1,721,087 research outputs found
From Skin Care to Health Care: Female entrepreneurship, profitability and humanistic management in Veralab case
No full textThis work aims to highlight how distinctive features of Humanistic Management and
Entrepreneurship can be pursued in SMEs, enhancing female entrepreneurship role and
contributing to overcome economic crisis such as the one caused by the Covid-19
pandemic. The study presents an enquiry into how increasing profitability and fostering
dignity and health safety in workplace can be simultaneously pursued by adopting an
entrepreneurial vision belonging to the humanistic management approach. Consequences
of Covid-19 outbreak and its containment lockdown measures has been hitting hard on
SMEs and Italian economy. Unlike previous economic crisis, female work has been
especially affected. Against this scenario, Veralab Re-Forme Srl has reached wide
popularity thanks to its unprecedented good economic results during the pandemic year
2020 (among the “champions” according to ItalyPost study center) and the virtue-based
business model pursued by its owner and founder Cristina Fogazzi resting on intangible variables that are at stake within entrepreneurial vision and goals. Drawing from the
analysis of the case-study the role of humanistic values adopted by the entrepreneur are
thus discussed to assess the relationship between good economic performance and covidcontainment
best practices and point out how the humanistic features of the business model
have impacted on the firm’s success in troubled times
Bottom-Up or Top-Down: Which is the best approach to improve CSR and Sustainability in local contexts? Reflections from Italian experiences
No full textSustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration?
Full text linkAbstract: Benefit Corporations and B Corps represent alternative models of enterprise, often referred to as “hybrid companies” that bridge the for-profit and not-for-profit models. Italy is the first country outside the USA to pass Benefit Corporation legislation and introduce the Società Benefit . A large number of Italian Benefit Corporations are small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs), since SMEs are widespread within the entrepreneurial fabric and have great relevance in the Italian socio-economic context. A key issue in the emerging debate on small- and medium-sized Benefit Corporations concerns how these companies—with limited reach and considerable financial and human resource constraints—can effectively absorb their added social responsibility. In particular, such firms need to manage their dual mission, integrate social and environmental goals in their business model, and incorporate accountability mechanisms, all while scaling up and garnering the necessary resources to be economically competitive. Starting from these premises, this paper focuses on the performance measurement and reporting systems that are adopted by SMEs that are also Benefit Corporations, and investigates whether benefit impact assessment indicators integrate into an overall sustainability performance management system . To achieve this goal, an exploratory case-based analysis on seven small- and medium-sized Italian-certified Benefit Corporations is presented
Stakeholders
No full textStakeholders are individuals, groups or organisations that have an influence in the decisions of an entity because of their interest (“stake”) explained by the fact that stakeholders can affect or are affected by the activities of the entity. Stakeholders salience (or relevance) depends on their interest, understanding, and capacity to assert their involvement in the entity’s decision-making, planning and development. Specific stakeholder attributes—power, legitimacy, and urgency— help to identify and assess the degree of salience of each type of stakeholder. Managers of DMOs, CVBs, travel agencies, hotels or other tourism entities mainly dedicate their attention to salient stakeholders, whose legitimacy is strongly related to their contribution to the achievement of managers objectives. However, given that stakeholders significantly affect an organization’s strategy and marketing performance, the stakeholders’ perspectives serve as an important basis for analysing the competitiveness of CVBs and DMOs and to assess a destination’s marketing performance
Introduction to the proceedings of the Piccola Impresa/Small Business 5th Workshop: “Beyond the crisis: what is the future for small businesses? Challenges, opportunities and lessons learned”
Full text linkIn this volume, we are pleased to present the proceedings of the 5th Workshop organised by the journal Piccola Impresa/Small Business in collaboration with the Association for the study of small enterprises (ASPI), the Research Center on Entrepreneurship and Small-medium firms (CRIMPI), the Italian Academy of Business Economics (AIDEA) and the European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB). The workshop title was “Beyond the crisis: what is the future for small businesses? Challenges, opportunities and lessons learned”, and it took place online on December 4-5, 2021.
