Opinions & Interviews

Old and New Challenges for Italian Banks

The pandemic which has tormented us for over a year has also disrupted economic and financial activity, triggering a crisis that it will not be easy to overcome rapidly. Here I would like to attempt to describe some of the consequences of the virus on banks, with particular reference to Italian banks. To this end, it is useful to recall the problems our banks were dealing with before the outbreak of the pandemic, that were the following: low or even negative interest rates; very high credit risk accompanied by the incomplete definition of the formal and substantial treatment of NPLs; excessively ...

For a Sustainable Capitalism

The year 2020 was disruptive for businesses, that are rethinking their role in social and other terms, and considering their activities from the standpoint of greater sustainability. Studies on "business finalism," understood as a process of continuous searching, definition, and redefinition of the meaning of individual, organizational, entrepreneurial, social, and institutional roles of business, trace back to Adam Smith. After having studied social and moral philosophy, as economics was not yet an academic discipline, Smith wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations ...

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, ...

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, ...

An Overview of the Wirecard Case

The bankruptcy of Wirecard last summer wreaked havoc in the German financial system. Its unexpected explosion regarded a very large fintech listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and surprised the world above all due to its causes: a colossal fraud that entailed the disappearance of billions of euros from the company's coffers. The reactions of the financial world, creditors, shareholders, stock market and oversight authorities, as well as the political world, were immediate and harsh. As can easily be imagined, a little of everything was said, with varying degrees of relevance. Several months ...

Enterprise-work: equal dignity and common planning

A discussion with Maurizio Landini

In the conflict between capital and labor, in recent years the latter seems to have been the loser. This is a consequence of attacks that came not only from capital, but also from politics, on both the right and in some cases the left as well. Do you agree with this analysis? We can say that in recent years the idea that has won, or prevailed, is that the market should be free and not have any social constraints. This has led to considerable job insecurity, that I believe is the largest problem to be faced. Job insecurity causes real harm to human dignity, and is an element that breaks down social ...

Best Workplaces for Women, too?

What makes a workplace "the best place" to perform a profession? Many elements certainly regard various subjective variables (age, the contingent situation, or future aspirations), that make people more or less sensitive to specific aspects (financial stability, career prospects, or also proximity to one's family). While the historic Maslow pyramid reminds us that it is necessary and a priority to satisfy basic needs, the studies on the issue and the most recent organizational experiments insist on intangible and relational elements. According to Ariely, for example, it is essential for the associates ...

Passion and Business in Publishing

A discussion with Carlo De Benedetti

Before talking about your new publishing venture, I would like to ask you some questions about your previous experience. You have been present in the publishing world since the 1980s. In these thirty years you have seen the evolution of the Italian publishing sector and the decline of the press, due first to television and then internet. This decline took place both internationally and naturally also in Italy. In this scenario, what position di Repubblica occupy? And what were the positive and negative aspects of your experience as the publisher of that newspaper? The most negative experience ...

The Choices to Make between the Real Economy and the Banking Sector

In the considerable confusion that reigns concerning economics and finance since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, various types of measures have been proposed, discussed, and adopted. Those aiming to rescue banks, but also the real economy, are particularly important. These two phenomena are in fact strictly correlated, although the connection is not always clear, and they require different measures to be adopted following precise time sequences. The fundamental problem is knowing whether it is proper to rescue the banks first, and then the real economy, or whether it is better to first ...

Forecasting in Times of Uncertainty: It Can Be Done

The Covid-19 emergency has caused a strong change in the business models of companies in many sectors. For some of them it has simply been an accelerator, for others something absolutely new. It is inevitable that, faced with this path of evolution, control systems, that have the goal of supporting decision-making processes and orienting management behavior, cannot be left out of this change. In particular, in a context characterized by a high level of discontinuity with respect to the past and by high levels of uncertainty, above all traditional tools for forecasting results and setting goals ...