A historical comparison exactly one hundred years apart. The global financial crises of 1907 and 2007 and the FIAT case study

Titolo Rivista CONTABILITÀ E CULTURA AZIENDALE
Autori/Curatori Stefano Garzella, Rosita Capurro, Stefano Marciano
Anno di pubblicazione 2024 Fascicolo 2024/1
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 35 P. 43-77 Dimensione file 273 KB
DOI 10.3280/CCA2024-001003
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

Introduction: The paper analyses the case study of the FIAT automotive company in two global financial crises which broke out exactly 100 years apart: the crisis of 1907 known as the “Banking Panic” and the crisis of 2007, and its burst in 2008, known as the “Great Recession”. Aim of the work: The paper aims to analyze company strategies in financial crises, by adopting a business perspective, in order to capture similarities and differ-ences; contributions to support companies in the transformation of organizational, managerial and operation processes during changing environmental conditions are provided. Methodological approach: The research follows an interpretive and qualitative ap-proach. Starting from the theoretical background of the two financial crises, the study identified the company FIAT as a “single business case study”. FIAT’s financial statements and corporate documents for the periods 1907-1913 and 2007-2013 are critically assessed. Main findings: Case study findings highlight the successfully implemented strate-gies and the paths of growth pursued by the Company to survive and restart. In this sense, the case study analysis supports the identification of some elements and actions able to guide companies through periods of environmental and business crisis. Moreover, the study of the FIAT historical corporate documents permits to observe the evolution – about the structure and the content – of corporate disclo-sure over time. Originality: There is a lack of studies that analyze and compare the two crises. The comparison between the two financial crises by adopting a business perspective is novel. The historical comparison together with the analysis of the evolution of the FIAT’s corporate disclosure over time, provides relevant scientific insights, poten-tially able to favour an advancement of knowledge to help companies in the trans-formation and adaptation processes to changing environmental conditions.

Keywords:global financial crises, case study, financial statement, corporate disclo-sure, historical comparison.

  1. Alberici A. (1975). Analisi dei Bilanci e Previsione delle Insolvenze. Milano: Isedi.
  2. Amatori, F. (1980). Entrepreneurial typologies in the history of industrial Italy (1880-1960). Business History Review, 54(3): 359-386.
  3. Amatori, F. (2001). Fiat 1899-1999. Riflessioni sulla grande impresa in Italia. Passato e presente. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  4. Andrei P. (1996). La prevenzione dei dissesti aziendali: alcuni spunti di riflessione. In: AA.VV. (Eds.). Crisi di impresa e procedure concorsuali. Milano: Giuffrè.
  5. Associazione Nazionale Filiera Industriale Automobilistica (ANFIA) (2015)- Processing on Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport data (Aut. Min. D07161/H4).
  6. Antonucci T., Ferrero G., Castellani D. (2002). La crisi della Fiat. Strategie d'impresa e politiche industriali. Economia e politica industriale, 116: 1-12. DOI: 10.1400/64293.
  7. Argenti J. (1976). Corporate Collapse: The Causes and Symptoms. London: Mcgraw Hill.
  8. Arnold P.J. (2009). Global financial crisis: The challenge to accounting research. Accounting, organizations and Society, 34(6-7): 803-809.
  9. Auteri E., Tesio V. (1990). The Internationalisation of Management at Fiat. Journal of Management Development, 9(6): 6-16.
  10. Barnes P. (1987). The analysis and use of financial ratios. Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, 14(4): 449-461.
  11. Bastia P. (1996). Pianificazione e controllo dei risanamenti aziendali. Torino: Giappichelli.
  12. Barker III, V. L., Duhaime I. M. (1997). Strategic change in the turnaround process: Theory and empirical evidence. Strategic management journal, 18(1): 13-38.
  13. Batool A., Sahi A. (2019). Determinants of financial performance of insurance companies of USA and UK during global financial crisis (2007-2016). International Journal of Accounting Research, 7(1): 1-9. DOI: 10.35248/2472-114X.19.7.194
  14. Beaver W.H. (1966). Financial ratios as predictors of failure. Journal of accounting research, 4: 71-111. DOI: 10.2307/2490171.
