L'evoluzione del sistema di corporate reporting: lo Shared Value all'interno del bilancio integrato di un gruppo bancario

This paper explores the role of Integrated Thinking and Reporting in determining how traditional business activities affect the organization capacity to create sustainable value in the long term. The reporting process within private organizations, and particularly within banks, has been traditionally criticized to focus primarily on financial issues without delving into the social, intellectual, environmental and human issues that directly or indirectly affect the long-term viability of a business. In this sense, corporate reporting practices have been changing significantly in recent year, and companies are being forced to critically re-evaluate how they communicate their performances and how they create value over the short, medium and long term. By building on the concept Shared Value Creation, firstly developed by Porter and Kramer (2011), this study explores the case of UniCredit Group, one of the first European banking groups pioneering this approach. Creating Shared Value seeks explicitly to address the task of regaining trust in business in the current age of crisis, redefining the purpose of corporations, re-legitimize businesses and integrating social and environmental issues in the business model of successful organizations. In particular, the research focuses on the methodology “Evolution Economy” presented by UniCreditin its 2016 integrated report with the aim to investigate and communicate the shared value generated by its core business activities, citizenship initiatives and philanthropic projects. Furthermore, the paper provides a snapshot of the key sectors in Italy (e.g. tourism, agriculture and infrastructure) that have been primarily affected by UniCredit initiatives in 2016.