Assessing the Italian Innovative Start-Ups Performance with a Composite Index
This paper aims to assess the profitability and employees’ productivity of Italian innovative start-ups with a new composite index: the Start-ups Performance score (SP-score). In recent years, the Italian government has made several efforts to foster the economy, establishment, and growth of start-u...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Administrative Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/12/4/189 |
| _version_ | 1827642309442797568 |
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| author | Gianni Onesti Eleonora Monaco Riccardo Palumbo |
| author_facet | Gianni Onesti Eleonora Monaco Riccardo Palumbo |
| author_sort | Gianni Onesti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper aims to assess the profitability and employees’ productivity of Italian innovative start-ups with a new composite index: the Start-ups Performance score (SP-score). In recent years, the Italian government has made several efforts to foster the economy, establishment, and growth of start-ups. Specifically, the issuing of the Italian Start-up Act in 2012 offers a unique opportunity to examine the Italian setting, given the special conditions that the government granted to the start-ups. The latter obtain generic benefits, tax reductions and hiring facilitations if they meet specific criteria granting the status (label) of “innovative” by law. Based on a sample of Italian start-ups firms (ISPs) and financial statement data for the period 2016–2020, we test whether the performance of the Italian start-ups which are granted the status of “innovative” is higher compared to start-ups without the mentioned status (NISPs). We measure the firm’s performance by building a composite index which synthesizes both profitability and employees’ productivity (controlling for the firms’ size), and find that the ISPs report higher SP-score compared to the NISPs. In addition, we examine whether the SP-score is higher (or lower) among Innovative start-ups located in different regional areas. The derivation of the composite indicator (SP-score) allows a clear and effective evaluation of several characteristics, permitting a more comprehensive understanding of the data that support the strategic choices of management and localization entrepreneurship policies. In addition, our study highlights a certain homogeneity of innovative start-ups’ performance among the Italian territories, which overcomes the classic dualistic division between Northern and Southern regions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:26:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-14176a154bea4c2dbc5f5d372f4127bc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3387 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:26:38Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Administrative Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-14176a154bea4c2dbc5f5d372f4127bc2023-11-24T12:36:52ZengMDPI AGAdministrative Sciences2076-33872022-12-0112418910.3390/admsci12040189Assessing the Italian Innovative Start-Ups Performance with a Composite IndexGianni Onesti0Eleonora Monaco1Riccardo Palumbo2Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Via Luigi Polacchi 11, 66100 Chieti, ItalyDepartment of Management, University of Bologna, Via Capo di Lucca, 34, 40126 Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Via Luigi Polacchi 11, 66100 Chieti, ItalyThis paper aims to assess the profitability and employees’ productivity of Italian innovative start-ups with a new composite index: the Start-ups Performance score (SP-score). In recent years, the Italian government has made several efforts to foster the economy, establishment, and growth of start-ups. Specifically, the issuing of the Italian Start-up Act in 2012 offers a unique opportunity to examine the Italian setting, given the special conditions that the government granted to the start-ups. The latter obtain generic benefits, tax reductions and hiring facilitations if they meet specific criteria granting the status (label) of “innovative” by law. Based on a sample of Italian start-ups firms (ISPs) and financial statement data for the period 2016–2020, we test whether the performance of the Italian start-ups which are granted the status of “innovative” is higher compared to start-ups without the mentioned status (NISPs). We measure the firm’s performance by building a composite index which synthesizes both profitability and employees’ productivity (controlling for the firms’ size), and find that the ISPs report higher SP-score compared to the NISPs. In addition, we examine whether the SP-score is higher (or lower) among Innovative start-ups located in different regional areas. The derivation of the composite indicator (SP-score) allows a clear and effective evaluation of several characteristics, permitting a more comprehensive understanding of the data that support the strategic choices of management and localization entrepreneurship policies. In addition, our study highlights a certain homogeneity of innovative start-ups’ performance among the Italian territories, which overcomes the classic dualistic division between Northern and Southern regions.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/12/4/189innovative start-upsentrepreneurshipstart-ups performancecomposite indicatorsfinancial statement analysis |
| spellingShingle | Gianni Onesti Eleonora Monaco Riccardo Palumbo Assessing the Italian Innovative Start-Ups Performance with a Composite Index Administrative Sciences innovative start-ups entrepreneurship start-ups performance composite indicators financial statement analysis |
| title | Assessing the Italian Innovative Start-Ups Performance with a Composite Index |
| title_full | Assessing the Italian Innovative Start-Ups Performance with a Composite Index |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the Italian Innovative Start-Ups Performance with a Composite Index |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the Italian Innovative Start-Ups Performance with a Composite Index |
| title_short | Assessing the Italian Innovative Start-Ups Performance with a Composite Index |
| title_sort | assessing the italian innovative start ups performance with a composite index |
| topic | innovative start-ups entrepreneurship start-ups performance composite indicators financial statement analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/12/4/189 |
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