RISULTATI RICERCA

The change in markets’ dynamics occurred during the last 50 years led to a signifi-cant transformation within the cost structure of companies, resulting in a gradual loss of cost control systems’ effectiveness. This caused a progressive shift from cost control to cost management (CM), involving the use of innovative tools and approaches that provide more suitable cost allocation methods, cost computation logics, and allow to detect value-creating costs in order to support the decision-making process. The present work aims at exploring the current state of CM application in the Ital-ian context, identifying the main mechanisms implemented and the key percep-tions of organizations concerning the upsides, downsides and innovativeness of CM logics. The findings show that the level of CM diffusion has increased in the most recent years compared to the evidence of prior research, but most companies still don’t use CM systems. Processes and activities-based approaches are increasingly ap-plied; however, besides traceable costing logics, the traditional full costing methods are still highly used. Companies benefited from the implementation of CM sys-tems, since they supply data that allow to understand which are the main causes of complexity, what costs really create value and facilitate participation in the de-cision-making process. However, the high quantity of resources required for the system’s development and the resilience of people to the process of change still represent barriers that hinder the diffusion of CM. The main implication of the study is raising awareness about the importance of using suitable CM systems to evaluate costs as well as signaling the potential chal-lenges of their application. The twofold role of human resources in the process of CM innovation is explored.

This study investigates the relevance of cash flow information in predicting corpo-rate bankruptcy in Italian private companies. The results indicate that while the cash flow-based model exhibits a high predictive capacity, it is less effective than the accrual-based model. In addition, cash flow-based ratios do not improve the predictive capacity of the accrual-based model. From a theoretical perspective, this study enriches existing literature on the relevance of cash flow information in predicting corporate bankruptcy by extending the investigation to the Italian con-text, which has not yet been sufficiently studied. From a practical standpoint, it provides Italian companies with new bankruptcy prediction models and offers pre-liminary suggestions regarding the relevance that should be attributed to cash flow information within the organizational, administrative, and accounting structures that they must establish to promptly detect crises and undertake appropriate initia-tives in a timely manner to comply with the requirements of the new legislation on business crises.

This study provides a first conceptualization of the Metaverse from a strategic management perspective and advances performance measurement approaches for the Metaverse value creation. Specifically, the study aims to provide an in-depth analysis of Metaverse and the related implications on the value creation processes of the companies. In order to achieve this goal, we performed a detailed literature review on digital transformation, Metaverse and performance measure-ment topics. Thus, we have developed a theoretical framework useful to facilitate the implementation of successful strategies in the Metaverse and subsequent mon-itoring and evaluation of achieved results. The paper provides relevant contributions in theory and practice. From a theoreti-cal perspective, the results contribute to the strategic management and perfor-mance management literature streams, extending them to the dimension of the “digital world”. From a practical perspective, the results identify new performance measurement and new indicators useful for companies and practitioners to under-stand the link between Metaverse and value creation paths. Future studies should integrate the theoretical analysis with explorative empirical investigations.

This paper investigated if high digitalisation exposure allows companies to reduce their environmental impacts. Further, the study also deepened the critical role of available slack resources by analysing their possible moderating effects on the relationship between the firm’s higher digitalisation exposure and environmental performance. Adopting the unbalanced panel data approach, the authors performed 5 years fixed-effects regression analysis on a sample of 5,481 non-financial listed companies’ data derived from the Refinitiv ESG universe, as well as considering the annual constituents lists of the STOXX® Global Digitalisation index. Findings showed digitalisation positively affects specific environmental performance. Moreover, results highlighted that available slack resources negatively moderate the relationship between the firms’ higher digitalisation exposure and the sustainable management of resources in internal business and procurement processes. Accordingly, slack resources could stress the profit maximisation logic penalising corporate sustainability.

Performance measurement has become increasingly crucial, encompassing both organizational and personal spheres. It assesses how effectively tasks are carried out and is pivotal in determining the value derived from these activities. Tradition-al approaches to performance measurement, rooted in representational realism or social constructivism, present limitations in ensuring trustworthiness. This paper proposes pragmatic constructivism (PC) as an alternative paradigm to enhance the reliability of performance measurement. PC posits that organizational practices are constructed by humans through cognitive processes and offers an epistemolog-ical framework for developing effective measurement systems and a foundation for intentional and valuable outcomes. The paper discusses the shortcomings of traditional paradigms, outlines the principles of PC, and demonstrates its applica-tion in evaluating the three existing measurement frameworks of financial accounting, the Balanced Scorecard, and sustainability framework of Global Report-ing Initiative (GRI).

