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This study aims to investigate the impact of digital technologies for intangible assets management. The authors analyse how technological innovations and regulations of intellectual property affect business models of companies or intellectual property rights (IPR) intensive industries to determine the impact of digital transformation on intangible assets management, highlighting emerging issues and future effects of the digital technology revolution.

The authors use a case study method to answer our research questions. The authors use Soundreef SpA as our case study, a collecting company that develops technology for monitoring, collecting and maximising the earnings of songwriters and music publishers. The authors also elaborate and adopt the framework of the enhanced intellectual capital as the theoretical lens for presenting and analysing our case study, determining how the digital transformation caused business model innovation and more transparent and timely performance measurement in copyright-based companies.

The analysis of Soundreef SpA’s business model allows us to demonstrate how using new technologies drives the performance measurement of copyright holders and improve the collecting societies’ performance, introducing a new key performance indicator. This turning point is made possible by digital transformation and regulatory change. In the IPR industry, copyright holders’ performance has never been calculated, so the distribution of copyright revenues was based on the criteria approved by governance bodies/management.

In the study, the authors demonstrate that digital transformation is able to enhance the intellectual capital of IPR-intensive companies introducing new ways to manage intangible assets and to measure performance.

The nature and amount of data that public organizations have to monitor to counteract corruption lead to a phenomenon called “KPI overload”, consisting of the business analyst feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information and resulting in the absence of appropriate control. The purpose of this study is to develop a solution based on Artificial Intelligence technology to avoid data overloading and, at the same time, under-controlling in business process monitoring.

The authors adopted a design science research approach. The authors started by observing a specific problem in a real context (a healthcare organization); then conceptualized, designed and implemented a solution to the problem with the goal to develop knowledge that can be used to design solutions for similar problems. The proposed solution for business process monitoring integrates databases and self-service business intelligence for outlier detection and artificial intelligence for classification analysis.

The authors found the solution powerful to solve problems related to KPI overload in process monitoring. In the specific case study, the authors found that the combination of Business Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence can provide a significant contribution to the detection of fraud, corruption and/or policy misalignment in public organizations.

The authors provide a big-data-based solution to the problem of data overload in business process monitoring that does not sacrifice any monitored Key Performance Indicators and that also reduces the workload of the business analyst. The authors also developed and implemented this automated solution in a context where data sensitivity and privacy are critical issues.

The aim of the paper is to understand the differences between “talking” and “walking” about sustainable development goals (SDGs) in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Specifically, the authors have conducted an analysis on 202 entities that operate within the Italian National Healthcare System (INHS) to evaluate the overall degree of transparency in term of contribution to the SDG3.

The research evaluates the degree of contribution to SDG3 by INHS through the adoption of the theoretical framework proposed by Beck et al. (2010). Specifically, the authors assess the degree of contribution to this goal using an interpretive content analysis that combines the theoretical framework with the 13 targets that composed the SDG3. For the authors’ purposes, they analyze all INHS’s website to evaluate the presence/absence of social reports produced in the periods 2015-2018.

Although the great contribution to the SDG3, the INHS is characterized by a low degree of accountability. In fact, only 12.21 per cent of INHS’s entities disclosed at least one social report during the observed period. Moreover, the authors’ results denote how the approach of INHS’s entities to social reporting is different both in term of “quality” and “quantity.”

The SOEs play a central role within the Agenda 2030 strategies. However, public managers are less oriented than private managers to adopt non-financial reporting tools. Furthermore, the authors’ results highlight the existence of asymmetric information between SOEs and citizens even if in presence of best practices such as the INHS. In this sense, the adoption of non-financial reports tool to engage in a more effective way with citizens could be a strategic driver for the achievement of highest degree of social legitimacy to operate.

The paper is of use to public managers operating in countries characterized by a high level of contribution to SDGs. Specifically, the authors’ results suggest how the adoption of reporting tools could impact positively in terms of stakeholder’s awareness to SDG themes.

This paper contributes to the understanding of the central role covered by academics, practitioners and public sectors to SDGs through the adoption of social reporting tools.

This article aims to analyze the specific indicators of the circular economy (CE) in terms of analytical aspects, scope and breadth of metrics and levels of innovation associated with CE.

A literature review was developed with a sample of 125 articles, extracted from Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Emerald, Google Scholar, Online Library, Sage, Springer, Taylor and Francis and JSTOR databases.

The results indicate the lack of integration of the social dimension and predominance of environmental indicators, lack of indicators for the meso level and concentration of metrics for the product level. Methodological criteria of validity and reliability for measurement studies are recommended, as well as paths and proposals for future research in the CE.

The study’s limitations are linked to the content and method aspects. Although the search was performed in several databases, with a significant number of articles returned compared to other reviews of the topic, the possibilities are limited by the data source and the impossibility of a broader review. The theme is not yet consolidated and this affects the linearity of the revised results. As for the method, the analysis and coding in systematic reviews involve the authors’ capacity for exploration and cognition.

The article proposes six theoretical propositions and the theoretical framework that portrays the main findings of the study and questions to drive future research in the topic.

The article points out opportunities for companies, universities and the government regarding the possibilities that can be explored to develop knowledge and practice about the field.

This research advances the CE literature by means of providing a review of the indicators, metrics and tools oriented toward the CE literature that contributes to the improvement and consolidation of the various researches in the field.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. In Italy, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a major cause of hospitalization and healthcare costs. AMI is a myocardial necrosis event caused by an unstable ischemic syndrome. The Italian government has defined an indicator called “AMI: 30-day mortality” to assess the quality of the overall care pathway of the heart attacked patient. In order to guarantee high standards, all hospitals had to implement techniques to increase the quality of care pathway. The aim of the paper is to identify the root cause and understand the mortality rate for AMI and redesign the patient management process in order to improve it.

A Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach was used in this study to analyze the patient flow in order to reduce 30-days mortality rate from AMI registered by Complex Operative Unit (COU) of Cardiology of an Italian hospital. Value stream mapping (VSM) and Ishikawa diagrams were implemented as tools of analysis.

Process improvement using LSS methodology made it possible to reduce the overall times from 115 minutes to 75 minutes, with a reduction of 35%. In addition, the corrective actions such as the activation of a post-discharge outpatient clinic and telephone contacts allowed the 30-day mortality rate to be lowered from 16% before the project to 8% after the project. In this way, the limit value set by the Italian government was reached.

The limitation of the study is that it is single-centered and was applied to a facility with a limited number of cases.

The LSS approach has brought significant benefits to the process of managing patients with AMI. Corrective actions such as the activation of an effective shared protocol or telephone interview with checklist can become the gold standard in reducing mortality. The limitation of the study is that it is single-centered and was applied to a facility with a limited number of cases.

LSS, applied for the first time to the management of cardiovascular diseases in Italy, is a methodology which has proved to be strategic for the improvement of healthcare process. The simple solutions implemented could serve as a guide for other hospitals to pursue the national AMI mortality target.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess whether immigrants suffer from unequal access to health care services, that add to prevailing socioeconomic barriers to care.

Using a uniquely rich Italian health survey, the authors estimate the correlation between immigrant status and the probability of accessing health services, conditional on a rich set of individual and territorial characteristics.

Results show that foreigners are more likely to contact emergency services and less likely to visit specialist doctors and use preventive care. Similar results hold for second-generation immigrants.

The authors discuss the sources of observed inequities and suggest tentative policy implications to promote equal access.