Federica Palazzi

• PhD
• Researcher at University of Urbino

The growing attention to gender issues has recently led to the introduction of new accounting tools aimed at measuring, reporting, and evaluating gender data to promote a conscious and proactive behavior toward gender equality in organizations. In Italy, the UNI/PdR 125:2022 practice defines guidelines for creating inclusive and gender-equal workpl...

Adopting agency and stakeholders' theories, this study examines the relationship between corporate governance and sustainability performance, focusing on Italian listed companies. Specifically, this study investigates which corporate governance attributes, such as board size, the presence of independent members and the institution of social committ...

This paper explores how a company can embrace sustainability and integrate ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues to develop a sustainable business model, with a specific focus on the role of networks. According to the actor-resource-activity (ARA) framework, we investigated the three critical network elements actors, activities and reso...

In 2022, the Italian government introduced a national gender equality (GE) certification system called UNI/PdR 125:2022 Practice. Its objective is to promote the adoption of gender equality policies in enterprises and provide guidelines for setting up a management system for an inclusive and gender-equal workplace. Due to the recent introduction of...

Purpose This study aims to explore the effectiveness of action learning (AL) in PA education through the action research (AR). Public administration (PA) requires training paths for its officials aimed at developing managerial skills. Training designers must construct pathways that identify goals and results to be obtained. Most importantly, they...

The European Union has been advocating for Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) in academic and research organizations since 2015, recognizing them as a criterion for eligibility in Horizon Europe calls for research and innovation. In compliance with Decree No. 2/2019, and in line with EU-COM No.152/2020, Italian universities are required to adopt a GEP, w...

Benefit Corporations (BCs) and B-Corps have introduced a new business model, in which organizations can balance altruistic and lucrative purposes and this denotes their characteristic of being hybrid organizations. The Benefit Corporation model in Italy is an evolving phenomenon concerning companies of every size, age, sector, and geographic locati...

This paper investigates how environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are declined within the management control system (MCS), focusing on an Italian bank. Deepening the role that management control tools can play in supporting banks in facing the challenges posed by the ESG-focused transformation is pivotal. This is even more important if...

This study investigates the link between high growth, benefit corporations, and intellectual capital. The last is particularly relevant in high-growth companies called “gazelles.” Moreover, it is assumed to play a pivotal role in benefit corporations whose purpose-driven mission is to pursue and integrate economic, social-environmental, and ethical...

The relevant role of management accounting within large companies is highly recognized. However, there is little evidence of its role in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), especially concerning the variables affecting the adoption and usefulness of Management Accounting Practices (MAPs). This study aims at verifying the moderator effect of...

Since 2015, the European Union, always sensitive to gender issues, has been recommending and actively supporting the implementation of the Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in academic and research organisations: a set of commitments and actions that aim to promote gender equality through a process of structural change. Moreover, the European Commission r...

For decades many researchers have studied companies' crisis and insolvency forecasting based on economic and financial indexes. However, little attention has been devoted to companies' organisational structure in setting up favourable conditions in which firms can continue their activities without having to initiate an alert procedure as well as ef...

The current political, economic and social scenario is characterized by continuous and rapid changes. Companies are therefore called to face a significant change, which requires the definition of policies and strategies strongly oriented toward sustainable development, becoming fundamental for long-term success and competitiveness. In this perspect...

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the link between accounting, religion and art to understand the managerial approach of the Confraternity of Corpus Domini of Urbino and the phenomenon of art commissioning between 1465 and 1513. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on the interpretive historical method used to understand, through a...

The paper investigates the ongoing digital transformation process in a firm operat-ing in the agri-food sector by analyzing the approach adopted, the barriers and challenges faced when implementing digital technologies, and the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on this process. The authors opted for a qualitative approach based on a single case study....

Italy is the first country to have introduced the Benefit Corporation legislation outside the USA with the Law 208/2015 that governs the coexistence between profit and non-profit, creating hybrid organizations. Italian Benefit Corporations are for-profit private companies that pursue general and/or specific public benefits according to a statute pr...

Nelle Organizzazioni Sanitarie è avvertito sempre più il bisogno di introdurre sistemi di misurazione dei costi in grado non solo di supportare il management nella valutazione delle condizioni di impiego efficace ed efficiente delle risorse, ma anche di fornire utili elementi di confronto rispetto ai tariffari regionali o tra presidi sanitari diffe...

This paper aims to investigate the approach of Italian companies in the agri-food sector to food safety. From the empirical analysis, it emerges that food safety is synonymous with health protection and is an integral part of the values and strategy of the sampled companies. The practices and tools used to develop food safety create consistency wit...

The research expands the earnings management (EM) literature for Italian unlisted firms by investigating the drivers of both accrual-based (AEM) and real activity-based (REM) earnings management. According to prior literature, the reliability of financial statements of these firms concerns mainly lenders in assessing borrower creditworthiness, and...

