Francesca Visintin

An Environmental Accounting Model for a Natural Reserve

The implementation of environmental accounting in a Natural Reserve produced some significant results in terms of restrictions. First, environmental accounting introduced a limitation in scale which was inapplicable on a microscale. A second restriction concerned the use of a physical unit of measure was instead of a monetary unit. A third limitation was because environmental accounting only takes costs into account, not environmental benefits. These three limitations led us to develop an environmental accounting model that considered resources in the Natural Reserve, both consumed and produced. The model aimed to supplement monetary accounting (based on cost and revenue) with environmental accounting which reflects not only environmental costs but also environmental revenues, i.e. environmental benefits. The difference between costs and benefits, both economic and environmental, represented the value produced or consumed by the Natural Reserve.

Front end innovation and stakeholder involvement in machine tools sector

Are there differences among companies operating pursuing different types of innovation in the organisational settings and in the combination of internal and external competencies employed to innova ...

Fly Away From the Nest? A Configurational Analysis of Family Embeddedness and Individual Attributes in the Entrepreneurial Entry Decision by Next-Generation Members:

This study aims to determine how family embeddedness conditions combine with the goals and attributes of individuals with a family business background to engender to two patterns of entrepreneurship: succession in the family business and foundation of a new venture. Our empirical study is conducted using 169 cases of entrepreneurs operating in Italy. Inductively building on the configurations derived from the analysis, we suggest a series of theoretical propositions focusing on family embeddedness, individual attributes, and entrepreneurial paths of next-generation family business members.

Financial performance and non-family CEO turnover in private family firms under different conditions of ownership and governance.

Manuscript Type Empirical Research Question/Issue Family firms, as insider-controlled companies, should be less likely to exhibit CEO turnover after poor performance and may thus promote enhanced focus on long-term goals. However, when a non-family CEO is in charge, the relatively limited empirical evidence is contrasting. Some studies find that only family CEOs are immune from the threat of dismissal following poor financial performance, other studies show that family firms discipline their CEOs for poor financial performance regardless of their family status. In this work, we try to reconcile these contrasting findings and investigate what ownership and governance conditions influence the owners’ pressure on the CEO to achieve short-term financial results. Research findings/insights Drawing on a longitudinal dataset that covers the entire population of Italian medium and large family companies, we find that when family ownership is concentrated in the hands of few family shareholders or there is a low number of family members involved in the board of directors, non-family CEOs are less likely to be dismissed after poor performance. Theoretical/Academic Implications Our study, adopting the behavioural agency theory as the guiding framework, highlights the importance for the governance decisions of the potential goal divergence among principals in closely held ownership structures. Our results also add to the still scant literature on the relationship between family owners and non-family CEOs. Practitioner/Policy Implications Our research suggests that family business owners, in the decision to hire a non-family CEO should not only assess their gaps in managerial skills but also carefully consider the ownership structure and family involvement conditions. On the side of professional non-family managers, our results offer insights on ways to address the employment relationship with the controlling family.

Assessing the value for money of protected areas

The increasing unavailability of public financing leads decision-makers to cut funds for protected areas without considering the ensuing environmental, economic and social impacts. The research investigated what and how much value the Miramare Natural Marine Reserve (Italy) was able to create from public funds. The environmental accounting approach was adopted, and environmental costs and benefits taken into account. Environmental benefits assessed ecosystem services such as gas regulation, nutrient cycling, biological control, food production, nursery, raw materials, recreation and science. The model demonstrated that the value produced by the Protected Area fully covered the money spent by public authorities by a rate of 2.5.

Corporate governance and advanced forms of internationalisation in Italian SMEs

The majority of small firms lack the resources and competences required to implement advanced international strategies and to engage in global business activities; small firms face considerable barriers when attempting to engage in international partnerships, joint ventures and foreign direct investments, and are more likely to fail than large firms. In this paper, we investigate the role of corporate governance system in providing the small firms with resources and competences and in promoting the changes in the entrepreneurial culture which are necessary to pursue advanced internationalisation strategies. Results suggest that the governance system is important for the cooptation of new members in the strategic decision-making groups of the firm and indicate that the environmental context can be an important moderating variable in the relationship between corporate governance and internationalisation.

Co-leadership and Performance in Technology-Based Entrepreneurial Firms

The notion of co-leadership, defined as a structural arrangement where the formal responsibilities at the top of the company are attributed to multiple persons, is receiving increasing attention in recent years as one of the possible conceptualizations of the leadership “in plural form”. Our research aims at exploring the performance implications of co-leadership arrangements in the top management teams (TMTs) of technology based entrepreneurial firms, and at evaluating how such impact is likely to occur. The study is carried out on a sample of technology based entrepreneurial firms operating in Italy. Our study contributes mainly to the literature on co-leadership, by identifying different structural configurations of plural leadership and by shedding some light on the paths through which co-leadership arrangements have an impact on company performance.

Alliance governance in entrepreneurial firms: the influence of family control and organizational size

This Handbook provides a unique collection of research addressing issues of corporate governance in entrepreneurial contexts, including start-ups, owner-managed firms, fast-growing firms, and IPOs, as well as how corporate governance and board leadership is associated with entrepreneurship and innovation in both small and large established companies. The chapters span a wide range of topics, methodologies, and levels of analysis, all designed to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of when and how corporate governance matters in different entrepreneurial contexts.

Fast Growing Firms in a Slow Growth Economy

Europe needs more innovative companies that grow quickly and end up big. This book examines SME growth, innovation and success, to suggest that fast growing firms could offer a major contribution t ...

Assessing the effect of different dimensions of top management team diversity on the growth of university-based spin-off firms

In this chapter we aim at examining the influence of early top management teams (TMTs) on the growth performance of university-based spin-off firms, presenting an empirical research on spin-off companies in Italy. The chapter proceeds along the following lines. First we describe the context of analysis, briefly reviewing the literature on TMT and performance. In the second section we outline the hypotheses of our research. The third section describes the sample and the method for the empirical analysis. The fourth section presents and discusses the results. In the last section we highlight the main implications and limitations of our results and suggest further lines of research.