Business intelligence and change management : The case of an administrative service company operating in the context of the entrepreneurial associations

This study aims to analyse the potential organizational impacts related to introduction and implementation of new managerial concepts methods and tools in Italian entrepreneurship associations using direct observation through daily presence as methodology in the structure. The results revealed that although the context of entrepreneurial associations assumes a certain degree of proactivity and dynamism in dealing with change, those who work there still cannot take decisive steps towards innovation. The analysed structure is strongly traditional, conservative, and unwilling to accept changes in software, roles and responsibilities, with the resulting difficulties being operating in a context that is increasingly turbulent. As the study is based on a case study, the conclusions achieved can be limited to the specific context examined. Investigating how the society can face the necessary change in skills and capabilities will make clear if the traditional stativity of the association quoted in the literature have been confirmed or not and, no less important, how such changes are perceived and managed by the structure. From the direct observation of reality, ideas and suggestions on how to handle the criticalities, therefore, favorability and optimization of the association's evolution could be achieved. This research thus showed the possibility of making a significant change that is developed and shared by the structure. In addition, the fact that these applications are studied in a rarely analysed and unconventional context, such as that of entrepreneurial associations, strengthens the originality of the study.

from representing the interests of their associates, provide services and support the promotion of economic development policies by providing services within their own or by creating ad hoc service structures such as service companies, consortia or "agents business" (Martinelli, 1999).
Despite the fact that in the economic contest there are increasingly signs of change, turbulence and innovation, it seems that associations continue to maintain the roots of tradition by "slow and gradual micro-adjustments that add up to the inertial mass of their traditional vigour" (Benevolo, 1997).Entrepreneurial associations seem to be an old institution (Zan, 2015), which sees to the reduction of threats posed by developmental potential and effectively represents the interest and identity of members from external interlocutors.On the other hand, there are no global strategies, as representation still tends to "protect and preserve" rather than "promoting and rethinking strategic" (Devika and Anmol, 2016).
In recent years, entrepreneurial associations play an important role.The biggest challenge for Italian entrepreneurial associations comes from the entrepreneurs themselves, who are facing technological innovations, transformations in the organization of work and production, new strengths in the labour market, growing internationalization of markets, uncertainties and changes in the political arena.To facilitate the transition from a "defensive" to a "proposition" phase (Lanzalaco, 1990;Lanzalaco and Urbani, 1992), it is necessary to define a new concept of representation, new identities, new services (more personalized and structured), promotion and relaunch initiatives of the groups represented, support internationalization, allow easyterms access to a network of services and give constant support and assistance.Practically, it seems that associations need to abandon their static and usual approach in order to adopt a dynamic and proactive approach.
This kind of change is the one experienced in the past by several public organizations and big private entities.With reference to the former, several authors have highlighted that due to changes in the social and economic environment, several public organizations had to revise their internal and external processes in order to optimize them and achieve higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness.In the private sector, the hyper-competition that characterizes the market has pushed forward the mantras of "dynamicity", "adaptability" and "change" in order to be able to follow and even predict the evolution of the markets.Thus, while in public and private organizations the need to adopt and focus on managerial concepts methods and tools have been already experienced, Italian entrepreneurship associations are now becoming more business oriented and relaying less on the contributions of the government and of the members.In other words, there is a silent call for Italian entrepreneurship associations to adopt managerial Propeti and Giuliani 647 concepts methods and tools in order to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.One innovative tool that the association under investigation can adopt is business intelligence (BI) system.The implementation of such system is a major event and is likely to cause organizational perturbations (Yeoh and Popovic, 2015) as it is an infrastructure project, which can be defined as a set of shared, tangible IT resources that provide a foundation to enable present and future business applications.
A BI system entails a complex array of software and hardware components with highly specialized capabilities (Khan and Quadri, 2014).It requires considerable skills and resources, and involves various stakeholders over several months to initially develop and possibly years to become fully enterprise-wide.It is therefore clear how important it is to find a structure that is ready to support and improve that change.If the structure responds well to the novelties introduced or is inclined to welcome it positively, it will act as leverage that will make the change happen and will do it successfully.Otherwise, in case of a resistant organization it will impede the innovation that is the BI, to generate benefits and, thus, block the change.
