Angela Nuzzi

Benefit corporation is a hybrid business form that simultaneously pursues profit and common benefit objectives. By adopting the systematic literature review methodology, the study analyses and systematises knowledge on the peculiarities of benefit corporation (purpose, accountability, and transparency), its strengths and weaknesses, the motivations behind its adoption and diffusion, its position with respect to corporate theories, the sustainability practices adopted to achieve the dual purpose, and the impact assessment. Drawing on knowledge gained from the review, the paper proposes a conceptual framework on the benefit corporation model that can be a useful resource for companies, managers, and practitioners interested in understanding and implementing such a hybrid business form. The paper contributes to developing a comprehensive knowledge base on the benefit corporation model and outlines a research agenda to guide future studies in the field. Policymakers can use the considerations of the paper to enhance the benefit corporations model's normative aspects.

Covid-19 outbreak led all organizations to reorganize their processes to prevent infection and contagion risk. All healthcare facilities, included penitentiary mental health services, had to redesign their processes to safely deliver care services. In this paper, the case of a Penitentiary Mental Health Division located in southern Italy is presented. Soft System Methodology and Business process management principles and techniques are adopted to analyse and redesign the detainees’ mental health care process. The process, characterized by direct, close and prolonged contact with patients, exposes detainees and healthcare staff to a high Covid-19 infection risk. Through document analysis, interviews with the actors involved in the process and direct observation, the process’s inefficiencies and criticalities are identified. The process is redesigned to make it compliant with Covid-19 prevention provisions and national penitentiary regulations and address the other criticalities. The proposed methodological approach–which innovatively combines Soft System Methodology and Business Process Management–constitutes a human-centered process-based redesign approach that can be used both in healthcare and other organizational settings.

The growing diffusion of digital technologies, especially in production systems, is leading to a new industrial paradigm, named Industry 4.0 (I4.0), which involves disruptive changes in the way companies organize production and create value. Organizations willing to seize the opportunities of I4.0 must thus innovate their processes and business models. The challenges that companies must face for the transition towards I4.0 paradigm are not trivial. Several digital transformation models and roadmaps have been lately proposed in the literature to support companies in such a transition. The literature on change management stresses that about 70% of change initiatives—independently of the aim—fail to achieve their goals due to the implementation of transformation programs that are affected by well-known mistakes or neglect some relevant aspects, such as lack of management support, lack of clearly defined and achievable objectives and poor communication. This paper investigates whether and to what extent the existing digital transformation models (DTMs) and roadmaps for I4.0 transition consider the lessons learnt in the field of change management. To this aim, a Systematic Literature Review to identify existing models and roadmaps is carried out. The results obtained by the review are discussed under the lens of the change-management literature. Based on that, the shortcomings and weaknesses of existing DTMs are pinpointed. Extant DTMs mainly focus on digital transformation initiatives carried out in manufacturing companies; they do not cover all the phases of the digital transformation process but rather focus on the definition of the I4.0 vision, strategy and roadmap. Little attention is devoted to the implementation and consolidation of digital change. Change management lessons are considered to a limited extent, based on which, some suggestions for better dealing with digital transformation initiatives are discussed. The paper contributes to advancing knowledge on models and approaches to support organizations in managing digital transformation. The identification of change management activities that a digital transformation initiative should involve as well as the suggestions on how to effectively deal with it can be used by managers to successfully lead the I4.0 transition journey in their organizations.

In this paper, ambidextrous BPM, supported by Soft System Methodology, was adopted to analyze and redesign the care process of patients affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). An integrated ecosystem of technologies, including eHealth and mHealth technologies, was developed and the process innovatively redesigned so as to make it more responsive to medical staff and patient needs and more efficient.