The aim of the conference was to bring together scholars of entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises, to discuss the emerging issues following the Covid-19 pandemic.
As we have highlighted in the call for papers of the workshop and a previous editorial published in the journal mentioned above (Pencarelli et al. 2021), the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered the largest public health crisis in living memory, with serious—and still unpredictable—consequences for the global economy. Available data clearly shows that SMEs have particularly suffered from economic downturn: their inherent weaknesses have amplified and accelerated the effects of the crisis compared to larger firms (Cowling et al., 2020; OECD, 2020). Notably, in Italy, the Covid-19 outbreak has challenged SMEs’ survival after a decade of a slow and incomplete recovery (CERVED, 2020, 2021)
Why Chicken? Fileni (Italy): Between Taste, Circular Economy and Attention to the Territory
No full textThe agrifood system has a huge impact on several features concerning sustainability, including food safety and food security policies. In this vein, investigating why and how companies’ business models incorporate these issues, has been gaining momentum within the scientific, political and managerial agenda. Do agrifood companies only implement strategies addressed to product quality and their characteristics of health, hygiene and sanitation or, in a broader sense, do they incorporate aspects relating to environmental and social sustainability? To answer these questions, this chapter introduces a case study relative to an Italian agrifood company (Fileni Group) that is among the leading European chicken farm and meat producers. The Group has embraced a circular economy putting into practice several strategies of eco-innovation through a regeneration production system based on the use of renewable sources, respect for animals, minimising waste, protecting the environment and generating socio-economic benefits to the territory and the local community. The case analysis allows us to point out the sunken reasons for food safety that rest on an ethical-driven business model, rather than on opportunistic reasons
Inter-organizational networks as a strategic response to current economic challenges. The Italian experience of the “network contract”: analysis of networks formation, goals and governance.
No full textConsidering the strategic relevance of inter-organizational aggregation, this paper aims to analyse
how small and medium-sized Italian firms have used the ‘network contract’, a legislative tool
recently introduced by the Italian government to sustain corporate competitiveness. The following
aspects are analyzed: strategic motives that underlie network formation, type of activities
undertaken, characteristics of participant firms, modes of network organization and governance
rules. These aspects all contribute to understanding network efficacy in promoting small firms’
development in the long term. The empirical analysis is mainly qualitative in nature: it focuses on
three case studies belonging to the mechanical engineering sector. Results indicate that the network
contract is a flexible instrument, used to achieve different strategies of growth and long-term
objectives, while financial incentives and tax reliefs planned by the Italian government do not
represent a key driver to collaboration
Il Reporting Integrato delle PMI: Linee guida operative e casi di studio
No full textCon piacere presento alla comunità degli
stakeholder dell’O.I.B.R. il risultato di
un’importante collaborazione tra la nostra
Fondazione O.I.B.R. e l’International Integrated
Reporting Council (IIRC), dopo il fruttuoso
lavoro che NIBR e WICI avevano compiuto
per elaborare l’edizione in inglese. In italiano
l’abbiamo intitolato: “Reporting integrato delle
PMI: linee guida operative e casi di studio”.
Questo sintetico saggio è per noi motivo di
grande soddisfazione. Innanzitutto, perché
“apre” quella che speriamo sia una lunga serie di
pubblicazioni, alla cui realizzazione l’O.I.B.R. è
vocato con passione e impegno. Ma soprattutto
perché avvertiamo il significato pregnante di
questo documento.
