Benedetta Cuozzo

Intellectual capital disclosure: a structured literature review

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an up-to-the-minute literature review of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) to: identify the major themes developed within this research stream; investigate the evolution of the theory; and derive insights to guide future research agendas for the benefit of researchers and ICD users. Design/methodology/approach Research articles from ten relevant journals for the 17-year period between 2000 and 2017 are categorised and analysed in a structured literature review (Massaro et al., 2016) to answer these three research questions. This study adds to a data set established by Guthrie et al. (2012) and presents the results in a consistent and comparable manner across the studies. Findings A lack of significant innovation in the evolution of ICD indicates that this research stream may have been a victim of its own success (Dumay and Guthrie, 2017). Stuck in overview mode, studies continue to fixate on general issues, largely drawing their analysis from the corporate reports of publicly listed companies in Europe. Very few studies examine ICD in the USA and beyond, nor do they drill down to organisational level to examine ICD in practice. Practical implications We academics need to leave our ivory towers and base future research on how organisations, in different contexts, using different languages, harness intangible assets to create value. Without discouraging content analysis from corporate reports, we need to be more innovative in searching for IC from the rich variety of media resources modern corporate communication channels offer, and recognise that, while we are all working towards the same thing, we may not be using the same language to get there. Originality/value Despite extending previous work, this study highlights some of the new insights revealed from ICD research, especially over the last two years. The findings regarding differing use of terminology across continents, a general decline in published research due to lack of interest or new ground to cover, and zero evidence for a “groundswell” of IC disclosures by listed companies should motivate further reading in many researchers.

Evaluating the innovation of the Internet of Things: Empirical evidence from the intellectual capital assessment

Purpose – The Internet of Things (IoT) represents the network connection of people, processes, data and things. Due to the relevant position that this intelligent infrastructure is acquiring, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of IoT on the companies’ value, with specific reference to the intellectual capital value. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on a single case study approach with an empirical analysis which aims to analyse whether and how the introduction of the IoT’ innovations influences the value of the intellectual capital owned by a company. The evaluation method used for the empirical analysis is the Economic Value Added. The application is carried out on the company “Cisco Systems Inc.” by analysing the company’s financial reports covering the period 2007-2014. Findings – The paper demonstrates the impact of the innovation of IoT on intellectual capital owned by a high intensity cognitive company by determining its economic value. The results demonstr...

Emerging trends in entrepreneurial universities within Mediterranean regions: An international comparison

Purpose The aim of this paper is to investigate the new role that universities are assuming as entrepreneurial entities supporting the development of regional innovation systems through an international comparison, in order to address the demand for global competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to compare how some universities of the Mediterranean area and of South-East Asia conceive and implement an entrepreneurial culture through their curricula, conducting a two-way comparison between Italy and Singapore. Design/methodology/approach The methodology consists of a multi-method approach, based on a comparative analysis which involves the use of a narrative style and a content analysis carried out on the Italian and Singaporean entrepreneurship programmes. The method consists of comparing different systems with similar characteristics, with an analysis focused on particularly relevant environmental factors, to find an explanation about how an innovative way of teaching entrepreneurship to students can affect the development of regional innovative systems. Findings The study analyses the Italian and Singaporean environmental factors that are helpful in understanding the basis for the promotion of an entrepreneurial attitude, and the end result of the paper is to set out the differences in the evolvement of entrepreneurial universities and innovative teaching programmes between the two countries being analysed. The research uses an international comparison to investigate the relationships between a set of variables that influence government authorities, leading them to invest in programmes on entrepreneurship. Originality/value Studying the Singaporean experience, one of the leading Nation investor in entrepreneurial education, is useful in highlighting limits of less advanced higher education systems and in helping them to encourage an entrepreneurial culture.

Social Media as a New Opportunity for Female Entrepreneurs: An Analysis of the Fashion Industry

