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Bank loans are divided into performing and non-performing loans (NPLs). NPLs are in turn divided into categories characterized by different degrees of difficulty of the debtor and level of risk for the creditor bank. Unlikely to pay loans (UTPs) are NPLs that have a non-zero probability of returning to the performing status. This paper analyzes at the firm and bank level the entire pool of UTPs vis-à-vis firms (UTP firms) in Italy from 2005 to 2019 to detect the characteristics of UTP firms that are more likely to return to the performing state. So far, the literature focused only on status changes from performing to NPLs. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that reverses the perspective and examines the drivers of return to the performing state. The paper shows that the factors most closely related to the new upgrade are — negatively — firm size and absolute value of debts, and — positively — capital and liquidity endowments. Results show that the soundness of lending banks increases the likelihood that firms return to the performing state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts on the regional progression toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the lens of the adoption of 2030 Agenda by firms from different Italian regions. Design/methodology/approach: Mixed methods were adopted. First, a content analysis was performed on 330 nonfinancial declarations released in the 2019–2021 period by a sample of 110 Italian listed companies from different regional macroareas. Second, regression analyses were run to test the impact of regional localization of businesses on SDGs adoption over pre-/during/post-COVID era. Findings: The regional localization of businesses does not affect the SDGs adoption in the pre-COVID-19 era because Italian firms mainly address social goals. Instead, SDGs adoption is affected by regional localization of businesses both during and post-COVID-19 age, when Northern firms prioritize economic and social goals, whereas Southern firms shift from social to environmental goals. Originality/value: This study fills the need of considering the subnational specificities in literature on sustainable development by capturing connections between firms, belonging territory, SDGs and COVID-19 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shareholders' agreements are quite common in many jurisdictions. Theory and empirical evidence suggest that they may have a positive or a negative impact on corporate governance structures depending on companies' characteristics and on the goals that these contracts pursue. Shareholders' agreements may be used as Control Enhancement Mechanisms (CEM) allowing controllers to circumvent rules that favor minority investors. However, comparing to other CEM, in many countries information regarding them is scarce. Is it necessary that shareholders' agreements in public corporations be fully informed? We examine the case of Chile (a country that only requires to inform that a shareholder agreement exists) and compare it to Italy and Brazil cases, countries where shareholders' agreements content is disclosed. We find out that the detail of the rules that impose or promote information might produce different results on the way that shareholders' agreements are used. For the case of Chile, we show that its use has increased over time and that case evidence show that they may have been used to circumvent minority rights. Shareholders' agreements play a much more important role in the control of public corporations in Chile than what has been previously discussed in corporate governance literature. The contribution of this paper is to provide evidence in favor of the importance of mandatory rules for shareholders' agreements disclosure and their design, not only where this information lacks, as in many developing countries, but also to reinforce the relevance of disclosure in developed markets, where the use of shareholders' agreements in public companies is also increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of corporate governance mechanisms, namely, board of directors and auditors, on tax aggressiveness in Italian companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a population of 168 Italian non-financial firms listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, holding shares in at least one foreign subsidiary in countries other than Italy in fiscal year 2018. Data on corporate boards and auditors were collected through the evaluation of companies' annual reports over the period 2011–2018. Five panel data analyses with fixed effects were performed for each tax aggressiveness index, yielding 1,176 observations to test the research hypothesis. Findings: This paper finds that corporate board characteristics, such as size, gender diversity and CEO duality, and auditors' features, such as external audit quality, increase corporate tax aggressiveness. Practical implications: This study provides investors with an understanding of corporate boards' and auditors' roles in preventing agency conflicts and evaluating a company's tax approach. Furthermore, the findings are useful for international political bodies in regulating corporate board composition and managerial monitoring. Originality/value: Almost all studies focusing primarily on corporate governance mechanisms' effects on tax aggressiveness are within the US context. Empirical evidence on the topic in the European contexts is limited. The legislative discrepancy between countries is reflected in the computation of indices measuring tax aggressiveness, affecting US studies' generalizability across nations. This paper extends the literature on the topic by investigating other unexplored corporate governance mechanisms. Five indices were used to measure corporate tax aggressiveness and to assess analysis reliability and data robustness. Moreover, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first attempt to investigate the link between corporate governance mechanisms and tax aggressiveness in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the effect of unregistered and informal sector business ventures on the growth of formal sector enterprises. The hypotheses tested is that formal sector enterprises that have to compete against unregistered or informal sector business ventures suffer from lower levels of performance, measured by annual sales growth, annual employment growth and annual productivity growth. To evaluate this thesis, data is reported from a World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) of 760 enterprises in Italy collected in 2019. The finding is that formal sector enterprises that report competing against unregistered or informal sector business ventures have significantly lower annual sales growth and annual productivity growth than enterprises that do not. