Case Studies and Best Practices: Reading the SGR Sustainability Reporting in Italy and in Bulgaria Using Institutional Theory

In the Italian doctrine, Catturi and Riccaboni (2001), after having analyzed the various threads of institutionalism theory, reach a definition of a notable analogy between “Old Institutional Economics” (Commons 1934) and Business Economics (Zappa 1957; Masini 1982; Ceccherelli 1964; Costa and Ramus 2012), as it considers the non-written rules to be of fundamental importance, as being like the “genius” of organizational change, which orientates the behavior of subjects who characterize the response of the specific and particular company. From this emerges the fact that for each company, the standardized indicators only describe a limited part of the performance which is more effectively monitored also through social- and institutional-type factors (Catturi and Riccaboni 2001: 167). Among contemporary authors, who in the Italian doctrine have directly confronted the institutionalism theory, we can recall Lai who traces the evolution of business theory basing it on the explanation supporting Zappa’s (1957) theory. Indeed he asserts that the institutionalism theory “…does not ignore the contrast of interests, on the other hand it raises it to higher dimensions, which leads to a recognition of the rise of real economic-social institutions, within which the re-arrangement of the various subjectivities has importance not only because the live entity is able to satisfy them collectively, but above all because it is the self same entity which presents itself as a new subject, different to the mass of subjects which gave rise to it” (Lai 2004: 10).