Luca ZAN

Alma Mater Professor, University of Bologna. Past Director of GIOCA (Graduate degree in Innovation and Organization of Cultural and the Arts), University of Bologna, where he taught "Ethnography of arts organizations", and teaches "Heritage, history and the issue of organizing". Adjunct faculty at the Heinz College until 2020, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, where he taught “International Perspectives in Arts Management” within the Master of Arts Management Program; and at CAFA, Beijing, teaching “Management and arts organizations”.

Research interests and publications:

a) Management and accounting history, both in terms of theories, and practices (especially in pre-industrial settings, such the Venice Arsenal 16th century), with an increasing focus on industrial heritage.

b) Management of heritage and arts organizations, with a focus on field research, an international comparison.

c) A specific focus on the management of arts and heritage in the city of Venice.

d) China Cultural Heritage.

e) Strategic change processes, within strategic management, management accounting and organization theory traditions.

a) Management, Accounting History and Industrial Heritage

Zan L., Ferri P., Baskakova E., “Bridging management, organizational, and accounting history with the industrial heritage debate”, Accounting History, 2025, vol 30, Issue 2, 239-264.

Ari, B., Zan, L., “Shipbuilding and early forms of modern management: Six months to rebuild the Ottoman fleet after the defeat at Lepanto”, Business History, vol 66, 2024, 6, pp. 1345-1372.

Zan, L., Tanghetti, J., “Condizioni di domanda e offerta di Musei Marittimi in Europa. Considerazioni preliminari nella prospettiva di costruzione di un museo dell’Arsenale di Venezia”, Economia della Cultura, 2, 2023, pp. 243-262, doi: 10.1446/108454.

Xue, Q., Zan, L., “The Chinese accounting profession in the People’s Republic. A preliminary understanding from an Oral History perspective”, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2023, 94: 2-26.

Baskakova, E., Ferri, P., Zan, L., “Conservazione della storia aziendale nei progetti di riuso dei siti di patrimonio industriale: problemi e prospettive”, in Atti degli Stati Generali del Patrimonio Industriale, Marsilio Editori, Venezia, 2022.

Baskakova, E., Ferri, P., Zan, L., “Musei del patrimonio industriale fra conservazione e sostenibilità finanziaria”, in Atti degli Stati Generali del Patrimonio Industriale, Marsilio Editori, Venezia, 2022.

Zan, L., “Il discorso del maneggio tra conoscenza, routine e impatti (sec. XVI-XVII). Per una valorizzazione del significato intangibile dell’Arsenale”, Ateneo Veneto (2), 2021.

Zan, L., Deng, L., “Micro foundations in the Great Divergence Debate: opening up the perspective”, Accounting History, 2017, Vol. 22(4) 530–553. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1032373217729865.

Zan, L., “Complexity, anachronism and time-parochialism. Doing historical research from a (strategic) management background”, Business History, 58 (4), 2016.

Lusiani, M., Zan, L., “Change and continuity in managerialism: 100 years of administrative history at the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza”, Management and Organization History, 2011, 6 (1), pp. 59-80.

Zambon, S., Zan, L., “Controlling expenditure, or the slow emergence of costing at the Venice Arsenal (1586-1633)”, Special Issue on “Accounting History in Italy”, Accounting, Business & Financial History, 2007, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 105–128.

Zan, L., Rossi, F, Zambon, S., Il “discorso del maneggio”. Pratiche gestionali e contabili all’Arsenale di Venezia, 1580- 1643, il Mulino, 2006.

Zan, L., “Accounting and management discourse in protoindustrial settings: the Venice Arsenal in the turn of the XVI Century”, Accounting and Business Research, vol. 32, No 2, 2004, p. 145-175.

Zan, L., “Writing management and accounting history. Insights from unorthodox music historiography”, Accounting Historians Journal, Volume 31, Number 2, December 2004, p. 171-192. (Also published in Chinese: 会计史的撰写：来自非正统音乐思想史的启示。意大利博洛尼亚大学 卢卡·赞教授。《会计之友》2015年第5期-Kuai ji shi de zhuan xie: lai zi fei zheng tong yin yue si xiang shi de qi shi. Friends of Accounting, 2015.5. Trad. It. “Storia del management e storiografia dell’accounting. Un parallelo con la storia della musica”, Imprese e Storia, n. 32, luglio- dicembre 2005, pp. 311-332.