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications, along with the limitations of the study and future research required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from business accounting to national accounts is carried out in this paper. The institutional units having a predominant economic interest in Italy are identified in particular for the sectors linked to Construction, Civil engineering works and Trade activities. A multivariate analysis of the economic variables (production, labor costs, intermediate consumptions, investments) allows to measure effective performance, both economic and financial, for global enterprises. Fiscal and statistical data with a profiling of these enterprises make possible to select a sub-set of medium and large sized units potentially interested in the phenomenon of foreign branch offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of migration on the export and production techniques of agri-industrial firms in the proximity of clusters of migrants. The analysis draws on an original dataset built through interviews conducted with agri-food firms in the Foggia province (southern Italy). Over the past two decades, this area has experienced a strong influx of migrants, who have concentrated in ghettos. The results do not support a pro-trade effect, but provide evidence for both a substitution and a complementarity effect of migrants on capital endowment, depending on the type of machinery used by the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the effects of services imports and exports on firm employment. We use microdata on Italian firms for the period 2009–2017. Applying a shift‐share instrumental variable approach, we show that services imports and exports have a positive impact on total employment. This finding holds for managers, white‐collar workers, and blue‐collar workers. We also show that services exports are particularly effective in increasing employment of "servitized" manufacturing firms as well as of companies that are deeply integrated into international services markets. Overall, this paper suggests that firm employment might largely benefit from the services trade dimension of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emerging stream of entrepreneurship studies is debating how knowledge composition influences the capacity of territories to give birth to new firms. This paper aims to study the dynamics linking new firm formation and relatedness. Some studies demonstrate that proximity between different but related sectors positively influences new firms formation. Others point out how the presence of unrelated sectors can have a more significant impact. This paper studies these dynamics across 27 individual industries, computing measures of external and internal relatedness for each sector in Italy, using data on new firm formation between 2012 and 2014. The results suggest the broadly positive impact of external relatedness on new firm formation when compared to the impact of internal relatedness. The sectoral study of the impact of relatedness on new business creation could increase policymakers' awareness of the capacity of individual sectors to promote favourable path-creation trajectories at the micro-level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting energy efficiency is a key element of the strategic commitment of the European Community. Prominent among the binding measures established by the 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive to further this vision is the requirement for large companies to conduct energy audits every four years. After receiving the second cycle of energy audit reports in December 2019, a new description of the energy situation of Italian companies was made available. This presented the previously inaccessible possibility of comparing the two situations reported in 2015 and 2019 to assess the development of energy efficiency practices in organizations subject to the legislative obligation of energy audits in the country. To this end, in collaboration with the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), a project was initiated with the aim of developing the tools and methodologies necessary to assess in more detail the evolution that has occurred in the four years since 2015. In this paper, the findings of the analysis conducted on a significant sample of companies in Italy are presented. Through the design of a maturity model to assess the degree of progress achieved in a company's energy management, the results of the two situations were analyzed. The analysis was deepened by assessing the progress achieved in different aspects of Energy Management: "Strategic Approach", "Awareness, Competence, and Knowledge", "Methodological Approach", "Organizational Structure", "Energy Performance Management and Information System", and "Best Practices". Furthermore, the observed variations were statistically tested using a pairwise t-test to make statistical inferences about the maturity of the total population of Italian enterprises under legislative obligation. The results have shown an increase in overall energy management maturity in each maturity dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at investigating the determinants of firms’ technological competencies and capabilities as defined by von Tunzelmann and Wang (Economie Appliquée 6:33-64, 2003). The analysis carried out in the paper shows that some company characteristics, such as size, being part of a group and internationalization, as well as cooperation channels significantly impact on the innovative behavior of Italian firms, in increasing both their likelihood of becoming actively innovative and their potential to economically exploit the returns from innovative activity. Moreover, also geographical location appears to be a significant relevant factor. The findings are based on firm-level data provided by the Italian Community Innovation Survey (CIS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on business groups played a significant role in the debate over the evolution of Italian industrial districts. The diffusion of business groups in industrial districts resulted in a hierarchization of productive relationships and increased output concentration. This paper focusses on the presence and the characteristics of business groups in industrial districts. We assume that there are particular features of business groups that are specific to district compared to non-district business groups: the former are less diversified, more spatially concentrated and with a higher level of hierarchization. We use a novel dataset on Italian manufacturing groups based on information provided by the AIDA database. The empirical evidence confirms our expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of labour protection laws on tax planning and capital investment. Exploiting a major reform that introduced firing costs in Italy for firms with fewer than 15 employees but left firing costs unchanged for larger firms combined with matched employer-employee data, I show that the rise in firing costs led small firms to increase tax avoidance and capital investment relative to larger firms. Robustness and placebo tests suggest that the results are causal. Overall, the findings indicate that tax avoidance allows small firms to generate internal funds to substitute labour for capital when employment protection becomes stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of extra‐EU workers on labour productivity in Italy. To this aim, we take advantage of firm‐level data derived from the Rilevazione Imprese e Lavoro (RIL‐AIDA) surveys merged with the AIDA‐Bureau Van Dijk archive over the period 2007–2015. Using an econometric strategy that accounts for firms' observed heterogeneity and endogeneity issues, we obtain the following results. First, an increase in the share of extra‐EU workers leads to a decline in labour productivity. Second, the relationship between extra‐EU workers and productivity appears to be different