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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to carry out an analysis of Italian water utility companies to determine whether their performance was related to certain relevant variables that have been broadly discussed in the existing literature. Among these are ownership structure, size and diversification. In addition, the paper considers another variable – the geographical location. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviewed the annual financial statements of 80 Italian water utility companies between 2004 and 2008. It also obtained data regarding tariffs, volumes supplied and population served from Conviri, the Italian national authority for water. Finally, the paper discusses the significant differences among clusters, using parametric statistic methods. Findings – It was found that ownership structure, size, diversification and geographical location had an impact on the performance of water utility companies, although with different degrees of significance. Research limitations/implications – Further studies are necessary in order to improve the way that performance of water utilities is assessed. First of all, it might be helpful to improve our data categories, adding financial data, tariffs, volumes supplied and population served for more than one year and obtaining segmental reports for multi-utilities. In addition, it would be interesting to apply other methods, such as DEA analysis, to confirm our research findings. Practical implications – For a local authority it is convenient to entrust water services to publicly owned companies because they apply lower tariffs and make higher investments pro capita on the pipe network. Moreover, since economies of scale and scope exist, a company’s growth and diversification should be encouraged. Social implications – In Italy the water industry is currently the focus of a vast political debate. As a matter of fact, a recent law (n. 133/2008 article 23-bis modified in November 2009) encourages private administration of this industry. The results led to an improvement in the debate on the strategic choices and organizational structure of water utilities, giving helpful suggestions to policy makers and local authorities for developing future strategies. Originality/value – The research findings improve the existing literature on performance assessment regarding water utilities, for the first time focusing on the Italian context, where companies with different features coexist: public and private utilities, small, medium and large companies as well as mono and multi-utilities

Sustainability innovation is often not achievable by a single organisation; even if changes in business operations can lead to great advances towards a more sustainable business model (SBM), the effectiveness of these implementations largely depends on the combined actions of the organisation’s network of partners. The aim of this research is to analyse the way that SBMs and partnerships co-evolve to enhance the sustainability of the involved organisations and spread sustainability culture beyond the network. In doing so, this article presents a case study of the company Alisea as a business operating within a circular business model, along with its network of partnerships. The co-evolution of the business model and partnerships is led by enabling factors that characterise the underlying relationships. The role of cross-sector collaborations is demonstrated in terms of boosting the social and environmental dimensions of the circular business model, enhancing social and economic benefits within and outside the partnerships, and spreading sustainability culture in different sectors.

The sustainable development challenge is increasingly being included in entrepreneurs’ agendas. Firms are considered responsible for social and environmental effects but are also considered as social actors that can effectively incorporate sustainability solutions into market transactions. The literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in small business has depicted these firms as less involved in sustainability management implementation owing to resource constraints and limited perception of the business case for sustainability. Further, studies on both small business and sustainable entrepreneurship have highlighted the pivotal role of entrepreneurs’ values in motivating a more sustainable way of conducting business while, large companies, driven by external pressures, are more focused on a strategic CSR approach than small firms. Starting from these premises, the paper aims to identify the main drivers or barriers of sustainability implementation and to verify any significant differences between small and large-sized companies in their approach to sustainability practices implementation. The study adopts a qualitative research method based on semi-structured interviews addressing 22 participants from Italian firms of different sizes selected for their social and environmental commitment. The findings of the study highlight the existence of some common features among small and large firms, in particular, regarding motivations, entrepreneur values, and business vision, contributing new perspectives to the sustainable entrepreneurship debate.

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