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Total quality management programmes applied to research and development often produce great improvements in productivity because they follow trajectories that are lateral and parallel to the principal thrust which is aimed at client satisfaction. Such improvements are obtained through a better definition of the objectives of research activity, and through organisational overhauls which highlight the contribution to the innovation process made by the marketing, engineering, and production functions, through the adoption of more efficient management systems (programming, control, and management of human resources in particular). These changes are met with strong resistance from researchers and technologists who, during the start‐up phase of such programmes, often refuse to operate in accordance with the internal supplier‐client scheme. Such resistance, which was confirmed by the two Italian case studies presented, can be overcome by the intervention of strong leadership and with the setting up of an intense training programme.

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the changing of governance modes for the acquisition of external technology in the context of design driven innovation.

This is an explorative study drawing on cases of new product development (NPD) by six design‐oriented Italian firms. In analyzing the cases a longitudinal approach is taken.

The analysis of the cases shows a similar pattern for technology sourcing during the NPD process, starting with informal networks and ending with hierarchical structures. In the early stages of NPD, when market uncertainty and technological uncertainty are very high, these companies choose an informal network. However, once the product concept is defined and the companies need to become familiar with a technology, they move to strategic alliances with partners. In the final stages of NPD, more hierarchical structures seem to prevail.

There are two main limitations of the study. The paper investigates the influence of uncertainty on the choice of governance modes and does not consider other variables that could impact on choice such as assets specificity, frequency of transactions, product complexity, cultural distance among partners, etc. Another limitation of the study is the small set of cases.

From a managerial point of view, this study suggests that firms which develop successful design‐driven innovations follow an organizational pattern for technology sourcing during the NPD process, starting with informal networks and ending with hierarchical structures. Thus it is extremely important for these firms to have an open‐minded management that fosters the creation of a wide external network. This openness shown by the firms towards collaboration with other organizations in order to acquire ideas, new materials and knowledge must be offset by the secure protection of the results of the innovation process. Managers must foresee these needs and find ways to safeguard the results obtained through experimentation by means of patents or exclusive contracts with the supplier.

The paper contributes to the research on the theme of design‐driven innovation, analyzing the evolution and change in governance modes across the new product development process. It thus differentiates from the existing literature adopting a dynamic view, where multiple transactions are taken into consideration.

Public-interest entities – among which are listed companies – are obliged to publish nonfinancial disclosure in some countries and regions. The European Commission established mandatory nonfinancial disclosure by Directive 2014/95/EU. While a large body of literature was developed on sustainability reporting quality (SRQ) in voluntary context, evidence about the effect of mandatory nonfinancial disclosure on SRQ is controversial and previous experiences worldwide did not make clear if obligatoriness improves SRQ. This chapter aims to bridge the gap of empirical evidence about this phenomenon in European countries, focusing on first implementation of new legislation by Italian and German companies. The research has an explorative character and it adopts content analysis methods performed on sustainability reporting practices of companies listed in FTSE-MIB and DAX 30. The analysis aims to understand if obligatoriness affects SRQ, causes some changes in reporting practices such as harmonizing Italian and German ones by performing a cross-country comparison. The findings suggest that obligatoriness improves reporting quality and, above all, it fills the gap between different countries by fostering the adoption of international guidelines and the consequent introduction of some content, such as materiality analysis and quantitative measures of social and environmental performance.