector. Secondly, we narrow the focus on the governance of TEN-T, an EU-level investment program in transport infrastructures designed on the basis of key NPM principles. This program is of crucial importance for the full accomplishment of NPM reforms in the national rail industries of the EU. The dissertation is structured in two parts. The first part investigates how NPM ideas developed throughout the political agendas of European national parties and were transformed into actual reform plans by governments. The second part examines how NPM ideas translate into managerial action. Our analysis suggests that the top-down performance-based design of NPM models leads to effectiveness and efficiency improvements in the functioning of public sector organizations which, under certain circumstances, contrast with the most fundamental democratic values of State institutions. These models might thus turn constitutional democracies into technocracies. We conclude by discussing alternatives to NPM, such as the Public Value paradigm.

Abstract
Megaprojects are now as important as ever. As a response to the pandemic, the European Union has put forward the Next Generation EU policy, making available a 2021–2027 long-term budget of €1.8 trillion to fund projects with ecological and digital applications in the field of telecommunication, transportation, and energy infrastructures. Similarly, in the United States a $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan is on the way. Also, China has planned to expedite the rollout of 102 infrastructure megaprojects earmarked for the 2021–25 development plan. Despite their importance to policy-makers, megaprojects are often met with criticism and opposition by citizens, and often go off the rails—either with regard to budget or time, or both. This introductory article presents the aim and scope of the themed issue. It positions the problem areas beyond technical issues and connects them to the social and institutional environment within which megaprojects are planned and implemented. Moreover, the article makes the case for conceptualizing megaprojects as wicked policy fields. In doing so, we specify the three defining elements of megaprojects, namely, complexity, uncertainty, and conflict. The article argues that megaproject development cannot be seen as a rational, straightforward process. It is often a non-linear, conflictual process shaped by the collective action of different stakeholder groups (e.g., project managers, policy-makers, and citizens). Driven by divergent interests, sociotechnical imaginaries, as well as behavioral and discursive logics, groups of actors construct and mobilize narratives to influence final decision-making while interacting with the institutional context.

Périodique scientifique - The authors take as starting point the success of the Corporate Social Responsibility "label", in order to analyse such concept within the EU context. As the EU approach to CSR follows closely the path tracked by the UN, special attention will be given to the commitments undertaken by the European Commission in its 2011 Communication, which led to the recent adoption of EU-endorsed Guidelines on Business and Human Rights; such initiatives will also be examined against the Commission's policy on fundamental rights. Some concrete examples drawn from parliamentary questions on matters related to CSR, will help illustrate the role of the European Parliament in shaping a EU position on such issues, as well as give some insights into the developments in the EU policy on CSR. ; Peer reviewed

Through a cross-disciplinary approach the authors provide an analysis of the large impact of the Early Warning Mechanism introduced in the Treaty of Lisbon with the goal of involving National Parliaments (NPs) in the European normative production and, consequently, contributing to a higher "democraticity" of EU decision-making process. The involvement of NPs should increase compliance with the principle of subsidiarity and overcome the traditional democratic deficit. The paper – through a critical perspective- concludes connecting the weakness of more democratising procedures with some crucial peculiarities of the prevailing EU integration paradigm. ; La presente ricerca si basa su un approccio interdisciplinare e mira ad analizzare e valutare l'impatto delle innovazioni procedurali introdotte dal Trattato di Lisbona relativamente al Meccanismo di Allerta Precoce (MAP), il cui scopo è di contribuire a una più elevata "democraticità" del processo decisionale europeo. Un sistematico coinvolgimento dei Parlamenti Nazionali secondo la procedura in questione favorirebbe una più diffusa armonia dell'azione di governo europea col principio di sussidiarietà, concorrendo, dunque, al superamento della tradizionale questione democratica. Il paper - attraverso un approccio critico - suggerisce, infine, di mettere in relazione la debolezza di procedure miranti a incrementare la democraticità del sistema decisionale con alcune cruciali peculiarità del modello d'integrazione alla base del progetto europeo. ; Peer reviewed

During the XX century European administrative systems have undergone a profound process of managerial revolution during which private sector managerial tools and principles have spread across both central and local governments in many countries. As many scholars have associated this process of change with the raise and diffusion of a managerialist ideology, this paper empirically investigates the electoral propaganda that since 1950s has supported the diffusion of managerialist values across the national administrative systems of the European countries. On the basis of a longitudinal study of the electoral programs released by the European parties since 1950s, this research provides evidence-based knowledge about: i) the different patterns of diffusion of the public-sector managerialist propaganda in Eastern and Western Europe; ii) the controversial relationship that exists between the spread of the managerialist ideology and the actual adoption of managerialist reforms in the national structures of the public sector.