Carmona, S., Zan, L., (eds.), Special section of The European Accounting Review on “Mapping Variety in the History of Accounting and Management Practices”, 2002, Vol. 11, No. 2.

Zan, L., “Toward a history of accounting histories", European Accounting Review, vol. 3, n. 2, 1994, pp. 255-307.

b) Arts & Heritage Management

Napolitano S., Ferri P., Zan L., “Organizing abundance and shuffling at festivals: the Ferrara Buskers Festival case”, Poetics, 110, 2025, 101997.

Ferri, P., Napolitano, S., Zan, L., “The income gap reporting framework in public not-for-profit organizations. The British Museum case”, Journal of Management and Governance, 2023, Vol 27, pp. 1303-1338.

Zan, L., Masino, G., “Ferrara Buskers Festival (1998-2001): Design, Emerging Meanings and Sense Making”, in Salvador, E. and Strandgaard, J. (eds.), Managing cultural festivals between tradition and innovation, Routledge, 2022 [ed or Italian, “Il Ferrara Buskers Festival: progettualità, emergenza e costellazione di significati”, MICRO & MACRO MARKETING / a. XI, n. 1, aprile 2002].

Ferri, O., Guagnini, A., Santagati, M.E., Zan, L., “Managing Bologna university museums and collections (1970–2015)”, Museum Management and Curatorship, 2021, 36, 5, pp 523-547. DOI: 10.1080/09647775.2021.1891562, 2021.

Ferri, P., Sottilotta, M., Zan, L., “Museum data for regional policies. Addressing center-periphery issues”, Economia della cultura, 2020, issue 3- 4, pp. 425-436.

Bonini Baraldi, S., Shoup, D., Zan, L., “When megaprojects meet archaeology: a research framework and case study from Yenikapı, Istanbul", The International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2019, vol. 25 no. 4, pp. 423-444. doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2017.1343307

Santagati M.E., Bonini Baraldi S., Zan, L., “Understanding decentralization: deconcentration and devolution processes in the French and Italian cultural sectors”, 2020, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 435-460

Ferri, P., Zan, L., “Accountability and patronage in extraordinary administrations: evidence from Pompeii”, Financial Accountability & Management, February 2019, Volume 35, Issue 1, pp. 72-89.

Ferri P., Lusiani, M., Zan, L., “Making Sense of Site Management”, in Makuvaza Sam, Aspects of Site Management Planning for Cultural World Heritage Sites: Principles, Approaches and Practices, Springer, 2018, pp. 227-239.

Zan, L., Bonini Baraldi, S., Santagati, M.E., “Missing HRM: the original sin of museum reforms in Italy”, Museum Management and Curatorship, 2018, Vol. 33, No. 6, pp. 530-545.

Zan, L., Shoup, D., “Professional Utopianism and Administrative Naiveté. Uncertainty and Archaeology in the Shipwrecks of Pisa (1998-20??)”, in A.M. Labrador, N.A. Silberman (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Public Heritage Theory and Practice, Oxford University Press, 2018. Online version DOI:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190676315.013.5.

Pegoraro, M., Zan, L., “Life and death in audience development. The exhibition on Pompeii at the British Museum, 2013”, Museum Management & Curatorship, 2017, 32 (3) pp. 213-231

Zan, L., Bonini Baraldi, S., Lusiani, M., Shoup, D., Ferri, P., Onofri, F., Managing Cultural Heritage. An International research Perspective, Ashgate/Routledge, London, 2015.