  15. Benegiamo M., Nardone P. (2014). Tecnocrazia e politica in Italia dalla crisi del 1907 al primo dopoguerra. Pecunia: revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, (19): 43-60.
  16. Berta G. (2006). La FIAT dopo la FIAT. Storia di una crisi. 2000-2005. Milano: Mondadori.
  17. Bertini U. (1991). Strategie di sviluppo interno e forme organizzative. In: A. Gozzi (ed.) La definizione e la valutazione delle strategie aziendali. Milano: Etas.
  18. Bertoli G. (2000). Crisi d’impresa, ristrutturazione e ritorno al valore. Milano: Egea.
  19. Bezemer D.J. (2010). Understanding financial crisis through accounting models. Accounting, organizations and society, 35(7): 676-688.
  20. Bhimani A. (2008). The role of a crisis in reshaping the role of accounting. Journal of accounting and public policy, 27(6): 444-454.
  21. Bonelli F. (1971). La crisi del 1907: una tappa dello sviluppo industriale in Italia. Torino: Fondazione Luigi Einaudi
  22. Bordo M.D; Eichengreen B. (1999). Is our Current Economic Environment Unusually Crisis Prone? Capital flows and the International Financial System. Eds David Gruen and Luke Gower. Reserve Bank of Australia.
  23. Bordo M. D., Landon-Lane J. S. (2012). The Global Financial Crisis: Is It Unprecedented?. Conference on Global Economic Crisis: Impacts, Transmission and Recovery, 19-57.
  24. Bozzolan S., Cho C.H., Michelon G. (2015). Impression management and organizational audiences: The Fiat group case. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(1): 143-165.
  25. Bruner R., Carr S. (2009). The Panic of 1907: Lessons learned from the Market’ s Perfect Storm. NJ (USA): Wiley, Hoboken.
  26. Buckley P.J. (2009). Business history and international business. Business History, 51(3): 307-333. DOI: 10.1080/00076790902871560.
  27. Caivano M., Rodano L., Siviero S. (2011). The transmission of the global financial crisis to the Italian economy. Giornale degli economisti e annali di economia, 1-32. -- https://www.jstor.org/stable/41756378.
  28. Capalbo E., Grossi G., Ianni L., Sargiacomo M. (2010). Financial Distress and Italian Local Governments: Debating the national special legislation on “deficiterietà strutturale” and “dissesto finanziario”. Yearbook of Swiss Administrative Sciences, 2(1): 81-90.
  29. Capurro R., Fiorentino R., Garzella S., Lombardi R. (2021). The role of boundaries management in open innovation: towards a 3D perspective. Business Process Management Journal, 27(8): 57-84. DOI: 10.1108/BPMJ-01-2021-0052.
  30. Caramiello C. (1968). L’azienda nella fase terminale. Pisa: Cursi.
  31. Catalan Vidal J. (2017). The stagflation crisis and the European automotive industry, 1973-85. Business History, 59(1): 4-34. DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2016.1237505.
  32. Cassis Y. (2012). Financial crises and the balance of power in international finance, 1890-2010. European Review of History: Revue europeenne d’histoire, 19(6),925-941. DOI: 10.1080/13507486.2012.739150
  33. Castronovo V. (1999). FIAT, 1899-1999: un secolo di storia italiana. Milano: Rizzoli.
  34. Christiano L.J., Eichenbaum M.S., Trabandt M. (2015). Understanding the great recession. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 7(1): 110-167.
  35. Claeys A. S., Cauberghe V. (2012). Crisis response and crisis timing strategies, two sides of the same coin. Public relations review, 38(1): 83-88.
  36. Claessens S., Dell’Ariccia G., Igan D., Laeven L. (2010). Cross-country experiences and policy implications from the global financial crisis. Economic policy, 25(62): 267-293.
  37. Clark J. (2011). Mondo Agnelli: Fiat, Chrysler, and the power of a dynasty. New Jersey (U.S): John Wiley & Sons
  38. Coase R.H. (1975). Marshall on method. The Journal of Law and Economics, 18(1): 25-31. DOI: 10.1086/466805
  39. Coda V. (1987). Crisi di impresa e strategie di superamento. Milano: Giuffrè.
  40. Colli A. (2014). Multinationals and economic development in Italy during the twentieth century. Business History Review, 88(2): 303-327.