Moving from these considerations, the purpose of the paper is to analyse the potential organizational impacts related to the introduction and implementation of new managerial concepts methods and tools in Italian entrepreneurship associations.In order to achieve this aim, a case study is examined.

Entrepreneurship
associations are organizations specialized in the aggregation, selection, defence and promotion of the interests and collective goals of entrepreneurs.They were created with the intent of being a source of social order and to have an important function in regulating the economy.
The system of entrepreneurial representation in Italy is characterized by a highly fragmented structure and the divisions have numerous discriminators such as: the business sector (agriculture, industry, crafts, commerce, services, etc.), the size of the businesss (micro, small, medium and large enterprises), the type of property (cooperative, private capital, state-owned), etc. Traditionally, associations are analysed from an "organizational" point of view, which in turn can be broken down into two directions: on the one hand, there are purely descriptive studies concerning the organizational structure of the entrepreneurial associations; on the other hand, others propose interpretive cutting studies that approach them as complex organizations.There is limited literature on entrepreneurial associations that have an approach based on the conceptual frameworks of economics and management (Cavenago, 1997).
By briefly reviewing the historical evolution of Italian business associations, it is noted that from their purely political goals, over time it is the provision of services that take on the true role of associate loyalty (services that have evolved from traditional trade unions up to the advanced ones).Over time, the associations have assumed an increasingly complex organizational structure.A capital company, with all the management compatibility issues that is derived from it, often accompanies the association.Looking more closely at the structural features of representative associations, some are referred to as "organizational dilemmas", which are "contradictory requirements that any association, as a complex organization, must be able to balance and therefore make associations constantly search for dynamic balance positions (Unioncamere, 2010).Specifically, in addition to the many activities involved in the representation of interests and in the promotion of economic policies, there are a whole range of services that the associations provide to meet the needs of their associates and to have significant economic returns (for example: union services, support services for accounting and tax compliance, management services).These services strengthen the bond between associates and association, attract new members and provide valuable monetary resources.Some services are provided at policy prices and differences are covered by the own resources of the association, while others are offered at market prices.
The overlapping of such heterogeneous and diverse functions has contributed to increasing the structural and managerial complexity of business representation associations, which in their daily work are constantly forced to change to find a new balance.In fact, increasingly sophisticated services such as management control, training, marketing, and technological innovation are required.The original "defensive" phase of association must be abandoned to make room for a new "promising" phase.In order to be able to be proactive towards the customer, the associations must forcefully think back at the organizational level and succeed in becoming a high value-added service centre.
The primary change must however take place within the structure: reviewing and rethinking the operating tools used and updating and integrating the skills of human resources are the first steps towards the evolution that is needed (Cameron and Green, 2015;Robey, 2015).In organisations, in fact, the data needed for these purposes are normally fragmented and distributed on different structures and platforms (Arnott et al., 2017) and the ever-increasing demand for accurate and timely data is difficult to handle and meet.The necessary information is often incomplete, redundant, unreliable, heterogeneous, difficult to use and unanalysable.
According to Chong et al. (2017) and Isik et al. (2011), a BI systems can overcome these issues as they combine data collection, data storage and knowledge management with analytic tools, and thus allow you to present the most complex and relevant information in a simple and immediate way to the various decision makers.It is clear that, to facilitate the metamorphosis, the implementation of a Business Intelligence system is an excellent starting point.The advent of new information and communication technologies has allowed a significant increase of the effectiveness of organizational systems through the use of new tools for analysis and integration of processes, which have increased communication and sharing capabilities of information at all business levels.BI's primary goal is to improve the timeliness and quality of the data used in decision-making (Rausch et al., 2013), ensuring consistency and flexibility.Measuring activity is an aspect that has a fundamental importance in the process of improvement: if it cannot be measured, it cannot be handled.
Usually, however, being able to absorb and manage similar changes, especially in the context of entrepreneurial associations, is certainly not an easy thing.One of the key factors explaining the difficulties and problems of implementing new IT tools is in fact the user's resistance to change.
