Public Value in Universities: the performance paradox regarding investee companies in the post covid era

International literature deeply investigates the contribution of performance management in the process of cost rationalization in public universities to achieve public value through performance management strategies. What emerges is a literature gap in relation to specific analysis concerning the impact of the rationalization of the companies owned by public universities and the effectiveness of the performance measured adopted by universities in the post covid era. This work, through an analysis of the planning documents provided by Italian universities on the subject regarding "rationalization of investee companies", aims to highlight the performance management paradox put in place by universities in the attempt to be in compliance with the law. The analysis we conducted will show how the rationalization objective is nowadays far from being considered efficiently and effective in the post covid era because of a “Strictly bureaucratic” system that does not guarantee the achievement of public value and at least, contribute to the destruction of it.