Amidst the backdrop of military conflicts, climate change, pandemics, and social disparities, it is clear that firms must acquire the necessary skills to effectively learn, respond promptly, and mitigate these global occurrences. Increased invest-ment in the deployment of robust and efficient performance management sys-tems is necessary to effectively lead firms in implementing their corporate strategy. Performance measurement systems encompass many processes, methods, and tools that are designed to quantitatively assess critical factors in order to facilitate the execution of a strategy. Moreover, these systems may serve as catalysts to promote debates and conversations, leading to the identification of improvement activities for corporate goals and performance. As a result, firms can achieve more rational growth. Moreover, when used and adjusted correctly, performance as-sessment systems enable firms to adapt and progress in accordance with the eco-nomic and social environment, as well as technological advancements, thus facing challenging contexts. Indeed, in performance measurement systems, it is crucial to ensure that the pa-rameters and measurement methods are appropriately adjusted. This is necessary to avoid a situation where the company's strategic goals, such as digitalization or sustainability, are measured in an unsuitable manner, delayed, and without align-ment with the formulated strategy or necessary adaptations. The volatility caused by external variables, such as emerging technology, envi-ronmental issues, crises, and organizational restructuring, influences and drives companies to implement and increase the utilization of performance measure-ment systems, which must be custom-designed to be aligned with the company’s requirements. Indeed, the consensus in the research is that there is no universally applicable performance management system. Instead, its design is contingent up-on contextual factors such as the environment, technology, strategy, and culture.

Alice nel paese delle meraviglie è il racconto della crescita e della trasformazione. Un continuo oscillare tra quello che eravamo, quello che siamo, quello che potremmo essere e quello che diverremo. È il racconto delle domande e delle risposte che generano altre domande. La favola della paura, della verità e del coraggio. Di tutto e del contrario di tutto. La storia che racconta del divenire perturbante di ogni cambiamento. Il racconto della verità inscritta in ogni sogno.

Il lavoro mostra, attraverso il caso clinico di una psicoanalisi di coppia, la complessità del rapporto tra la gelosia e la relazione primaria sperimentata da ciascun partner. L’autore mostra come la gelosia con i suoi aspetti enigmatici tenda a mascherare dimensio-ni infantili pragmatiche legate alla regolazione emotivo-affettiva (Atlas, 2023) e incarni una riattualizzazione del conflitto estetico teorizzato da Meltzer (1981). Particolare attenzione viene dedicata alle dinamiche di riconoscimento nella coppia e nel transfert con l’analista: la gelosia porta i partner a non riconoscersi a vicenda e a non riconoscere se stessi; il lavoro analitico li accompagna in un percorso di conoscenza più libero e profondo e capace di tollerare l’ambivalenza e la complessità nella direzione della pensabilità condivisa.

In questo lavoro, l’autore affronta la questione del rapporto tra il trapianto d’organi e l’esperienza migratoria. Nella pratica trapiantologica gli organi “migrano”, prolungando la loro stessa esistenza e, nel contempo, garantendo vita al ricevente. L’esperienza di trapianto d’organo colpisce non solo il corpo, ma anche il senso del Sé, e il processo integrativo è molto complesso, perché l’accoglienza è inseparabile dall’intrusione. L’alienante esperienza di tra-pianto rivela lo straniero nel nostro stesso corpo. Il nuovo organo, infatti, è un oggetto forte-mente ambiguo, che evoca il freudiano concetto Unheimlich. Nello scritto l’autore tenta di in-dividuare dei percorsi analitici che favoriscano l’integrazione psicosomatica degli organi tra-piantati.

Questo scritto prende le mosse dal legame che Freud pone tra il perturbante e il linguaggio. Il linguaggio come perno del registro simbolico costituisce il velo rappresentativo che consente all’ente di manifestarsi non come nuda vita, cosa contingente e inappropriabile, ma sotto forma di rappresentazione e immagine. Tuttavia, la parola può prendere sensi inaspettati che favori-scono il sorgere del perturbante. L’invenzione di un lingua politically correct, nella sua forma ossessiva e fondamentalista, può essere intesa come una forma di trattamento di questo tipo di perturbante. Attraverso delle note cliniche, l’autore propone un interrogativo circa una possibi-le piegatura della psicoanalisi in senso politicamente corretto.