On 7 May we will be at the Gallerie d’Italia in Turin to talk about “Photography and Music” together with the Intesa Sanpaolo Historical Archive, Lelli & Masotti and the Archivio di Etnografia e Storia Sociale (AESS) – Lombardy Region. This will be the third and final event in the 2024 edition of “Una Rete in Viaggio. Storie, idee, progetti”, a programme of meetings curated by Rete Fotografia, which brings together members and institutions to explore common areas of interest.

The exhibition entitled Non ha l’età. Il Festival di Sanremo in bianco e nero 1951-1976 will run until 12 May at the Gallerie d’Italia. The Intesa Sanpaolo Historical Archive will use it to reconstruct the relationship between photography and music in the archive of the Publifoto photojournalism agency. The Lelli & Masotti photographic archive will examine the question of “what it means to photograph music” by explaining what it means to capture live musical events, from rock to jazz, through to the concerts at the La Scala opera house in Milan, where Silvia Lelli and Roberto Masotti were official photographers for a long time. The contribution of the Archivio di Etnografia e Storia Sociale (AESS) – Lombardy Region will focus on the anthropological aspect in reportages documenting the use of songs and instrumental music during weddings, carnivals, and street performances, capturing their ritual aspects.

Lastly, we ourselves will look at the close bond between business and music, which can be retraced through the photographs published over the years in Pirelli house organs. From the 1940s to the 1970s, many articles on the world of music were published in Pirelli magazine and in Fatti e Notizie. These focused in particular on the big names in music and on the latest chart toppers, with reports and analyses from a socio-anthropological angle, exploring the role of music in well-being and corporate culture.

“Musica per chi lavora” (“Music for those who work”) was the title of an article that appeared in Pirelli magazine in 1952. It examined the influence of music on workers’ productivity, a subject often inspired by 1950s psychology experiments in America. In 1961 Aldo Visalberghi wrote about his investigation into the “Responsibilities of television”, which discussed the potential of television as a means for educating spectators, and thus also the key role of music on the small screen. Many photographs in our archive were never published in the magazine, and these include numerous portraits of Leonard Bernstein, with one that shows him with Igor Stravinsky when the Russian composer made his debut on CBS with the New York Philharmonic. “Gli archeologi del blues” (“The archaeologists of the blues”), published in 1965 by the music critic Arrigo Polillo, examined the transition from black music to Louis Armstrong – as illustrated for Pirelli magazine by Studio Farabola together with Mario Riva – through to John Coltrane’s protest jazz. And there is a contribution on musical education in Italy by Corrado Augias (1971) accompanied by a reportage by Mimmo Frassineti at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music in Rome.

Fatti e Notizie, a house organ that first came out in 1950, became a modern glossy magazine in the late 1960s, both in its graphics, with numerous illustrations, and in its content: in addition to news about the company, it published many articles on ecology, sport and culture, as well as columns devoted to music, cinema, and books. In May 1971 the house organ came out in the large format typical of periodicals at the time and in July a column called Variety made its debut, with songs, television, the star system of singing, the Sanremo Festival and Canzonissima. Variety was immediately flanked by other columns under the titles Dischi, Canzoni and Spettacoli. Canzoni offers a comprehensive overview of Italy’s music scene, with its songs and 45 rpm records, and its Cantagiro and Festivalbar programmes on television. Big names included Domenico Modugno, who called for a return to traditional songs and Lucio Dalla who “wants to rediscover Emilian folk songs”. The Spettacoli column reported on the performance by the thirty-five-year-old Enzo Jannacci on 16 June 1971 at the Bicocca: an event organised by Pirelli not just for its employees, but for everyone. Jannacci commented on it in the pages of the periodical, saying: “Here the applause and praise is always genuine, never prompted or merely courteous. And I appreciate authenticity.”

Among the events promoted by the company, Fatti & Notizie primarily focused on the activities of the Pirelli Cultural Centre, such as the famous Concert for Prepared Pianos by John Cage and David Tudor in 1954. A composer and music theorist from Los Angeles, Cage was one of the top names in the avant-garde music scene, but in 1954 he was still virtually unknown in Italy. The event at the Cultural Centre was actually his first public appearance in Italy. In the words of Fatti e Notizie, this was a “courageous” decision by Pirelli and Gino Negri, then curator of the music programme of the Cultural Centre, encouraged by the composer Luciano Berio. It was 5 November and the performance, presented by the composer and musicologist Riccardo Malipiero, was destined to enter the history of modern corporate culture.

