Focus Africa
Sustainability at the Center of Business
It was the end of 2019 when Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish activist who travelled the world and awoke the conscience of thousands of youth on the question of climate, was named "Person of the Year" by TIME magazine, receiving the honor of the cover and the attention of political leaders, top managers, and entrepreneurs. In the same period, the European Union approved the Green Deal, the imposing Action Plan that, through the allocation of approximately one trillion euros over the span of a decade, has the goal of transforming the climate and environmental challenge into an opportunity, guaranteeing ...
A Question of Management
We are facing the worst period of the pandemic. This is the view of experts in various fields of medicine, and is stressed by many authoritative political representatives. We knew that this period would come, but as beforehand, we found ourselves unprepared. Not on all fronts, certainly; for example, masks and other personal protective equipment are now widely available. But many things have certainly not functioned properly: the tracing system based on the Immuni app, the long lines for tests, the local transportation systems in many regions, and so on. Why is this? There are various reasons, ...
A Question of Management
We are facing the worst period of the pandemic. This is the view of experts in various fields of medicine, and is stressed by many authoritative political representatives. We knew that this period would come, but as beforehand, we found ourselves unprepared. Not on all fronts, certainly; for example, masks and other personal protective equipment are now widely available. But many things have certainly not functioned properly: the tracing system based on the Immuni app, the long lines for tests, the local transportation systems in many regions, and so on. Why is this? There are various reasons, ...
Inflation: A Premature Funeral?
Has the time come to celebrate the funeral of inflation and think that monetary and fiscal policy must deal exclusively with economic growth and employment? The debate is not only underway, but also lively: on the one side, the doves, ready with the requiem; on the other, the hawks, ready to swear to the resurrection. What arguments does each side have? Let us start with what we know. Economic analysis tells us in general that a pandemic recession can have both deflationary and inflationary effects. In fact, it all comes from a non-economic shock, in which the unpredictable event (the outbreak ...
Real Estate and Sustainability: One Size Does Not Fit All
The attention to Environmental, Social and Governance criteria (ESG) and to sustainability is a consolidated trend by now. We all take it for granted that eight billion people can live together on the planet earth only following certain basic rules that require not depleting limited resources and managing them with a very long temporal horizon. The lifestyle each of us follows is the necessary condition for well-being and sustainability, and requires adequate buildings, that minimize the use of energy resources, are compatible with landscape constraints, and contribute to a sense of beauty. What ...
The Big Winner
"If 300,000 people had died of Covid in China, how would the West have reacted?" The editorial in the English-language version of the People's Daily[1] leaves no doubt regarding the feeling of superiority in the People's Republic with respect to the management of the pandemic in the rest of the world. Especially today, with five vaccines in phase 3, four of which have already been approved for limited or emergency use,[2] and a plan to vaccinate 50 million people by the start of February. The government in Beijing wants to be ready for the Chinese New Year holidays, that in 2021 fall on February ...
From Trump to Biden: What Changes for Foreign Trade?
Although the transition is difficult, the world is preparing for a change at the top in the United States, from the Republican president Donald Trump to the Democrat Joe Biden. What can we expect on the international economic relations front once the transition is completed? The question was posed a few days ago by Hillary Clinton, secretary of state with Barack Obama and then the Democratic candidate in the 2016 presidential elections, on the occasion of the opening of the academic year at the European University Institute of Florence. The premise is that before Trump, it was easier for the rest ...
The Value of Made in Italy Fashion Production in the Time of Covid-19
Covid-19 has provoked a general slowdown of the fashion industry and a drastic reduction of international trade, creating great difficulties for global manufacturing supply chains. New paradigms of consumption have emerged that require a change in the system, currently dominated by fast fashion and low-cost products. Great attention is now given to elements such as sustainability, the duration of products over time, and geographic proximity to the area of production. This break with the past can represent an opportunity for Made in Italy production, that has always been attentive to the environment, ...
RCEP: A New Engine for Growth in Asia
It is called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, and it will go down in history as the largest trade deal in the world. 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific area – including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand – have agreed on free trade in an area that represents approximately one-third of global population and GDP, and does not include either the United States or any countries in Europe. It is also the first time that historic rivals in Eastern Asia have reached an agreement that, according to some estimates, could increase annual global wealth by 186 ...
SESG for Asset/Wealth Management and Real Estate
"We inherit the earth from our parents, but we borrow it from our children," is a sentence used so often in official reports (a famous example is the Brundtland Report of 1987 entitled Our Common Future) that it cannot be attributed with certainty to some great thinker. It is one of the most effective ways to intuitively and comprehensibly describe the concept of sustainability. Having capital and not wasting it, but caring for it and growing it gradually over time. And what is the most precious capital for all of us, especially in the "global village" in which we live? The planet. Thinking in ...