between firms located in centre‐north and those in southern regions. Third, the share of extra‐EU workers is also associated with a decline in average wages and sales per employee, even though this effect is less than that observed for productivity. Our findings support the hypothesis that the demand of immigrants arises as a labour cost reduction strategy and hence tends to weaken firms' competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by empirical evidence on firm networks in Italy, this paper explores the relationship between the nature of goods produced by firms operating in the same R&D network and their strategic location. We consider a two-firm spatial Cournot model deriving the conditions under which two firms create a cooperative link in order to share R&D cost-reducing investments. We show that the cooperative link is formed irrespective of the nature of goods produced by participating firms. However, the nature of goods produced affects the distance between firms belonging to the same networks; this distance tends to be greater when firms produce substitute goods. We also discuss the stability of the cooperative link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the growing literature on earnings management in private firms by focusing on deferred taxes. This accounting treatment requires sophisticated use of accruals that provides the chance to manage earnings and net assets without affecting the tax payable. We argue that in a setting with high book-tax conformity, the small room that allegedly exists to recognise deferred taxes remains a comfortable avenue to reach reporting objectives that a tax-minimisation strategy may preclude. We use a sample of private firms operating in a credit- and tax-driven environment such as Italy to test this expectation. Our results show that private firms use deferred taxes to extract multiple financial reporting benefits that may facilitate debt contracting: smoothing earnings over time, meeting/beating historical earnings, avoiding reporting accounting losses, and managing leverage. Tax loss carryforwards are the source of deferred tax assets where the exercise of discretion becomes more critical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom concerning Italian industry does not fit well into the general scheme of the Second Industrial Revolution as constituted by the growth and diffusion of large-size enterprises. This wisdom held that Italian industry was dominated by a small group of large enterprises as a direct consequence of the country's backwardness. These enterprises were weak giants, unable to attain the dynamic advantages usually reaped by such organizations. Such interpretations have been generally based on qualitative evidence because the quantitative evidence is very scanty. The older studies suggest a very high concentration, while recent studies stress the evidence of scale economies and market imperfections. Neither result is convincing for technical reasons. This paper therefore aims at a reassessment based on a newly constructed database of Italian joint stock companies. This evidence does not support the traditional view. Rather, it indicates that concentration indices are fairly low and that they do not grow over the period, the bulk of the firms being of medium size and the giant companies few. Although such a situation could be attributed to Italian backwardness, the paper concludes that this view is too simplistic. It concludes by showing how successful Italian companies have been able to take advantage of their size by means of flexible strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines empirically whether firms located in strong industrial clusters are more innovative than firms located outside these regions. The study performs a firm-level analysis for two countries: Italy and the United Kingdom. European patent data for the period 1990-98 are used as indicator of firms' innovative activity, and are related to employment in the region where the firms are located, and other cluster-specific and firm-specific variables. The main result of the paper is that clustering alone is not conducive to higher innovative performance. Whereas location in a cluster densely populated by other innovative firms positively affects the likelihood of innovating, quite strong disadvantages seem to arise from the presence of non-innovative firms in a firm's own industrial sector. Regarding the impact of other industrial sectors, preliminary results seem to indicate, in the case of Italy, that a strong presence of firms in other related industries spurs innovative performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study aims to verify the presence, evolution and determinants of voluntary environmental disclosure from companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. The authors examined documentation of listed firms from 2006 and 2009. These years immediately precede and follow Italian legislative decree n. 32/2007, which introduced (albeit on a voluntary basis) disclosure of environment-related company information. Design/methodology/approach – The authors’ approach utilizes multivariate regression analysis. The disclosure index of the years 2006 and 2009 represents the dependent variable. Independent variables include firm size, business industry, public shareholders, legislation and environmental performance. Findings – The results show positive effects on environmental disclosure related to legislative decree n. 32, the presence of government shareholdings in firms’ ownership structure, business industry and firm size. The interrelation between firm size and environmental performance shows that large companies give more information only if they produce more environmental pollution, to legitimize themselves to stakeholders. Research limitations/implications – Despite the authors’ contributions concerning environmental information described in the Introduction, they must express two limitations of their analysis. First, the sample analyzed is quite small (only 44 firms). Second, carbon dioxide emissions was chosen as an indicator of atmospheric pollution, yet emissions information has not been provided by Italian firms (even those that are listed on the Milan Stock Exchange), despite being accepted internationally as a measure of environmental performance in business. In addition, in Italy, there is no database ranking firms on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Practical implications – There are many reasons behind the weak or even negative roles of managers regarding social and environmental disclosure. These reasons include a dearth of resources, the profit imperative, lack of legal requirements, insufficient knowledge or awareness, poor performance and fear of bad publicity. What seems to be a real obstacle is the lack of knowledge about non-financial disclosure – in particular, how to gauge, produce and release information when it comes to a firm’s interaction with environment and society, and this void causes low levels of disclosure and even the absence of such action. Some of the reasons for non-disclosure might be attributed to a lack of awareness and knowledge among corporate managers regarding CSR reporting, in general, and disclosure on eco-justice issues, in particular. Originality/value – The first contribution of this work is to realize, for the first time, a specific analysis on Italian firms’ environmental disclosures. Moreover, the