During computerization projects, the conflict may concern the information control, the availability of processing resources or the gain of a prominent position in business development plans.In one study, Markus (1983) connects the causes of resistance to technological change to three categories of elements: 1. Subjective factors related to individuals and involved groups (for example, lack of knowledge about the project that gives rise to mistrust or novelty rejection); 2. Intrinsic features of the systems (for example, unsatisfactory performance offered by the computerized solution); 3. The interaction between the technological artefact and the organizational context in which the system itself is integrated (for example, when the introduction of a certain software affects the internal distribution of power, it is very likely that those who feel disadvantaged manifest their opposition through an attitude of resistance).Markus (1983) supports the last option, and he frames resistance as the product of the interaction between the technical characteristics of the system and the power structure in the organization.Understanding how to better manage an organization when an important novelty (as a BI software is) is introduced can even lead to a significant reduction of problems and, paradoxically, to facilitate the process of acceptance and change.
It is important to underline that resistance to change is not to be underestimated because, according to the intensity of its manifestations in organizations, it can hinder the process or result in the abandonment of the change plan.Following a study by Coch and French (1949) entitled "Overcoming resistance to change", it emerged that active participation and involvement are the keys to minimizing resistance to change.The active involvement, training and coaching of the users are in fact considered to be the most useful ways of increasing the usability and effectiveness of the instruments and, consequently, their acceptance in the everyday workinglife.

METHODOLOGY
In order to better observe, analyse and describe the implementation of a Business Intelligence Software in a particular context such as the one of the entrepreneurial association in terms of effectiveness and feasibility, the methodology adopted is the case study (Yin, 2003;Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007;Flick, 2009).
The case study method was chosen as an appropriate means of exploring the research question since it allows us to collect "rich data" and to answer "if" and "how" questions (Yin, 2003).This approach allows the potential discovery of new conditions and interactions that could significantly contribute to understanding how organizations make sense of and give sense to IC measurements.In order to propose a study that can also contribute to bridging the gap between theory and practice, this paper is focused on the empirics of practice, as this allows understanding organizational phenomena as dynamic and accomplished in on-going, everyday actions.In short, the choice of the case study is based on the desire to deepen the knowledge of the business processes in question rather than its individual products and to understand the context as a whole rather than the specific variables (an activity based on discovery rather than confirmation).
This study examines the context of an entrepreneurial association case study, which was undertaken using an "action research" methodology (Sandy and Dumay, 2011).Action research is based on a collaborative process between the researcher and client, with a critical inquiry into the problems of social practice in a learning context.
In other words, action research requires a real issue of both research and managerial significance upon which the organization is embarking that has an uncertain outcome.Thus, the organization must be willing to be the subject of rigorous inquiry, thereby enabling the undertaking of a "live" case study in real time (Adams and McNicholas, 2007).This research methodology was chosen for this study because it allows scientific research and innovative practical solutions to be developed.This methodology allows the researcher to take part in the project, to access and collect "rich data" and to understand more in depth the context, of the variables, and of the process under analysis.
Finally, an interventionist method was chosen because, in accounting studies in general and in the IC literature in particular, there is a strong call for case studies to be developed with this methodology in order to test and observe concepts, methods, and tools in practice (Dumay, 2013).All in all, the main advantages of this approach are related to the possibility for the researcher to gain more valuable insights as an active participant, rather than as a non-participant observer, and to expand the case study methodology by collaborating with the organization in developing real solutions to problems; through this approach, the researcher is able to make both a theoretical contribution and an organizational one by assisting organizations in implementing change (Sandy and Dumay, 2011).
The analysis is based on the elaboration, validation and interpretation of information collected over a multi-year time span (2014 to 2017) through unstructured talks and informal conversations with officials, operators and executives of the Propeti and Giuliani 649 company.For the considered associative system, the company analysed is the main service provider and offers, through its sixteen offices spread across the provincial territory, assistance and advice services in tax matters and labour legislation.It currently has about two thousand associated companies and a total operational staff of ninety employees, distributed in the various operating venues.In the case study, about fifty people were involved, located at different levels of the structure; of these interlocutors, seven were identified as key informants and as part of the focus group, represented respectively by a general manager, three division directors, one ITC manager, one administrative manager and one business advisor.
As for data collection, it was mostly done through participant observation, that is, by taking part "in real time" in the meetings of the focus group.The information were collected on the basis of a pre-established theoretical trajectory around eight key points aimed at digging deeper into the following aspects: the motivation to participate in the project; the objectives of the project; the underlying values of the choice to promote and adhere to the implementation of a management control area within the structure; implications in terms of resources involved (financial, human and knowledge resources); the expected results; the objectives and benefits achieved; the emerging criticalities and future prospects.In parallel, primary data sources have been matched with secondary sources (document analysis, consultation of provincial / regional / national association websites, report analysis).