Recently, music has emerged as an integral part of corporate culture, finding representation in events such as the MITO SettembreMusica Festival. This partnership began in 2007, and since 2010 Pirelli has also promoted the Festival’s events in its own industrial spaces. In the 2010 edition, the former Settimo Torinese factory became the venue for “I Fiati di Torino” in front of an audience of over four hundred people. After the success of the 2010 edition, the musicians returned to the factory for MITO 2011: this time the I Pomeriggi Musicali Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Luca Pfaff, performed in the renovated spaces of the Industrial Centre in Settimo Torinese. In 2014 the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Micha Hamel performed in the premises of the Centre, and in 2016 it was the turn of the musicians of the Altus Trio.

In 2017 Maestro Salvatore Accardo conducted the Orchestra da Camera Italiana in a performance entitled “Il canto della fabbrica” at the Industrial Centre in Settimo Torinese. This piece, commissioned by the Pirelli Foundation, was created by the composer and violist Francesco Fiore to illustrate in music the sounds of the Factory 4.0. The concert, which was extensively documented in photographic shoots, inspired the editorial project of the same name published by Mondadori in 2018. This project explores the intersection of industry and music in over 120 images. And the relationship between Accardo and Pirelli goes back even further. In 1971 the Maestro, just thirty years old and already considered to be one of the world’s greatest violinists, was invited by the company to take part in the 6th Music Festival at the Pirelli Cultural Centre.

Photography has the remarkable ability to evoke a circular journey through past and present. So that music, through images, can continue to resonate.

A recently presented thesis takes theoretical and practical stock of one of today’s hot topics

Doing business and doing good business through the scheme of action of benefit companies. The benefit company may represent a positive leap forward in production culture, however, it must be correctly understood and implemented. Starting not only from the theory behind it but also, and perhaps above all, from the example of those who have already taken this step. These are the ideas that underpin the research – later transformed into a thesis – by Giuliano Badecco presented at the University of Padua.

“Benefit Companies: an important step towards a sustainable future and the Illy business case’ – this is the title of the paper – has a simple structure. First of all, it offers a snapshot of the ‘corporate instrument’, i.e. the benefit company, the theory and practice of which is to be investigated. In this part, therefore, the general framework of these companies, their modus operandi and the legal and tax aspects that differentiate them from traditional companies are explored. The second part of the paper concerns the management possibilities of this business model, the various types of connections that are created with the various active subjects, the so-called stakeholders, and the identification of the bases for the analytical analysis of a concrete business case study, that of Illy caffè, which is explored in the third part.

Everything is linked to the new perspective that production organisations must pursue, namely that of corporate sustainability.

Giuliano Badecco’s research is an honest investigation into one of the most complex and widely discussed topics of recent times. “Transforming a company into a benefit company,” Badecco deduces, “appears to bring benefits above all in terms of risk perception and brand reputation, thus also generating positive effects on company performance”. He also concludes: “Without considering the context, the effort required of companies to join the ‘For benefit’ model is minimal when one considers the countless advantages that this entrepreneurial choice can generate”.

Società benefit: un passo importante verso un futuro sostenibile e il caso aziendale Illy (Benefit Companies: an important step towards a sustainable future and the Illy business case)

Giuliano Badecco

Thesis, University of Padua, Department of Private Law and Critique of Law,

Bachelor’s Degree course in Employment Consultancy, 2024

A book illustrating the theory and practice of industrial tourism goes to press

Businesses as tourist destinations. For discovering special ‘monuments’, hidden stories, human landscapes and an all-round “cultural” production culture. Factories and production sites that, in this way, open up to the general public to be discovered and tell the story of Italy at work from a particular point of view. The phenomenon is not a new one, but it has still to be studied in depth and, above all, understood in its many aspects, including its practical ones. The analysis of the phenomenon and the different cases pointing to the best ways forward is dealt with in ”Il turismo industriale. Come e perché le imprese del made in Italy possono diventare attrattori turistici” (Industrial Tourism. How and Why Made-in-Italy Enterprises Can Become Tourist Attractors), a book edited by Ettore Ruggiero, which not only outlines the theoretical and practical aspects, but also brings together an important series of case studies.

The book starts from the consideration that in recent years local and regional itineraries, museum networks and real systems of territorial promotion have sprung up in Italy, aimed at helping visitors to get to know Italy, beyond its artistic heritage, through a new cultural approach: the industrial one.

The book tries to answer a number of questions such as what the current and potential market for industrial tourism is, what types of tourists and ‘products’ exist; but also how industrial archaeological sites, museums and business archives, companies of all sectors, small and large, can become tourist attractions.

