CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: THE REPORT FROM ITALIAN COMPANIES

This is an empirical analysis of CSR initiatives in the Italian region of Campania. The aim of this study is to clarify the share’s differences in environmental protection in the overall CSR activities as well as the evaluation of the altruistic attitudes on the essence of CSR. The regression model examines the impact of investments in CSR, cost-benefit analysis and territory size on companies' interest in CSR. Campania companies have got a pronounced environmental awareness due to a significant number of national associations promoting sustainable development and easier access to EU funds. When testing the altruistic attitude on CSR, companies in Campania are closer to the profit approach. Based on the results of regression analysis, the predictor variables synergistically explain CSR interest in Campania.

The impact of intrapreneurship strategy on business performances of Italian companies

Intrapreneurship is a decentralized management strategy applied in large and medium-sized companies. The strategy enables employees to use their entrepreneurial skills for the benefit of both the company and the employee. Talented employees get the opportunity to create ideas, undertake innovative ventures, to experiment, to gain access to financial resources and other resources in order to encourage innovative change and results. The creator of the idea was the Pinchot couple in 1978, but to this day the concept has undergone several evolutionary waves (Antoncic, 2020). The intrapreneurship strategy positively affects the agility in the company, raises efficiency, has a positive effect on team spirit, increases productivity, reduces costs and raises profitability. The main goal of the paper is to analyze the level of intrapreneurship presence in large and medium-sized companies in the Italian region of Campania. The influence of intrapreneurship parameters on companies' business indicators is also measured. An instrument for measuring intrapreneurship was created for the needs of paper. The instrument measures the presence of autonomous teams in the company, the possibility of taking business initiative, speed of access to resources for testing purposes and realization of new business ideas, encouraging risk with the aim of realizing business ideas, mobility of resources within the company, the degree of management tolerance in order to realize new business ideas of employees, the presence of rewards, the level of management support at all levels, the number of hierarchical levels in the company and the role of crowdsourcing in the development of internal entrepreneurship. After factor and regression analysis, Factor 1 has a dominant impact on all three business indicators, while Factor 2 has a smaller but statistically significant impact on the company's volume of business and investments

Food solidarity economy: evaluating transition community initiatives in Friuli Venezia Giulia region

Climate change, ecological challenges, and economic and social crises imply paradigmatic and structural innovations. In the effort to drive transition toward sustainability, local communities often take the lead, mobilize support, and organize initiatives based on the principles of solidarity economy. Our study presents a qualitative evaluation and comparison of three local bottom-up initiatives from Friuli Venezia Giulia, a Northern Italian region, each following alternative and unique models of production and consumption of wheat and flour. The reconstruction of the transition paths of the experiences, together with documental analysis and interviews, allowed us to deduce the influence of alternative approaches and subsequent degree of effectiveness in building a community and driving it toward sustainability.

Sports Consumption Behavior: Discovering Typologies of Amateur Cyclists

Introduction. Cycling is one of the most popular and practiced sports both in Europe and globally. However, management studies aimed at defining cyclists’ consumption behavior are still limited. The most recent contributions describe cycling consumption as an activity heavily influenced by the intensity and sociality of its practice but do not highlight the importance of expenditures related to participation in amateur cycling events and cycle tourism experiences. Starting from these behavioral dimensions, the article proposes an original segmentation of the sport and leisure market, leading to the identification of different profiles of amateur cyclists. Material and methods. The research was conducted on a sample of 182 cyclists located in one single Italian region to ensure a high level of social, economic and cultural uniformity. The data was collected by conducting a questionnaire, and its resulting information relating to sport and consumer behavior was processed through a cluster analysis procedure. Results. The results reveal the existence of five different amateur cyclists’ profiles (the parsimonious, the competitive, the ostentatious, the sociable and the experiential), each distinguished by specific behavior in terms of the intensity and way of conducting the sports activity and the propensity to incur different types of expenditure. Conclusions. From a theoretical point of view, the results confirm the effectiveness of behavioral segmentation in the market of sports consumption. From an operational point of view, they provide useful marketing indications for businesses operating in the sport-system chain and destination management operators.

Inefficiency of public hospitals: a multistage data envelopment analysis in an Italian region

Background The objective of this study was to assess public hospital efficiency, including quality outputs, inefficiency determinants, and changes to efficiency over time, in an Italian region. To achieve this aim, the study used secondary data from the Veneto region for the years 2018 and 2019. Methods A nonparametric approach—that is, multistage data envelopment analysis (DEA)—was applied to a sample of 43 hospitals. We identified three categories of input: capital investments (Beds), labor (FTE), operating expenses. We selected five efficiency outputs (outpatient visits, inpatients, outpatient visit revenue, inpatient revenue, bed occupancy rate) and two quality outputs (mortality rate and inappropriate admission rate). Efficiency scores were estimated and decomposed into two components. Slack analysis was then conducted. Further, DEA efficiency scores were regressed on internal and external variables using a Tobit model. Finally, the Malmquist Productivity Index was applied. Results On average, the hospitals in the Veneto region operated at more than 95% efficiency. Technical and scale inefficiencies often occurred jointly, with 77% of inefficient hospitals needing a downsizing strategy to gain efficiency. The inputs identified as needing significant reductions were full-time employee (FTE) administrative staff and technicians. The size of the hospital in relation to the size of the population served and the length of patient stay were important factors for the efficiency score. The major cause of decreased efficiency over time was technical change (0.908) rather than efficiency change (0.974). Conclusions The study reveals improvements that should be made from both the policy and managerial perspectives. Hospital size is an important feature of inefficiency. On average, the results show that it is advisable for hospitals to reorganize nonmedical staff to enhance efficiency. Further, increasing technology investment could enable higher efficiency levels.

