From values to "value" - From the creation of the value of firms to sustainable growth

[Mella, par. 1-4] Strictly speaking, firms are considered as systems for the creation of economic and financial value for their shareholders, and their performance – profit and the value of capital – is measured by a coherent system of monetary values. Nevertheless, if we do not limit our view to simply the shareholders but consider instead a vast group of stakeholders, we must then also broaden our notion of the production of sustainable value in order to include both the social value and the environmental value. Thus a firm must set a system of objectives for itself which is centered on its sustainable growth, and must therefore tend toward a multi-dimensional growth that encompasses the economic, social and environmental dimensions. [Gazzola, par. 5-10] This implies an intense social action based on transparency, the management of its reputation, a dialogue with the stakeholders, research and development, and knowledge management, all of which require adequate communication instruments. On the basis of this, our work takes up the traditional idea of the social balance as an instrument for social interaction and social cost/benefit analysis in order to show that such an instrument can describe, comment on and sum up the firm’s own behaviour aimed at sustainable growth. In this sense the social balance, as far as it certifies the ethical profile of the firm, legitimizes the latter’s social and environmental role, not only in structural terms but above all moral ones, in the eyes of the community of reference, emphasizes the link between firm and territory, and affirms the concept of the firm as an entity that, by pursuing its own prevailing interests, contributes to improving the quality of life of the members of the society in which it operates and that can, in all respects, represent a means for the creation of sustainable value.