A true ‘user manual’ for business tourism. The first part then outlines the scenarios to refer to as well as the Made in Italy concept that supports this activity. This section also gives some examples of places to visit and organisations dedicated to the enhancement and study of the phenomenon or to particular related initiatives. The second part, on the other hand, deals with the theme of how the Italian business manages the tourism possibilities it offers, again delving into the role of organisations (such as Museimpresa) and of particular business case studies (Piaggio, Fantoni Group, Acquedotto Pugliese) or of certain sectors that are more suitable than others (such as glass and food). Finally, the third part of the book is presented as a real ‘toolbox for offering a high quality range of products and services’.

Ultimately, the book edited by Ruggiero tells how and why industrial, craft and service businesses can become attractive to visitors and tourists who are often fans of Made in Italy quality, beauty and well-made products. With a kind of ten-step guide to planning and delivering high quality company visits and events, functional to company strategies and local tourism systems. To read and, above all, to use.

Il turismo industriale. Come e perché le imprese del made in Italy possono diventare attrattori turistici

Ettore Ruggiero (ed.)

Franco Angeli, 2024

Spending the time between now and the beginning of June talking about Europe. And striving to understand what we will be voting for when we go to the polls, from the 6th to the 9th, in all 27 EU countries, to renew the European Parliament. What policies we would like, for development, security, the environment, to ensure a better future, for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren. And which parties and which women and men we will delegate this responsibility to.

This is the duty we are facing now, in this age, so uncertain and restless, painful and yet decisive. This is the hope we are holding on to. ‘Now we need to talk about Europe’ was how Corriere della Sera headlined its background article by Goffredo Buccini (27 April). ‘Reverse the decline of Europe‘, prescribed Giorgio Barba Navaretti in la Repubblica (19 April). “How can we save Europe?”, wondered Sergio Fabbrini in Il Sole24Ore (21 April). And so on. One common motive figured in all the many authoritative opinions: we should go to the polls thinking about the elements that will mark the future of this part of the world that has such strong common cultural elements (“La Lettura” of the Corriere della Sera writes about this, talking about music, literature, theatre and figurative arts; 28 April) and that, above all, uniquely, has been able to hold together liberal democracy, market economy and the best welfare system. But that today is up against economic competition from giants such as the US, China and, before long, India too, that is put under pressure by autocracies and does not know how to cope with the overwhelming power of the Tech Giants, the technological multinationals that are disrupting our way of life, for better or worse.

In a nutshell, we should be going to the polls with our common values and interests in mind. And instead, up until now, the political debate, both in Italy and in other EU countries, has mainly focused on local interests, on national and regional power intrigues, on the stories of small and large corporations and clienteles. Meanwhile, there is a surge in the weight of sovereignist and nationalist thoughts which are explicitly calling for ‘less Europe’ and more room for national powers and choices, even from the leaderships of some European countries. And the threats that the weight of these ‘illiberal democracies’ will expand are growing.

“Europe, in spite of everything“, was the hope expressed as early as 2019, in a book of straight-talking essays, published by ‘La nave di Teseo’ and written by Maurizio Ferrera, Piergaetano Marchetti, Alberto Martinelli, Antonio Padoa Schioppa and the editors of this blog, to draw up a critical balance of the EU’s successes and challenges, on the eve of the last European elections. Since then, many dramatic political, social and economic events have radically changed the geopolitical context and the underlying reasons for international competitiveness: the Covid 19 pandemic, Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East, escalating tensions between the US and China, and the breaking down and rebuilding of the traditional value and trade chains. But that hope retains an even more dramatic relevance today: ‘in spite of everything’, either Europe reinforces and relaunches the reasons for the Union and the common policies, starting with the issues of security and sustainable development, or its cracks will get bigger.

“Our Europe today is mortal. It can die. And this depends solely on our choices,’ French President Emmanuel Macron said in a long and heartfelt speech at the Sorbonne on 25 April, proposing a profound political turnaround and finding favour with German Chancellor Scholz: ‘Good ideas to keep Europe strong’.

Europe is neither totem nor taboo, then. Neither legend nor giant. But rather the best destiny we can hope for. One that must be criticised. But not demolished, or pigeonholed into national egoisms, bureaucratic rigidities or vague declarations of good intentions. This wise saying from southern Italy comes to mind: ‘the Bank of Naples won’t pawn idle chatter and wooden snuffboxes’. The Europe we need, in a time of emergency, is anything but a club of idle talk and rabble-rousing.

A political challenge, then. A carefully planned one. As the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella well knows when (Corriere della Sera, 22 April) he calculated that 400 million Europeans will go to the urns next June, he hopes for ‘a great participation because this is how we become the protagonist of our own future’ and urges ‘the institutions’ that will be elected to ‘ensure that Europe becomes a protagonist and not just a spectator of this season’ with ‘courageous reforms’.

