L'innovazione strategica nei piccoli e medi studi commercialistici triveneti

The financial crisis imposes on the majority of firms to make radical changes to their business model through strategic innovation. Nowadays, more than ever, firms, especially SMEs, need the support of their trusted accountancy practices in order to rise to the competitive challenges they have to face. This, together with the field invasion of the « big four » and of the « second tier », means that the small and medium accountancy practices (SMPs) are also having to make radical changes to their business models. In this study, the current business models of Italian SMPs and their expected evolution have been investigated in order to find out if they can already support the strategic innovation of SMEs or, at least, if they will be able to do so in future. A cluster analysis carried out on 1,241 SMPs in north-east Italy has led to the identification of four SMP groups: 1) Passive Personals: these adopt a business model centred around the owner of the SMP; as they do not problematize the need to modify the model, they seem destined to offer fewer and fewer services to a decreasing number of less and less structured customers; 2) Reactive Personals: unlike the previous group, these see the need to modify their business model and may see surprisingly positive developments in future; 3) Passive Structured: these adopt a business model centred on the supply of services which, though not standardized, are not innovative. They do not problematize the need for change and thus seem destined to become « old glories »; 4) Reactive Structured: unlike the previous group, these see the need to modify their business model but aim for an incremental, rather than a radical, improvement.