[Approfondimento] I gruppi di imprese: alcune riflessioni su una categoria concettuale in evoluzione

Business groups represent important players in the global economy and in Italy, in particular. This importance has pushed scholarly interest, but research on corporate governance in business groups is still an evolving field.

In the agency theory perspective, business groups permit the separation between ownership and control, that may lead to expropriation of minority shareholders' interests, commonly achieved through tunneling. However, in the last years, a different perspective has emerged, focused on performance outcomes, both at organizational and financial level, where conflicts are less important.

Moreover, business groups differ substantially across national institutional contexts, so the value of group affiliation may change across different environments, particularly distinguishing between advanced and emerging or developing economies. This highlights the need for scholars to search for a more comprehensive and nuanced theorization of the corporate governance of business groups around the world.