Ferri, P., Zan, L., “Partnerships for heritage conservation: evidence from the archeological site of Herculaneum”, Journal of Management & Governance, 2015, DOI 10.1007/s10997-015-9332-2 (trad. it. “Economia e gestione delle partnership nei Beni culturali. Riflessioni sull'esperienza di Ercolano”, Aedon, 2014, n.3 http://www.aedon.mulino.it/archivio/2014/3/Zan,htm)

Zan, L., “International Arts Management? Questioning isomorphism”, paper presented at “The 7th Art of Management & Organization Conference” 28-31 August 2014, CBS (a preliminary version also paper presented at the International Forum on Arts & Brain: Arts Management Thinking, CAFA, Beijing, November 27, 2013)

Zan, L., Ferri, P., “Ten years after: The rise and fall of managerial autonomy in Pompeii", Critical perspectives in Accounting, 2014, 25: pp. 368–387. Trad. It. “Pompei dieci anni dopo. Ascesa e declino dell'autonomia gestionale", Aedon, 2012 n. 1-2

Zan, L., “I Beni Culturali italiani tra innovazione amministrativa e decentralizzazione", in L'Italia e le sue regioni (1945-2011), a cura di Mariuccia Salvati e Loredana Sciolla, Volume I, Treccani, Roma, 2015

Zan, L., “Economic discourse and heritage conservation. Towards an ethnography of administrations", Heritage & Society, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2013, November, pp. 167–184.

Bonini Baraldi, S., Shoup, D. Zan, L., “Understanding Cultural Heritage in Turkey: Institutional Context and Organizational Issues”, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2013, Vol.19, n. 7, pp. 728-748.

Lusiani, M., Zan, L., “Planning and Heritage", Introduction to the special issue on Planning and Heritage, Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, Volume 3 issue 2, 2013, pp.108-115.

Shoup, D., Zan, L., “Byzantine Planning: Site Management in Istanbul", Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, Vol. 15 No. 2, May 2013, pp. 169–94.

Shoup, D., Bonini Baraldi, S., Zan, L., “A centralized decentralization: outsourcing in the Turkish cultural heritage sector”, The International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2012, DOI:10.1080/10286632.2012.731051

Zan, L., “Research on Arts Organizations and the Lazy Community of Management Scholars”, Introduction to the Special issue on Managing Arts Organizations, International Studies of Management and Organization, Vol. 42, No. 2, Summer 2012.

Zan, L., Bonini Baraldi, S., Onofri, F., “The rhetoric of Cultural Policies and the issue of ‘getting things done’. Bologna Cultural Capital ten years after”, City, Culture and Society, Volume 2, Issue 4, December 2011, Pages 189-200, Trad it. Capitali europee della cultura e politiche culturali, Aedon, 2013, 1, http://www.aedon.mulino.it/archivio/2013/1/Zan,htm.

Zan, L., Bonini Baraldi, S., Mariani, M., Ferri, P., Lusiani, M., “Behind the scenes of public funding for performing arts in Italy: hidden phenomena beyond the rhetoric of legislation”, The International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2012, Vol 18 No. 1, 76-92. Trad. It. “Il finanziamento pubblico allo spettacolo dal vivo: una ricerca empirica”, Aedon, n.2, 2008

Zan, L., Lusiani, M., “Managing Machu Picchu: institutional settings, business model and master plans”, Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 1 No. 2, 2011, pp. 157-176.

Zan, L., Lusiani, M., “Managing change and master plans. Machu Picchu between conservation and exploitation”, Archaeologies, 2011, vol 7, 2. pp. 329-371.

Mariani, M., Zan, L., “The economy of music programs and organizations. A micro analysis and typology”, European Accounting Review, 2011, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 113-148.

Lusiani, M., Zan, L., “Institutional transformation and managerialism in cultural heritage: Heritage Malta”, Museum Management and Curatorship, 2010, 25 (2), pp. 147-165.

Zan, L. (a cura di), Le risorse per lo spettacolo. Ricerca esplorativa su trasparenza, accountability e efficacia della spesa pubblica nello spettacolo, il Mulino, Bologna 2009.

Narduzzo, A., Zan, L., “The Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence: between excellence and surviving”, in Ayata B. (ed.), Kulturekonomi. Konsten att fånga osynliga vården, Studentlitteratur, Stockholm, 2007, pp. 189-230.

Zan, L., Bonini, S., Gordon, C., “Cultural Heritage between Centralisation and Decentralisation: Insights from the Italian context”, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2007, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 49-70.

Zan, L., Managerial Rhetoric and Arts Organizations, Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke, 2006.

