This research investigates the extent to which the voluntary disclosure of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), assumed to be the most recent innovation in social disclosures and corporate sustainability reporting, is diffused among Italian listed companies through different instruments of disclosure (voluntary or non-voluntary). Our findings reveal that SDGs awareness amongst the business community is high and that the majority of highly-traded, liquid, and highly-capitalized Italian companies have introduced SDGs in their disclosure and story-telling practices, while the exact nature and requirements of the SDGs, and the definitions of specific key performance indicators (KPIs) related to those goals, are still missing. Italian companies prefer using non-financial statements and sustainability reports to disclose information about their commitments to SDGs, and most of them started to report information about SDGs in 2016. Additionally, this research seeks to identify the significant differences between SDG reporters in different sectors, under the assumption that operating in a specific sector could significantly affect a company’s decision to disclose information on their SDGs. This research highlights, following the recent evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure and sustainability reporting, the increasing relevance of SDGs in Italian companies’ disclosure practices and, at the same time, the gaps to be covered for their effective implementation.

Fashion firms have transferred their manufacturing processes to Asia, seeking minimum labor costs, supported by the academic literature’s proposals for alternative supply chain configurations to maximize profits. Fashion industry has undergone public analysis, facing demands for greater transparency about environmental and social sustainability. The growing public awareness of sustainability issues has led firms to declare their commitment to sustainable resources, but few changes have been registered. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe listed technological innovation as a key tool for making the fashion industry transparent and traceable regarding sustainability and circularity. The research and responsible innovation framework indicate appropriate ways to manage innovation from a responsible and ethical perspective, according to ethical corporate behaviour (ECB), particularly in the industries characterized by productive phases processed in more countries, such as the fashion industry. However, the linkages between responsible innovation, ECB towards innovative and sustainable business models, and their conceptualization, are still unclear in the fashion industry, achieving the goals included in the UN 2030 Agenda. This study draws on bibliometric analysis and systematic review of the literature on 114 articles published between 1990 and 2021 allows to identify the above issues in the research domains, and outline the evolutionary trajectories, as well as to explore the literary corpus about responsible innovation (RI) in the ethical corporate behaviour (ECB) of the fashion industry and its Asian suppliers. The results highlight that fashion brands strive to develop RI and ECB along their supply chain. Still, the misalignment of corporate ethics and cultural values represents a significant obstacle to the adoption of business models, especially to achieve the goals of UN 2030 Agenda. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that discusses RI as enabling driver in the ECB for fashion companies also defining a future research agenda including RI, ECB, iSBMs towards SDGs.

Public private partnerships (PPPs) are a well-known instrument used worldwide by public administration (PA) to build public infrastructure using private knowhow and financial resources, and sharing risks. In recent years, PPPs have been widely adopted to develop energy efficiency projects between public and private sectors. In this context, a successful project requires a contractual arrangement based on energy performance contracting (EPC) that balances the interests of the two parties. This paper aims to answer two questions: how to share the benefits between the contractual parties and reach an optimal long-term contractual agreement; and which type of contract ensures a consistent risk transfer to the private partner, allowing the PA an “off balance” accounting treatment. The research questions are answered through the development of a mathematical equation able to calculate the optimal percentage of benefits sharing between partners in a long-term contractual agreement. The results are tested with a simulation based on a case study about the energy efficiency project of an Italian hospital. The paper is innovative because it provides suggestions to improve the EPC-PPP contractual structure and realize a balanced agreement between the public and private partners. Moreover, it analyzes the different allocation of risks in EPC contracts to identify the implication for the PA in terms of on-off balance accounting treatment in energy efficiency investment. We show how a successful long-term EPC-PPP can benefit from a mixed contractual structure in which profit-sharing percentage changes during the contract’s life to ensure the same net present value (NPV) to both public and private partners. This paper supports public decision making in order to choose contracts that are able to transfer energy and management risks. Moreover, it helps to understand the balance between public and private interests in a long-term EPC-PPP contract.

The present paper shows how, in the soccer clubs sector, where the average financial results are negative, the value of football clubs is not related to income, but to sales turnover and gives a theoretical explanation for that. The literature has shown that the profitability of the industry is generally negative already at the level of operating profit. However, the difference between market value and book value is broadly positive, showing that the market recognizes to these companies a quid pluris in terms of value, not explained by the most rational and generally accepted methods of business valuation. The present study aims to explain, through an empirical analysis, why the value of a football company can not be estimated only on the basis of expected financial results, but it requires considering the overall benefits for shareholders, represented also by private benefits of control and socio-emotional benefits.