  41. Coronella S., Garzella S., Madonna S., Ndombi-Doyila D., Prosperi S., Ruggieri M., (a cura di Poddighe F.) (1997). La FIAT. I primi trent'anni di attività attraverso l'analisi dei bilanci. In: Atti del IV Convegno nazionale di storia della Ragioneria.
  42. Danovi A., Quagli A. (2012). Crisi aziendali e processi di risanamento. Prevenzione e diagnosi, terapie, casi aziendali. Milano: Ipsoa.
  43. Decker S., Kipping M., Wadhwani R.D. (2015). New business histories! Plurality in business history research methods. Business History, 57(1): 30-40. DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2014.977870.
  44. Di Minin A., Frattini F., Piccaluga A. (2010). Fiat: open innovation in a downturn (1993-2003). California Management Review, 52(3): 132-159.
  45. Di Quirico R. (2010). Italy and the global economic crisis. Bulletin of Italian Politics, 2(2), 3-19.
  46. Edey M. (2009). The global financial crisis and its effects. Economic Papers: A journal of applied economics and policy, 28(3), 186-195.
  47. Eisenhardt K.M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of management review, 14(4): 532-550.
  48. De Ianni N. (1995). Capitale e mercato azionario: la Fiat dal 1899 al 1961. Edizioni scientifiche italiane.
  49. Dushnitsky G., Graebner M., Zott C. (2020). Entrepreneurial responses to crisis. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 14(4): 537-548.
  50. Dutta S., Pullig C. (2011). Effectiveness of corporate responses to brand crises: The role of crisis type and response strategies. Journal of Business Research, 64(12): 1281-1287.
  51. Fahr S., Motto R., Rostagno M., Smets F., Tristani O. (2013). A monetary policy strategy in good and bad times: Lessons from the recent past. Economic Policy, 28(74): 243-288. DOI: 10.1111/1468-0327.12008.
  52. Fauri F. (1996). The Role of Fiat in the Development of the Italian Car Industry in the 1950’s. Business History Review, 70(2): 167-206. DOI: 10.2307/3116880.
  53. Francis J.D., Desai A.B. (2005). Situational and organizational determinants of turnaround. Management Decision, 43(9): 1203-1224. DOI: 10.1108/00251740510626272
  54. Forestieri G. (1986). La previsione delle insolvenze aziendali: profili teorici e analisi empiriche. Milano: Giuffrè.
  55. Foschi A. (1991). I bilanci Fiat 1899-1930. In AA.VV (Eds.), Fiat 1899.1930, Storia e documenti. Milano: Fabbri.
  56. Foster J.B., Magdoff F. (2009). The great financial crisis: Causes and consequences. New York: NYU Press.
  57. Galeotti M. (2006). Governo dell'azienda e indicatori di performance. Torino: Giappichelli.
  58. Garzella S., (1997). Il consolidamento dell’attività:1907-1913, In: Coronella S., Garzella S., Madonna S., Ndombi-Doyila D., Prosperi S., Ruggieri M., (a cura di Poddighe F.). La FIAT. I primi trent'anni di attività attraverso l’analisi dei bilanci. In: Atti del IV Convegno nazionale di storia della Ragioneria.
  59. Garzella S. (2000). I confini dell’azienda. Un approccio strategico. Milano: Giuffrè.
  60. Garzella S. (2005). Il sistema d’azienda e la valorizzazione delle “potenzialità inespresse”: una “visione” strategica per il risanamento. Torino: Giappichelli.
  61. Garzella S. (2019). Governo delle sinergie e creazione di valore nella gestione strategica dell’azienda. Torino: Giappichelli.
  62. Garzella S., Fiorentino R. (2014). A synergy measurement model to support the pre-deal decision making in mergers and acquisitions. Management Decision, 52(6): 1194-1216. DOI: 10.1108/MD-10-2013-0516.
  63. Gorton G.B. (2010). Slapped by the invisible hand: The panic of 2007. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  64. Gotteiner S., Mas-Machuca M., Marimon F. (2019). Turnaround types, stages, strategies, and tactics: Putting things in order. European Accounting and Management Review, 5(2): 12-37.
