Public Value Report: first application to the public utility Clara SpA

• WHAT IS THE PUBLIC VALUE REPORT?
• THE PUBLIC VALUE REPORT ON CLARA SPA?

WHAT IS THE PUBLIC VALUE REPORT?

Creating Public Value improves the level of economic-social-environmental wellbeing of the reference community in which an organisation operates, compared to the initial starting conditions [1].

The Public Value Report is a new form of reporting of the impacts – economic, social, environmental and health – created by an organisation’s activities, both public and private, in relation to its internal and external Stakeholders.

The Public Value Report is based on the more widespread theoretical-professional reference frameworks such as the Public Value Pyramid [2] framework, a methodology developed by CERVAP – the Public Value Research Centre of the University of Ferrara – and already used in scientific publications and studies of national and international importance [3], the Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Integrated Reporting Framework (IR Framework).

The aim of the Public Value Report is to measure, evaluate and report the contribution made by an organisation:

to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set in the 2030 Agenda;
to creating Public Value.
Echoing the structure of the 6 capitals of the IR Framework, the Public Value Report is based on 6 Values – Economic-Financial, Material, Natural, Human, Organisational, and Relational – that are impacted by and have an impact on the organisation’s activities, generating overall Public Value.

The Public Value Report additionally requires the 6 Values to be investigated under the performance Dimensions suggested by the “Dipartimento della Funzione Pubblica” guidelines: Health of Resources and of their Efficient and Effective use, for the purpose of generating positive impacts on the recipients of the services, thereby creating Public Value for the territory served.

THE PUBLIC VALUE REPORT ON CLARA SPA?

Creating Public Value for Clara SpA, and more generally for companies providing public utility services, corresponds with an improvement in the level of wellbeing of the company’s users and Stakeholders, as well as an improvement in their level of internal health, thanks to the level achieved over the years by the organisation’s performance compared to the starting conditions.

Clara SpA is a publicly owned company that works in the management of collecting urban waste and similar in 19 of the 21 municipal districts of the Ferrara Province and is the first Italian company to adopt the Public Value Report.

Within Clara, the process of creating Public Value involves the organisation transversely and takes place through continuous interaction between the strategic objective planning, the development of internal operations and strengthening relationships with Stakeholders. This process is based on the 6 Values, used as Input, which are either increased, modified, consumed or used by the company in order to create Public Value.

The document is structured as follows:

• The initial chapters set out the business identity and organisation, from the perspective of creating Value, concentrating on the contribution of the company itself to achieving the SDGs.
• The subsequent chapters deal with the analysis and reporting of the individual Values Key Performance Indicators used for the three-year period 2018-2020.
• The final chapter reports the results of measuring and evaluating the overall Public Value created by organising the results achieved by the individual Values into a system.

[1] Civil Service Department, Guidelines for the Performance Plan – Ministries, No. 1, June 2017.

[2] Deidda Gagliardo E. (2019), Public Value. Or rather, how to direct public performance towards the wellbeing of citizens and sustainable development, starting with the health of the PA, in “National Council for Economics and Labour (CNEL) – 2019 REPORT TO PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT on the levels and quality of services offered by central and local Public administrations to businesses and citizens”, pp. 41-57.

[3] On the topic of Public Value see the following publications: Papi L., Ievoli R., Gobbo G., Deidda Gagliardo E., Manzoli L. (2021), Performance governance for generating Public Value in health. Empirical evidence from the Emilia-Romagna Health authorities, MECOSAN, Vol. 117, pp. 27-58; Papi L. (2021), A Public Value governance model towards Equitable Wellbeing and Sustainable Development, Giuffrè Francis Lefebvre, Milan; Gobbo G. (2021) “A model of Risk Management and Performance Management integration for creating Public Value”, Giuffrè, Milan, ISBN: 9788828829928; Papi L., Ievoli R., Gobbo G., Deidda Gagliardo E., Bacchini F. (2020), “Public Value: How to finalize Ministries’ inter-institutional performances towards equitable and sustainable wellbeing, Azienda Pubblica, Maggioli Editore, Vol. 4, pp. 339-362; Gobbo G. (2020). “Public risk Management: profiles of integration with performance management from the Public Value perspective”, Doctoral thesis, URN: etd-02202020-181414; Bracci, E., Papi, L., Bigoni, M., Bruns, H. J., & Deidda Gagliardo, E. (2019). Public value and public sector accounting research: a structured literature review. Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, 31(1), 103–136; Papi, L., Bigoni, M., Bracci, E., & Deidda Gagliardo, E. (2018). Measuring public value: a conceptual and applied contribution to the debate. Public Money and Management, 0962, 1–8; Gobbo G., Papi L., Bigoni M., Deidda Gagliardo E. (2016). “Evaluating performance in Public Administrations from the Public Value perspective”, in L. Marchi, R. Lombardi, L. Anselmi (edited by) “Tradition and innovation in corporate governance”, FrancoAngeli, Milan, Pubblicazioni SIDREA, n° 4, pp. 161-184, ISBN: 9788891736604; Deidda Gagliardo, E. (2016). “The failure and rebirth of performance evaluation from the Public Value perspective: the Madia Reform horizon”, in “Restarting from public work”. Economy and regional society XXXIV 1/2016, Quarterly journal of economic and social analysis. FrancoAngeli editore, pp. 37-60 (ISSN 1827-2479), Volume 2016/1, Issue 1, Peer Reviewed Journal; Deidda Gagliardo, E. (2016), “Public value. The new frontier of performance”. Series Curriculum Scientifico-Istituzionale Rirea Aziende no. 30, RIREA, Rome, pp. 1-475; Deidda Gagliardo, E. (2002), “Creating value in local authorities. The new model of economic governance”. Series of business-economic studies «E. Giannessi», Giuffrè, Milan, pp. 1-456.

[4] Civil Service Department, Guidelines for the system Measuring and Evaluating Performance – Ministries, No. 2, December 2017