Therefore, the research strategy was based on the use of a mixed information sources in order to acquire the cognitive elements needed to deepen the analysis.One of the researchers was constantly present in the various phases of the project, involved in meetings and in decision-making processes: "the action researcher does not become an independent observer, but becomes a participant, and the process of change becomes the subject of research".This is particularly useful in building theory in complex situations, because action research translates into an interactive process of diagnosis, intervention, action, and reflective learning.
Finally, it should be emphasized that the low importance given by the structure to the project in question has made the data collection particularly difficult; consequently, it will be predominantly made up of sections of dialogue, phrases, opinions and testimonies collected on informal daily life.

The problem
The initiative has been activated to generate a strong change in the structure and with the primary purpose to implement a real management control area with new software, new tools and new dedicated human resources.It was possible to thoroughly analyse this case thanks to the daily presence of one of the researchers in the structure for the whole period 01 November 2014 to 31 May 2017.
The main goal of the study was to start an improving business performance process, starting from optimizing information and data management to achieve an increase in the efficiency of the structure, which then turned into an upgrading of the quality of service provided to associates.Implementing a management control area, virtually absent in the structure, was thought to guarantee that quality, truthfulness and timeliness of the data as never had before, especially in view of the required optimization of services to customers, increasingly dissatisfied and more and more inclined to withdrawal of membership in the association.
Obviously, in addition to the introduction of an ad hoc figure, the choice and acquisition of a new Business Intelligence software had to be carried out, since at the time of activation of the PhD the data needed for these purposes were fragmented and distributed on different structures and platforms.It is possible to summarize the project in question, not only with the creation of a new area that works with new tools and new people but, above all, with the introduction of a new way of working by adopting a different logic based on certain data , clear and timely.The information needed to carry out daily activities was often incomplete, redundant, unreliable, heterogeneous and difficult to use, and the introduction of a BI system is intended to improve these situations.
There was no market analysis of the software vendor choice, no quality and prices comparison among suppliers and the various software available.They asked the usual historical Software House, with all the pros and cons that this choice could have involved: if one could benefit from a deep knowledge of the industry and its issues, on the other hand the lack of involvement of external companies could limit the propulsive push to change.
Ever since the beginning, it was clear that the main difficulty would be to be able to penetrate a context that was immersed in its everyday life, with its own rhythms and habits.From the very first moment in which the project started, the difficulty that it would have had to make progress was immediately intuited: few and rare were the times when the focus was on the new goals and few time spent trying to pursue them.Ordinary daily life has always prevailed over any kind of proposed change and the lack of a real interest in the subjects studied was obvious at any hierarchical level.
First of all, the analysis of the case focused on the understanding of the concept that the structure had about "management control" and the way in which they used the resulting documentation.This is for the company to have a "management control" meant to print, retouch if necessary and deploy an infinite quantity of documents once a year in view of the closing session year.Separate revenue figures were distributed for the various provincial offices, direct staff costs (obtaining, by difference, the first contribution margin) and all other direct residual costs (obtaining, by subtracting them from the first, and the second contribution margin).Extrapolations were made using obsolete and scrumptious software that mixed data from multiple databases but constantly needed manual adjustments (only possible after extracting more information from other management systems, such as business management or CRM).
Consequently, the result was considered approximate and non-objective; it constantly changed on the basis of the entity responsible for the annual production of that documentation and presented a dubious trust.The assignment was entrusted to different subjects with different competencies: it was found that in 2013 it was for the Head of General Affairs in 2014 at the ITC Manager.Nobody, however, seemed to bother, and this proved that the attention to this fundamental business function was minimal ("So many documents that do not use virtually none", "Why do we have to print that?"Who wants these documents, will ask for them ... "," How did we do last year?I do not know, I did not care ... "the most frequent reactions).
Even in front of the obvious lack of information on the produced documents, there has always been a great deal of aversion to changing things, both at document production level than in their contents (how to calculate contribution margins, for example, they would have to be reviewed), but no one has ever supported the change "because otherwise we lose our comparability with previous years" and because "we are used to seeing it this way" and "reasoning has always been based on that."