Over the past few days, the document presented by president of the Delors Foundation Enrico Letta, on the single market, and Mario Draghi’s anticipations on the study on competitiveness (both commissioned by President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen) have indicated the outlines of the choices to be made to hold together the ‘green transition’ with economic development in a perspective of sustainability and to be able to withstand, as the EU, the pressures coming from the US and China, on the major issues of security, energy and the digital economy, by insisting above all on AI (Artificial Intelligence).

A single market for capital, telecommunications, and defence, in short (‘What we need now is a European defence, between NATO and the EU’, explained Marta Dassù, la Repubblica, 27 April). And European investments, both by increasing the weight of the EU budget and by going to the financial markets, such as the EU, to find resources to invest. With the Eurobonds, which were already dear to Delors’ heart in the 1980s. And other common financial instruments.

The figures are impressive: more than 800 billion a year for at least the next ten years, both for the green deal (and for the welfare measures needed to cope with the social costs of the transition, starting with the consequences for jobs and business resilience) and for security.

There is, of course, some degree of resistance. Small countries fear for the loss of sovereignty (and privileges) in the event of a single capital market. The ‘Northerners’ are wary when it comes to investments and new debts shared with the countries in the South. Many, especially on the right, view a strengthening of the Union with suspicion. And many fear that an ‘ideological’ application of the green deal will put a large part of European industry out of the competitive game. Well-founded fears and good reasons are intertwined with nationalist defences and concerns about the end of an expansion of public spending used to ‘buy consensus’ (many look with suspicion at Italy, which is in serious difficulty with its accounts also due to the devastating effects of the building ‘superbonus’).

The June vote could bring clarity, with the election of a European Parliament and then an EU Commission capable of carrying out those ‘courageous reforms‘ that President Mattarella mentioned, and of making the essential political choices required to ensure that Europe is not ‘crushed’ by the economic and political strength of the US and China.

To get our bearings, also in view of the vote, some recent reflections may be useful. That of the Governor of the Bank of Italy Fabio Panetta (il Sole24Ore, 24 April). Or the proposals put forward by Marco Buti and Marcello Messori on the green and digital transition and the need for Europe to overcome its current ‘low productivity’ condition (Il Sole24Ore, 21 April). Or the call made by Emma Marcegaglia, president of the B7 (the group of companies from the G7 countries) for ‘a global agreement to accelerate the green transition’ (Il Sole24Ore, 28 April), also using the Eurobonds. Let’s take a closer look.

Panetta (‘A new star of anti-populism’, according to Il Foglio, 24 April) argues that, without giving in to protectionism, we must ‘strengthen the European economy along three main directions: rebalancing its development model; guaranteeing its strategic autonomy; adapting its capacity to provide for its external security and empowering its role in the international debate’. How? For Panetta too, the answer lies in leveraging the Eurobonds.

And the ECB? It will have to go beyond the boundaries of responsibility for currency and inflation and ‘be able to look to the future’. In other words, it is analogous, in difficult times, to that ‘whatever it takes’ strategy with which Mario Draghi, as ECB president, saved the euro and the European economy at the time of the post-Covid crisis.

Buti and Messori insist on the need to ‘differentiate the European strategy from China’s monopolistic choices and US protectionism’. And they propose the production and financing of ‘European public goods’ (EPGs) in both economic and geopolitical fields: for common industrial and social policies, for innovation and, of course, for security. A strategy. Which is articulated in projects. And finds financing on the market. Cue the Eurobonds again.

These are precisely the themes found in the Letta report and which we will hear again with the Draghi report. Which resonate in Panetta’s speech. And which are beginning to be reflected both in the stances of Macron’s France and of Germany, which is unfortunately still looking for a way to get its economy out of the current crisis.

These are issues in which Italy in particular can play a fundamental role. It is one of the great founding countries of Europe, but it cannot raise concerns about domination such as those raised by France and Germany. It has always shown an attitude of dialogue with the other European countries, but also with the nations outside the EU, starting with the Mediterranean area. And its strength lies in a system of flexible, open, competitive companies that are well integrated in several global value chains. It can do a lot, in short. With innovative ideas. And roles of responsibility. As long as we do not fall into sovereignist temptations and refusals to act due to propagandist reasons, irresponsible public spending and nationalist views. An Italy that is good at being Italy and that takes charge of Europe’s welfare and, therefore, of its own destiny.