Se da un lato infatti l’interesse che l’Integrated
Report sta riscuotendo è indiscusso e
inimmaginabile solo qualche anno fa, dall’altro
la predisposizione dell’ talora preoccupa
i preparers, perché si tratta di un documento
ancora molto “giovane”, che si presenta come
flessibile, aperto, richiedente un’adeguata e
concisa forma narrativa, e che deve offrire una
visione unitaria del sistema d’impresa e della
sua creazione di valore. I contenuti del reporting
integrato vanno poi finalizzati nel rispetto dei
principi e degli indirizzi previsti dal Framework
emanato dall’IIRC nel dicembre 2013.
Queste esigenze sono particolarmente avvertite
nelle piccole e medie imprese (PMI), dove la
dotazione più limitata di staff amministrativo
disposto ad esser impiegato nella costruzione
del report integrato si contrappone alla
constatazione che proprio le PMI hanno
caratteristiche tali da permettere loro di andare
più rapidamente verso la predisposizione di
questa forma di reporting. Il loro radicamento
territoriale, l’unitarietà di visione che promana
dall’imprenditore che le ha fondate, i valori
condivisi da parte di chi ci lavora e l’omogeneità
culturale con il sistema di stakeholder che
gravitano attorno ad esse, fanno proprio delle
PMI un “territorio eletto” perché il reporting
integrato possa ulteriormente diffondersi ed
acquisire rilevanza sistemica. Il tutto nel
contesto di sistemi relazionali ed organizzativi
nei quali è di immediata evidenza come i vari
“capitali” si trasformano per effetto dell’operare
d’impresa, intrecciati l’un l’altro dalle abilità e
dalle doti intellettuali e umane dei fondatori o di
coloro che ne hanno ereditato la responsabilità
gestionale.
Se queste “Linee guida” riusciranno a fornire
un ausilio efficace alle PMI e alla diffusione
tra esse del reporting integrato, questo sarà
portatore di numerosi vantaggi.
Innanzitutto, perché il reporting integrato è un
documento che favorisce il dialogo delle imprese
con i propri stakeholder: è cioè uno strumento
avanzato di accountability, nel senso pregnante
che la letteratura anglosassone attribuisce
a questo termine. Secondariamente, perché
l’Integrated Reporting stimola il rafforzamento
di un pensiero integrato sull’impresa e impegna
il management a concentrarsi su ciò che è
davvero rilevante (material) fare, comunicandolo
agli stakeholders. Ancora, perché apre alla
rendicontazione di dimensioni nuove e gradite
alla società contemporanea, realizzando
l’integrazione dei valori non finanziari con quelli
finanziari tradizionali. Infine, perché il reporting
integrato permette tutto questo senza perdere
di vista la creazione di valore per gli azionisti
e per tutti gli stakeholder, anzi vedendo in tale
creazione un finalismo unificante, che sintetizza
la crescita di produzioni necessariamente sempre
più sostenibili da un punto di vista ambientale,
sociale ed economico. La visione olistica che
sta alla base di queste concezioni d’impresa è
quella che alimenta e sorregge le più ricche e
feconde menti imprenditoriali. Prof. Alessandro Lai, Presidente Fondazione OIB
“Next Generation Italia” and interventions on Cultural Heritage in small historical towns: from opportunities to actions?
No full textNot enough attention has been paid by academics and professionals to the regeneration
of smaller cities, which hold major artistic heritage but have inadequate resources to
leverage it and bring about positive societal impacts. However, the investment
opportunities, offered by the “Next Generation Italia” plan, call on scholars and
professionals to discuss how to valorise the great heritage of history, art, culture and
traditions embedded in small Italian towns. This paper has adopted a qualitative approach
and focuses on the case of Urbino, a UNESCO world heritage site, whose population and
economic status are declining because the citizens and businesses are attracted by the lure
of higher revenues and the better quality of life in nearby cities. Findings have revealed that
culture and artistic knowledge and capabilities that belong to the tradition of a city rich in
heritage can be the lever of innovation and boost civic wealth. However, searching the past
in order to look to the future is a difficult task, and divergences in vision, resistance and
even political tensions are among the factors that hinder the town’s regeneration
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