This article examines Performance Management Systems (PMSs) as socio-technical policy instruments for shaping power relations in megaprojects. Employing an abductive approach, it innovatively applies Foucault's Panopticon theory to the case of the Lyon-Turin railway, a megaproject funded by the European Union's Trans-European Transport Network policy. Our research reveals that PMSs operate as intellectual technologies that enable megaproject promoters to establish control over participants and align their collective behavior with planned policy objectives. We find that this process follows three Foucauldian panoptic principles: hierarchical observation, where participants are organized under nested managerial tiers, establishing vertical lines of command; examination, which uncovers performance flaws; and normalization, which standardizes behavior across the megaproject field. We argue that: PMSs can be employed by policy-makers as instruments to instil governability and shape the collective behavior of megaproject participants consistently with planned policy goals; no matter how effective the panoptic scheme is, there are always avenues of resistance available among those perceiving the megaproject as a threat; and, the configuration and constitution of power relations in megaprojects involve a complex interplay of discipline, sovereignty, and security mechanisms.

AbstractMegaprojects are increasingly common across countries and attract substantial political attention from a variety of actors. Recent studies have highlighted the need to move from an understanding of megaprojects as linear and rational processes towards a more nuanced approach that accounts for non-linear and conflictual aspects. Participatory governance is often proposed as a valuable resource in this regard. In this paper, we investigate the setting and design of two participatory venues operating in the context of the implementation of the Lyon-Turin high-speed railway megaproject: the Italian Observatory for the Turin-Lyon Railway and the French Public Inquiry. Empirical evidence shows that the Italian case featured substantial structural barriers to effective democratic participation. As for the French case, while better designed and implanted in its context, it featured important agentic limitations that undermined its democratic potential. On the basis of our case study, we therefore argue that both the Observatory for the Turin-Lyon Railway and Public Inquiry failed to promote democratic participation. We thus propose a deliberative approach to (the study of) of megaprojects. Whereas deliberative democratic ideas command growing interest across disciplines, these have found only limited application in the study of megaprojects. We contend that a deliberative democratic approach holds promise to improve the democratic and epistemic qualities of decision making on megaprojects.

This paper aims to understand the different resilience pathways local governments may take during moments of crisis, specifically focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Through survey responses from local administrations in Wallonia, Belgium, we consider how varied contexts led to different strategic resilience pathways. These pathways range from static (i.e., no strategy) to innovative change. Our findings highlight that digital technology solutions may play a role in supporting resilience across the different pathways. Therefore, we adapt strategic public management literature to suggest propositions for future research to test the specific role that digital technologies play in supporting resilience within local administrations.

Le concept de smart city peut parfois sembler un peu nébuleux pour les décideurs locaux. Ce dernier est englobant et recouvre divers enjeux sociétaux. D'une commune à l'autre, différentes visions de la smart city peuvent coexister et s'adapter aux spécificités et contextes locaux. Ainsi, chaque territoire développe sa propre vision de la smart city en fonction de ses enjeux. Tout cela rend la réappropriation du concept de smart city complexe à réaliser et peut impacter la mise en œuvre de ce type de politiques. Afin de proposer un cadre davantage réappropriable par des décideurs, une étude de l'appel à projets « Territoire Intelligent », initié en 2019 par la Région wallonne, a été réalisée. Dans ce cadre, 88 projets soumis par diverses villes, communes et intercommunales wallonnes ont été analysés. Plus précisément, les motivations, mises en avant dans leur projet par les décideurs politiques, ont été examinées et classées par groupe. Les résultats de ce travail mettent en lumière la diversité d'imaginaires et de réappropriations qui existent en Wallonie derrière le concept de smart city. Concrètement, 10 catégories ont été formées et offrent une classification originale ainsi qu'un cadre conceptuel inspirant pour des décideurs locaux.