• Energy Research

Universities all over the world are experiencing a great push towards managerialism; this process is the result of the application of New Public Management principles and practices, but also the request of national law and regulation: modern universities are expected to manage institutional activities in the light of effectiveness, quality and efficiency. The debate on the appropriateness of management tools for universities is placed in this context and is described in the literature with reference to the typical components of management control systems: information and accounting system, organizational structure and control process. The article presents the results of an empirical research on management control systems in Italian universities; the analysis of collected data demonstrates a low dissemination and development of management control tools; in particular it shows that a high percentage of universities is presently implementing only two tools together, and these tools are predominantly generic, while the use of those considered more advanced (e.g. variance analysis and dashboards) is very low. These evidences suggest that the successful introduction of management control systems could not abstract from an adequate development of corporate culture.

L’articolo tratta il tema della pianificazione strategica nelle università, alla luce degli adempimenti richiesti dalla normativa italiana e delle evidenze emergenti dalla prassi.Il primo paragrafo introduce alcune considerazioni in termini di adempimenti legislativi e di implicazioni gestionali. Il secondo paragrafo descrive le prassi di redazione e comunicazione dei piani strategici emergenti da una ricerca empirica sulle università italiane, mentre il terzo paragrafo suggerisce un approccio metodologico al processo di pianificazione strategica. Dalle conclusioni emerge una scarsa propensione degli atenei a impostare un completo ciclo di pianificazione e controllo, e ancor più la scarsa propensione a rendere pubblici i propri piani.

Sustainability reporting is becoming more and more widespread among companies aiming at disclosing their contribution to sustainable development and gaining legitimacy from stakeholders. This is more significant for firms operating in a public services’ context and mainly when supplying a fundamental public resource, like water utilities. While the literature on sustainability reporting in the water sector is scant, there is an increasing need to study the usefulness and quality of its sustainability disclosures to adequately inform the stakeholders about the activities of water utilities to protect this fundamental resource and general sustainable development. This article presents a novel assessment framework based on a scoring technique and an empirical analysis on the sustainability reports of Italian water utilities carried out through it. The results highlight a low level of disclosure on the sustainability indicators suggested by the main sustainability reporting guidelines (Global Reporting Initiative, (GRI), and Sustainability Accounting Standard Board, (SASB)); most companies tend to disclose only qualitative information and fail to inform about some material aspects of water management, such as water recycled, network resilience, water sources, and effluent quality. These findings indicate that sustainability reporting is mainly considered as a communication tool, rather than a performance measurement and an accountability tool, but also suggest the need for a new and international industry-specific sustainability reporting standard.

The agri-food sector is rapidly evolving towards sustainability due to public policies and market expectations. Companies impact the environment and society across the value chain, and the management of these impacts requires consistent tools. Among these are performance measurement systems that include sustainability-related indicators. This study examines the case of a sustainable agri-food company, focusing on its strategic monitoring of environmental, social, and economic dimensions related to its transition toward a more sustainable business model

AbstractThe literature on the subject of corporate social responsibility and environmental management in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) has theorized about the different factors influencing the propensity of business owners/managers towards sustainability. However, the varying results and some gaps in these previous studies have highlighted the need to search for new models for the relationships among these drivers. This study theorizes and tests a model in which the decision flow of SME owners/managers is described as a multistep process in which the first push felt from internal and external pressures is mediated by two opposite forces: the positive influence exerted by the perceived benefits of sustainability and the negative influence exerted by the perceived barriers of implementing it. Data were collected from an Italian SME survey and analyzed through structural equation modelling. The results confirmed the hypotheses of a mediated path of influence, thus highlighting the different roles of factors that enable and block sustainability in SMEs, with prospective business and policy‐making implications in the light of the pursuit of the United Nation's recommended Sustainable Development Goals.

Sustainability is more and more becoming a critical success factor for firms; the shared value and business case for sustainability conceptions can support business model change or innovation towards sustainable business models (SBM). Small firms are the most spread organizational model worldwide and can play a relevant role in terms of economic and social development. The corporate social responsibility literature have often depicted small business as less engaged and more constrained with respect to environmental and social practices. This paper aims to translate the organizational size debate in the field of SBM, by analyzing small and large firms’ perceptions about their drivers to business case and their implementation constraints towards a more sustainable business model.

The sustainable development challenge is increasingly being included in entrepreneurs’ agendas. Firms are considered responsible for social and environmental effects but are also considered as social actors that can effectively incorporate sustainability solutions into market transactions. The literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in small business has depicted these firms as less involved in sustainability management implementation owing to resource constraints and limited perception of the business case for sustainability. Further, studies on both small business and sustainable entrepreneurship have highlighted the pivotal role of entrepreneurs’ values in motivating a more sustainable way of conducting business while, large companies, driven by external pressures, are more focused on a strategic CSR approach than small firms. Starting from these premises, the paper aims to identify the main drivers or barriers of sustainability implementation and to verify any significant differences between small and large-sized companies in their approach to sustainability practices implementation. The study adopts a qualitative research method based on semi-structured interviews addressing 22 participants from Italian firms of different sizes selected for their social and environmental commitment. The findings of the study highlight the existence of some common features among small and large firms, in particular, regarding motivations, entrepreneur values, and business vision, contributing new perspectives to the sustainable entrepreneurship debate.

Abstract The contribution of a single firm to sustainable development is largely dependent on the firm's perceptions of the advantages of sustainability strategies and consequent practices. The relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance has been heavily debated, with mixed results. Our research is aimed at defining a model in which sustainability practices affect firm financial performance via strategic drivers or antecedents of firm success. We used structural equation modeling on data collected via survey of 348 Italian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises. We included four constructs dedicated to sustainability, a construct dedicated to financial performance and four constructs measuring the possible mediators in the sustainability-financial performance relationship. We found that the social, economic and formal practices dimensions of sustainability positively affect competitive advantage, mediated by corporate reputation, customer satisfaction and organisational commitment. We also found competitive advantage to be a second-stage mediator that positively contributes to financial performance. The contribution of our study lies in having tested a new model of the sustainability-financial performance relationship, considering each dimension of sustainability and a path through different mediators in an under-explored context—that of manufacturing small businesses in a European country.