study extends this analysis to all entities’ informative documents. This paper also allows an examination of effects of new legislation that encourages environmental information in a corporation’s financial annual report. Finally, this is the first paper to conduct quantitative analysis on firms in the Italian financial market concerning environmental disclosure, as well as regression analysis to identify determinants of firms’ disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an Italian firm-level panel data-set over the period 1994-2006 to investigate the nexus between corporate taxation and investment. Studying the effects of corporate taxation on investment at the micro level has two advantages. Firstly, investment is free of aggregation biases and secondly, the firm-level dimension allows asking whether the effects of corporate taxation differ across firms with different characteristics. In the empirical analysis, we employ a Generalized Method of Moments estimator, which permits us to handle not only the dynamic structure of the model and of the predetermined or endogenous explanatory variables, but also firm-specific factors, heteroskedasticity, and autocorrelation of individual observations. We find that corporate taxes distort investment decisions. The results are robust to the inclusion of many controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to explore knowledge management (KM) practices implemented by third-party logistics service companies (3PLs) and the main barriers slowing down the adoption of such practices.Design/methodology/approach The methodological approach used in this paper is based on a multiple case study analysis involving a set of 3PLs operating in Italy and Sweden. The empirical analysis has explored the KM practices used by 3PLs and the main barrier hindering their adoption.Findings In spite of some adoption, the findings suggest that 3PLs are not sufficiently realizing the full potential of KM. The evidence also indicates that there is a link between the type of 3PL company (in terms of the breadth and complexity of the services supplied) and the sophistication of KM tools adopted.Research limitations/implications From a research point of view, further research should focus on the validation of the link between the number and sophistication of KM tools used and the breadth of services supplied. Further research should also focus on exploring how KM can support 3PL companies in enhancing their performance.Practical implications From a practical point of view, the findings may help the management of 3PL companies to take a more strategic approach to KM and thus its contribution to the firms’ overall goals. Additionally, it is critical to conduct a careful analysis of current and future KM needs to identify the most suitable KM solutions linked to the specific characteristics of the business in which 3PLs operate.Originality/value This study provides fresh insights into the adoption of KM practices in logistics service organizations. The findings advance the limited body of knowledge regarding this topic and contribute to the further development of the study of KM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Italian economy is characterised by a large number of micro‐firms and small firms and by a long‐lasting gap between North and South Italy. Therefore, global shocks – such as the Great Recession – have had a heterogeneous impact at the local level: the collapse in private demand was unequally distributed across different products, services and regions. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to evaluate the impact of the Great Recession on firm's survival for the universe of Italian firms in the light of two relevant indicators: local exposure to crisis and local demand shocks. The results suggest a strong negative impact of local demand shocks on the survival of firms, whereas the degree of exposure to the crisis generally has a weak effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a contingency view to investigate how the role of early adopters ( EAs) in the diffusion process changes between platform and nonplatform innovations, what launch decisions firms take to leverage the role of EAs, and how these decisions change between platform and nonplatform innovations. Relying on an exploratory multiple case study of eight industrial product innovations launched in Italy in the 2000s, the paper suggests that the EAs of these innovations play two distinct roles in the diffusion process. The first role, called dissemination, sees EAs triggering and bolstering the propagation of information regarding their opinion about the value for money, properties, advantages, and disadvantages of the new product after they have bought and applied it in their operations. The second role, labeled imitation, consists of EAs inadvertently communicating to later buyers the fact that they have bought the new product, which propels imitative behavior and thus subsequent adoption. A key finding of the paper, which supports a contingency view of innovation diffusion, is that the dissemination role played by EAs has an impact on the adoption of platform innovations, whereas the imitation one is the mechanism through which EAs stimulate subsequent adoption in the case of nonplatform new products. Furthermore, the paper's results point to a constructive view of the process of launching an innovation, whereby firms target at launch different segments of EAs, whose identity is shaped depending on the platform versus nonplatform nature of the innovation and thus on the role they are expected to play in the diffusion process. Concerning managerial implications, this study provides a first tentative understanding of the launch decisions that product and marketing managers may use to target the most appropriate segments of EAs, to leverage their roles and ultimately to favor diffusion. As regards platform innovations, targeting decisions should be driven by the goal to improve the chances that EAs will be willing to disseminate their experience and opinion regarding the new product. As regards instead nonplatform innovations, firms should target EAs whose specific characteristics increase the likelihood of an imitative reaction by later buyers that fear to suffer a competitive disadvantage if they do not conform to EAs' behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an empirical investigation targeting companies operating in Northern Italy and focusing on some main topics of maintenance. Design/methodology/approach – Through a combined application of factor analysis and cluster analysis, the paper first identified the main approaches implemented by Italian companies with the purpose of preventing failures and reducing their consequences. Then, the paper grouped companies on the basis of such approaches, and derived the profile of each cluster, in terms of both the company's characteristics and some key maintenance elements, including the maintenance policy or the use of advanced techniques to make maintenance interventions more effective. Findings – Results of this study suggest that the approach to maintenance management could be related to the implementation of specific maintenance policies, as well as to other topics, such as the company characteristics, the use of advanced techniques for enhancing maintenance effectiveness and the criteria used for selecting the maintenance policy. Research