Opinions & Interviews
Generative AI: A Source of Wisdom
In "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," the journey and adventures of a young girl, Dorothy, are recounted as she navigates the magical Land of Oz after being swept there by a tornado that struck Kansas. The story describes Dorothy's travels with her "new friends" to meet the wizard who can grant each of their wishes. Although being displaced by a tornado is not a common experience, the feeling of being "swept away by a cyclone" is more common than one might think. A defining characteristic of our time is undoubtedly the rise of "artificial intelligence" (AI), the ability of a computer system (an algorithm) ...
Artificial Intelligence Ethics: a Brief Overview
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly revolutionizing our world, with applications in every sphere of life, from medicine to finance, manufacturing to entertainment. It is estimated that, in the near future, a large part of our activities will be carried out by intelligent machines or will see a collaboration between humans and AI. However, this unprecedented technological progress brings with it new ethical challenges. Intelligent machines, in fact, can make decisions that have a significant impact on the lives of people and society. It is no coincidence that the first Artificial Intelligence ...
Festival of Management: an Impact that Continues
And so the second edition of the Festival of Management has also come to an end. The enthusiasm was palpable as we reunited in Milan on March 7 and 8, hosted by Bocconi University. Witnessing the sincere interest and trust in an initiative that transformed from a visionary idea in October 2021 into a concrete project and now a well-established reality, thanks to the SIMA academic community's support, was truly inspiring. This success was not guaranteed; it was made possible by our partners and all those who supported and shared our vision and values unconditionally. The Festival's attendance of ...
Inspiration and Innovation at the Festival of Management
Last February, the first edition of the Festival of Management by SIMA (the Scientific Society representing Italian Academics of Management) marked the beginning of an innovative path, for Italian universities, of enhancing managerial culture, aimed at supporting the civil, social and economic progress of the country. Important issues such as the fight against mafias in the economy, the energy transition and the organisation of services for the protection of public health can be successfully governed if the necessary organisational skills are available. The interest shown by the extended community ...
Management Returns to the Centre of Communities
The forthcoming Sima’s (the Italian Society of Management Scholars) Festival of Management is approaching. It is still growing and evolving thanks to positive feedback received after the first edition. We are coming back to Milan and to Bocconi University on 7th and 8th of March 2024, thanks to precious support of our colleagues and to the great effort of the Sima’s Past President, Sandro Castaldo, who believed in this project from the very first moment. We have been working for a long time to the several financial and organizational elements as well as to the “editorial” and communication ...
Bank Employment in Italy: the Prospects for the Future
On January 23 of this year, the Financial Times published a long article by O. Walter and K. Martin, who discussed some considerations shared during the recent Davos Forum regarding the prospects for employment in banks, with specific reference to the situation in the U.S., but also to that of some European banks. The central point of the article concerns the fact that the main American banks – among which Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of New York Mellon are cited – and some large European banks, citing UBS and Credit Suisse (the protagonists of global economic news in recent weeks, ...
Financing the Ecological Transition
The ecological transition has been a subject of debate for many decades now, with much said and written. In reality, in recent years it has reached crucial importance for the economic and social development of our planet. It is in fact a very complex subject, that is difficult to define, especially in practical terms, and changes continuously while regarding various areas, including the decarbonization of the economy, the circular economy, the reduction of the use of plastic, urban regeneration, sustainable tourism, and adaptation and mitigation of risks due to climate change. The solution to ...
A (Positive) Glance at the Future of Italian Banks
The economic situation in our country is fairly confused, making it difficult to develop forecasts for the future, even in the short term. Apart from the question of energy, that will have a considerable impact on our economy – and it is not known how it can be solved, with all of the potential consequences – numerous other indicators seem to suggest that we are beginning to return to a model of development that had disappeared for years, but has not been substituted by valid alternatives. The new and most important indicators that will characterize that model are inflation, “normal” levels ...
Past, Present, and Future of Bank Concentrations
The phenomenon of bank concentration, as I have said on multiple occasions also with reference to other types of financial operations, lends itself to varied judgments in relation to both its formal intrinsic value and its practical application. Indeed the objectives and results of bank concentration, a phenomenon which has had significant effects in almost all countries in the world in the post-WWII period, have changed over the course of time, and the evaluations that have been expressed on it in different periods have been conditioned by the respective historical contexts. In our country, there ...
How the First Bottom-Up Food Policy Can Be Born in Rome
According to the United Nations, over 55% of the global population lives in urban environments today,[1] and the global trend continues to grow, with projections indicating that the percentage will reach 68% by 2050. In our country, this threshold was already passed in 2018, and today more than 70% of Italians live in urbanized contexts. Thus, in a perspective in which food demand in cities will continue to increase, it has become essential to plan the environmental development of urban food systems. This need is based on the data published in 2019 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ...