Managerial Insights

2020-03-02 Paola Dubini

Culture at the Time of the Coronavirus

Among the measures taken in recent days by the authorities in charge of dealing with COVID-19 is the decision to suspend not only educational activities in schools and universities, public meetings and events, but also the activity of museums, cinemas, theaters, and other cultural locations. And also to keep religious ceremonies to a minimum. It is evident that this was a difficult decision, with a large individual and collective impact. It is just as evident that the economic repercussions in many sectors will be considerable, and long-lasting. The world of culture has reacted very rapidly and ...

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2020-02-26 Stefano Basaglia

How Work Changes at the Time of the Coronavirus

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has two significant impacts on the organization of work. The first regards the “open space” organization of offices, where workers may or may not have fixed workstations, designed to reduce costs relating to physical spaces and to favor interaction and the exchange of information.[1] The layout of such offices also favors contagion though, and thus the proliferation of diseases. This is true for the Coronavirus, but obviously also for the normal seasonal flu. So in order to address this problem, in the immediate term companies have been forced to limit the movement ...

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2020-02-24 Rachele Anconetani, Maurizio Dallocchio, Leonardo L. Etro, Giulia Negri, Matteo Vizzaccaro

Managerial Excellence: A Value Beyond the Confines of Performance

Founded in 2017 to reward Italian entrepreneurial excellence from both an economic-financial standpoint and regarding respect for the values of sustainability (environmental, social and governance - ESG), the SDA Bocconi School of Management’s Best Performance Award (BPA) has now reached its third edition.* The Award is divided into five categories, each of which brings together companies that have demonstrated pro-active attitudes in ESG initiatives in their sector. In particular, the hot topic this year is that of managerial excellence, promoting companies that stand out in terms of cutting-edge ...

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2020-02-24 Emanuele C. Francia

The Chinese Model of Internationalization. The case of ChemChina-Pirelli

Despite a slowdown in direct investment in the past two years, China's international expansion activities will continue at a strong pace[1] due to both the activism of large Chinese groups (that are often state-controlled), and due to the effect of the super-ambitious plan renamed the BRI-Belt and Road Initiative (or the "New Silk Road"). This advance is often perceived by foreign companies and their managers as a true attack on their economic system. In that regard, it is proper to ask whether this represents only a threat, or whether opportunities exist as well. The Chinese economic system is ...

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2020-02-12 Cecilia Attanasio Ghezzi

The Economic Consequences of the Coronavirus

"When China sneezes, the global economy catches a cold," it was said in Napoleon's time. And now, faced with a epidemic that the People's Republic of China is attempting fight by limiting the movements of 1.4 billion people as much as possible, the entire world is waiting with bated breath. The numbers of people infected and deaths have exceeded those of the nine months that between 2002 and 2003 shook East Asia with the SARS epidemic (1). People try to make comparisons today, but at the time China had just joined the WTO, while today it is the second largest economy in the world, representing ...

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2020-02-12 Cecilia Attanasio Ghezzi

The Economic Consequences of the Coronavirus

"When China sneezes, the global economy catches a cold," it was said in Napoleon's time. And now, faced with a epidemic that the People's Republic of China is attempting fight by limiting the movements of 1.4 billion people as much as possible, the entire world is waiting with bated breath. The numbers of people infected and deaths have exceeded those of the nine months that between 2002 and 2003 shook East Asia with the SARS epidemic (1). People try to make comparisons today, but at the time China had just joined the WTO, while today it is the second largest economy in the world, representing ...

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Fabrizio Perretti

The Challenge of Complexity

CEOs are increasingly important figures of reference in our society. In today’s increasingly complex political and economic context, their role is not so much to reduce that complexity, but to manage it and explore the possibilities of what does not yet exist. In this scenario, CEOs are thus asked to express a new way of thinking, a new mindset. CEOs are increasingly important figures of reference in our society. As illustrated annually by the Edelman report, trust in their regard is not only very high (76 percent of the population), but is constantly increasing (+11 points compared to 2018) ...

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2020-01-29 Cecilia Attanasio Ghezzi

Coronavirus: What Beijing Isn't Saying

Almost three thousand cases in 16 countries and over 80 deaths. (1) 16 cities under quarantine, for a total of approximately 56 million people cordoned off (slightly less than the total of the Italian population, to get an idea). In Wuhan there are complaints of empty supermarkets (2) retail prices that have tripled, face masks and disinfectants now impossible to find, overflowing hospitals (3), and insufficient beds and medical personnel. And while state TV celebrates the figure of Liang Wudong, the retired doctor called back to face the emergency, who was infected and died "on the field," social ...

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2020-01-29 Cecilia Attanasio Ghezzi

Coronavirus: What Beijing Isn't Saying

Almost three thousand cases in 16 countries and over 80 deaths. (1) 16 cities under quarantine, for a total of approximately 56 million people cordoned off (slightly less than the total of the Italian population, to get an idea). In Wuhan there are complaints of empty supermarkets (2) retail prices that have tripled, face masks and disinfectants now impossible to find, overflowing hospitals (3), and insufficient beds and medical personnel. And while state TV celebrates the figure of Liang Wudong, the retired doctor called back to face the emergency, who was infected and died "on the field," social ...

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Capitalism and entrepreneurship

The Focus of this issue of E&M collects a series of speeches started from the article of Prof. Franco Amatori, Full Professor of Economic History at Bocconi University, on the birth and characteristics of European capitalism. Discussing this issue are important names in Italian economics such as Prof. Francesco Giavazzi (Full Professor of Political Economics at Bocconi University), Luca Paolazzi (Partner at REF Ricerche) and Edoardo Reviglio (Chief Economist and Head of Economic and Statistical Research at the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti-CDP). Here is a brief extract from the contribution of Prof. ...

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