limitations/implications – The sample of companies investigated in this study is quite limited, and prevented the possibility of providing statistical evidence of all outcomes. Practical implications – The outcomes of this study can be useful for practitioners to understand the positioning of companies towards the implementation of maintenance policies, as a function of their approach to maintenance management. Originality/value – This study complements previous empirical works on maintenance by exploring the relationships between maintenance management, maintenance policies, the application of different tools and techniques for maintenance management, and the criteria adopted for the maintenance policy selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between the practices put in place by firms to search for local and distant knowledge, ambidexterity and firms’ performances; attention is then focused on analysing the antecedents and consequences of ambidexterity in the search phase of the innovation process. Structural equation modelling has been used in order to test these hypotheses in a sample of Italian high-tech companies. Results of the study show a positive impact of the practices used by firm to search for distant knowledge on both ambidexterity and firms’ performances as well. Implications of these results are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between immigration and firms for Italy at NUTS 3 level, during the period 2012–2015. The main contribution to the existing literature is to provide results disaggregated at the sectoral level, taking into account the important heterogeneities existing across both provinces and sectors. At the aggregate level, the main result is the positive effect of immigrants on both the number of local units and employees. The analysis on employees by citizenship suggests that there are no displacement effects of immigrants relative to both Italian and foreign employees. When moving to the sectoral perspective, the results display a highly heterogeneous picture. However, sectors showing a statistically robust link for both establishments and employees sum up to 52 per cent of total value added and 48 per cent of total employment, while for five out of 19 sectors, immigrants do not exert any impact, neither in terms of local units nor employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ongoing dispute in comparative corporate governance studies concerns the extent to which cross-country convergence towards, essentially, the shareholder primacy view is occurring. While some scholars, especially legal scholars and economists, have predicted (and sometimes advocated) a convergence of corporate governance practices towards the Anglo-American model of (seemingly) shareholder primacy, others sharply disagree and point to the persistence of stakeholder-oriented governance in many countries. Banking, from the point of view of corporate governance convergence, is an interesting industry, for at least two reasons: (i) banks are peculiar types of business organizations, entailing specific governance rules in most systems; (ii) banks are (monetary) financial intermediaries more and more active on capital markets, and thus more and more exposed to the isomorphic pressures generated on corporate governance by those markets. Thus, predictions on the convergence or divergence of banks' corporate governance are not easy to make. The present paper aims to contribute to the scholarly dispute by analysing the Italian case, which has seen, over the past 30 years or so, an apparently unfettered process of transformation of banks' governance and ownership towards the shareholder primacy model – a process epitomized by the recent reforms of the country's cooperative banking sector. 'Apparently', because a closer look at the legal and regulatory bases of banks' corporate governance actually shows many sources of divergence from the shareholder primacy model. Thus, the contribution proposed by the present study is twofold: first, it extends the 'convergence' discussion to the banking industry, where specific dynamics may help us better 'test' the hypotheses developed in the 'convergence' debate; second, it emphasizes alternative divergent patterns to those normally identified in the literature, where divergent 'practice' is often opposed to converging laws. Here, the sources of resistance to convergence are found in law itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents one of the most interesting collaborative networked organisations in Italy, namely Gruppo Poligrafico Tiberino (GPT), the first organisation that adopts the governance model with the Virtual Development Office (VDO) structure. The VDO is an innovative model that introduces products/services innovation through collaboration between companies, with a particular focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In effect, the existing forms of collaboration are evolving towards the direction of extending the classical collaboration fields of supply chains including phases like product and service development. However, when collaboration is established exclusively among SMEs, the introduction of new products/services becomes much more difficult. This is due to the lack of the actions of a leader firm, that is, a big company that is able to innovate. The VDO model is introduced to overcome this limit, and to stimulate innovation in collaborative networks of SMEs. GPT network is constituted by 21 companies belonging to the paper converting, packaging and logistics sectors. The nature of the collaboration is based on a long-term strategy vision, giving to the network more competitive advantages, with respect to the classical collaborative alliances in Italy, such as industrial districts, cooperatives, consortiums or temporary associations. Started from a national research project, currently it is a very fast growing up reality; the significant results achieved and the strong interests coming from Institutions, Ministries and Universities make GPT a real success both under the industrial and the academic perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – Literature on board interlocks agrees that these inter-organizational ties are effective channels to exchange information and share knowledge. However, studies that consider the nature and the amount of knowledge that firms exchange are still relatively absent. Filling this gap, this paper aims to identify four types of mechanisms that can be recognised as drivers of interlocks' creation. The first two types deal more strictly with the nature of the knowledge that directors sitting on the board of other firms possess. The other two respond to the willingness of firms to increase their exposure to different sources of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – Through a statistical analysis the authors study the relationship between the presence of board interlocks and the type of knowledge embedded in these inter-organizational ties. To test the hypotheses the authors conduct a longitudinal analysis of the whole population of Italian listed firms covering the period from 1998 to 2006. Findings – It is shown that interlocking directorates are mainly associated with an exchange of knowledge in the usual domains of the firm while they are rare in the case of new knowledge. That is, ties among firms of the same industry proliferate while interlocks with organizations of different sectors are