Available via license: CC BY 4.0
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Integrated sustainable performance management systems: A case study on Italian benefit corporations
Abstract and Figures
Today, to integrate sustainable development goals into business, an overall integrated sustainable performance management system — to implement and measure these global goals — is needed. In a short timeframe, the benefit impact assessment (BIA) — elaborated by B Lab, utilized by benefit corporations (a new and emerging hybrid type of prosocial business) and adopted by the United Nations — became the most comprehensive indicator to evaluate company practices against SDGs. Italy was the first sovereign country to insert the benefit corporation legislation after the US and analyze the effectiveness of the BIA. This prompted us to address our attention to the integration of benefit-driven indicators, adopted by Italian B Corps into their performance management systems, and to analyze if these indicators are used by managers to support internal decision-making. To achieve this goal, cross-sector semi-structured interviews were conducted in seven Italian certified benefit corporations. Relevant to both researchers and practitioners, our review provides a useful snapshot of how the BIA is developing as an assessment and how value-based organizations are moving toward an integrated sustainable performance management system.
Figures - available via license: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Content may be subject to copyright.
... If the firm did not select suitable employees for relocated to be fitted with their skills and qualifications, the firm will not be able to compete and achieve its objectives; thus, it will run into a variety of personnel problems such as low productivity, high turnover, high absenteeism rates, and employee unsatisfied and stress (Zhang & Edgar, 2021;Rehman, 2012;Storey, 2007). Therefore, to maximize the overall firm's performance and enhance competitive advantage, a firm should apply an appropriate job rotation method that relocates the best pool of employees efficiently and effectively (Nigri, Del Baldo, & Agulini, 2020;Kleiman, 2000). Rehman (2012) highlighted in his study that job rotation is considered one of many primary techniques and practices of HRM, and it aids managers to relocate the best employees scientifically and professionally. ...
Unstructured and random job rotation practice has posed unprecedented challenges for many firms, and impacts on employees worldwide, particularly in Jordan Customs (JC). This paper investigates the current process of the job rotation practice that the Human Resource Supply Chain Management (HRSCM) directorate is applying at JC. Therefore, applying unstructured job rotation practice (i.e., monthly) frequently and regularly will have a significant negative impact on JC performance as a whole. Qualitative methodology was adopted through conducting some semi-structured interviews with managers from mid and top levels, internal employees, external partners, and customers. Forty-six (46) interviewees participated and shared in this study out of 203, representing a 22 percent response rate (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Additionally, it was reviewed many related previous research studies in the literature in order to collect some other qualitative data from secondary sources (i.e., statistics, annual reports, etc.). The findings of this study show that JC applies the current job rotation practice randomly, unstructured, and not in a perfect and scientific way for achieving its goals and objectives; thus, leads to low revenues and performance (Magova & Kessy, 2020).
... Qualitative empirical studies have analyzed different aspects of B Corps, for example, the shifts that characterize their evolution (Sharma et al., 2018); the level of the social impact of online communication (Nigri et al., 2017); and the use of impact indicators in the governance and management decision-making process (Nigri et al., 2020a(Nigri et al., , 2020b. ...
Cite/Reference as:
Hoveskog, M., and Halila, F. (eds), (2021). Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on New Business Models: New Business Models in a Decade of Action: Sustainable, Evidence-based, Impactful. Halmstad: Halmstad University Press. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-44872
... to the initial capital costs incurred, but also because they affect future unit production, costs and revenues (Nair, 1995). Corporate performance is also used to support internal decision making by top management and employees (Nigri, Del Baldo, & Agulini, 2020). ...
Abstract
This paper examines how strategic investment decisions (SIDs) are made in the Egyptian context. There is an increasing call to comprehensively explore how social, economic, political, cultural, and organisational influences impact managerial judgement in SID making. In doing so, this paper takes an ontological perspective to understand how SIDs are really made. Given the uncertainty of the political and social climate and the radical changes that have taken place in Egypt, this paper provides a unique opportunity to investigate how SIDs are made in a revolution space. The contextual emphasis leads to a qualitative, interpretive research methodology. Twenty-seven unstructured interviews were conducted from national-owned and multinational companies in Egypt. Twelve organisations out of the twenty-seven that were interviewed were working for multinational organisations, thirteen of them were working for nationally owned organisations and the remaining two are joint venture companies. We found that the uncertainty embedded in the contextual structures cannot be translated through abstracted technical investment appraisal methods, so the role of subjective judgments and personal intuition is emphasized in the making of SIDs. Although both national and multinational companies indicate that in the time of revolution it is more rational to rely on personal trust rather than system trust. We found that multinational organizations push their Egyptian subsidiaries to articulate technical methods as a taken-for-granted practice, whether it is deemed meaningful or not.