  65. Guatri L. (1985). All’origine delle crisi aziendali: cause reali e cause apparenti. Finanza Marketing e Produzione, 1: 11- 29.
  66. Guatri L. (1995). Turnaround. Declino, crisi e ritorno al valore. Milano: Egea.
  67. Gupta K., Krishnamurti C., Tourani-Rad A. (2013). Is corporate governance relevant during the financial crisis?. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 23: 85-110.
  68. Hansen B.A. (2014). A failure of regulation? Reinterpreting the panic of 1907. Business History Review, 88(3): 545-569.
  69. Haupt H.G., Kocka J. (2004). Comparative history: methods, aims, problems. Comparison and history: Europe in cross-national perspective, 23-39.
  70. Hetzel R.L. (2009). Monetary policy in the 2008-2009 recession. FRB Richmond Economic Quarterly, 95(2): 201-233. -- https://ssrn.com/abstract= 2188500.
  71. Hopwood A.G. (2009). The economic crisis and accounting: Implications for the research community. Accounting, organizations and society, 34(6-7): 797-802.
  72. Jacobides M.G. (2015). What drove the financial crisis? Structuring our historical understanding of a predictable evolutionary disaster. Business History, 57(5): 716-735. DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2014.975120.
  73. Jiang X., Bao Y., Xie Y., Gao (2016). Partner trustworthiness, knowledge flow in strategic alliances, and firm competitiveness: A contingency perspective. Journal of business research, 69(2): 804-814.
  74. Kaplan R.S., Norton D.P. (1996). Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system. US: Harvard Business Review.
  75. Kobrak C., Wilkins M. (2014). History and Financial Crisis: Lessons from the 20th century. London: Routledge.
  76. Kocka J. (2003). Comparison and beyond. History and theory, 42(1): 39-44. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2303.00228
  77. Lohrke F.T., Bedeian A.G., Palmer T.B. (2004). The role of top management teams in formulating and implementing turnaround strategies: a review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 5(2): 63-90.
  78. Madonna S., Cestari G., Callegari F. (2017). Organisational and accounting responses to bankruptcy: the case of the Ferrara Monte di Pietà (1598 and 1646), Contabilità e cultura aziendale, 2: 71-102. DOI: 10.3280/CCA2017-002004
  79. Maran L., Parker L. (2021). Non-financial motivations in mergers and acquisitions: The Fiat-Ferrari case. Business History, 63(4): 606-667. DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2019.1597854.
  80. Marisca C., Barresi G., Rappazzo N. (2022). Trade credit and textiles manufacturers’ behaviour during the Great Depression in the Kingdom of Italy: insights from the analysis of bankruptcy: proceedings accounting data, Contabilità e cultura aziendale, 2: 91-113. DOI: 10.3280/CCA2022-002005
  81. Markides C. (1997). To diversify or not to diversify. Harvard Business Review, 75(6): 93-186.
  82. Matricano D., Candelo E., Sorrentino M., Martínez-Martínez A. (2019). Absorbing in-bound knowledge within open innovation processes. The case of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Journal of Knowledge Management, 23(4): 786-807.
  83. Messner M. (2016). Does industry matter? How industry context shapes management accounting practice. Management Accounting Research, 3: 103-111.
  84. O’Connell B., De Lange P., Stoner G., Sangster A. (2016). Strategic manoeuvres and impression management: communication approaches in the case of a crisis event. Business History, 58(6): 903-924. DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2015.1128896.
  85. Odell K., Weidenmeir M. (2004). Real Shock,Monetary Aftershock: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and the Panic of 1907. Journal of Economic History, 64(4): 1002-1027. DOI: 10.1017/S0022050704043062
  86. Paniccia P., Formisano V. (2015). The Italian manufacturing industry: challenges and courage. Evidences from the Fiat case. Sinergie Italian Journal of Management, 33: 21-46.
  87. Pavlínek P. (2015). The impact of the 2008-2009 crisis on the automotive industry: global trends and firm-level effects in Central Europe. European Urban and Regional Studies, 22(1): 20-40. DOI: 10.1177/0969776412460534.
