A oltre un decennio dalla prima edizione del codice di autodisciplina di borsa italiana, giunto ormai alla sua quarta revisione, ci si chiede se per corporate governance debba intendersi esclusivamente quell’insieme di regole che assicurano il corretto funzionamento del cda di un’impresa quotata . L’impressione è che il tema sia oggi ben più ampio. Il lavoro intende effettuare una ricognizione organica di “cosa sappiamo” dopo dieci anni di discussioni sul tema, ma soprattutto fornire un’agenda dei temi rilevanti per il prossimo futuro. In particolare, viene proposto uno schema di analisi e progettazione dell’assetto di governance che consideri al contempo la struttura societaria e proprietaria , il governo e la direzione dell’impresa, nonché la sua struttura organizzativa. Tutto ciò nell’obiettivo di stimolare una “transizione culturale” che consenta, soprattutto alle imprese “ad alto potenziale”, di prepararsi alla ripresa economica.

TEN YEARS OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: WHAT WE KNOW, AND WHAT WE DON’T (BUT SHOULD KNOW)#After ten years from the first edition of the Italian corporate governance Code, we wonder whether by corporate governance we mean uniquely the whole set of rules and mechanisms which secure (or should secure) the functioning of a board of directors in a publicly listed company . The impression is that, while such mechanisms have played a fundamental role in “changing the skin” of our corporate boards, the topic is today much broader. T o this purpose, this work aims to present an organic review of “what we know” after ten years of intense debate, but mostly to develop an agenda of the relevant issues for the near future. Among the “things that we should know” about the governance of a firm, the article pays particular attention to three fundamental issues: 1. the need to go beyond compliance to the Code, placing emphasis on the actual “quality” and working style of the board; 2. the importance to investigate more in-depth the role of ownership in shaping the company strategy and its financial results, trying to understand whether and how the recent financial crisis has questioned the traditional public company model, in favor of the more “domestic” model of the family controlled firm; 3. mostly, the need to widen the current debate to all the non-listed companies, which will likely benefit in the future of a more conscious approach to corporate governance. Specifically, the article proposes a model to analyze and design the governance structure of a company, considering at the same time the ownership structure, the governance and management of a company, as well as its organizational structure. This is aimed to stimulate a “cultural transition” which allows to “high potential companies” of our country to be prepared for the economic recovery, endowing them with the required structure to catch investment and alliance opportunities, to internationalize, and – why not – to list into the Stock market.