This paper aims at analysing new entrepreneurial organization models resulting from the integration of female and male elements and at finding a valid facilitator instrument for the sharing of values and objectives in the use of new technologies and communication, such as social media. On the basis of the theoretical framework of the androgynous organization, the study concentrates on the field of fashion that, in the last few years, has experimented new forms of female business connected with the creation of new markets deriving from development of the Web 2.0. The main objective of the paper is to provide greater comprehension of the role of new technologies and in particular of the social media in the development of female entrepreneurial activities, thanks to greater visibility of these new businesses, with the phenomenon of the fashion influencer at the base. The methodology of the study is based on a qualitative analysis related to the elaboration and application of the theoretical framework of the androgynous organization (Granelli and Robotti in Il valore premiante delle diversita, Harvard Business Review Italia, StrategiQs, Milano, 2016), in the case study by the fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni, at the first place in the Forbes’ Top Influencers list 2017. Through an analysis of a case study in the field of the fashion industry, an attempt has been made to illustrate the characteristics of organizations that are handling technological change in the best possible way, from the point of view of gender questions. The study carried out identifies a model that allows organisations to be much more generative and, in particular, to identify the specific characteristics of women that companies must introduce in order to become more generative. The archetypes identified are essentially hospitality, fertility and generativity, consistency, intimacy and practicality.

The Rise and Decline of the Bank of Italy's Autonomy between 1893 and 1936. A historical interpretion

The aim of this paper is to analyse the autonomy of central banks from a historical perspective, with reference to the founding and development of the Bank of Italy in the period between its inception (1893) and the issue of the Italian Banking Law of 1936. A central bank’s autonomy from governments and budgetary policies is a topic of studies carried out by several scholars, but, in their eyes, these events are linked exclusively to subjective factors, connected to those wielding power or influence at the time, and objective factors, dependent on the contingent historical and economic situation. Not many studies are available where the aim is to investigate the causes explaining how a central bank’s degree of autonomy evolved by framing them within the overarching process of independence simultaneously pursued by the central state. In this perspective, the progress of the Bank of Italy’s level of autonomy will be analysed in the light of the theoretical framework proposed by Michael Mann.

Knowledge transfer and managers turnover: impact on team performance

The paper aims to investigate the emerging issue of knowledge transfer and organisational performance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of knowledge transfer in obtaining high and positive results in organisations, in particular, studying the role of managers’ skills transfer and which conditions help to achieve positive performance.,The research analyses 41 cases of coaches that managed clubs competing in the major international leagues in the 2014–2015 season and that moved to a new club over the past five seasons. The authors employ a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) methodology. According to the research question, the outcome variable used is the team sport performance improvement. As explanatory variables, the authors focus on five main variables: the history of coach transfers; the staff transferred; the players transferred; investments in new players and the competitiveness.,The overall results show that when specific conditions are realised simultaneously, they allow team performance improvement, even if the literature states that the coach transfers show a negative impact on outcomes. Interestingly, this work reaches contrasting results because it shows the need for the coexistence of combinations of variables to achieve the transferability of managers’ capabilities and performance.,The paper is novel because it presents a QCA that tries to understand which conditions, factors and contexts help knowledge to be transferred and to contribute to the successful run of organisations.

Intellectual Capital as driver for controlling managers’ performance. An innovative approach

The purpose of the paper is to analyse how Intellectual Capital (IC) of contemporary companies can be used as management control tool, by proposing it as a driver for sport and financial performance from a value creation perspective. Through a quantitative method with an empirical application, the research investigates the football industry. The IC of professional football clubs has been identified in three components: the first team players, the brand and the right of qualification for the competition on sporting merit. The outcomes of the new model based on IC enhancement allow defining a new use of it as management control tool and a driver for clubs’ managers, overcoming the traditional models of traditional objective functions, which do not consider the managers’ role. Furthermore, the new objective function, defined by the research, allows managers to make strategic decisions finalized to achieve clubs success in compliance with ownership aims. Therefore, this study provides a control tool and a driver for managers’ performance that can be used by company ownership.

Bookkeeping methods and accounting controls: Developments within the Abbey of Montecassino from the 15th to the 17th century

The purpose of this paper is to discover the connection between the introduction of the double entry bookkeeping method and accounting controls within the Abbey of Montecassino. In particular, the analysis aims to explore the accounting history at the time of the entrance into the Santa Giustina Congregation from the 15th to 17th century. Adopting a diachronic approach, the paper is developed with the aim to understanding if there is a link between entrance into the Santa Giustina congregation and introduction of the double bookkeeping method in 1504. It proves that accounting behaviours are strongly connected with the need for controls between accountants and external users of accounting books, confirming the hypothesis of the new accounting history theory that considers bookkeeping as social construction. The methodology is based on a comparison between two different methods of recording in the Abbey of Montecassino: the first refers to the period from 1450 to 1504 (Commendatory era) while the second considers the period after entrance into the Santa Giustina Congregation in 1504.