(Photo Getty Images)

Milan, in all its immaculate splendour the day after Design Week and the Salone del Mobile; Milan, the cornerstone of international creativity and innovation; Milan, factory and showcase; Milan, once again, attractive and pulsing with energy.

Quite rightly we can play around with all the rhetoric of records and superlatives – even just by reeling off the numbers: over 350,000 visitors to the Salone and Fuorisalone, 1,950 exhibitors from all over the world, more than 1,300 events and an economic impact of 261 million euros, an increase of 13.7% on 2023. A bustle of activity not only in the heart of the city (Brera, the University area, Porta Venezia, the Arco della Pace at Parco Sempione, the Triennale and the ADI Design Museum and via Durini), but also around the Navigli, via Tortona, via Sarpi (Chinatown), NoLo (North of Loreto, that is, via Padova – a trendy, gentrified neighborhood), Scalo Farini and Lambrate, Mecenate and Assago, and so on…

In short, the whole city – streets and squares, palaces and courtyards – extending outwards, for the first time, to the outskirts and Varedo. Bright and surprising installations, nostalgic memories of revered masters such as Alessandro Mendini and Cini Boeri, tributes to the sustainability of the furnishings and the installations themselves. All bound up with a great passion for the colour green in all its shades.

And add in the great to-and-fro with the other two contemporary events, Vinitaly in Verona and, above all, the Biennale in Venice. Flutes and toasts, inaugurations and parties, “A Salone stretching from the sea to the mountains. A real mixed bag”, as Michele Masneri writes, employing a delicious culinary pun in the original Italian (Il Foglio, 16 April).

Rude health all round then? Well, certainly. The important thing, however, is not to delude ourselves that yet another well-deserved success involving an event as great as Design Week is sufficient to resolve Milan’s many ongoing problems or the increasingly frequent signs of crisis in a metropolis that has reached a key stage in its life.

This is a “crisis” and not a “decline”, if we are to insist on semantics, on the deeper meaning of the word: a state of change that might evolve in alternate directions, a ridge separating two different paths leading down either side of the slope, a flour sifter dividing precious wheat and ryegrass waste, weiji in the Chinese alphabet – “danger” and “opportunity” would be a rough translation – or, to be more precise, a “crucial passage”, that is, the time when something begins or something changes.

Here we are, then. Milan is at a watershed moment, surrounded by original ways to renew its ability to be simultaneously competitive and socially inclusive, by opportunities to either boost the kind of attractiveness that polarises and excludes people or to build an economic dynamic limited not only to growth (more business, more money, more instant glitter and ephemeral wealth) but also to the (sustainable, naturally) development of the environment and society. Milan, in short, is facing up to the responsibility of a better future (the Centro Studi Grande Milano association, chaired by Daniela Mainini, has been passionately discussing this for some time).

The debate is, of course, wide-ranging. It concerns the role of metropolises, the future of the knowledge economy, and therefore also of universities, the strategies of companies and Milan’s trade fair district (an economic hub that could take on a role of increasing significance, as a centre for services and a laboratory of ideas). And, above all, it addresses the elements behind a radical social question: how to reconcile the creative logic of competition with the need to break down the inequalities amplified by that logic, if it is not properly governed by welfare policies, urban planning choices and ambitious fiscal and cultural choices.

Aside from the event-related aspects of the various shows, Milan, together with Venice, is preparing for a couple of strategic dates related to the fate of cities: the International Exhibition at the Triennale dedicated to the topic of: “Inequalities. How to mend the fractures of humanity” from May to November 2025 and, in the same period, the next Venice Biennale of Architecture to discuss the concentration of wealth, and therefore inequalities, in metropolises and megalopolises, climate crises, the effective use of artificial intelligence-driven data on flows of people, goods and ideas, and therefore democracy, the circular economy and, indeed, sustainable development (Stefano Boeri, president of the Triennale, and Carlo Ratti, an expert in smart cities at MIT in Boston and curator of the Venice Biennale, discuss this in La Repubblica, 21 April).

It all comes down to the essential function of urban planning and good politics to redesign cities. Starting with Milan. And, as Federica Verona also suggests, this needs to start right from the success of the Salone del Mobile (“Big numbers are not enough, we need projects that endure”, La Repubblica, 20 April) and Dario Di Vico (“The Salone’s upcoming challenges: Milan must continue to be inclusive and attractive”, Corriere della Sera, 21 April).

The fact that Milan is a large university city, with over 200,000 students from the rest of Italy and, increasingly, from abroad, is a great advantage in regards to the strength of its research and ideas. And the fact that there are three women at the helm of Milan’s main public universities may also have a significant impact, providing original solutions to problems. Indeed, Marina Brambilla has just been elected rector of the University of Milan, with Giovanna Iannantuoni at Bicocca and Donatella Sciuto at the Politecnico. The key is to guarantee students, researchers and university professors housing and living costs that do not force them to leave Milan or live there in discomfort, breeding annoyance and hostility.

