Archive

2026-07-28

Pet economy as a management laboratory

When examining the business practices and managerial approaches of players in the pet economy, beyond the differences among categories, offering models, company size, and market positioning, a number of recurring regularities emerge. The responses developed by firms do not, in fact, appear random or exclusively tied to the contingencies of individual segments; rather, they tend to refer back to three structural characteristics that run deeply through the entire sector and shape its evolution. These are, in particular: (1) the humanization of the pet, (2) the presence of a dual customer journey, ...

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2026-07-22 Alberto Macciani, Edoardo Ares Tettamanti

The future marketing skill set: recruiting for talents in the age of AI

As per Marketing is concerned (in its broad definition of the function that builds the commercial and Brand value of the company), there is one key capability that is especially reshaping the profile of professionals more than any technical certification: the ability to understand the social context and to create, within that context, a set of values capable of influencing consumer behavior and ultimately the adoption of the Product or Service that is marketed. This is not at all creativity in the generic sense of the word. It is something far more precise and rare, something that artificial intelligence ...

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2026-07-13 Walter Susini

A new framework for green marketing

Traditional marketing, while offering insights, models, and inspiration of considerable substance, and while having historically and in practice positioned itself as the primary agent in the noble art of changing people’s behavior, is not in itself the solution to the swamp of sterility in which current sustainability, as just noted, is struggling. Traditional marketing, with its established models and its ability to influence behavior, is not enough to meet the challenge of sustainability. Personally, I have seen too many brands fail by simply trying to apply the old rules of marketing to “green” ...

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2026-07-06 Donato Masciandaro

A sphinx at the Fed

Last April, Kevin Warsh, nominated by Donald Trump as the next chair of the central bank, presented the manifesto of what is to become “his” Fed during his hearing before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. The starting point cannot but be the observation that, of the hearing’s total 120 minutes – made up of questions from Republican and Democratic senators and answers from the nominee – roughly 90 minutes were devoted to monetary policy, and a full 60 to personal aspects of the future chair’s profile, including profession, income and wealth, as well as personal relations with President ...

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2026-07-01 Emanuele Acconciamessa

How AI is redefining customer loyalty in retail

The retail sector is undergoing a historic phase characterized by structural fragility that can no longer be attributed solely to temporary shocks or easy-to-interpret economic cycles. Unlike past crises, which companies could tackle with short-term strategies or limited corrective measures, the persistent instability we are seeing today is profoundly mutating market mechanisms and consumer behavior. As highlighted by recent analyses from the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, in 2024–2025 various exogenous factors converged: geopolitical tensions, energy instability, ...

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2026-06-23 Sandro Castaldo

Trust, the hidden architecture of the economy

In an era marked by growing geopolitical instability, accelerated technological transformation, and economic volatility, it is not surprising that the word “trust” was one of the most discussed terms of 2025. When Italy’s most authoritative encyclopedia—Treccani—named it Word of the Year, the choice was less symbolic than it might have seemed. Indeed, today trust is one of the most telling indicators of the health of contemporary societies and economies. It is not merely a psychological or moral disposition, but a true relational infrastructure underpinning markets, institutions, businesses, ...

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2026-06-18 Andrea Beltratti, Alessia Bezzecchi

AI, the market, and the value of possible worlds

The high valuations of AI stocks are fueling debate over a possible new technology bubble. A few figures explain why. In 2026, Nvidia surpassed a market capitalization of $5 trillion, while the U.S. semiconductor sector posted gains of more than 100% over the past year. The U.S. market is trading at multiples that are very high by historical standards: the S&P 500’s Shiller P/E has risen above 40, levels previously seen only during major episodes of financial euphoria. It is therefore natural to ask whether these prices are sustainable, or whether the market is overestimating the economic impact ...

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2026-06-10 Paola Tagliavini

The impact of non-financial risks: processes for strengthening organizational resilience

In recent years, corporate priorities have been homing in on non-financial risks as major sources of organizational vulnerability. This category includes geopolitical, cyber, business continuity, reputational, technological, and data management risks. Although they many manifest in various ways across sectors and geographical contexts, international risk rankings reveal a clear convergence: most of these risks originate outside companies and lie largely beyond their direct control. As recent global reports indicate, escalating geopolitical tensions frequently generate interconnected cyber threats; ...

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2026-06-04 Angelo Cavallo, Federico Frattini, Tommaso Canonici

Persistent growth: why expanding is no longer enough

A recent scientific study shows that only 15% of the companies that exhibited high growth in 1985 were able to sustain it for at least thirty years. McKinsey reached the same conclusion in a study examining the performance of the world’s 5,000 largest companies. In particular, the study found that the median corporate growth rate was 2.8% (considering the ten years prior to Covid), and that only one company in eight recorded annual growth rates above 10%. The problem of “persistent growth” is rooted not only in contextual and contingent factors, such as the pandemic or geopolitical and economic ...

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2026-05-26 Marco Sampietro

More projects, less time: why managing them well makes all the difference

If we were to reduce to the bare essentials the kind of activities organizations carry out—all organizations—we could simply say: processes and projects. In some organizations, the process component is predominant: think of producers of fast-moving consumer goods, banks, or energy utilities. In others, the project component is more relevant: think of plant engineering companies, software developers, or consulting firms. Yet it is impossible to identify organizations that do not carry out both types of activity. Processes and projects can be seen either as opposites or as having strong points ...

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