Search results

The new challenge is to review the behavior of the proprietary system and its relationship with the company; the objective is to fill the great void left by the agency's theory, giving greater consideration to the interests of the company itself, as the bearer of its own expectations and needs, even independent of the ownership system. The possible considerations that arise from it, therefore, must not be limited to studying the relationship between Principal and Agent, but between Principal-Agent-Firms. In this new perspective, research on Corporate Governance must more consider the interest of the firm. In this issue of Corporate Governance and Organizational Behavior Review, the trends highlighted welcome these new considerations. The debate is still on the basic stage, but hopefully, it can contribute to the start of a change of mind.

AbstractESG has become particularly relevant and widespread among a growing number of firms. This dynamic is the consequence of different solicitations to which companies are subject, mainly by stakeholders. To pursue ESG usually requires the implementation of eco‐innovations (EI). Until now, literature about the effects of EI on ESG has been predominantly focused on large corporations, while little attention has been paid to SME, particularly to innovative SMEs. Within the ESG framework, this paper investigates how stakeholders influence innovative SME decisions to adopt EIs. To reach this aim, we investigate a probabilistic sample of 222 SMEs using the Partial Least Squares method. Results highlight that contractual stakeholders exert a higher influence than community stakeholders on EI. Among the single stakeholders belonging to the mentioned categories, only investors/lenders do not exert influence.

AbstractThis study investigates the association between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure and diversity of the board of directors (BoD) in Italian listed companies. Diversity of BoD in terms of gender diversity, CSR committees, board average, and independent directors are examined as to their influence on voluntary ESG disclosure. This rating is highly relevant to managers and investors considering ESG issues in their decision‐making process. The factors that drive or hinder ESG disclosure are gaining importance. Despite the relevance of the topic, in Italy there is a scarce amount of literature regarding diversity in the BoD. The data set includes ESG data for more than 54 Italian companies for the period 2011–2014. The results indicate that firm's CSR disclosure is associated with independent director and committee CSR. In addition, women on BoDs is negatively correlated while the age of the board is not significant. Based on this study, shareholders and policymakers will have a deeper knowledge on the significant roles that board diversity is playing as a determinant of ESG disclosure. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Purpose
This paper aims to examine the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts on the regional progression toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the lens of the adoption of 2030 Agenda by firms from different Italian regions.


Design/methodology/approach
Mixed methods were adopted. First, a content analysis was performed on 330 nonfinancial declarations released in the 2019–2021 period by a sample of 110 Italian listed companies from different regional macroareas. Second, regression analyses were run to test the impact of regional localization of businesses on SDGs adoption over pre-/during/post-COVID era.


Findings
The regional localization of businesses does not affect the SDGs adoption in the pre-COVID-19 era because Italian firms mainly address social goals. Instead, SDGs adoption is affected by regional localization of businesses both during and post-COVID-19 age, when Northern firms prioritize economic and social goals, whereas Southern firms shift from social to environmental goals.


Originality/value
This study fills the need of considering the subnational specificities in literature on sustainable development by capturing connections between firms, belonging territory, SDGs and COVID-19 crisis.

Technological alliances, giving access to information and know‐how held by partners, foster and boost a firm's innovative performance in high‐tech industries.