Sicca, L.M., Zan, L., “Much ado about management”, International Journal of Art Management, 2005, volume 7, number 3, Spring, pp. 46-64.

Zan, L., “Renewing Pompeii, Year Zero. Promises and expectations from new approaches to museum management and accountability", Critical Perspectives in Accounting, 13, 2002, pp. 89-137.

Zan, L., 2000, “Management and the British Museum”, Musuem Management and Curatorship, 18 (3): 221-270.

Zan, L., “Piano, with harmony: analysing the Imola academy from a management study perspective", Financial Accountability & Management, Special Issues on Accountability in Non-Profit Organisations, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1998, pp. 215-231.

c) Arts & Heritage management: on Venice

Zan, L., Tanghetti, J., “Challenging relationality and participation. The Austrian pavilion at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale 2023”, Public Money and Management, Published online: 04 Jun 2026, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540962.2026.2681000

Zan, Luca; Ferrarini, Roberta, La gestione di Venezia come sito UNESCO, Economia della Cultura, 2025, 3, pp. 551 - 565

Zan, L., Mancuso, F., Menichelli, C., (a cura di), Venezia tra storia sviluppo e sostenibilità, il Mulino, Bologna, 2024.

Mancuso, F., Menichelli, C., Zan L., “Exclusion and inclusion in the spaces of the Biennale: a proactive reflection”, in AKT & Hermann Czech (a cura di), Partecipazione/Beteiligung, Catalogue of the Austrian Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale 2023, pp.266-293.

Zan, L., “The Venice Biennale at the Venice Arsenal: a potential conflict between creativity and historical preservation?”, in Florence Graezer Bideau and Peter Bille Larsen (eds.), Governing Heritage and Creativity, Lettera Ventidue, Siracusa, 2023, pp. 108-121.

Zan, L., Lusiani, M., Tanghetti, J., Vetro di Murano. Storie di mestieri e di fornaci, Bologna, BUP, 2023.

Mancuso, F., Menichelli, C., Zan L., “L’Arsenale di Venezia. Progettualità e politiche di rigenerazione”, in Atti degli Stati Generali del Patrimonio Industriale, Marsilio Editori, Venezia, 2022.

Baskakova, E., Ferri, P. Zan, L., “Governance complexity in industrial heritage museums”, in Rentschler, R., Reid, W., Donelli, C., Routledge Companion to Governance, Leadership & Philanthropy in the Arts, Routledge, 2025.

Mancuso, F., Menichelli, C., Zan, L. “All’Arsenale 170 milioni PNRR: per che cosa?”, Il Giornale dell’Arte, 22 Febbraio, 2022.

Mancuso, F., Menichelli, C., Zan, L., “Arsenale di Venezia 2022: tutti gli interventi”, Il Giornale dell’Arte, 1 Aprile, 2022.

Zan, L. (ed) The Venice Arsenal. Between History, Heritage, and Re-use. Routledge, 2022.

Zan, L. (a cura di), Arsenale di Venezia: quale museo e quale accessibilità, Cafoscarina, 2019.

Zan, L., “History of management and stratigraphy of organizing. The Venice Arsenal between tangible and intangible heritage”, in Zendri E., Calaon D., Moropoulou A. (eds.), Special Issue focuses on Sustainability in the conservation and management of built and archaeological heritage, Heritage, 2019 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/heritage/special_issues/bah /(Trad it. Zan, L., “Stratigrafia dell’organizzare. L’unicità del patrimonio tangibile e intangibile dell’Arsenale”, Patrimonio Industriale, 2019, 22, pp. 54-59)

Zan, L. (a cura di), Per un futuro dell’Arsenale di Venezia, Cafoscarina, 2018.

d) China Cultural Heritage

Zan, L., “Cultural Heritage and identity building in current China: Stateholder creativity and administrative legacy”, in  Larsen, P.B., and Graezer Bideau F., (eds.), The Heritage, creativity and innovation nexus, Routledge, 2026, pp.146-161.

Zan, L., Tao, W., “Conservation & exploitation. Governance and sustainability issues in Lijiang cases”, in Pereira A.R., Bandarin F., Historic Urban Landscape: Five Years, Twenty-five cities, Hundred lessons, Springer, Singapore, 2019, pp. 329-340.

