The transition from a linear to a circular economy (CE) is at the center of the debate among institutions, enterprises, practitioners, and scholars. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with their high presence in the business environment, play a pivotal role in the successful implementation of CE principles. Therefore, this paper aims to understand the state of the CE among Italian SMEs, considering both their different sizes and sectors. This study investigates CE knowledge and application, strategic relevance, benefits from and barriers to the transition towards circular business models, and the use of CE-related performance indicators in management control and external reporting. Through an online survey carried out in cooperation with the Italian Confederation of Craft Trades and Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CNA), we collected primary data from 623 respondents. Findings revealed the existence of cultural, technological, market and financial barriers, which have hampered the adoption of circular practices among Italian SMEs. Poor understanding of CE potential, combined with difficulty in raising public and private funds to finance the transition from linear to circular, are the greatest problems. To overcome such issues, we recommend serious intervention by public institutions, trade and consumer associations, and the higher education system to develop a climate more favorable to the CE.

An international context of increasing attention to the quality of educational systems in school establishments is becoming more important to develop a governance that is compatible with the principles of sound and prudent management, inspired by effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainable development, in the long run. The article initially investigates the evolution of national evaluation system of schools as an important tool for management and for school quality improvement. The analysis is carried out on the 43 education systems belonging to the Eurydice Network in the period July–September 2018. Mainly, we have noticed a wide diffusion of evaluation and self-evaluation mechanisms and therefore the development of a school management culture to improve the quality of the system and students’ performance. Subsequently, we aim to verify whether it is possible to identify a linear relationship between the assessment indicator expressed by the international statistical surveys on student performance and the overall quality of the school system. In this regard, the research data on the evolution of the national evaluation system and the statistical data of the OECD-PISA surveys are cross-referenced. Briefly, results on student performance show that the assessment of the quality improvement of the school system cannot be based exclusively on pupils’ performance. However, there is a generalized evolution in the adoption of national evaluation systems, confirming that the managerial culture in European schools is growing. As a further future study, the research will observe the above reflections taking into account the evolution of student performance results for the three-year period of 2015–2018 (OECD-PISA 2018 will be published in December 2019), considering a substantial evolution of national evaluation systems in schools during this three-years period.

Social and gender reporting in the public sector has a double purpose: analyzing the social impact produced by the bodies of the public administration (PA), highlighting the reflection of their activity on women and men (gender auditing), and developing a series of policies aimed at achieving gender balance (gender budgeting), in order to provide useful indications of evolution, with respect to SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. In the field of public enterprises, a very peculiar subcategory is represented by health care companies as they carry out activities in the field of care and health in all of its direct or indirect meanings. Among the stakeholders of health care companies, the most relevant are employees and patients; social and gender reporting that focuses on them allows for the calculation of the distribution of income and expenditure between the genders and the empowerment of spending policies to eliminate discrimination. To understand the spread of non-financial reporting tools among national health facilities, an exploratory survey was conducted in the period August–September 2022. Processing the data available on the website of the Italian Ministry of Health, a database was built containing a list of 1064 health facilities spread throughout the country including public hospitals, research institutes, and accredited private clinics. Data showed that only 10% of the structures had conducted some form of social or/and gender reporting, highlighting the need to improve the spread of these kind of tools. In order to overcome the gap identified between scientific studies and corporate practices on gender and social reporting, we propose a framework for the construction of social and gender reporting in the health care sector. Based on the Italian standards, envisaged for the realization of social reporting and based on the regulatory provisions for public bodies on the reclassification of revenue and expenditure by gender, we propose a process of development for social and gender reporting that focuses on reporting the areas of intervention of health activity in which the gender dimension is equally represented.

Aim of the Study: The paper tries to examine how the evolution of the principles of corporate governance can promote improvement in other fields as well. Specifically, it aims to investigate whether the imposition of quotas on the boards of big corporations encourage gender balance outside the companies themselves Design/Methodology: Through qualitative analysis and descriptive statistics, the paper investigates the secondary effect of the introduction of quota law in Italy. The analysis verified two hypotheses. First is about the under-representation of women within the board of companies not covered by quota law. Second about the percentage of women in key decision-making positions, after the approval of quota law. Findings: The study shows that the imposition of a quota law has an excellent effect on the societies to which the law is addressed directly, but insufficient results in terms of cultural change. Practical Implications: For scholars, this research intends to verify the effectiveness of a coercive systems for the achievement of gender equality. Board members and practitioners could exploit the findings of this research to trace the future path of their companies in the gender area. Policy makers and authorities have a valid tool at their disposal to develop an effective gender policy, basing the choices on objective results, net of political conditioning and bias. Originality/value: Scholars have highlighted the positive effects of quota law in economic terms, while others have outlined the potential in social terms. This last aspect, only generically studied, represents a gap in the literature. For this reason, the paper deepens and investigates the secondary effects of this regulatory approach, about relevant roles of key decision-making positions in the economic, political, and social fields. Keywords: corporate governance; gender balance; gender diversity; quotas; board of directors. Paper type: Research Paper

This study investigates how different corporate governance (CG) approaches influence firms' environmental and social performance, specifically focusing on the role of internal vs. external resources and operational vs. strategic approaches. Anchored in stakeholder and resource dependency theory, we develop a conceptual framework grounded in the dual mechanisms of exploration and exploitation. These mechanisms differentiate CG approaches into external advisors and independent directors (exploration), internal sustainability teams, and board sustainability committees (exploitation). We test this framework on a sample of 269 listed European manufacturing firms. Through a two‐stage methodology combining content and cluster analysis and multiple regression, we identify four distinct CG approaches and evaluate their effectiveness. Results reveal that firms adopting internal and external strategic CG approaches, blending board sustainability committee, internal sustainability team, and external expertise, achieve significantly higher environmental and social performance. Our findings show how firms can structure CG to embed sustainability into strategy, offering implications for managers, investors, and policymakers.