Sustainable operations are becoming important for companies, after the United Nations 2030 agenda that emerges countries to move toward sustainable development. Taking care of the environment, society, local communities, and related stakeholders are components of sustainable development that are affected by companies’ operations. The facility location/demand allocation/route assignment decisions (hereinafter network) for a company is an operation that has varying economic, environmental, and social outcomes (three pillars) for the company and the related stakeholders. Having an integrated decision support framework that considers three pillars simultaneously and incorporates stakeholders’ preferences seems necessary in the network design to reach a sustainable network and promote sustainable development. This framework is missing in the literature. We present a framework that integrates multi-objective mathematical modeling (MOMM) (Anvari & Turkay, 2017) and multi-actor multi-criteria analysis (MAMCA) (Macharis et al., 2012). MOMM generates a pool of feasible sustainable solutions based on three pillars. Then MAMCA analyzes the feasible solutions for each stakeholder. The company (investor) uses these analyses to decide on the best sustainable solution, which satisfies the three pillars and reduces future risks of conflicts among stakeholders. We apply our approach to an original case to establish the network for a juice company in Turkey using real data.
Sustainable enterprises are becoming more popular and play an important role in tackling environmental and social challenges. Their hybrid nature, that is, the combination of financial and societal goals, makes them prone to external legitimacy issues and competing internal logics, which results in mission drift. We investigate whether and how B Corp certification helps remedy mission drift by conducting semi‐structured interviews with 16 key employees in 13 Dutch and Belgian certified B Corps from various industries. Our findings show that B Corp certification helps ingrain the mission into human resource management, in both the recruitment and employee engagement processes, which contributes to internal alignment and lowers the risk of mission drift. In addition, certification helps articulate the company's dual nature to finance providers and find financing sources that relate more with the mission.
In recent years, more and more companies have noted the significance of addressing serious social and environmental issues, and various sustainability strategies have been implemented to ensure sustainable competitive advantage. An urgent issue is how to integrate sustainability strategy-related goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) into performance evaluation and compensation systems, and how to integrate employees’ awareness of environmental protection and social contribution into their daily work. This study examines management tools that can link sustainability strategies with sustainability performance evaluation and compensation systems. Specifically, the balanced scorecard (BSC) is positioned as a management tool for measuring, evaluating, and managing sustainability performance, with a particular focus on the sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC), which incorporates economic, environmental, and social factors. The purpose of this study is to clarify the role of sustainability performance assessment and management in sustainability management based on previous studies and cases of advanced companies that have introduced SBSC, such as the Generali Group, and to systematically evaluate the functions and usefulness of SBSC as a sustainability performance assessment and management tool. The findings indicate that the SBSC is an effective management tool for improving sustainability performance and implementing sustainability strategies
The articles published in this issue address interesting corporate governance and sustainability-related topics, by focusing on key themes that are currently at the centre of the scientific, managerial, and political debate. The contributions included in this issue outline a stimulating picture in terms of theoretical constructs and empirical research approaches adopted by the authors, and share a common file rouge since they are grounded on the relationship between non-financial disclosure and firm performance and the role of the governance in fostering transparency and sustainability-oriented strategies in a complex and adverse scenario.
Benefit corporations institutionalize a new hybrid corporate form of business that allows for both profit and social objectives. Benefit corporations are traditional corporations with modified obligations; they commit to produce a benefit or purpose on top of their for‐profit motive, and they voluntarily bind to higher accountability and transparency standards. The aim of this paper is to shed new light on the governance and accountability procedures of certified benefit corporations (CBCs) in Italy since Italy was the first country after the United States to introduce the Società Benefit Law in 2016. Namely, this work explores how CBCs integrate benefit‐driven indicators into their structure, providing a renewed governance framework. To achieve this goal, a pilot case was conducted and 12 cross‐sector in‐depth interviews were performed with top management in seven Italian CBCs and triangulated with structured documents. What emerged from the findings is that there is a shift in the models of corporate governance where non‐profits are entering the for‐profit sector and that for‐profits are broadening their mission to include social and environmental goals. This extends the objectives of traditional forms of business to incorporate welfare objectives.