The first steps towards the desired change
The first real attempt to change was done in May 2015 when, at the initiative of the General Manager of the Company, the first FOCUS GROUP was established on MANAGEMENT CONTROL that involved many subjects at different levels: in addition to the General Manager himself, there were three Division Managers, a business consultant, an ITC manager, and the on-site research.
The working table was meant to view, comment and think about the data for the three-year period 2012/2013/2014, which would have been worked, organized and exhibited by the business consultant and the on-site researcher.Extraction and organization of the data was not an easy process: many sources were needed to find the necessary information (Administrative Software, Software for Employee Hours Discharge, Data Extraction Software for Various Locations, etc.), unsatisfactory the interpretations of the anomalies and subjective the result obtained.
By trying to make the job as precise and objective as possible, a financial statement one for each group company, the first consolidated budget of the structure and, on completion, an analysis of the indexes of the documents obtained has been drawn up.At the meeting, at the time of the presentation of the obtained results, despite the importance and uniqueness of the produced documents, the team did not have the expected interest and participation: there were obvious demonstrations of disinterest / indifference, ranging from the constant use of the mobile phone to the frequent deviation of the discussion on non-inherent themes.Therefore, neither the production nor the disclosure of this type of documentation has been followed.
Trying to go deeply into the reasons for such unexpected reactions to this new analytical tool rich in potential useful information to improve future strategies, it turned out that it basically did not care about anyone because no one had asked for it because it had never been done / Used (and therefore they did not perceive the utility) and because the reasoning and the strategies normally follow logic based on well-documented documents (from dubious reliability) interpreted by the various responsible persons: "That particular trend I already knew without doing all these arguments .... "," These things were already known ... "," The data is wrong, I know things have gone differently... ".
It was therefore decided to start from the beginning, trying to optimize the process of extracting the data (a phase that, during the previous work, had spent much of the time) in order to make them certain, objective and reliable at the very moment Of extraction (thus avoiding the various personal interpretations).We realized that to pursue this first objective it was necessary to invest in a new software: too many personal interpretations influenced the reliability of the data ("In my opinion here there is a mistake of extracting data, it is not possible that this is the situation.Let's fix it manually, I tell you how to it").Following this, consultation with the Software House was chosen to invest in BI.This process, however, was not straightforward: the relationship with the company providing the BI system was occasionally taken care of, was not considered as a priority activity, it did not perceive its usefulness and it was reminded only when there was evidence of slowness and inaccuracy in extracting data with the old system ("Do we have the updated situation?We urge the software house to make the changes we want, otherwise the project never starts").To this is added a significant diffuse informal illiteracy at different levels of the structure, which makes the potential users of BI more sceptical and increases the indifference (sometimes resulting in resistance) in carrying on that project ("But how does this new program work?Why do they change it, we were used to work with the old one ...For this time I still use the old software, doesn't matter!Next time I'll see if I'll use the new one…").

The failure
To date, any attempt made by the subjects involved in the innovation project is hitherto unsuccessful; with the logic in force, at a distance of months, the company has not yet systematized any new software and virtually no real management control area.Everything is still based on the old pre-existing and the researcher's figure, Propeti and Giuliani 651 despite several attempts, is struggling to work with the same documents using the same obsolete databases and continuing to distribute them to those who will readmaybe-with the same read keys forever.
The lack of perceptions of the utility of a controller and of a new accurate and timely data extraction tool is also emphasized by the fact that this new figure, introduced with innovative aims, is often used to support the operational activities of the various business areas rather than to be used for the original purpose of the project (it is not uncommon that is being called to relate to simple low or no added value tasks -for example, data entry-).In the context analysed, professionalism is not always recognized and, in any case, is the daily life that continues to prevail, always and in any case.
"If there is any urgent work to do, ask THE INTERN for help!who is actually the researcher, but not everyone knows it", "The priority now is to come up with the data entry, everything else can wait!".
Solving the practical tasks that occur daily is often the priority, and the space dedicated to development and innovation is residual.It is perceived that the system modus operandi is to work always in emergency to deal with the unexpected of all days.The concepts of planning, analysis and strategy cannot be acquired and there is a constant aversion to what is new and which, by definition, abolishes the tacit rules in force in society.