Zan, L., Yu, B., Yu, J., Yan, H., Heritage Sites in Contemporary China: Cultural Policies and Management Practices, Routledge, 2018.

Yu, B., Zan, L., Chinese “Big Archaeological sites” (Da Yi Zhi). From policy to practices: the case of Sui & Tang city, Luoyang, working paper, 2014.

Zan, L., Cultural Nationalism and China. Stateholder approach and administrative legacy, working paper, University of Bologna, June 2014.

Zan, L., “Cultural Heritage in China between policies, development, professional discourse and the issue of managing", Public Archaeology Journal, special issue on Archaeology and Economic Development, Vol. 13, Nos 1- 3, 2014, pp. 99-112.

Zan, L., Bonini Baraldi, S., “Managing heritage sites in China. The case of the Guan Lin Temple”. In Brol, R. and Sztando, A. (eds.) “Local Economy in Theory and Practice. Planning and Evaluation Aspects. N.282”. Wroclaw: Publishing House of Wroclaw University of Economics. 2013, pp.90-103.

Zan, L., “New Approaches to Heritage Administration in China", in Smith C. (ed) Encyclopaedia of Global Archaeology: Cultural Heritage Management Section, Springer, 2013, Cham, 2014, pp. 1437-1441. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_1965

Zan, L., Bonini Baraldi, S. “The Heritage Chain. General issues and a case study, China”, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 14 (2013), pp. 211–218.

Zan, L., Xue, Q., “Opening the door to accounting change. Transformations in Chinese public sector accounting”, Accounting History Review, 2012, 22:3, pp. 269-299.

Zan, L., Bonini Baraldi, S., “Managing Cultural Heritage in China. A View from the Outside”, China Quarterly, 210, June 2012, pp. 456-481. Trad. It. “La gestione del patrimonio culturale in Cina: uno sguardo dall'esterno”, Aedon, 2014, n.1.

Tao, W., Zan, L., “Management and Presentation of Chinese sites for UNESCO World Heritage List”, in Special Issue: World Heritage cities management Guest editor(s): Ana Pereira Roders and Ron van Oers, Facilities, Vol. 29 No. 7/8, 2011, pp. 313-325.

Xue, Q., Zan, L., “Budgeting China: macro policies and micro practices in public sector changes”, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 2011, 24, 1, pp. 38-62.

Guo, Y., Liu, S., Zan, L., The Management of Cultural Heritage in China. General trends and a micro-focus on the Luoyang municipality, Egea, Milano, 2008 (available as print-on-demand at http://www.egeaonline.it/ http://www.egeaonline.it/ENG/Catalogue/Search_Results.aspx?Chiave=guo&Tipo=2).

Zan, L., Bonini Baraldi, S., “Managing the archaeological chain in China. Between happy ending and organizational challenges”, in Amoeda et al. (eds), Heritage 2008. World Heritage and Sustainable Development, Green Lines Institute Pub, Barcelos, Portugal.

Zan, L., “Managerial Transformation in Chinese Museums. The Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an”, Museum Management and Curatorship, June 2007, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 151-182.

e) Strategy, Management and Accounting

Zan, L., “Future directions from the past: management and accounting discourse in historical perspective”, Advances in Strategic Management, Volume 22nd, Expanding Perspectives on the Strategy Process, 2005, pp. 457-489.

Zan, L., Zambon, S., “Accounting relativism: the unstable relationship between income measurement and theories of the firm", Accounting, Organisations and Society, Vol. 25, No. 8, 2000, pp. 799-822.

Zan, L., “Interactionism and Systemic view in the Strategic Approach", in P. Shrivastava, C. Stubbart (Eds.), Advances in Strategic Management, vol. 11, Jay Press Inc, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1995, pp. 261- 283.

Pettigrew, A., Zambon, S., Zan, L. (eds.), Perspectives on Strategic Change, Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1993.

Zan, L., “Looking for Theories in Strategy Studies", Scandinavian Journal of Management, vol. 6, n. 2, 1990, pp. 89-108.