Federico Visconti

This study investigates how successors, by acting entrepreneurially, contribute to family firm transgenerational value creation. By focusing on the transgenerational value creation process, we investigate transgenerational entrepreneurship in family businesses under successor leadership. Employing a multiple case study approach, we analyse 15 Italian family firms, based on direct interviews, follow-ups, field observations, and approximately 300 historical documents spanning the period 1894 to 2023. Our findings reveal how individual, contextual, business, and familial drivers, alone or in combination, point to various pathways influencing entrepreneurial outcomes, thereby reflecting the diverse forms of successor entrepreneurship. Specifically, we develop a taxonomy comprising five entrepreneurial profiles: revolutioner, orchestrator, venturer, renewer, and improver. Our findings offer novel insights into the family business and entrepreneurship literature, along with practical implications and potential contributions to regional development.

L'articolo analizza l'introduzione del Passaporto Digitale del Prodotto (DPP) nell'ambito delle normative europee sull'ecodesign, evidenziandone le implicazioni per le piccole e medie imprese manifatturiere italiane. Il DPP rappresenta uno strumento chiave per favorire la tracciabilità ambientale dei prodotti lungo tutto il ciclo di vita, abilitando una maggiore trasparenza, comparabilità e digitalizzazione dei dati. Tuttavia, la sua adozione impone alle PMI rilevanti sfide operative, tra cui la raccolta strutturata di informazioni tecniche e ambientali, la governance dei dati e l'adeguamento dei processi interni. Il contributo propone una lettura critica della normativa, sostenendo che il rispetto formale dei requisiti non sia sufficiente: è necessaria una transizione culturale che integri la sostenibilità nella progettazione e nella strategia aziendale. In questo contesto, l'ecodesign non è solo un adempimento normativo, ma una leva di valore competitivo per le imprese che intendano innovare responsabilmente.

The paper investigates how the non-economic goals of the current CEOs affect innovation in family firms. A qualitative in-depth multiple case study of four family firms is carried out, in which the current CEOs' non-economic goals are identified by direct interviews with the current CEOs themselves and with the members who managed the company before them (i.e., the predecessors). As a main result, the paper proposes a theoretical framework which explains the relationships between goals and innovation by identifying a series of managerial levers activated because of the peculiarity of the current CEOs' non-economic goals.

This conference speech discusses key findings from the ISTAT Annual Report 2024 on Italy’s education system, highlighting both progress and significant challenges. While Italy performs comparably to other European countries in bachelor’s and master’s degree attainment, it lags in doctorate and specialized degrees, as well as overall education levels among young people, many of whom hold only secondary school diplomas. These gaps stem from systemic issues but can be addressed through joint efforts by families, students, and universities. Families should foster resilience and independence rather than overprotection, while students must demonstrate accountability, motivation, institutional discipline, and a commitment to learning. Universities, in turn, must embrace their evolving role by teaching lifelong learning skills, aligning with labour market needs, fostering innovation, and strengthening ties with businesses and other institutions. Pursuing high-quality academic research to enhance institutional reputation and to grow doctorates, adopting innovative teaching practices, improving resource allocation, and collaborating effectively with external stakeholders including companies are essential steps to transform universities into drivers of growth, benefiting young people, businesses, and Italian society as a whole.

Purpose The present paper aims at exploring effective business model adaptations in response to unexpected events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The authors test the effect of two major business model adaptations, namely changes in the value proposition and changes in the target market, on a sample of 96 family SMEs. Findings Results show that only changes in the value proposition had a positive and significant impact on performance, helping family SMEs to better confront COVID-19. However, this effect is reduced in the case of target market change. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate how business model adaptations in family SMEs affect performance in crisis situations.

Se la rilevanza delle piccole e medie imprese nell'ambito del sistema industriale italiano è ben documentata da dati statistici che mettono facilmente d'accordo studiosi e practitioner, un ampio e irrisolto dibattito riguarda gli elementi di eccellenza, i fattori di vulnerabilità e le condizioni di sviluppo di tale tipologia di attore economico. Capacità di adattamento, proattività, flessibilità, resilienza e creatività sono alcune delle caratteristiche di eccellenza normalmente riconosciute nelle PMI, mentre risorse finanziarie limitate, così come competenze tecnologiche, organizzative e manageriali poco adeguate a contesti competitivi sempre più complessi sono annoverate fra le principali debolezze.

Through a survey addressed to family firms in Northern Italy, we investigate the antecedents and the different outcomes of entrepreneurial behaviour (EB) in family firms. We test a model that determines how factors such as non-economic goals/socioemotional wealth (SEW) dimensions of family managers influence EB and how EB, in turn, affects open innovation choices (i.e., breadth) and innovation performance. We assess the interplay among these variables by means of a structural equation modelling (SEM) model. As concerns the antecedents of EB, findings show a positive influence of the SEW dimensions 'identification with the firm' and 'binding social ties', whereas a negative influence emerges regarding 'emotional attachment among family members'. Moreover, EB enhances openness breadth, and this, in turn, acting as a mediator of the relationship between EB and innovation performance, fosters explorative results.

Drawing on generational theory, we argue that family millennials' involvement is a driver of export intensity in family firms, but it depends on two different CEO characteristics, namely: family membership and societal generational membership. An ordered probit regression analysis on 92 Italian family firms confirms that the involvement of family millennials positively influences export intensity and that a millennial CEO enhances that positive effect. In addition, we found that a non-family CEO amplifies such a positive effect, whereas a family CEO tends to turn the tide so that the effect of family millennials' involvement becomes negative. The novel findings of our explorative study contribute not only to the research on family business and internationalization, but also to the literature on generational theory.