Corporate Governance and Company Performance in Italy: Corporate Law and Regulation Perspective

This paper proposes an extensive analysis of corporate governance and
corporate board practices in Italy, under different perspectives. First of
all, through a literature review, the research aims to analyze the main
effects of laws and regulations on corporate board practices in the
Italian setting by taking into account the most important corporate
board models in different types of companies. This study also
highlights the different functions and responsibilities assigned to the
boards, bodies and boards’ members, according to the governance
system implemented – classic/traditional, dualistic, monistic. For each
of these systems, the main issues are presented and the most
important critical points are illustrated. Regarding the functions and
the responsibility of the board members, the link between the board
governance and company performance is discussed on the basis of the
main literature, as well as the laws concerning the participation of
women to the boards’ activities. Furthermore, the effects of gender
diversity on company performance is analysed taking into account the
main studies on this topic. Finally, the paper presents some conclusions
and future research areas on the aforementioned topics: it proposes
future empirical analysis on the effects that different governance
systems, different board compositions and different roles of directors,
as required by the law, may have on the performance of listed/unlisted
companies and on family/non-family companies.