Research activity
Angelo Paletta has studied various fields of business economics, focusing on businesses, public administrations and non-profit organizations. During his work he studied the institutional issues of the discipline especially with regard to cost analysis, the economy of public administrations, corporate governance. He has broadened his research interests, carrying out interdisciplinary studies and projects at an international level on universities, research institutions and schools.
In summary, the scientific activity can be traced back to three main lines of research:
• Economics of public administrations
• Corporate governance and internal control system
• Governance and management of educational institutions.
Economics of companies and public administrations. The research of this first line is part of the debate on the institutional, administrative and accounting transformations in which public sector companies are involved at an international level. In a historical phase of repeated reforms and great uncertainties on the resilience of public finance, research interests have been directed to institutional and organizational forms that offer greater assurances of rational management of public resources (See Institutional structures and economy of public companies, Cedam Padova, 1999). The historical evolutionary cut and the contextualization of the researches with respect to the developments of the international scenario, appeared necessary to critically analyze the trajectories of change impressed on our historical model of public administration (Cf. Economics and management of the public company, with L. Matteuzzi Mazzoni , Clueb, Bologna, 2006). The empirical evidence that privatization, outsourcing and administrative decentralization operations do not represent a panacea for automatically solving the problems of accountability and insufficient performance, has stimulated scientific interest in new forms of governance of the public sector (Cf. on a territorial basis, with M. Tieghi, Isedi, Turin, 2007).
Corporate governance and internal control system. The research in this line of study has investigated the functions and responsibilities of internal control in the light of the regulatory processes of corporate governance. This issue was initially addressed by seeking the theoretical framework of the internal control system with respect to the broader system of company controls (See Corporate governance and internal control system, with M. Baraldi and M. Zanigni, Franco Angeli, Milan, 2004 ). Subsequently, the interest was turned to internal control and to the problems of regulation of corporate governance in the international scenario, with particular regard to the US Sarbanes-Oxley law (See Rules, Transparency and Entrepreneurship, with P. Bastia, Isedi, Turin, 2008). Corporate governance principles suggest the use of adequate methods to increase the culture of controls within companies, not only as a fundamental need for transparency and good governance towards third parties, but also to help companies benefit from an organizational level and management by a robust internal control system built on risk management. An in-depth study of these issues was developed in the recent work entitled: Internal control in corporate governance, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2008.
Governance and management of educational institutions. Research in this line of study has been stimulated by the international debate on the ongoing transformations of universities and schools as central organizations of the new knowledge-based economy. These researches first concerned universities (Cfr. Problems and perspectives of governance in higher education, Nautilus, Bologna, 2002; Government of the University, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2004) and subsequently the schools in reference to which they were created numerous publications. In this field, international collaboration has also found expression in the organization of various conferences and seminars, including the recent conference entitled "Building Professionals: A Pathway Between Educational Management and Leadership, organized together with the European Commission, sponsored by 'AIDEA, which was attended by William Ouchi (University of California) and Jerry Porras (Stanford University) among others. The conference sought to take stock of the role that business schools have in the world in the development of public policies in the educational sector.