infrequent. The only exceptions are links between manufacturing and financial firms driven by the need to share sensible information typical in a borrower-lender relationship. Originality/value – The paper introduces and tests a knowledge exchange perspective in analysing interlocking directorates. Differently from previous studies it argues that interlocks can be seen as means to link, through shared directors, different knowledge domains. Thus the paper contributes to the understanding of formation and deletion of these kinds of inter-organizational ties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: This paper focuses on the relationship between one of the main corporate governance dimensions - ownership structure - and income smoothing. The paper investigates whether family-controlled companies differ from non-family-controlled companies with respect to income smoothing. Due to different incentives of management and owner investment horizons, we hypothesize that income smoothing is less likely among family-controlled companies than among non-family-controlled companies. Additionally, we hypothesize that among family-controlled firms income smoothing is less likely when CEO and Board Chairman are members of the controlling family. Various definitions of 'family control' are applied. A sample of Italian listed companies is used for the empirical analysis. Research Findings/Insights: We find evidence that income smoothing is less likely among family-controlled companies than non-family-controlled companies. Moreover, among family-controlled companies, income smoothing is less likely for firms whose CEO and Board Chairman are members of the controlling family. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This paper fills a gap in the literature, suggesting that not only the level of ownership concentration or insider ownership but also the nature of the dominant shareholder (family versus non-family) should be considered when addressing the motivations for income smoothing. Furthermore, our findings indicate that agency theory and stewardship theory are complementary in explaining the role played by family control in income smoothing decisions. While in non-family-controlled companies the traditional owner-manager agency problems tend to prevail and motivate income smoothing, in family-controlled companies such agency issues become less relevant and a stewardship attitude emerges, rendering income smoothing less likely. Practitioner/Policy Implications: This study is of interest to financial statement users, including analysts and investors, as it shows that different company types (e.g., family versus non-family) have a different attitude towards income smoothing. In particular, these results aid users in interpreting the company's reported profitability and its potential variability. The conclusions also are of interest to auditors when evaluating the reliability of the reported income of companies characterized by various ownership structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of board and audit committee meeting frequency. Design/methodology/approach - The determinants studied are related to the ownership structure and to the board characteristics. The study is conducted in an agency setting featured by high ownership concentration and large insider shareholders. Hypotheses are developed based on agency theory. The empirical evidence is provided by a sample of Italian listed companies. Negative binomial regression is used in the multivariate analysis to test the relationships. Robustness checks provide further empirical support. Findings - The paper finds that insider ownership negatively impacts - either on the board or on the audit committee meeting frequency - whilst the proportion of independent directors in the board has a positive impact. This evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that insider ownership and board independent monitoring are substitute control mechanisms. The findings also show that audit committees are more active in larger firms. Originality/value - The paper provides an agency theory-based explanation of the board and the audit committee meeting frequency, in a setting featured by large controlling shareholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Many companies claim they are adopting an open approach to innovation, but each of them with its own way. This paper aims to explore the different models for opening up the innovation process adopted in practice. Design/methodology/approach - The paper utilises an extended survey among Italian manufacturing companies, cluster analysis and ANOVA. Findings - The study distinguishes four different open innovation models with respect to two variables, representing the degree of openness: the number and type of partners with whom the company collaborates (partner variety), and the number and type of phases of the innovation process open to external collaborations (innovation phase variety). They are: open and closed innovators, integrated and specialized collaborators. The paper describes each cluster in terms of firm-specific variables that characterize Open Innovation choices; at last, it tries to draw some tentative explanation of the influence of openness on the innovative performance of companies. Research limitations/implications - The number of respondents is still limited (about 100). Moreover, it studied only the relationship between some firm-specific factors and the degree of openness (in terms of partner and phase variety): a wider investigation is recommended to include more variables to define the openness degree and more contextual factors. Practical implications - The paper provides managerial implications because it suggests that open innovation is not an "on/off" choice, but it can be interpreted and adopted with different degrees, consistently with the company's specific context. Originality/value - The paper introduces a new perspective that integrates the number/typology of both partners and phases, in order to understand if such perspective can confirm the existence of different open innovation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of innovative workplace practices in a sample of manufacturing establishments. Design/methodology/approach -- The sample comprises manufacturing establishments located in Italy and a comparable sample extracted from the British Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS). The paper controls for sector, size, skill quality and industrial relations. Findings -- Job rotation and technical training are positively associated with current performance in both samples. On average, British establishments are more productive: the different endowment in terms of workplace practices, skills and industrial relations accounts for 40 per cent of the gap, while the different efficacy of the endowment on performance accounts for the remainder. Originality/value -- In both samples the introduction of team working implies a relatively important advance along the reorganisation process, which was undertaken in the early stages of reorganisation in British establishments but much later in Italian firms. Linking the progression of the reorganisation to non-convexities in supermodular production functions may be an interesting line of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at analyzing the main features of Research and Development (R&D) activities carried out by the Italian biotech