  88. Porter M. E. (1989). From competitive advantage to corporate strategy (pp. 234-255). UK: Macmillan Education.
  89. Progetto archivio storico FIAT (1987). I primi quindici anni della Fiat. Verbali dei consigli di amministrazione 1899-1915, Vol. I e II. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  90. Prometeia, UnionCamere (2015). Il settore automotive nei principali paesi europei. Ricerca promossa dalla 10a Commissione Industria, Commercio, Turismo del Senato della Repubblica Roma, 28.
  91. Rubenstein J. M. (2001). Making and selling cars: Innovation and change in the US automotive industry. Usa: JHU Press.
  92. Salunkhe U., Rajan B., Kumar V. (2023). Understanding firm survival in a global crisis. International Marketing Review, 40(5): 829-868. DOI: 10.1108/IMR-05-2021-0175
  93. Schoch K. (2020). Case study research. Research design and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner. SAGE Publications, 245-258.
  94. Schoenberg R., Collier N., Bowman C. (2013). Strategies for business turnaround and recovery: A review and synthesis. European Business Review, 25(3): 243-262. DOI: 10.1108/09555341311314799
  95. Servalli S. (2007). Il metodo e l’analisi sistemica nelle ricerche di Storia della Ragioneria. Contabilità e cultura aziendale, 2: 59-78.
  96. Shachmurove Y. (2011). A historical overview of financial crises in the United States. Global Finance Journal, 22(3): 217-231.
  97. Silber W. L. (2006). Birth of the Federal Reserve: Crisis in the womb. Journal of Monetary Economics, 53(2): 351-368.
  98. Tallman E.W., Moen J.R. (2018). The transmission of the financial crisis in 1907: an empirical investigation. Cliometrica, 12(2): 277-312.
  99. Tedeschi Toschi A. (1993). Crisi d’impresa tra sistema e management per un approccio allo studio delle crisi aziendali. Milano: Egea.
  100. Thakur R., Hale D. (2022). Strategic crisis response: managerial implications and direction for recovery and survival. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 37(10): 1959-1973. DOI: 10.1108/JBIM-01-2021-0029
  101. Tiscini R. (2014), Economia della crisi d’impresa. Milano: Egea.
  102. Toniolo G. (2013). La crescita economica italiana, 1861-2011. In: l’Italia e l’economia mondiale: dall’unità a oggi. Venezia: Marsilio.
  103. Tron A., Dallocchio M., Ferri S., Colantoni F. (2022). Corporate governance and financial distress: lessons learned from an unconventional approach. Journal of Management and Governance: 1-32.
  104. Van Biesebroeck J., Sturgeon T. J. (2010). Effects of the 2008-09 crisis on the automotive industry in developing countries: a global value chain perspective. Global Value Chains in a Postcrisis World. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 209-244.
  105. Veltri S., Mazzotta R., Palermo V. (2022). The usefulness of accounting information for decision-making purposes in an Italian company from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Contabilità e cultura aziendale, 2: 29-52. DOI: 10.3280/CCA2022-002003
  106. Villalonga B., McGahan A.M. (2005). The choice among acquisitions, alliances, and divestitures. Strategic Management Journal, 26(13): 1183-1208.
  107. Volpato G. (1983). L'industria automobilistica internazionale: espansione, crisi e riorganizzazione (Vol. 4). Padova: Cedam.
  108. Volpato G. (2001). Corporate Governance at Fiat SpA. CGEP Project Paper, July.
  109. Yin R.K. (2018). Case Study Research and Applications. Design and Methods. London: 6th Ed., Page.
  110. Yin R. K. (2003). Design and methods. Case study research, 3(9.2). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
  111. Wadhwani R.D., Lubinski C. (2017). Reinventing entrepreneurial history. Business History Review, 91(4): 767-799.
  112. Zito M. (1999). Fisiologia e patologia delle crisi di impresa. Milano: Giuffrè.

Stefano Garzella, Rosita Capurro, Stefano Marciano, A historical comparison exactly one hundred years apart. The global financial crises of 1907 and 2007 and the FIAT case study in "CONTABILITÀ E CULTURA AZIENDALE" 1/2024, pp 43-77, DOI: 10.3280/CCA2024-001003