The Municipality’s social housing projects and the commitment of a multinational property company like Hines (“A city with the right dreams. Milan’s new cycle will be a mix of the market and welfare: student accommodation and housing,” stated Mario Abbadessa, the American group’s head of Italy, in Il Foglio, 11 April) suggest that steps are being taken towards a better civic dimension as regards living and accommodation. Of course, this is in marked contrast to the hype of luxury property transactions, such as the 1.3 billion-euro purchase by Francois Pinault’s fashion group, Kering, of a building in Via Montenapoleone, now the second most expensive street in the world after New York’s Fifth Avenue (as estimated by Cushman & Wakefield, Il Sole24Ore, April 5).

When it comes to the property sector, the market, naturally, does what it is designed to do. But a metropolis, a living organism – a civitas and not just urbs (structures, streets, buildings) – cannot be left to the mercy of market dynamics alone. It needs wise policy-making, efficient public administration, far-sighted urban planning and a solid culture of innovation and social inclusion. If it fails in this it will lose the basic characteristics of Milan, its supportive nature, and therefore, in the long run the city’s very beauty and attractiveness.

Health, environment, quality of life and sustainable development: these are common themes for that highly developed and economically and culturally dynamic area that encompasses the North West, Lombardy, Emilia and the North East – the productive heart of Europe with an original and robust social capital comprising companies, universities, banks, cultural and research facilities and institutions and organisations with a broad range of civic virtues (we wrote about it in the 3 April blog).

The mayors of the Po Valley municipalities (Turin, Bologna, Treviso, Venice, etc., in addition to Milan, with 23 million citizens calculated to live in this large area) are currently discussing this, in Milan, appropriately, for the occasion of Earth Day. And the mayor of Milan sums it up as follows: “In our future, we see green mobility and multi-centric cities” (La Repubblica, 21 April). We will see.

(Photo Getty Images)

A study of immigrant entrepreneurs outlines the importance of relational capital

Immigrant and entrepreneur: not a rarity but, rather, a reality that now has numerous important expressions in Italy. But, even in these cases, it is a matter of an enterprising culture transforming itself into an ability to get things done. With an added element: the relational capital that immigrants bring with them. Understanding the value of relational capital is, then, crucial to studying entrepreneurship as practised by foreign-born individuals.

Paola Paoloni (Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Rome), Federico De Andreis (Università Giustino Fortunato, Benevento) and Armando Papa (Università degli Studi di Teramo, Teramo) have undertaken research work that revolves around these concepts, recently published under the title Capital and Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Italy.

The study, as they explain, aims to investigate the quantitative dimension of foreign-owned entrepreneurship in Italy, identify the drivers of this phenomenon and examine the value of relational capital for the creation and development of immigrant-owned enterprises. In other words, this is a comprehensive investigation that first focuses on the salient features of what is happening, then looks at the elements that are contributing to the growth of immigrant entrepreneurship before analysing the contribution of particular relational capacities.

Indeed, the authors point precisely to this particular human approach as an “intangible asset in the development of foreign companies”. The idea behind the investigation is that relational capital enables start-ups to overcome their main difficulties: the organisational aspect and their financial capacity. Although constrained by the limited number of cases analysed, the research by Paoloni, De Andreis and Papa provides an initial description of an increasingly significant phenomenon in Italy and, above all, indicates how we can gain a better understanding of that capacity for human relations which, not only for immigrants, ultimately remains the real difference between success and failure. For businesses too.

Capital and immigrant entrepreneurship in Italy

Paola Paoloni (Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” Roma), Federico De Andreis (Università “Giustino Fortunato”, Benevento), Armando Papa (Università degli Studi di Teramo, Teramo)

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, April 2024

A recently published book features 12 essays that help us to understand Italy in the period from 1992 to 2022

An awareness of history – including recent history – gives us a better understanding of where and how we are living and, above all, of our direction of travel. This is always a useful lesson to remember, even for those who do business. And that’s why it’s useful to read: L’Italia al bivio. Classi dirigenti alla prova del cambiamento1992-2022 (Italy at a Crossroads. The Ruling Classes Grappling with Change 1992-2022), edited by Franco Amatori, Pietro Modiano and Edoardo Reviglio.

