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The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework of the supply chain performance measurement system (SCPMS) lifecycle (highlighting key activities of the design, implementation, use and review phases) and to investigate how the different actors involved in the SCPMS perceive the system and can act to allow for an effective adoption.

The SCPMS lifecycle framework is developed grounding on performance measurement and supply chain (SC) management literature. To answer the two theory-building research questions, an in-depth case study involving seven firms across three tiers of the mass retail SC has been conducted.

The empirical evidence highlighted potential SCPMS benefits (including operational performance improvement, higher control, lower information overloading and higher SC integration) and criticalities/barriers to an effective adoption (lack of industry standards, lack of trust regarding data reliability, SCPMS as a tool of power, lack of interest in the system and the performance metrics). Several elements characterizing the SCPMS lifecycle could increase its effective adoption: engaging SC partners in the design phase; relying on a rigorous primary data collection and performance measures calculation; and actively exploiting the tool through a systematic discussion on performance and establishing incentive/disincentives plans.

The paper contributes to the conceptualization of SCPMSs and to clarify how to ensure an effective SCPMS adoption: apart from relationship-specific attributes, SCPMS lifecycle phases are suggested to have a key role.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an innovative buyer-supplier performance measurement system (PMS) (called relationship regulator – RelReg), aimed at stimulating collaboration on mutual performance. The RelReg is described all throughout the phases of its lifecycle: first, design features and visual representation of the new measurement framework are reported; second, guidelines on how to implement, use and review the system are provided, highlighting the role of the buyer and the supplier at each step.

A theory building and testing approach is applied. The RelReg developed features primarily ground on previous scientific contributions matched with empirical evidence collected through case studies, workshops and focus groups. The resulting conceptual model is then validated through a dyadic buyer-supplier case study.

Two conceptual frameworks are provided: the RelReg dashboard – a multidimensional PMS; and the RelReg lifecycle – set of activities to be performed by both the buyer and the supplier all along the adoption process. Moreover, empirical insights on relevant issues to be considered when adopting the RelReg are reported.

The RelReg represents an innovative and smart tool, allowing buyer-supplier dyads to collaborate on relationship performance.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of a mature supplier performance measurement system (SPMS) adoption all along its lifecycle phases (i.e. design, implementation, use and review) on the suppliers’ performance.

The research hypotheses have been tested on a final sample of 147 pairs of buyer-supplier responses, collected by means of a dyadic survey involving manufacturing firms and one key supplier of their choice. The research framework has been tested through a structural model using PLS regression.

Considering the joint effect of all the four SPMS phases on supplier performance, the findings show that the system use and review play a prominent effect: the former have a positive impact on supplier quality, delivery and sustainability performance; the latter positively affects supplier delivery, innovation and sustainability. A mature design displays a positive effect on supplier sustainability performance, while a mature implementation results to negatively affect supplier innovation performance. Finally, cost performance is not impacted by any of the four phases.

This study contributes to the open debate regarding the relationship between SPMSs and actual supplier performance improvement. In particular, the lifecycle perspective is introduced to clearly distinguish among each phase of adoption and assess their relative impact on supplier performance. Besides, the dyadic nature of the study allows to investigate different subcomponents of supplier performance jointly considering the buyer company and supplier company perspective, thus achieving a more insightful and robust information.

Grounding on resource orchestration theory, this paper aims to study the relationship between the way buying companies use their supplier performance measurement systems and the performance improvements obtained from suppliers, with relationship trust identified as a mediator in the previous link.

The authors design a conceptual model and test it through structural equation modelling on a final sample of 147 buyer-supplier responses, collected by means of a dyadic survey.

Results suggest that the buyer company may achieve the most by balancing a diagnostic and interactive use of the measurement system, as they are both positively related to supplier performance improvement. Furthermore, relationship trust acts as a mediator in case of the interactive use, but not for the diagnostic. This type of use negatively affects relationship trust, due to its mechanistic use in the buyer-supplier relationship.

The authors’ results contribute to the current academic debate about supplier performance measurement system design and use by analyzing the impact of different supplier performance measurement system uses, and highlighting their relative impact on relationship trust and supplier performance improvement. From a methodological perspective, adopting a dyadic data collection process increases the robustness of the findings.

Most studies on activity‐based management (ABM) focus on applications in manufacturing environments. Instead, little attention has been given to the potentialities of ABM for support units, although these are widely considered to be one of the most relevant sources of inefficiencies, especially in large firms. The purpose of the paper is to illustrate how the ABM methodology can be applied to R&D activities, with particular regard to the product development process. As a matter of fact, when implementing an ABM system for R&D operations, some relevant theoretical problems arise, essentially due to the high percentage of non‐routine, hardly standardisable activities. However, if adequately adapted to the characteristics of this function, ABM can be of great help in a number of issues, such as: improvement of the efficiency of the activities that constitute the process; evaluation of the economic benefits that can be gained through a redesign of processes; improvement of the effectiveness of links between product development activities; evaluation of product life‐cycle costs and budgeting and control of product development activities.

