Purpose: The paper aims to investigate the role of the network in managing the tradition and innovation paradox in the agribusiness industry. In particular, this study aims to demonstrate that agribusiness firms can innovate through tradition by joining a network, to capture the way intellectual capital (IC) is created, shared and transformed.Design/methodology/approach: The authors approached the study using the social capital conceptual framework, considering the network a critical determinant of social capital, which enhances the organization's ability to share, create and utilize knowledge. Then, the authors also employed the extended territorial strategy theory. The authors derived empirical evidence from companies belonging to the PGI-labeled Consortium of Pasta di Gragnano (Consortium). The authors used a quantitative approach, carrying out a panel data analysis.Findings: The results suggested that belonging to Consortium had a positive impact on the operating performance, the financial performance and the environment where consortium firms operate. Thus, being part of a network helps firms to innovate in a traditional industry.Research limitations/implications: The evidence of this work provided several implications for managers, IC community and the policy public. For managers, the authors observed that agribusiness firms can preserve their traditions through knowledge sharing with firms that operate in the same network. For IC community, the authors contributed to the debate on the social capital theory, arguing that the one area of IC that has received significant attention is the role of the network, which enhances the organization's ability to generate, share and apply knowledge effectively (Lin, 2017; Solitander and Tidström, 2010). Finally, the authors argued that policymakers should implement new reforms that facilitate the formation of networks, especially in socio-economic contexts where the unemployment rate is high.Originality/value: This is the first study that employs quantitative analysis to investigate this paradox.

This work is part of the academic debate focused on the information inadequacy of public administrations and the consequent need to imagine an overall reporting system for a fruitful dialogue with the reference community. Financial sustainability requires the implementation of policies that ensure the feasible provision of public services to the present generation, while protecting the needs of future ones, thus ensuring intergenerational equity. Such information does not normally fall in the domain of traditional financial reports; therefore, one naturally questions how information about financial sustainability can be disseminated to the users of local governments. For these reasons, governments should be interested in developing an integrated popular report (IPR). The present research, using a theoretical-deductive methodology, proposes some characteristics and content that an effective integrated popular report should contain in order to respond to the information needs of public sector user groups — citizens, in particular. The research objective can be summarized in the proposition of IPR as a new transparency and communication tool for citizens, which simplifies the existing voluntary reporting in order to jointly acquire the unique benefits of integrated reporting (IR) and popular reporting (PR).

The social impact bond (SIB), at the present in Italy, is a financial instrument issued by a bank to support social initiatives in which the subscriber will receive a limited financial return on investment. As part of that performance, the social return for the community is considered as an integration of the financial performance that will replace a part of the interest rate. The first experience in Italy is represented by a bank that has issued 45 Social Bond for 472 million euros. The research analyses, on the basis of the character-ristics of the third sector in Italy, with particular reference to the financial weakness of the sector, the possible impact on the financial management process in the social enterprises by the use of SIB. Moreover, we would demonstrate that, with a well-conducted cost-benefit analysis, it is possible to construct a hypothesis of SIB in which the repayment is based on market rate. In particular, is proposed the development of a SIB with the objective of formulating hypotheses of response to the innovative following questions: Given certain cost drivers, what social outcomes would generate savings for the state budget able to fully repay the fixed costs of the SIB, to give a percentage of the benefit to the government and to ensure the repayment to investors? How to identify the timing of cash flows in order to structure a potential internal rate of return objective satisfactory for investors? Due to the lack of already developed case studies, with the technics of the business plan, we analyse the impact of SIB on social and financial performance, both from the point of view of the Public Administration and of the social enterprise, in a project of social housing introducing a remuneration rate at market level. The development of the project shows that, with the integration of the private and public perspective, it is possible to improve the social and financial performance offering an adequate interest rate and, moreover, without limit the hypothesis of SIB underwriting to the philanthropic institution.

Supply chain sustainability governance lacks a framework connecting indirect greenwashing to the governance responses feasible under varying resource dependence constraints. Indirect greenwashing is defined as the transmission of misleading environmental claims from suppliers to lead firms that lack the informational or structural capacity to detect them. Prior research treats disengagement as the default governance response, abstracting from the resource-dependence conditions under which exit is neither economically nor operationally feasible. This paper asks how companies can respond structurally to indirect supplier greenwashing across varying configurations of resource dependence and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) transparency. Drawing on an integrative literature review, the paper develops the Indirect Greenwashing Strategies Prevention (IGSP) framework, a four-quadrant matrix that crosses supplier ESG transparency with buyer resource dependence to generate contingent governance prescriptions. Four strategic propositions are advanced, each associating a distinct governance logic with a relational configuration: mitigation, transformation, monitoring, and co-creation. The framework makes three contributions. First, it integrates resource dependence theory with the emerging stream of indirect greenwashing into a unified analytical structure. Second, it moves beyond the binary integration-versus-engagement logic that characterises prior upstream governance research. Third, it specifies the relational conditions under which blockchain-based transparency tools function as complements to governance rather than autonomous solutions.

A growing literature is devoted to understanding how public entities can enhance their methods of reporting information to establish a genuine dialog with stakeholders in general and citizens in particular. In the current context, the challenge of achieving sustainable development has impacted various sectors. The public sector is implementing a series of actions aimed at ensuring transparency and environmental, social, and governance sustainability. Public entities disseminate information related to these actions through various reporting tools, attempting to meet the interests of citizens. However, typically, this kind of information is not included in traditional financial reports. The aim of the study can be summarized by illustrating the advantages of a relatively new reporting tool in Italy. Contributing to previous studies, we investigate, using a theoretical-deductive methodology, how governmental entities can improve institutionalization, legitimacy, and stakeholder relations through a new reporting tool known as “Integrated Popular Reporting”. The study highlights how Integrated Public Reporting (IPR) fosters citizen participation in budgeting, improves accessibility to reporting, and promotes accountability. It emphasizes the importance of IPR in enhancing quality of life and transparency, offering valuable insights for policymakers and standard setters.