Suchergebnisse

Gli studiosi da più parti hanno tentato di sistematizzare ed interpretare il complesso, e talvolta tortuoso, percorso di riforma che ha interessato la pubblica amministrazione italiana da oltre un ventennio, ricorrendo a paradigmi teorici già applicati in contesti internazionali. Tra questi, quello dell'accountability, nei suoi diversi profili e nell'ambito della teoria dell'agenzia, ha senz'altro rivestito uno dei più impiegati (Grey & Jenkins, 1993). Il tema è stato studiato ed analizzato da diversi punti di vista ma per quanto rileva ai fini del presente lavoro, l'ambito della political accountability appare quello più coerente poiché si riferisce alla responsabilità dei soggetti chiamati a gestire risorse pubbliche nell'operare nell'interesse della collettività e nell'essere responsabili per le proprie azioni. In questa prospettiva una delle esigenze più attuali è quella di instaurare un rapporto di comunicazione tra amministratori e cittadini che si inserisce nella logica della "resa del conto", tipica delle esperienze di rendicontazione innovativa come il rendiconto semplificato per il cittadino. L'obiettivo complessivo di queste esperienze è quello di innalzare il livello di trasparenza della gestione degli enti locali (Caperchione & Pezzani, 2000) trasformando la gestione dell'amministrazione in una "casa di vetro" all'interno della quale ogni stakeholder possa agevolmente individuare le informazioni di proprio interesse.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC), categorized in terms of four sub-constructs – namely, human capital (HC), relational capital (RC), innovation capital (InnC) and process capital (PrC) – and business performance in the agribusiness industry.


Design/methodology/approach
– Based on a sample of international agribusiness companies observed over a five-year period, this paper uses correlation and multiple regression analysis to test for the existence of a positive relationship between each IC component and conventional business performance metrics.


Findings
– The empirical results support the hypotheses that RC and PrC have a positive impact on corporate performance. Counter to the expectations, InnC by itself is negatively associated with performance. Results also failed to confirm the hypothesis that HC directly and positively affects performance. However HC positively moderates the relation between InnC and performance, which suggests that firms that heavily invest in HC are better placed to gain returns from their research and development (R
&
D) investments.


Originality/value
– This study expands the existing research on the link between IC and performance by adding fresh evidence from a highly knowledge-intensive sector which has been under-researched thus far. It may also contribute to the specific literature on R
&
D and performance as it uncovers that the value-generating effect associated with R
&
D investments is contingent on the levels of HC.

PurposeIn the past decade, intellectual capital (IC) measurement and reporting have been feeding scientific debate; however, only few studies address these issues together. The present research aims to provide an integrated view of the topics covered by the existing literature and to highlight the emerging research trends and set the agenda for future research.Design/methodology/approachThis study develops a structured literature review (SLR) of the extant research concerned with IC measurement and reporting, using a comprehensive sample of 1,021 articles extracted from the Scopus database.FindingsThe findings of the SLR show that the existing literature focuses on seven research areas: IC and public sector; IC university and education; IC evaluation method; internal and external IC disclosure; IC and CSR; management of IC in organizations; other. Overall, findings indicate that IC measurement and reporting are highly researched topics that continue to attract the interests of scholars. Finally, the SLR analysis has allowed outlining a future research agenda, with particular reference to the IC evaluation method and internal and external IC disclosure research areas.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of this research lies in the manual screening of relevant studies, which entails some degree of subjectivity. Furthermore, another limitation research could be considered the use of a single database (Scopus).Originality/valueThe present study brings potential contributions for scholars and practitioners. From a scholarly perspective, the paper provides a systematization of scientific contributions that have dealt with IC measurement and reporting. In particular, it contributes to the scholarly debate bringing into focus various IC measurement and reporting issues in the landscape of private and public organizations. Referring to practical implications, our research supports the strategic use of IC measurement and reporting as a key lever for improving the management of firms. Using an analytical framework that combines insights from the agency, stakeholder and legitimacy theories, this study highlights that IC reporting activity should be used strategically as a means to engage with all firm's stakeholders, in particular with a view to reducing information asymmetry and improving firm reputation.

The masses of supermassive black holes at the centres of local galaxies appear to be tightly correlated with the mass and velocity dispersions of their galactic hosts. However, the local Mbh–Mstar relation inferred from dynamically measured inactive black holes is up to an order-of-magnitude higher than some estimates from active black holes, and recent work suggests that this discrepancy arises from selection bias on the sample of dynamical black hole mass measurements. In this work, we combine X-ray measurements of the mean black hole accretion luminosity as a function of stellar mass and redshift with empirical models of galaxy stellar mass growth, integrating over time to predict the evolving Mbh–Mstar relation. The implied relation is nearly independent of redshift, indicating that stellar and black hole masses grow, on average, at similar rates. Matching the de-biased local Mbh–Mstar relation requires a mean radiative efficiency ε ≳ 0.15, in line with theoretical expectations for accretion on to spinning black holes. However, matching the 'raw' observed relation for inactive black holes requires ε ∼ 0.02, far below theoretical expectations. This result provides independent evidence for selection bias in dynamically estimated black hole masses, a conclusion that is robust to uncertainties in bolometric corrections, obscured active black hole fractions, and kinetic accretion efficiency. For our fiducial assumptions, they favour moderate-to-rapid spins of typical supermassive black holes, to achieve ε ∼ 0.12–0.20. Our approach has similarities to the classic Soltan analysis, but by using galaxy-based data instead of integrated quantities we are able to focus on regimes where observational uncertainties are minimized. ; FS acknowledges partial support from a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship. RC acknowledges financial support from CONICYT Doctorado Nacional N° 21161487 and CONICYT PIA ACT172033. DMA thanks the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for support from grant no. ST/L00075X/1. ID is supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 788679. MM acknowledges support from the Beatriu de Pinos fellowship (2017-BP-00114). ; Peer reviewed

BACKGROUND: Chiari malformation type 1 (CM1) is a rare condition where agreed classification and treatment are still missing. The goal of this study is to achieve a consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of CM1 in children. METHODS: A multidisciplinary panel formulated 57 provisional statements based on a review of the literature. Thirty-four international experts (IE) participated in a Delphi study by independently rating each statement on a 4-point Likert scale ("strongly disagree," "disagree," "agree," "strongly agree"). Statements that were endorsed ("agree" or "strongly agree") by < 75% of raters were re-formulated, or new statements were added, and another Delphi round followed (up to a maximum of three). RESULTS: Thirty-five IE were contacted and 34 agreed to participate. A consensus was reached on 30/57 statements (52.6%) after round 1. Three statements were added, and one removed. After round 2, agreement was reached on 56/59 statements (94.9%). Finally, after round 3, which took place during the 2019 Chiari Consensus Conference (Milan, Italy), agreement was reached on 58/59 statements (98.3%) about four main sections (Definition and Classification, Planning, Surgery, Isolated Syringomyelia). Only one statement did not gain a consensus, which is the "definition of radiological failure 24 month post-surgery." CONCLUSIONS: The consensus document consists of 58 statements (24 on diagnosis, 34 on treatment), serving clinicians and researchers following children with CM1. There is a clear need for establishing an international network and registry and to promote collaborative studies to increase the evidence base and optimize the long-term care of this patient population.