DISCUSSION
The case study allows the proposal of reflections.First, the case study suggests that the will of few subjects to change the company's internal organizational system and improve its efficiency and effectiveness by implementing a new tool -BI -and a new management area -CDGwas not enough to make the first step towards change.
The internal resistances, the non-curation at the multiple levels of the structure, and the total disinterest towards new themes for the context were impeding the change.The strong reliance on routines and the lack of proactivity of the staff is bound to make every effort to progress.There is a "state" and traditional mentality where the important thing for each one is to make their own part and, possibly, with the same methodology used over time.The widespread disinterest at all levels towards reviewing and innovating decision-making tools is the most worrying aspect.Although pushes for change come from (some) directional levels, they are not perceived by either the structure or peers (which not only do not act as a lever for change, but often act as a barrier).
Consequently, the attention and care of these projects by the creators follows the slower tendencies: the supporters lack and every practical daily problem have priority because it is considered closer to the immediate and real needs of society.These results are therefore to confirm the arguments put forward by Zan (2015) and Lanzalaco (1990), who argue that tradition in these particular contexts continues to prevail strongly.
Similar results but on a different business association of another city were obtained in 1998 by Fernando Alberti, who analysed how, in the past too, the bond with tradition has stalled the push for innovation and change.This new analysis attempted to see whether, after twenty years, things in the world of association had finally evolved or at least started to change.It has been found that, today as then, there is only the will of some subject to make improvements in the system but this type of structures made and still makes it extremely difficult to break away from the roots of tradition.
Second, there is a constant use of the simplest solution, or the one that has always been adopted, as universally recognized, recognizable and easily workable; roles and responsibilities have emerged informally over time, seemingly casual and not rebuildable.
"I do not know why I have to do this activity ... before it was played by Tizio, then it happened on my desk ... but basically I did not have anything").
It persists in any function and at any level (paradoxically in this kind of context), a sort of fear of not being able to handle the novelty and, consequently, a resistance to adopting procedures and / or using non-ordinary tools and documents.In this case, a better management of change seems to be the only possible solution: not just cognitive skills, but also skills related to relational and behavioural skills, to will and motivation.
Although, studies (and case studies) on change management are numerous, the extreme variability and mismatch of the situations make difficult to compare how different realities have resorted to an attempt to change.It is therefore complex, and perhaps even unhelpful, to compare this case study with others.It can be said, however, that this analysis, like others, can help to provide material for building lines, schemes and traces for action, on the basis of which management (of companies, entities or associations) can find a useful orientation to their own reality.
Third, difficulty in innovation could be emphasized, considering that same purchase of the BI system has been applied to the same Software House ever since.Although specialized and dropped entirely, the reality of entrepreneurial associations could limit, just as uniquely and historic, the real innovative boost that a new supplier might offer.

Conclusion
The purpose of the paper was to examine the potential organizational impacts related to the introduction and implementation of new managerial concepts methods and tools in Italian entrepreneurship associations.In order to achieve this aim, a case study was analysed.
The results obtained in the mentioned organization seem to align with what is reported in the literature with reference to public or private organizations.It can be confirmed that, despite the fact that in the economic context there are more and more phenomena of change, turbulence and innovation, associations are still too closely linked to tradition.There is a kind of old-age crisis that makes the adjustment process decisively slow.In order to reallocate associations to the evolution of entrepreneurial reality, it is therefore necessary to first redefine the internal organization of the structure and rethink roles and activities, managing the criticalities as much as possible and encouraging employees to go beyond everyday routine.
These results have significant implications for entrepreneurial associations that are now forced, to survive, to manage and revise in a substantial way their internal skills to allow the creation of a new conception of the associations as a high value added network (Cannarsi, 2000), which must be a strong landmark for a certain length of time.They should be able to find the way to face every internal resistance to change and to translate it in a stimulus to constantly improve themselves.
Although the case investigated confirms and empirically validates the main evolutionary features found in the literature, it should be noted that the results obtained relate exclusively to the analysed reality of a city and cannot be considered valid for all other service companies of the entrepreneurial associations.
Therefore, it may be useful and interesting to know if the dynamics found at the specific site are confirmed or decreased in other similar contexts, even if they are faced with such dynamics and with the same inevitable resistances to a change that arises as radical as indispensable.