Il lavoro presentato in questo capitolo affronta il tema del Capitale Intellettuale (CI) nel contesto universitario portando l'attenzione sul ruolo dei dirigenti nel favorirne la crescita. In particolare, il capitolo tratteggia il contesto teorico in cui si muove lo studio, che si propone di indagare i driver di valore utili alla misurazione della...

The book provides food for thought and illustrates operational tools to face the generational shift, a particularly critical phase that involves and puts family businesses at risk. The first part of the work focuses attention on the peculiarities of family businesses and on the factors that can influence business continuity in the long term. Additi...

REVIEW: The book analyzes the ways of growth that can be undertaken by multibusiness-type companies, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the multiple alternatives, the resources, and capabilities necessary to support these paths, as well as the numerous pitfalls not to be underestimated. For this reason, the volume represents a useful...

In today’s economy, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues have become strategic issues to address. A much broader and more interconnected disclosure of information based on integrated thinking is requested. Despite the growing interest in non-financial information, studies, examining the process steps undertaken to develop the non-fina...

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence of the factors considered relevant in promoting the adoption of Management Accounting (MA) tools, and those able to hinder their spread in Italian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study represents a bridge between theory and practice as it allows us to investigate which MA t...

The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence of the moderating influence of technology intensity on the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and corporate performance in Italian small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). An empirical analysis was developed for the period 2012–2016 and included 62,849 Italian SMEs. Data were...

The work aims to identify the internal and external contingent variables that may influence the use of innovative management accounting tools in small manufac-turing companies, to support decision-making processes in times of crisis, through the analysis of a case study, which illustrates in detail the process of designing and implementing the Acti...

Il fenomeno della committenza artistica da parte delle Confraternite cristiane nel nostro Paese rappresenta un esempio importante del più ampio legame tra la storia dell’arte e quella della Chiesa e, ancor più in generale, del connubio tra l’espressione artistica e il sentimento di religiosità, che ha come fondamento storico la funzione delle immag...

The work analyzes the role of business size and age as variables that predict the probability of incurring bankruptcy, or in a procedure to safeguard business continuity or company termination/liquidation, in addition to the financial statements data that describe the liquidity, profitability, level of debt, the weight of financial charges and the...

Purpose: The aim of this study is to provide empirical evidence of the relationship between intellectual capital and economic performance, with focus on social cooperative enterprises that work in non-profit sectors. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was developed and administered in Italy. A final sample of 151 social cooperative enterprises...

Ai sensi della Legge del 19 ottobre 155/2017 con cui il Parlamento ha delegato il Governo a riformare “le discipline della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza” nella quale si specifica che lo stato di crisi è lo stadio antecedente l'insolvenza, si pone una particolare attenzione alle “pro-cedure di allerta e alla composizione assistita della crisi” (...

Abstract: The paper aims to investigate the impact of Intellectual Capital (IC) on corporate performance in high-technology Italian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The research question is the following: does intellectual capital affect corporate performance in high-technology SMEs? The Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) has be...

Abstract The study aims to examine internal and external factors that favor the use of management control tools in small businesses, to support decision-making processes in times of crisis. The research methodology is qualitative and the research method is the participant observation: the researcher (a Ph.D. student) is directly involved in the des...

La stima del valore delle aziende, nelle diverse situazioni e per i molteplici scopi, è un tema centrale della dottrina economico-aziendale ed un problema rilevante della pratica professionale, tanto in Italia quanto all’estero. I numerosi contributi teorici, gli approfonditi studi e le complesse applicazioni hanno condotto alla individuazione di r...

Purpose –This paper aims to assess the relational dimension of Italian Social Cooperative Enterprises (SCEs) belonging to a network, through the use measure of services supplied by network, depending on the geographical localization and the sector. Design/Methodology/Approach–A survey was conducted in 2016 involving 151 Italian social cooperatives...

Questo lavoro si propone di identificare i principali fattori che hanno contribuito alla crisi delle Piccole e Medie Imprese (PMI) italiane durante la recessione economica globale. L'obiettivo è quello di verificare se i sintomi della crisi d'impresa fossero già presenti nel triennio 2006-2008, che precede l'anno 2009, contraddistinto dalla caduta...

Purpose-The paper aims to identify the main value drivers of intellectual capital (i.e. human, relational and structural capital) which significantly affect the value creation process by social cooperative enterprises. Design/methodology/approach-A survey has been conducted involving 151 Italian social cooperatives which provide social, educational...

In today's global markets, issues related to environmental sustainability, ethics and the working environment have greater importance on business performance. The SA 8000 standard can be used as a tool to assess organizations' performance on the social dimension of sustainability and understanding its relevance, could become a key element for the i...

Purpose-This paper aims to provide empirical evidence of the interrelationship between the Intellectual Capital (IC) within social cooperatives that work in non-profit sectors (NPOs) and business performance, trying to identify which IC components are more valuable for firm performance and more effective for the implementation of business strategie...