Benefit Corporations and B Corps represent alternative models of enterprise, often referred to as “hybrid companies” that bridge the for-profit and not-for-profit models. Italy is the first country outside the USA to pass Benefit Corporation legislation and introduce the Società Benefit. A large number of Italian Benefit Corporations are small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs), since SMEs are widespread within the entrepreneurial fabric and have great relevance in the Italian socio-economic context. A key issue in the emerging debate on small- and medium-sized Benefit Corporations concerns how these companies—with limited reach and considerable financial and human resource constraints—can effectively absorb their added social responsibility. In particular, such firms need to manage their dual mission, integrate social and environmental goals in their business model, and incorporate accountability mechanisms, all while scaling up and garnering the necessary resources to be economically competitive. Starting from these premises, this paper focuses on the performance measurement and reporting systems that are adopted by SMEs that are also Benefit Corporations, and investigates whether benefit impact assessment indicators integrate into an overall sustainability performance management system. To achieve this goal, an exploratory case-based analysis on seven small- and medium-sized Italian-certified Benefit Corporations is presented.
Yin begins the fourth edition of his 6 chapter book by explaining that case study research is a “linear, but iterative process.” This statement is supported by a visual which is displayed on the first page of each chapter. Each chapter contains one step in the linear process of case design (planning, designing, preparing, collecting, analyzing, and sharing) as well as it highlights how each step requires the researcher to review and re-examine former decisions. As Yin points out, each chapter can stand alone, yet it is linked to the other stages of the research process.
Researchers have increasingly turned to mixed‐method techniques to expand the scope and improve the analytic power of their studies. Yet there is still relatively little direction on and much confusion about how to combine qualitative and quantitative techniques. These techniques are neither paradigm‐ nor method‐linked; researchers' orientations to inquiry and their methodological commitments will influence how they use them. Examples of sampling combinations include criterion sampling from instrument scores, random purposeful sampling, and stratified purposeful sampling. Examples of data collection combinations include the use of instruments for fuller qualitative description, for validation, as guides for purposeful sampling, and as elicitation devices in interviews. Examples of data analysis combinations include interpretively linking qualitative and quantitative data sets and the transformation processes of qualitizing and quantitizing. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Res Nurs & Health 23:246–255, 2000
A Benefit Corporation is one possible alternative to traditional business models and a new way of managing business and sustainability. Emphasis on B‐Corporations in Italy dates back 2006, and 1 year later, B LAB certified the first Benefit Corporation Industry using the first version of the Benefit Impact Assessment process. Since then, the number of B‐Corporations has been growing, showing the success of the initiative of this category of firm that have voluntarily decided to pursue, like the profit, a further purpose: to obtain in the exercise of economic activity a positive impact on society and on the planet. After a presentation of the Benefit Corporation features, the main aim of this paper is to explore the relations that exists between the five different impact areas considered in certification awarded to Certified Benefit Corporation and the net profit value, using ordinary least squares regression model based on the entire sample of the Italian Certified enterprises.
Nowadays, we are facing a new phase of capitalism. Information that is beyond financial capital and able to provide a more comprehensive picture of the path towards sustainable development of organizations is increasingly needed. A remarkable body of evidence already exists on how large listed companies are facing this change, but very little is known about small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). This work aims to analyse if and to what extent new forms of reporting such as sustainability and integrated reporting are adopted by SMEs to illustrate their journey to sustainable development. To this end, the reports of three Italian SMEs have been examined against the internationally set principles and contents of these reporting models. It emerges that, despite the shared ambition of these reports, they are different in nature and deliver a quite distinctive representation of the concerned SMEs and their ways to pursuing and communicating sustainable development at a micro level.
The legislative formation of the benefit corporation (BC) institutionalizes a new hybrid corporate form in the United States (US) that allows for both a profit objective and a public welfare objective. This corporate form provides entities endeavoring to act in the public interest access to markets and investment capital alongside compatible governance processes. Since the initial state adoption of this form in 2010, 34 states have enacted BC legislation. Our empirical investigation demonstrates and assesses the emergence and evolution of this hybrid corporate form by articulating the discursive framings of a constellation of actors in and around these legislative enactments. The discursive framing is dynamic and contested over time, evolving from a focus on enabling for-profit firms to broaden out their objectives to include social goals beyond profit maximization to a focus on exposing activities traditionally carried out by government or not-for-profit entities to market discipline. One interpretation of the findings is that BCs are a manifestation and means by which the responsibility for public services and public welfare is transferred to the private sector along with the associated public resources. We consider the implications of a shifting landscape of corporate governance and accountability regimes for public welfare objectives.
