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Corporations are under increasing pressure to provide information about their corporate social responsibility activities. However, there is limited work on how firms measure the value of their philanthropic giving. The value of a philanthropic act can be difficult to ascertain as it often relates to unique goods that do not have a market value. The paper examines the processes a sample of (mainly family-run) private corporations follow to value their donations to a not-for-profit cultural festival. The findings suggest that while giving to the festival is seen as a contribution to the local community, there are additional motivations for donating. Moreover, the firms do not attempt to formally assess the value of their act, which they believe is hard (if not impossible) to measure. Our case highlights a more complex system influencing philanthropic acts of private firms.

On 31st January 2020, the Italian cabinet declared a 6-month national emergency after the detection of the first two COVID-19 positive cases in Rome, two Chinese tourists travelling from Wuhan. Between then and the total lockdown introduced on 22nd March 2020 Italy was hit by an unprecedented crisis. In addition to being the first European country to be heavily swept by the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy was the first to introduce stringent lockdown measures. The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and related COVID-19 pandemic have been the worst public health challenge endured in recent history by Italy. Two months since the beginning of the first wave, the estimated excess deaths in Lombardy, the hardest hit region in the country, reached a peak of more than 23,000 deaths. The extraordinary pressures exerted on the Italian Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN) inevitably leads to questions about its preparedness and the appropriateness and effectiveness of responses implemented at both national and regional levels. The aim of the paper is to critically review the Italian response to the COVID-19 crisis spanning from the first early acute phases of the emergency (March–May 2020) to the relative stability of the epidemiological situation just before the second outbreak in October 2020.

The paper discusses the responses to the COVID-19 crisis in the acute phase of the first wave of the pandemic (February-May 2020) by different Italian regions in Italy, which has a decentralised healthcare system. We consider five regions (Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Apulia) which are located in the north, centre and south of Italy. These five regions differ both in their healthcare systems and in the extent to which they were hit by the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. We investigate their different responses to COVID-19 reflecting on seven management factors: (1) monitoring, (2) learning, (3) decision-making, (4) coordinating, (5) communicating, (6) leading, and (7) recovering capacity. In light of these factors, we discuss the analogies and differences among the regions and their different institutional choices.

New public management accountability is increasingly being introduced into health-care systems throughout the world – albeit with mixed success. This paper examines the successful introduction of new management accounting systems among general practitioners (GPs) as an aspect of reform in the Italian health-care system. In particular, the study examines the critical role played by the novel concept of an ‘ethical budget’ in engaging the willing cooperation of the medical profession in implementing change. Utilizing a qualitative research design, with in-depth interviews with GPs, hospital doctors and managers, along with archival analysis, the present study finds that management accounting can be successfully implemented among medical professionals provided there is alignment between the management imperative and the ethical framework in which doctors practise their profession. The concept of an ‘ethical budget’ has been shown to be an innovative and effective tool in achieving this alignment.

PurposeThe healthcare sector faces new financial and managerial accountability demands, along with their clinical accountability. Various studies show strong opposition by clinicians to new accountability tools, new structures and new ways of working. Less attention is paid to the innovative roles doctors can play in leading changes that use new managerial tools and techniques. The purpose of this paper is to analyse two original case studies illustrating how general practitioners (GPs) in Germany have led radical change.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws upon original research in Germany to present two case studies using a qualitative method, which are analysed using Glaser and Strauss' conventions of grounded theory, structured by Wenger's communities of practice framework, supporting a comprehensive literature review.FindingsGPs are found to be able to lead radical change in healthcare delivery models and organisation using entrepreneurial talents developed in their practice businesses and to embrace modernising tools and techniques and in the process redefine their identities to include management process in addition to medical competences.Originality/valueThe paper presents two original case studies of radical change leading to an integration of healthcare services in Germany. The approach adopted by the German GPs reveals important general lessons for practitioners, as does the analytical framework employed in the paper.