Focuses on the possible benefits and problems generated by the implementation of a post‐auditing (PA) system. This research work was structured as follows: first, an integrated model for the design of a firm PA system has been elaborated, based on the critical re‐elaboration of specialised literature; an empirical investigation (a survey) has been conducted in a sample of large companies operating in Italy, to analyse the most common configurations of PA systems. The aims were: to understand the behaviour of firms, with respect to the design variables identified in the previous section; to identify common patterns and possible correlationships between the solutions adopted in the different parts of the PA system. The results of the empirical analysis show a substantial alignment between the model and the configuration of PA systems implemented by firms (with some important exceptions), which seem to be influenced to a great extent by the objective with which the PA system has been implemented (project performance control vs learning).

This article focuses on the use of activity‐based management (ABM) theory for the control and the redesign of the centralized units of a large multinational company operating in the chemical sector. To this aim, ABM has been adapted to the peculiar characteristics of support services. In particular, greater emphasis has been put on the analysis of the nature of activity drivers, and on cross‐functional processes. The analysis was structured in two s.tif: the first ended with the identification of some hypotheses of intervention on single activities aimed at eliminating redundancies, duplications, and, more generally, at improving their efficiency. The subsequent analysis of cross‐functional links focused on the redesign of the most pervasive processes, which led to important reductions in general costs, estimated from 15 to 30 per cent, according to the specific process. The last part of the article illustrates the early results of the implementation phase, with particular emphasis on organizational and cultural issues.

Social innovations are defined as innovative products or services motivated by the goal of meeting a social need, with the opportunity to create new social relationships or collaborations. Although developing social innovations has been the primary concern of non-profit organizations so far, there are signs of an increasing involvement in this type of innovations of for-profit firms, in an attempt to accomplish their corporate social responsibility strategies. This notwithstanding, there is very limited knowledge on how for-profit organizations can develop a capability to manage social innovation projects. The purpose of this paper is to provide exploratory evidence to fill this gap.

The paper presents and discusses a case study of a firm that has been involved in social innovation for years. It is Intesa Sanpaolo, a for-profit organization that leads the Italian banking sector.

The case study points to the existence of three managerial antecedents of a superior ability in social innovation: integrating CSR in its business strategy with a strong commitment from the top management; separating the activities concerned with the development of social innovations from the rest of the organization, following to the structural ambidexterity model; applying the principles of open innovation to the development of social innovations, by involving in particular non-profit organizations as a source of ideas for new social innovation projects and leveraging them to enable adoption of the new products and services.

So far there is very limited knowledge on how for-profit organizations can develop a capability to manage social innovation projects. This paper provides exploratory evidence to fill this gap.

Describes how most studies of capital budgeting are based on financial theory. The development of very sophisticated analytical techniques has gained much popularity among managers as a result of their complexity, and low receptivity of the organizational context. Moreover, the process by which an investment proposal is analysed, evaluated and approved, is often viewed as separate from those relating to other investments, as well as from the other procedures and systems of the firm. Develops a conceptual framework for organizing the whole capital budgeting process, starting from the identification of investment proposals to the formal approval of a set of projects. Emphasis is given to the problem of integrating and co‐ordinating capital investment activities and to important linkages with the strategic planning process. The model is structured according to the principles of contingency theory. The process configuration depends on a set of exogenous variables which influence the choice of analytical tools and organizational patterns. The model serves as a reference framework for analysing the capital budgeting process of eight multinational companies headquartered in Italy. This analysis leads to some interesting findings about the attitude of managers towards some aspects of capital budgeting.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the results of research work aimed at investigating the approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR) by Italian companies, and at analysing the emerging analogies and differences in the light of some explanatory contingent variables.

Case study methodology was used for the empirical analysis, due to the objectives and the exploratory nature of the research. The results of the empirical analysis were then used to build an explanatory model of the correlationships between contingent (exogenous) variables and endogenous parameters (i.e. CSR approaches descriptive variables).

The results of the empirical analysis show that there are some industry‐specific aspects, which seem to influence the choices of top management of the interviewed companies. Other relevant context factors seems to be the size and the degree of internationalisation of a company, as well as factors linked to a predominant value system (named “corporate DNA”) and the level of integration between CSR strategy with the overall competitive strategy.

Owing to the research methodology used for the empirical analysis, and the relatively low number of case studies, results cannot be generalised. This was the first stage of a larger research project. Next steps will include both more extensive empirical analysis to test the relevance of the most important correlationships that have been identified, as well as more thorough analysis on industry‐specific issues (through case studies).

The paper is useful both for scholars/academics dealing with CSR, and for managers of companies that operate in the analysed industries.

The paper makes a contribution to the understanding of the different behaviour of companies with regard to CSR issues. In particular, it focuses on Italian companies, and tries to make a first systematisation of the empirical findings according to a contingent approach. It provides also an interesting basis for a cross‐country analysis.