1. Introduction According to the European definition (2003/361/EC), Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSEs) are defined as businesses that employ a number of employees between 50 and 249, with an annual turnover lesser than 50mln euro and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43mln euro. In 2014, the MSEs mainly worked in the manufacturing sector...

The number of Non-for profit (NPOs) organizations is significantly increased in recent years (International Cooperative Alliance, 2016). The increase concerns the number of paid workers (about 681 thousand), the volunteers (about 4,7 millions) and the services provided (health services, education, commercial services and social development etc.) (C...

A. Matacena, M. Del Baldo (a cura di), Responsabilità sociale d'impresa e territorio. L'esperienza delle piccole e medie imprese marchigiane, Collana Piccola Impresa/Small Business, Franco Angeli, 2009. Il volume ha l'obiettivo prioritario di fare emergere il legame esistente tra responsabilità sociale d'impresa, territorio e piccole e medie impres...

The authors present the results of the first annual survey about medium-sized European industrial companies. The interest for medium-sized enterprises derives from the transformations that have taken place in manufacturing industry since the 1980s. In particular, more efficient production techniques have led to the gradual break-up of large busines...

The paper examines the valuation methods employed by Italian professionals to define the equity value of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), in order to understand if the estimation procedures are effective and able to foster the merger & acquisition processes. In fact, successful development processes would have a strong impact on the econo...

Abstract This study investigates whether family ownership and corporate governance practices affect Earning Quality (EQ) in non-listed Italian SMEs. Most firms around the world are family-owned businesses. Empirical evidence on listed family firms shows, on one hand, that the higher information asymmetries generate higher incentives to bad quality...

Purpose-This paper aims to examine the Intellectual Capital (IC) within social cooperatives that work in non-profit sectors (NPOs), and to determine which components of IC are more valuable for firm performance and more effective for the implementation of business strategies. Design/Methodology/Approach-This paper reviews the above concepts in the...

The aim of this work is to examine in depth, through an exploratory case study, how SME’s entrepreneur could contribute to building and maintaining the collective social capital and which personal variables significantly affect this propensity to invest in social capital. Social capital represents the value embedded in the social relationships of i...

Riassunto Obiettivo del presente lavoro di ricerca è di indagare i valori personali dell'imprenditore, nonché i derivanti valori familiari ed imprenditoriali, che hanno orientato e guidato l'azione dell'imprenditore che ha scelto di condurre la propria impresa, attraverso un percorso di sviluppo quali-quantitativo, nella media dimensione. Si ritie...

The aim of this work is to verify which valuation methods are used by accountants to define the value of Italian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, considering the event of a change in the decision-making owner. Moreover, the objective is also to examine if the valuation methods employed in practice coincide with those methods considered theoretic...

The aim of this work is to examine the main methods used to measure the firm's value considering the event of a change in the decision-making owner. The focus is on the appraisal of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in order to define the most appropriate valuation methods. An adequate valuation strongly increases the probability of achieving...

The aim of this work is to identify the different typologies of investment in the internal and external social capital by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Social capital represents the value embedded in the social relationships of individuals and collectives. We consider both primary perspectives of social capital: the bonding/strong-tie social...

The focus of the paper is on the Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSEs) which qualify Italian capitalism, called “personal capitalism”. It is characterized by the figure of the entrepreneur-person, whose subjective variables (individual, family and entrepreneurial value, objectives, risk propensity, managerial and financial culture) significantly affect t...

The goal of this research project is to verify which advantages and disadvantages are connected to different instruments to raise equity, through which Italian Medium‐ Sized Enterprises (MSEs) could face the global recession, credit crunch, possible entrepreneurial succession and the international competitive challenge. The project’s focus is on th...

Il lavoro nasce dal desiderio di conoscere meglio una protagonista silente del sistema economico nazionale, “la media impresa” (MI), rimasta per troppo tempo all’ombra delle grandi e delle piccole imprese. Il progetto di ricerca si propone, nello specifico, di indagare le modalità di finanziamento delle strategie di crescita e di sviluppo implemen...

The crucial issues raised by the MSEs include their relative efficiency in comparison with the overall economy, and their role in sustainability and long-term prospects for European countries and regions, which are based strongly on the presence of manufacturing MSEs. This paper, in particular, investigates the pre-existing relationship between the...

The crucial issues raised by the Medium-sized Enterprises (MSEs) include their relative efficiency in comparison with the overall economy, and their role in sustainability and long-term prospects for European countries and regions, which are based strongly on the presence of manufacturing MSEs. This paper, in particular, investigates the pre-existi...

The “Piquadro” case study shows the existing relation between the fast firm growth and the financing policies adopted, consistently with decision maker’s objectives. The Piquadro Group, born in 1987, realized a successful rapid development since 1998, reaching the medium size. The international quantitative and qualitative development strategies jo...