The 2008 crash has left all the established economic doctrines - equilibrium models, real business cycles, disequilibria models - in disarray. Part of the problem is due to Smith’s "veil of ignorance": individuals unknowingly pursue society’s interest and, as a result, have no clue as to the macroeconomic effects of their actions: witness the Keynes and Leontief multipliers, the concept of value added, fiat money, Engel’s law and technical progress, to name but a few of the macrofoundations of microeconomics. A good viewpoint to take bearings anew lies in comparing the post-Great Depression institutions with those emerging from Thatcher and Reagan’s economic policies: deregulation, exogenous vs. endoge- nous money, shadow banking vs. Volcker’s Rule. Very simply, the banks, whose lending determined deposits after Roosevelt, and were a public service became private enterprises whose deposits determine lending. These underlay the great moderation preceding 2006, and the subsequent crash.

The Economic Institutions of Capitalism

What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

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Qualitative Research in Information Systems

This paper presents an in-depth analysis toward understanding the business value components an organization can derive from adopting radio frequency identification (RFID). Although this subject is currently a hot topic, many organizations are slow in warming up to the idea of using RFID to conduct more effective and efficient business processes. We propose a framework for evaluating the business value of RFID technology, hoping that a better understanding of the business value of RFID will encourage more organizations to implement it. Emphasis is on delivering business value through refining business processes and expanding the business model. We illustrate these concepts drawing on the experience of five early adopters from the Taiwan healthcare industry and formulate this framework as a set of propositions based on relevant literature, cases from pioneers in the field and our intuition. These propositions will need to be validated through empirical evidence. r 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Evaluating the business value of RFID: Evidence from five case studies

The smart circular economy: A digital-enabled circular strategies framework for manufacturing companies

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the extant literature regarding the exploitation of digital technologies by illustrating how this type of IT can influence business process improvements in the healthcare industry.,The paper reports an illustrative case study for MSD Italy, the Italian subsidiary of the USA-based company Merck & Co., Inc. The group sells drugs for human use in Italy but is also active in the veterinary (MSD Animal Health) industry, with Vree Health, and in solutions and software-based services for the healthcare industry.,The results show that the adoption of digital technologies could improve the performance of main healthcare business processes, particularly those processes that can be simplified with the adoption of information technology. More specifically, digital technologies could increase efficiency and, at the same time, allow for the delivery of better quality and reduced response times, with many benefits for several stakeholders, such as national health systems, clinicians and patients.,Although some studies report the need for effective business processes for sustainable healthcare systems, there is a lack of literature regarding the specific implications of the adoption of such digital technologies for the business process management of healthcare firms. This paper attempts to fill in this gap.

The effect of digital technologies adoption in healthcare industry: a case based analysis

Globalization, variation in customer expectations, and the developments connected to Information & Communication Technology are usually considered as the main drivers of changes in Operations Manag...

How emerging digital technologies affect operations management through co-creation. Empirical evidence from the maritime industry

The paper addresses the factors influencing the SMEs’ entry choices in international markets and explores two factors: one related to the external environment and one dependent on firms. The first factor is the institutional context as the whole of formal and informal rules of the country target. The second is the market commitment, intended as resources committed in a particular market area: the experience firms get in foreign markets and a general attitude to maintain the international presence for a long period are the main sources of market knowledge. The aim of the study is to understand the effect of company-specific factors and of context-specific factors, namely the market commitment and institutional context, on SMEs’ entry choice mode in foreign markets. The paper develops a multiple case study analysis of four small international Italian firms. Built on the institutional theory and on the market commitment construct, the paper offers a conceptual model that shows that the institutional context strongly influences the amount of resources involved in the internationalization process, while the market commitment affects more the complexity – and intensity – of the process.

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The international entry choices of italian smes in emerging markets: a case-based analysis

Luxury is a very subjective concept, strictly connected to the values and assumptions people use to orientate their choices and behaviours. Values are concepts or beliefs, which refer to desirable states or behaviours and are used as standards or criteria to select or evaluate behaviour and events (Schwartz, 1994). They influence individuals' perceptions and choices, and this happens both at an individual and at a collective level. Our study is a working progress paper as a first attempt to investigate the effects of cultural values on the demand of luxury goods, to answer the following questions: Does consumers' perception of luxury goods vary across countries? Does culture affect this perception?

Elena Laurenza

Papers

The effect of digital technologies adoption in healthcare industry: a case based analysis

How emerging digital technologies affect operations management through co-creation. Empirical evidence from the maritime industry

The international entry choices of italian smes in emerging markets: a case-based analysis

New trends in luxury goods consumptions. a cross-cultural analysis