The paper discusses the ownership and control structures of local public utilities by showing evidence from the Italian case. In this discussion, the focus is on three main aspects: the ownership structure, the board composition and independence, and citizens’ involvement (service charters)....

This paper contributes to the family business and the international business literature by analysing whether and to what extent different compositions of the ownership structure and degrees of board strategic involvement impact on the level of international sales of family and non-family...

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become popular worldwide as a way of improving health care service delivery. In order to enhance our knowledge of PPPs in the health care sector, we conduct a systematic review of forty-six articles published in peer-reviewed journals for the period of...

Basel 3 measures on capital, liquidity and leverage can be accompanied by structural re-regulation, like ring-fencing suggested by the Icb in the UK. But the growing consensus for separation rules goes along with a debate on concrete issues, also due to the strong links between business existing...

The financial crisis and the proposed changes in bank regulation seem to have inverted the trend of declining capital ratios and lower quality capital base which emerged from 2005 to 2007, especially for large Italian listed banks, and have stopped the generous dividend payouts. The recent...

<title/> The paper provides an attempt to direct the research in the area of venture capitalists and the board of directors in SMEs. Issues about boards in venture capital-backed technology based industrials are explored, and various research designs are used to meet different research questions....

In this article we position outside directors contribution in the corporate value chain. Our objective is to show how outside board members may contribute to value creation through knowledge and accountability. We will also provide tools for outside board members to make contributions. The...

The relations between corporate environmental reporting in annual reports and corporate governance variables, industry variables and country variables are hypothesized and tested. Empirical evidence is gathered from large corporations in Finland, Norway, Spain and Sweden. The environmental...

What is the best for acompany? In most countries it isconsidered to be a duty for board membersto act in the best interest of thecompany. Few, however, question ``who orwhat really counts'' in the boards'governance decisions, and that boards mayplay various roles in carrying out theirduties. In...