The book is, as the title indicates, a collection of essays whose aim is to take stock of 30 years of Italian history. The picture they paint is not only economic in nature – or even that much – but also social and political. And they all share a special quality: the

12 essays are written by those who witnessed events directly or have studied them in depth, and each one provides an account of the period in question and an interpretation. The focus is on the so-called “ruling classes” that governed the country over the three decades.

The following topics are covered by the 12 essays: failed reforms and public debt (Mario Perugini, Roberto Artoni); Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) and the turning point of 1992 (Pietro Modiano, Giuliano Amato); the great era of privatisation (Franco Amatori, Ruggiero Ranieri, Marco Onado, Edoardo Reviglio, Franco Bernabé); the turning point in industrial relations (Stefano Musso, Sergio Cofferati); the crisis of the old equilibrium and the new economic protagonists (Marco Doria, Andrea Colli, Innocenzo Cipolletta, Franco Amatori, Ilaria Sangalli, Aldo Fumagalli Romario); the enduring North/South divide (Leandra D’Antone, Gianfranco Viesti, Renato Quaglia); and our inadequacies in the face of the global challenge (Piarluigi Ciocca, Laura Pennacchi). The book closes with a long interview with Romano Prodi who pulls the threads of all the various contributions together.

But how, then, do we view the sum of three such troubled decades? From the analyses in the book, a negative assessment of what was done and achieved emerges. The opinion that the book forms is that the period could have led in a different direction, had the ruling classes been equal to the historical moment.

Like any book that sets out to put the record straight, L’Italia al bivio also provokes discussion, inspires debate and accepts that not everyone who reads it will agree. And that is why this work, edited by Amatori, Modiano and Reviglio, is worth reading and re-reading.

L’Italia al bivio. Classi dirigenti alla prova del cambiamento1992-2022 (Italy at a Crossroads. The Ruling Classes Grappling with Change 1992-2022)

Franco Amatori, Pietro Modiano, Edoardo Reviglio (ed.)

Franco Angeli, 2024

Take a closer look at schooling at a time when the knowledge economy dominates. Consider it both in view of the Italian Constitution (Article 34 rightly calls for it to be ‘open to all’ and prescribes that ‘the able and deserving, even if deprived of the means, have the right to attain the highest levels of education’) and in the context of the challenges posed by the world today. Namely, demographic decline, which needs to be offset by far-sighted management of immigration and policies for social, cultural and economic inclusion, and the need for solutions to the environmental and digital transition and the spread of AI (Artificial Intelligence) across all areas of our lives. These are societal challenges. But they are also economic challenges, and relate to citizenship and to building sustainable development, with a focus on the new generations.

So, in what kind of health is Italian schooling? Very good is the answer – that is, if you read the QS World Ranking 2024, which analyses over 1,500 universities and places Italy seventh in the world and second in Europe by rankings in the various Top 10 lists across both humanities and science disciplines. Schools, on the other hand, are still quite bad, if we take Eurostat data on school drop-out rates, which sees the country fifth worst among EU states: 11.5% of our 11-24 year olds are affected, two points above the European average (9.6%).

In short, higher education is improving, although we still have too few graduates (especially in the STEM subjects, i.e. science, technology, engineering and mathematics). But we remain drastically behind in middle and secondary education, where the expectations and hopes of tens of thousands of girls and boys are dashed. This disregards the Constitution and wastes opportunities for a better quality of life and work.

Looking closely at the data, however, we find that some progress has been made: In 20 years, the number of young people leaving the school system with only a secondary school leaving certificate or lower has halved (the Italian rate used to be 24%, compared to an EU average of 17%). We remain among the bottom countries, that much is true. But, in our efforts to catch up, we achieved the EU target for 2020, which was 16%: five points better than expected. In 2030, the target will be 9%. Will we manage to achieve it? There is certainly hope,

but regional gaps remain strong. The specialist portal Skuola.net, analysing in detail the Eurostat data we are talking about here, shows that there are 10 regions with drop-out rates below 10%, in line with the EU’s requirements: Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Abruzzo, Molise, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, and then the most virtuous regions, Umbria (7.3%), Marche (5.8%) and Basilicata (5.3%).

But in the South, unfortunately, things are not so rosy: drop-out rates rise to 13.8% on average – in Sardinia they stand at 15%, in Campania 16% and in Sicily they are disastrous, at almost 19%.

These figures are, of course, also reflected in employment prospects. Between 2008 and 2020, the rate of 18-24 year olds who left school early and found employment plummeted from 51% to 33.2%.

