Corporate Social/Environmental Responsibility and Value Creation: Reflections on a Modern Business Management Paradigm

The present article deals with a new, modern business management paradigm founded on both the social and the environmental responsibility of firms intended as powerful instruments to match the issue of sustainability with corporate performance and value creation (thus evolving from the classical shareholder value to a new, more comprehensive, shared value view). The Directive 2013/34/EU required the disclosure of large enterprises and groups’ non-financial and diversity information

Simple hysterectomy versus radical hysterectomy in early-stage cervical cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: This systematic review (SR) and meta-analysis aims to compare the surgery-related results and oncological outcomes between SH and RH in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. Method: We systematically searched databases including PubMed, Embase and Cochrane to collect studies that compared oncological and surgery-related outcomes between SH and RH groups in patients with stage IA2 and IB1 cervical cancer. A random-effect model calculated the weighted average difference of each primary outcome via Review Manager V.5.4. Result: Seven studies comprising 6977 patients were included into our study. For oncological outcomes, we found no statistical difference in recurrence rate [OR = 0.88; 95% CI (0.50, 1.57); P = 0.68] and Overall Survival (OS) [OR = 1.23; 95% CI (0.69, 2.19), P = 0.48]. No difference was detected in the prevalence of positive LVSI and lymph nodes metastasis between the two groups. Concerning surgery-related outcomes, the comprehensive effects revealed that the bladder injury [OR = 0.28; 95% CI (0.08, 0.94), P = 0.04] and bladder disfunction [OR = 0.10; 95% CI (0.02, 0.53), P = 0.007] of the RH group were higher compared to the SH group. Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggested there are no significant differences in terms of both recurrence rate and overall survival among patients with stage IA2-IB1 cervical cancer undergoing SH or RH, while the SH group has better surgery-related outcomes. These data confirm the need to narrow the indication for RH in early-stage cervical cancer

Corporate Valuation: Looking beyond the Forecast Period through New 'Fuzzy Lenses'

Novel suggestions and insights on corporate valuation are provided adopting a still unconventional approach: fuzzy logic. It recalls the (Sophist) concepts of imprecision, vagueness, and ambiguity, overcoming the common (Aristotelian/Boolean) logic founded on dichotomy. Fuzziness has been applied to economics and appears, for most part in cognitive contexts characterized by uncertainty and complexity, growingly adequate to business and information sciences. In this paper, our goal is to revisit and expose the future horizon value attributable to a business after n years (in the medium and long term, beyond the normal five-to-ten-year forecast period) through a fuzzy multivalent number, rather than a limiting crisp (single-valued) one. Since the 'continuing' or 'terminal' value is a big slice of the overall corporate value, such 'picture' results in an amusing and suggestive (impressionistic) visualization, as financial numbers are looked through deconstructing and zooming lens. Abductively, absolute conclusions on business values are precluded, but several levels of feasibility or adequacy are possible, showing a blurry multiplicity of gathered numbers. The fuzzy approach enlarges the extent of the sensitivity analysis made by the expert (appraiser) and enables the decision makers (administration) having for processes or predictions more information with characteristics of completeness, transparency, and credibility. Finally, the approach sheds light on different value possibilities rather than sharply estimating and releasing only one single (most likely) value

The Role and the Ambit of Corporate Governance and Risk Control Frames

The following brief notes deal with the two principal corporate governance frames/models (once considered core norms, key concepts and regulative principles for business administration, management, control), as observed in the major countries: (i) the Anglo-Saxon/American system, that is “market based” and “shareholder-oriented” and (ii) the Latin-German-Japanese paradigm, that is “credit based” and “stakeholders-oriented”. The specific attempt of this study is to highlight the best international theories and practices about modern corporate governance processes, drawing attention to their role and ambit, and, on the other hand, to the need of suitable risk control mechanisms. In particular, it is possible to ascertain the new role played by the risk-variable in businesses, previously considered within internal control scheme, then as a tool of a wider management philosophy (enterprise risk governance). A “sound” corporate governance system is a fundamental premise to the achievement of general objectives as (1) economic-financial returns, (2) going concern condition (or firm’s survival), (3) growth