Design and Implementation of an Electric Skibus Line in North Italy

To enhance the current Public Transport (PT) service in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, this work tries to plan fully a new electric Skibus line connecting the cities of Santa Caterina and Livigno. As a first try outside the city environment, the electrification study is set on a limited mountain zone hence featured by steep grades and cold temperatures. In the first part of the paper, the energy consumed by an electric bus working in such a context is assessed, and from the learned outcomes, proper charging infrastructure is proposed. From the found results, the introduction of a new electric bus line in the chosen region seems feasible. Finally, in the last part of the work the performances of an electric bus fleet are compared with that of a diesel one, in terms of fuel costs and Well-to-Wheel (WTW) emissions. The results prove that an electric fleet would be more convenient for both the economic and the environmental aspects.

Assessing Commuting Energy and Emissions Savings through Remote Working and Carpooling: Lessons from an Italian Region

Effective solutions are needed to decrease the greenhouse gases emissions of the transport sector, not only in terms of supply-side measures, but also including demand-side solutions. This paper focuses on the passenger demand related to daily commuting, either for work or study purposes. A bottom-up analysis is presented, which draws from detailed data for Lombardy, the most populous region in Northern Italy, to build an estimate of the annual energy consumption and emissions related to commuting. The potential of different measures to decrease emissions is evaluated, including the renovation of the vehicle stock, higher levels of remote working, and the deployment of carpooling schemes. The results show that the largest part of the current emissions from commuting is caused by car use, both due to its higher modal share and to the higher specific emissions, which are in turn also contributed by the low occupancy rates. The renewal of the current vehicle stock can lead to significant emission savings, thanks to both improved efficiency and higher shares of electrification. Remote working could also play a significant part, especially when it is applied to workers that face the longest commuting distances. Conversely, carpooling seems to be providing lower benefits, not so much because of lower effectiveness but more so because of constraints and barriers to its implementation.

EARLY TREATMENT WITH BAMLANIVIMAB ALONE DOES NOT PREVENT COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATION AND ITS POST-ACUTE SEQUELAE. A REAL EXPERIENCE IN UMBRIA, ITALY.

Background and Objective The use of monoclonal antibodies to the SARS-Cov-2 spike protein for early treatment of COVID-19 disease is being evaluated, with only phase 2 studies available, to date. Emergency authorization of bamlanivimab monotherapy was get in November 2020 by the FDA and in March 2021 by italian agency AIFA. Its use was then revoked in April 2021 by both. This study reports the results of bamlanivimab utilization in monotherapy in Umbria (Italian region), in order to verify whether, in a population with multiple risk factors, comparable results to phase 2 BLAZE1 trial had been obtained. Methods Retrospective observational study, between March and April 2021, in patients treated with bamlanivimab was performed. Demographic and clinical characteristics before and after infusion were evaluated. Moreover, a telephone interview about 30 days after the infusion was carried out to evaluate the overall course. Results All patients had an early infection (mean 4±1.73 days), almost all by alpha variant (97%). No adverse events to treatment were observed. Altogether within 30 days, the hospitalization rate was 20%, 15% for COVID-19 related pathologies , versus 4% at 11 days in BLAZE1 phase 2 study. Worsening of some symptoms observed at baseline such as asthenia (77 vs 51.3%), shortness of breath (38 vs 23%) was registered, as well as the onset of non-restorative sleep (41%). Conclusions The clinical outcome after bamlanivimab monotherapy was far below the expectation despite the patients had been infected by a theoretically sensitive viral variant.

A National Survey of Centers for Cognitive Disorders and Dementias in Italy

Background: Italy has one of the oldest populations in the World and more than one million dementia cases can be estimated at the national level. Objective: The objectives of this national survey include: 1) to report the administrative features and the professional competencies of Centers for Cognitive Disorders and Dementias (CCDDs); 2) to document possible discrepancies by geographic macro-area; and 3) to identify the features of CCDDs that are associated with a better quality in the provision of care. Methods: A survey of Italian CCDDs was conducted between February 2014 and December 2015. A list of CCDDs was obtained through direct interactions with designed delegates from each Italian region. A questionnaire was defined on five sections concerning: 1) location of the CCDD; 2) access to the CCDD; 3) organization of the CCDD; 4) services and treatments provided; and 5) quantitative data on the activities of the CCDD. Results: Overall, 577 out of the 597 eligible CCDDs returned the completed survey questionnaire (response rate: 96.6%): 260 (45.1%) from Northern Italy, 103 (17.8%) from Central Italy, and 214 (37.1%) from Southern-Islands Italy. More than a third of CCDDs were open only once or twice weekly. A median of 450 (IQR: 200–800) patients regularly attended these services. Most patients (70%) were affected by dementia or mild cognitive impairment (19%). Conclusion: We have provided a snapshot of the organization and activities of CCDDs in Italy and documented existing inequalities in the provision of care.