E&M
2023/1
Contents
Editorial
Dossier. China: So Close Yet So Far
The Internationalization of the Chinese Currency
The Magic Circle of Xi Jinping
The US Strategy to Contain Beijing
Risks and Opportunities for Italian Businesses
The New Silk Road. One, None and a Hundred Thousand
Multicultural Leadership as a Lever for Success
Doing Business in China: The Case of Brembo
Focus. Small and Medium Enterprises: Challenges for the Future
SMEs and Continuity of Success in the New Scenarios of Competition
A Complex Three Years that Bring Problems and Opportunities
Facing the New Normal: Skills, Resources, and Leadership
The Four Strategies to Promote Sustainable Practices
Diversity Management: An Extensive Terrain Still to Be Explored
Mergers & Acquisitions
Management and the Board: A Crucial Relationship in M&A Operations
Internationalization
Administration & Control
Organization & People Management
Smart Work, the South, and Internal Areas for Local Development
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
From Recycling to Redesign: The Challenge of the Circular Economy
Facing the New Normal: Skills, Resources, and Leadership
The future of small and medium-sized enterprises is marked by new challenges in the area of management of production, innovation, and access to financial resources – sectors in which SMEs encounter difficulties that can be significant. It will be central for these businesses and their managers to find adequate solutions for the digitalization of processes and the adoption of lean manufacturing, and also to explore non-strictly traditional channels for access to credit (private debt, venture debt, and minibonds). SMEs should seize in various ways the opportunities provided by the latest frontiers of strategic innovation, in particular in the circular economy – recyclability of materials, renewability of energy sources, sustainability of processes – and by artificial intelligence, widely considered a strategic factor – predicting demand, optimizing processes, and digitalizing operations. To face the new normal, a key role in the managerial work of SMEs will be performed by those whose skills go beyond merely technical abilities, meaning cognitive and relational skills. What emerges is an archetype of a many-sided and multifaceted manager, able to do their own work, but also to manage a complex network of relations and face tasks in a flexible and proactive manner.