companies. It was decided to focus on the biotech industry, because of the specific features of its knowledge firms (Kamath, 2007), that deeply influence both the strategic behavior of firms and the economic environment of the countries where they operate. Keeping in mind the different types of biotech firms operating at global level, it was finally decided to concentrate on the Italian red biotech segment (that is healthcare biotech companies which develop drugs and diagnostics). The Italian independent firms and Multinational Companies (MNCs) were studied separately. Analyzing the peculiarities of how Italian independent firms and MNCs manage R&D activities, efforts were made to find out the existence of a different approach to R&D investments. This paper is divided into four main parts. In the first part, the main relevant features of biotech firms are discussed and the literature background presented. The second part deals with sample and methodology description. In the third part, the main results regarding the analysis of R&D activities carried out by the red Italian biotech companies are presented. The paper ends with the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we test two hypotheses concerning the presence of innovation in venture capital investments and the growth of innovative venture backed firms. To examine these hypotheses we considered sample of 37 Italian venture backed firms that went public on the Italian Stock Exchange between 1995 and 2004 and by a statistical matching procedure we picked 37 twin firms among the non-venture backed IPOs for the same period. Our evidence shows that innovation is an important factor during the selection phase but once the investment is made, the company does not promote continued innovation and concentrates all efforts to improve other economic and managerial aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rethinking the traditional understanding of organizational purpose appears to be necessary. A teleological paradigm shift seems to be on its way, changing the focus of attention from considering business organizations as instruments used to generate profits toward a more comprehensive understanding of their purpose and of the benefit they can create for society. Recently, new organizational entities have emerged, accompanied by the renewal of institutional frameworks, among them are benefit corporations. Italy was the first European country to introduce a legal framework to define the benefit corporation as a particular legal entity. The Italian law on the benefit corporations proposes the promotion of firms that pursue the generation of benefit in a responsible, sustainable, and transparent way and considering diverse stakeholders. This paper explores and describes the multidimensional understanding of benefit and purpose of Italian benefit corporations, utilizing qualitative and quantitative content analysis of 94 Italian benefit corporations' purpose declarations, and providing a deep insight into the purpose declared by benefit corporations. The research highlights a certain vagueness in public declarations of the purpose of benefit corporations, even though it is clear that they attempt to differentiate themselves from traditional businesses by focusing on social objectives more than on economic ones. Furthermore, normative compliance emerged, but further normative requirements seem to be needed to make more effective the transformative potentiality of benefit corporations and to avoid risks of opportunistic behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the potential of collective bargaining to generate mutually advantageous flexibility and security outcomes at firm level. By focusing attention on actors' negotiating capacity at sites in Denmark and Italy of four large chemical‐pharmaceutical companies, it provides a nuanced, comparative explanation. The findings demonstrate that, across countries, differences in actors' capacity and negotiated outcomes are attributable to the stability and depth of collective bargaining institutions. Within country differences are accounted for by the organisational resources (internal democracy, external links and pro‐activity) of local trade unions, which condition their capacity to induce management to negotiate outcomes which benefit both parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores the link between bankruptcy law and firms' dynamics, focusing on Italy as a case study. Relying on a previous literature dealing with the concept of entrepreneurship "friendly" bankruptcy law, we stress the idea that bankruptcy institutions, although connected to a painful event for firms, might still yield beneficial consequences on a societal level. In particular, we find evidence that quicker judicial resolutions of liquidation bankruptcies have an impact on firms' entry and exit rates in Italy, by reducing the indirect costs that a bankrupt firm must undergo and allowing a quicker reallocation of assets towards more efficient destinations. Such effect is related with firms' organizational structure and size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this paper is threefold: giving a description of how much internet-based tools are used in inter-firm supply chain relationships in Italy; analysing the different adoption behaviours of such tools held by Italian firms; and describing the main features of the firms using the internet for supply chain (SC) management, in terms of structures, players, processes and governance. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on a survey carried out by involving Italian firms having more than 50 million euros turnover: 1,458 firms were involved and 463 answered, with a 31.8 per cent response rate. Firm referents were first-level managers from SC, distribution, procurement or the IT/IS areas. The questionnaire was designed in five sections investigating: general SC features; internet-based tools diffusion; main effects in terms of efficacy, effectiveness and customer value; relationships governance; general information about the firm. Findings - Three adoption modalities can be pointed out: firms are divided in those mainly oriented to SC execution processes, from those mainly driven to collaboration in new product development or marketing processes. Most of the former operate with high-order frequency and low product complexity in a make-to-catalogue environment, while the latter face higher product complexity, variability and customization: the use of the tools is consistent with firms' strategies. Correlation is found between the use of internet-based tools and the collaborative environment within the SC, as marked by intense information and knowledge sharing among partners. Originality/value - The paper gives a description of the adoption modalities of internet-based tools by large Italian companies. Because of the high response rate and the international context characterizing such firms - most of them are branches of international companies, findings are generalizable and can be used to understand adoption behaviours of most firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the role of lending technologies and banking relationships on firms' credit access in Italy. Using EFIGE firm-level data, we show that the depth and strength of firm–bank relationships have heterogeneous effects on credit demand and rationing probabilities depending on the size of the borrower. Multiple