Managerial Insights

2020-03-16 Donato Masciandaro

Coronavirus and Central Banks: Two False Steps

Modern monetary policy is based on facts and words. In dealing with the emergence of the macroeconomic risk of the coronavirus the Fed has gotten the facts wrong, while the ECB has gotten the words wrong. Let us see why. In general terms, the coronavirus belongs to the macroeconomic family of rare events. As such, its effects on the dynamics of the choices of families, businesses, and financial markets can be both significant and at the same time unpredictable, both in terms of extent and duration. So the coronavirus is a catalyst for uncertainty, that places every central bank in front of a temporal ...

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2020-03-09 Gianmarco Ottaviano

Post-Brexit Negotiations: It’s Time to be Pragmatic

In the first week of March, the negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom began on future relations after Brexit. To begin to understand how things will develop, it’s useful to define the situation, rapidly reviewing the fundamental steps taken recently on both sides of the Channel. Almost four years after the British referendum on Brexit, on January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union - and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The method of withdrawal is governed by the “Withdrawal Agreement,” that regulates the credit and debit relationships ...

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2020-03-09 Andrea Beltratti, Alessia Bezzecchi

Value Creation in Asset/Wealth Management

In the 1960s, some thought that corporate social responsibility meant making a profit. This is a strong idea, with important implications. If a company must make profits, then it becomes easier to give a straightforward evaluation of the implications of possible decisions, and to choose the ones that allow for increasing earnings with the least possible risk. Gordon Gekko is the best representative of this school of thinking, and the film Wall Street an excellent vehicle for understanding the implications of this approach. Sixty years later, has the world really changed? Or as the Eagles sang ...

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2020-03-05 Fabrizio Perretti

Italian Businesses Exposed to Contagion

The Covid-19 coronavirus will have a negative impact on Italian businesses. The question is not “if,” but how many will be affected and how strong the impact will be. Just as predictions regarding the evolution of the situation among people are uncertain, the same is true for businesses. Yet there are some differences between the two populations, that of the human race and that of businesses. In the first case (which includes people with clear symptoms, hospitalized, in intensive care, and dead) the contagion fortunately represents a small percentage, while in the second the “contagion” ...

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2020-03-05 Fabrizio Perretti

Italian Businesses Exposed to Contagion

The Covid-19 coronavirus will have a negative impact on Italian businesses. The question is not “if,” but how many will be affected and how strong the impact will be. Just as predictions regarding the evolution of the situation among people are uncertain, the same is true for businesses. Yet there are some differences between the two populations, that of the human race and that of businesses. In the first case (which includes people with clear symptoms, hospitalized, in intensive care, and dead) the contagion fortunately represents a small percentage, while in the second the “contagion” ...

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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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2020-03-02 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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