‘Better late than never’: the interplay between green technology and age for firm growth

This paper investigates the relationship between green/non-green technologies and firm growth. By combining the literature on eco-innovations, industrial organisation and entrepreneurial studies, we examine the dependence of this relationship on the pace at which firms grow and the age of the firm. From a dataset of 5498 manufacturing firms in Italy for the period of 2000–2008, longitudinal fixed effects quantile models are estimated, in which the firm’s age is set to moderate the effects of green and non-green patents on employment growth. We find that the positive effect of green technologies on growth is greater than that of non-green technologies. However, this result does not apply to struggling and rapidly growing firms. With fast-growing (above the median) firms, age moderates the growth effect of green technologies. Inconsistent with the extant literature, this moderation effect is positive: firm experience appears important for the growth benefits of green technologies, possibly relative to the complexity of their management

Il governo dell'impresa

Esamina le modalità di governo delle imprese, con particolare riguardo a quelle di grandi dimensioni e/o quotate in Borsa. Analizza i rischi inerenti al rapporto fra manager e azionisti (o fra diverse classe di azionisti) all'interno di queste imprese e gli strumenti di corporate governance che permettono di controllare questi rischi e di indirizzare la gestione aziendale verso obiettivi di creazione di valore per tutti gli stakeholder

Convergent and divergent corporate social responsibility

Evidence suggests that many socially responsible firms converge on non-differentiating practices instead of developing their own solutions to the social issues they have to deal with. This convergence is puzzling, since convincing arguments in support of a “business case” for corporate social responsibility (CSR) imply that firms should compete for stakeholder favour and try to differentiate themselves from rivals. I introduce a distinction between two types of CSR – convergent and divergent – and analyse six possible causes of the former (institutional isomorphism, environmental uncertainty, rivalry mitigation, low barriers to imitation, economies of scale, reputation interdependencies). The distinction between convergent and divergent CSR is autonomous from others proposed in the literature and has implications for the research on the societal benefits of CSR and on the link between the social performance and the financial performance of firm

Il risk management

Presentazione dei concetti introduttivi della gestione dei rischi puri in impresa

La corporate governance

Il capitolo analizza i problemi di corporate governance alla luce della teoria dell'agenzia e con riferimento prevalente alla realtà italiana. Sono identificati i principali problemi che sorgono nel rapporto fra azionisti e manager e gli strumenti usati per risolverli

Scenari con le Mappe Cognitive Fuzzy. Le dinamiche complesse al servizio dell'analisi strategica

L'articolo mostra come le mappe cognitive fuzzy possono essere impiegate come supporto per l'analisi strategica per scenari

Alignment and conflict between management and shareholders: the problem of stock options

The use of stock options is widespread but it is not clear what the reasons for their adoption really are. We offer evidence that the desire to motivate managers to create value may not be the most important one, and that stock options are often a means for managers to appropriate wealth that would belong to shareholders

Il risk management fra assicurazione e finanza

Analizza gli strumenti finanziari che permettono di gestire i rischi di impresa per il tramite del mercato dei capitali

The Convergence of Corporate Social Responsibility Practices

This paper tries to explain why many socially-responsible firms appear to converge on a standard set of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices instead of striving to differentiate themselves from rivals and achieve competitive advantage. Three explanations of this convergence are presented: herd behaviour, institutional isomorphism, and strategic cooperation. The different empirical predictions of these theories are laid down. The resulting framework is used to analyse a recent self-regulatory scheme launched by the steel industry, in which knowledge-sharing was used to stimulate poor performers to curb carbon dioxide emissions. The main finding is that social practices of firms are very often driven by pressures to conform, instead of pressures to perform. Even firms that want to be innovative may be forced by stakeholder requests to adopt passive and imitative behaviour. The paper suggests that there are two types of CSR - convergent and divergent - and that firms need to establish which type of CSR best fits their needs before they address the issues raised by stakeholders. While the literature on CSR focuses on the relationship between stakeholders and single firms, the paper tries to add to this literature by analysing the relationship between stakeholders and industries. The paper also contributes to the debate on the financial benefits of CSR by arguing that in industries where the convergent type of CSR is dominant researchers should not expect above-average returns for socially-responsible firms