Francesco Perrini

Social Entrepreneurship: Innovation and Social Change Across Theory and Practice

Companies and nonprofits, regardless of the sector they belong to, their dimension or their geographical location, are increasingly asked to provide innovative solutions to manage complex social problems: from community development to social exclusion and poverty reduction (Margolis and Walsh, 2003). Social entrepreneurship (SE), an unusual contact point among entrepreneurship, innovation and social change, has been increasingly catalyzing the interest of academics, companies, and the business debate for about a decade. Attention is expanding exponentially with a multiplicity of publications, MBA core and elective courses and academic research centers explicitly focused on deep analysis of the SE phenomenon. There are also numerous innovative and supportive actors such as specialized consulting groups, social venture capitalists, social angels and so on.

New Tools to Foster Corporate Socially Responsible Behavior

According to the Green Paper presented by the European Commission in July 2001, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis” (Commission of the European Communities, 2001b, p. 6). On this basis, in 2002, the Italian Government, and especially the Italian Ministry of Welfare, launched an initiative called CSR-SC (social commitment) in order to foster the proactive social role of Italian enterprises, with great attention on SME involvement. The technical partner of the Italian Ministry of Welfare for this initiative is Bocconi University. The goal of this contribution is to present the main results of CSR–SC research project developed by Bocconi University. The paper provides a detailed picture of the general scheme designed to carry out the research project and a review of the different methodologies used to support the solutions proposed.

A process-based view of social entrepreneurship: from opportunity identification to scaling-up social change in the case of San Patrignano

The assumption of a strong connection between entrepreneurship and economic growth has led to the neglect of entrepreneurial processes in the social sectors. Based on the findings of an in-depth longitudinal case study, our article focuses on social entrepreneurship (SE) processes designed to exploit innovation that explicitly addresses complex social problems. We elaborate on the characteristics of the process and on the dimensions intervening on how social entrepreneurial opportunities are identified, evaluated, exploited and scaled up. We provide a process-based view of SE, suggesting the need for consistency between individual, organizational and contextual elements.

Are Venture Capitalists a Catalyst for Innovation

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.

Does Ownership Structure Affect Performance? Evidence from the Italian Market

This study contributes to the recent debate on the effects of government regulations inspired by the Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance in the small European countries. In questioning the alleged competitive superiority of the widely held company, our paper also suggests that the existence of good corporate law is not a sufficient condition for the development of a corporate economy resembling the US model. This study provides empirical support for the agency theory and the managerial entrenchment argument. As such, it suggests new avenues of research for the ownership structure literature willing to reflect the diverging interests of different types of shareholders and to explore both endogeneity and non-linearity issues. Using panel data for the period 2000-2003 with respect to the Italian market, we find that the ownership concentration of the five largest shareholders is beneficial to firm valuation. On the contrary, managerial ownership is beneficial only in non-concentrated firms, suggesting that the controlling owner may use his/her position in the firm to extract private benefits at the expense of the other shareholders by appointing managers that represent its own interest. This paper aims at exploring the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance in the context of a small European capital market. Further developing existing literature, we acknowledge the multi-dimensionality of ownership by including both the fraction of shares owned by the five largest shareholders and the fraction of shares owned by management.

Making the most of corporate social responsibility reporting: disclosure structure and its impact on performance

Purpose – Examining a three‐year disclosure experience of a sample of Fortune 100 global companies, the paper aims to propose and test a model that relates the structure of CSR disclosure to corporate social performance. Based on the results obtained, it proposes to draw implications for emerging economies.Design/methodology/approach – Combining content analysis of CSR reports and corporate social performance data, the paper built a longitudinal dataset starting from the population of worldwide companies included in the AccountAbility Rating between 2004 and 2007. Longitudinal regression analysis is performed on a final sample size of 114 firm‐year observations involving 38 firms over a three‐year period.Findings – The paper finds evidence that the level of disclosure does not improve firm ability to manage stakeholders. However, a finer‐grained analysis of the structure of disclosure shows that better social performers are those who increased the breadth of their disclosure to stakeholders and uniformly ...

Europe: Practice and Politics: Ethics and Social Responsibility in SMEs in the European Union

In this paper we outline the status quo of ethics and social responsibility in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union (EU). Social issues and SMEs is an established topic of research and subject of policy-making in Europe, and thus in this paper we are able to draw on existing activities to summarise what we know about the topic. We describe the important position given to SMEs and entrepreneurship as drivers of the economy through job creation, social inclusion and issues such as employee health and welfare. We note that the ethics/social responsibility practices and strategies of SMEs tend to be greater than expected, but are informal and local community-based rather than replicating large firm approaches. To demonstrate the variety within Europe, we provide some nation-specific perspectives on social responsibility and SMEs with a closer look at Denmark, Italy, the UK and central and eastern Europe and the Baltic States.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause

The article reviews the book “Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause,” edited by Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee.

The Sustainability Perspective: a New Governance Model

A company — that can be defined as an economic and social institution, which aims to produce goods and services (Pivato and Gilardoni, 1997: 387) — pursues the creation of wealth, namely, value. In order to achieve this purpose, the firm cannot ignore the context in which it operates. In fact, a network of relationships connects the company to a great number of interrelated individuals and constituencies, called stakeholders (Ulrich and Krieg, 1973; Freeman, 1984; Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Clarkson, 1995). These relationships influence the way a company is governed and, in turn, are influenced by the company’s behaviour.

Competitive strategies and value creation: a twofold perspective analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the implementation of a defined competitive strategy – differentiation or cost leadership – brings about different value creation levels, where “value” is defined in a twofold perspective as “shareholder value” vs “stakeholder value” and “social capital”. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 169 European companies is investigated. Simple linear regressions and t-tests for the equality of means are conducted. Findings – While no significant differences are found in the creation of value for the shareholders, firms following differentiation strategies generate considerably higher value for all the stakeholder groups than companies pursing cost leadership strategies. Results also show that size and reputational considerations play a significant role in explaining the different stakeholder value performances. Research limitations/implications – Some data such as off-balance sheet items could have influenced the calculation of the discriminant ...