banking relationships alleviate financial constraints for small firms, while borrowing from a large number of lenders hinders access to credit for large companies. Small and medium-sized enterprises with a higher share of debt with the main bank have a lower probability of being credit denied, as debt concentration contributes to overcome the opacity problems typical of the SMEs. Long-lasting relationships, by reducing information asymmetries, significantly improve access to credit for small and large firms. Conversely, we find that medium-sized enterprises are more exposed to financing constraints as relationship duration increases, due to possible lock-in effects. Finally, firms maintaining banking relationships based on transactional technologies are more likely to be credit denied, while the use of relationship lending technologies improves credit availability for both small and large enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has been applied to territories, although academia has not frequently undertaken exploration of RBV applied to clusters in an empirical base. The goal of this paper aims at empirically translating RBV to the territory with a double objective. First, the work seeks to understand which are the cluster's resources and capabilities. Second, the paper evaluates whether a cluster's unique set of resources and capabilities could influence a cluster's performance. Research is applied to leading European ceramic tile clusters located in Spain (Castellon) and Italy (Emilia-Romagna). Comparing clusters in the same industry allows benchmarking and the metrics make more sense. Secondary data and face-to-face semi-structured interviews with managers from the R&D Institutes, institutional agents and Castellon (59) and Emilian (19) firms assess a cluster's resources and capabilities. The employed variables address skilled labour availability, social capital, linkages, business sophistication and network effects. In addition, and through the utilization of financial and productivity data the work analyses whether there are performance differences. Results indicate that clusters have a unique set of resources and capabilities and a certain performance level. On the whole, a cluster's unique set of resources and capabilities matter. The paper offers a methodological approach to tackle empirically the RBV application to clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis tries to discover an empirical validation to back up the hypothesis that the Italian phenomenon of social reporting has changed with regard to the past and is growing in importance. After considering the evolution of Italian literature on the issue, the paper tries to find connections between this literature and social reporting practices. Empirical findings are based on 62 Italian social reports. The paper tries to answer three questions: (a) what kind of organization publishes social reports; (b) what are the main differences, if any, between different reports belonging to diverse organizations; (c) which are the leading models. Social reports have been sorted according to three main issues: report objectives, emerging models and stakeholder mapping. Collected data suggest that there is a common ground for organizations in socially responsible behaviour, but also that this common ground fits the need of every single organization. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates which company characteristics affect the decision to introduce profit-sharing. Unlike most studies, this paper relies on a ten-year panel. The results presented in this paper are based on the estimation of a panel data fixed-effect logit model. Given that they are immune from heterogeneity bias, it is believed that these results are more reliable than those obtained by estimating cross-sectional models. These results are in line with the common findings of the literature. Companies that are more likely to introduce profit-sharing (PS) are larger finns which invest more, due to the lower cost of debt, and tend to pay higher wages as an incentive to boost the initially lower productivity. These companies are more likely to undertake investment projects which support the interpretation of PS as a risk-sharing device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a quantitative study carried out on more than 200 manufacturing plants located in Italy. The study aimed to explore whether small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Italy are more responsive than large enterprises and determine what the levers are that these enterprises would employ to achieve their responsiveness. Logistic responsiveness has been considered a key driver of competitiveness. Several studies have suggested that company size is a major determinant of responsiveness and that SMEs have both strengths and weaknesses that influence their ability to promptly react to customer needs. The evidence of this study indicates that SMEs are more responsive than large companies in terms of delivery. This performance advantage is mainly the result of a rather narrow product range and a simpler product structure that allows SMEs to enjoy shorter manufacturing and assembly lead times. On the other hand, this study also shows that SMEs perform worse than large enterprises with respect to longer set-up times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do companies to be listed deal with the voluntary disclosure of their business model? Is it true that firms with greater intellectual capital resources and technological innovation endowments are less prone to full disclosure? This paper aims to examine the choices of voluntary disclosure of the business model made by three Italian manufacturing companies in initial public offering prospectuses. The objective is to explore whether any differences exist and may be related to the type of innovation underlying the firms' business model. A series of interviews with the top management allows to deeply understand the business model of each company. A content analysis allows to measure the level of disclosure and identify the strategic concepts of the business model and their relevance. The study provides evidence that companies with a business model based on technology-push and design-driven innovation have a lower propensity to the full disclosure of their intangible resources, particularly of those based on knowledge as some could be also invisible. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of business and financial reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a large unbalanced panel dataset of more than 12,000 Italian manufacturing firms for the period 1999-2007, this paper investigates the role of geographic concentration and related variety on firms' total factor productivity ( TFP). The main idea is that diversification-captured by a measure of vertically related variety-promotes firm innovativeness and, consequently, productivity, but when the technology has been consolidated, firms join specialized clusters that enhance efficiency. Our results suggest that the effect on firms' TFP of geographic concentration is stronger than that of related variety. We also confirm previous findings on the relevance of agglomeration forces for small firms compared with medium and large firms, where these agglomerative forces do not seem to influence TFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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