How interconnected SMEs in business cluster survive the economic crisis

M. Simona Andreano is an Associate Professor in Economic Statistics at University Mercatorum (Italy) and is Chairman of the course in Tourism Sciences. Previously, she was employed at the University of Chieti-Pescara and at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and obtained PhD in Statistics at the University of Bari (Italy) in 1996. For one year, she was also employed at the Italian National Statistical Office (Istat) as a Researcher in the Instruction Division. Her current research interests focus on time series modeling and spatial data analysis.

Roberto Benedetti is a Full Professor in Economic Statistics at University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy). He obtained his PhD in Methodological Statistics at “La Sapienza” University of Rome (Italy). For about eight years, he was employed at the Italian National Statistical Office (Istat) as Research Director and Head of the Agricultural Statistical Service. Since 2001, he has been employed at the University of Chieti-Pescara and currently is the Chairman of the Graduate Program in Business Economics. His current research interests focus on agricultural statistics, sample design, small area estimation and spatial data analysis.

Andrea Mazzitelli is an Assistant Professor of Economic Statistics at Universitas Mercatorum, where he teaches Economic Statistics and Business Statistics. He also is Rector’s delegate for coordination and organization of teaching and learning activities. He got PhD in Economic Statistics at the Sapienza University in Rome (Italy). He also taught Statistics at the L.U.I.S.S. University in Rome. He is member of Business Systems Laboratory in the research unit Mathematical and Statistical Methodologies for Systems Thinking. His main research interests are systems thinking approach, business statistics and spatial statistics.

Federica Piersimoni is a Senior Researcher at the Directorate for Methodology and Statistical Process Design at the Italian National Statistical Office (Istat) and previously worked at the Agricultural Statistics Division in the same Institute. She was a Visiting Researcher at the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at the Centre for Statistical and Survey Methodology of University of Wollongong. In 2014, she received PhD in Statistics from the University of Chieti-Pescara. Her main research interests concern disclosure control, sample design and spatial data analysis.

Davide Di Fatta, PhD in Economics and Management at the University of Messina (Italy), now collaborates with the SEAS Department at the University of Palermo (Italy). He is also junior member referent of the BS Lab and Associate Editor for International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Research and International Journal of Marketing and Business Systems. He is also member of the advisory board for many other international journals such as IJMS and IJICC.