This paper aims to investigate how the shift from voluntary to mandatory nonfinancial information started by the European Union (EU) Directive 95/2014 may influence corporate practices. In particular, this research presents a paradigmatic case study to highlight relevant changes in reporting strategy and corporate governance adopted by an Italian listed company that never disclosed sustainability information before the transposition of the EU Directive into the Legislative Decree 254/2016. In this scenario, new obligations on nonfinancial reporting were not perceived as mere additional administrative duties and the nonfinancial statement became an opportunity to communicate company's paths towards sustainability, guaranteeing transparency and greater stakeholders' engagement. Our findings go beyond prior studies pointing out how organisations adopt strategic and tactical responses to the pressure stemming from the external environment. Additionally, it highlights the pivotal function played by the internal audit in setting up the direction of change. This research has theoretical and practical contributions for academic communities, policymakers and practitioners.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate why entrepreneurial universities choose a particular business strategy focussing on diversification and multi-nationalisation, and the role of intellectual capital (IC) in supporting such strategies. Design/methodology/approach The research question is answered through an exploratory case study of the University of Bari, Italy. Data were collected from strategic plans, annual reports, national evaluation reports and semi-structured interviews with the university’s board members and analysed using Secundo et al.’s (2016) collective intelligence framework. Findings The authors show how contingency factors, such as economic and historical reasons, justify both the diversification and internationalisation strategies, and how they both rely on IC. Practical implications The results of this study can be used by managers to support the development of entrepreneurial university strategies. Originality/value The paper is novel because it provides theoretical justification to strategy development in a university setting. Additionally, the findings contribute to the fourth stage of IC research by showing how IC can be used to support diversification and internationalisation in a university and support third mission goals. Finally, the paper provides an empirical application of the Secundo et al.’s (2016) model for understanding IC in universities.

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The purpose of this paper is to understand how universities develop and support student entrepreneurship. We did a preliminary Systematic Literature Review (SRL) on scientific articles regarding student entrepreneurship published during the last twenty years. Our findings emphasize three main research areas, emerging from a cluster analysis: (i) student entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention; (ii) university support for entrepreneurship; (iii) entrepreneurship education and learning. Particularly, our study points out that the new paradigm of the entrepreneurial university overcame the classical university model through the introduction of many innovations to foster student entrepreneurship. This paper provides an SLR on university role in fostering student entrepreneurship and it is useful for the academic and professional community. Additionally, it is original because it highlights the future directions of entrepreneurship and the main innovations adopted by universities to help students in the development of entrepreneurial initiatives.

Over recent years, the Italian University System has been handling a phase of deep changes, which have had significant impact on its mission and on the way it operates. The most important of these changes have been to the organisation of universities, their recruitment procedures and in terms of improvements to the quality and efficiency of the university system itself. In this perspective, the objective of this research was to carry out a critical analysis of the process of change, with special reference to improving efficiency by making the transition from cash-based accounting to accrual accounting. In order to achieve this objective, the starting point was the legislation of reference that sets out the terms for the move to financial accrual accounting. A comparative analysis was then carried out at an international level, with the purpose of highlighting the strengths and weaknesses identified during the implementation of these new procedures within the public field. This was followed by an analysis of the details of the theory defining the accounting principles to be used in the process of preparing university's financial statements. Finally, the study identified the main critical points relating to implementation of the new accounting system, offering, at the same time, several thoughts concerning possible subsequent analyses on this topic.