An alarming rate of school drop-outs, then, with a worsening of the already marked territorial and social differences. But there has also been a decline in the quality of education, if we look at the data from tests conduced by INVALSI (a national body that evaluates education standards). Upon obtaining their upper secondary school leaving certificate, half of the pupils do not reach expected levels in at least one of the three subjects under observation (mathematics, Italian, and English). And almost one in ten students does not achieve a pass grade in all three of the subjects. These levels peak in the most disadvantaged social areas. In the South, that means, in particular, Campania, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia.

From the perspective of balancing future development, the situation is aggravated by constant emigration from the southern regions – hundreds of thousands of girls and boys, those most educated, trained, enterprising and capable of building a future.

Overall, it’s a lopsided unbalanced and unequal picture. But it’s far from lacking any chance of recovery.

It may be true that a pessimist is nothing more than a well-informed optimist, to cite Oscar Wilde’s famous aphorism. But it is likely to be equally true that, in analysing this historical period, the comparison between Italy and the countries we are competing with reveals aptitudes and qualities that need to be leveraged better in order to make them not only, or not quite so much, a source of national pride, but above all a cornerstone of political choices and conscious possibilities for development.

This is why, then, alongside a reasoned and well-founded critique of the many shortcomings of our university system, it is worth taking a look at the QS Ranking 2024 reports mentioned above (in Corriere della Sera, IlSole24Ore, la Repubblica, 11 April) and highlighting the positive results of Sapienza in Rome, the Scuola Normale in Pisa, Bocconi, the Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, the Luiss in Rome and Federico II in Naples, etc. These are centres of excellence, both for humanistic studies and scientific knowledge, for engineering and architecture, and for design and art. They occupy leadership positions we need to be clear about, to continue to invest in teaching and research, leveraging experience and an aptitude for innovation.

The reference horizon is a cultura politecnica, an original feature of Italian life that can bind humanistic and scientific knowledge together. And this is something companies can also continue to leverage in order to improve the competitiveness of their products and services in particularly selective international markets.

In a nutshell, training must focus on knowledge rather than skills. Because it is knowledge that allows you to know what to do, how to do it and why. It is, in fact, the result of a widespread cultura politecnica, that is, a culture that is capable of fusing technological innovation, as an outcome of scientific research, with a taste for beauty, as an expression of humanistic knowledge. And, in doing so, it reveals the essence of doing business in Italy.

This was discussed a few days ago in Trento at “CamLab: Dialogues on Enterprise and Innovation”, an initiative of the local Chamber of Commerce. It proposed that in a large open country like Italy, which is both competitive and inclusive, training should be conceived as a supply chain process – a network that engages all the companies that are involved in a product. An ability to do things. And a commitment to ‘passing on knowledge’, that is, to building a new narrative of enterprise, creativity and productivity.

Moreover, at the very etymological root of ‘compete’ lies the idea of striving together towards a goal: economic and social growth, with the widespread production of value, across companies and local areas. Which, in turn, attracts investment and quality people, ideas and vessels for knowledge. This is why training must work on mobilising companies, politicians and trade associations. And tax breaks should be used more to stimulate companies, local areas and associations to invest in knowledge – that is, in training. In educational and vocational training that looks to the long-term. ‘Lifelong learning’, as the business management manuals say.

The reasoning behind this goes back to universities and the leading positions they occupy, as revealed by the QS Ranking. It follows the assessment of Francesco Profumo, former Rector of the Politecnico di Torino, former Minister of Education and former President of the CNR and the Compagnia di San Paolo: ‘We are at a period in history where we need to hybridise knowledge. We have realised, fortunately, that the results of technology alone are not enough. We need a more “rounded” vision that has ethical, social and humanistic elements. In this respect, our culture has deep roots that without doubt need to be incorporated into modernity. Last year was the centenary of the Gentile Reform of education, and we also celebrated the 60th anniversary of the unification of the secondary school system. We are a very interesting country that other cultures look to with interest.’ (HuffingtonPost Italy, 11 April).

Profumo is indeed right when he states that ‘the cultural model in which we find ourselves, together with Germany and France, regardless of the individual rankings, is current and modern – and the QS rankings prove it. The central theme is that these countries have preserved a tradition while the Anglo-Saxon world is more focused on immediacy. We focus on knowledge, they focus on skills – but they become obsolete faster and need to be revised and regenerated from time to time. Knowledge, on the other hand, is a true and lasting value for those who possess it.’

The challenge is political and involves long-term national and European choices. And while it may be true that Europe, at this challenging time of major geopolitical conflicts, has, unfortunately, limited clout, it is precisely the EU’s insistence on culture, knowledge, and education that can restore our role and level of contribution.

(photo Getty Images)

The history of businesses from ancient times to the present outlines the components and objectives of these organisations.

For profit (always), but not only that: understanding why and how businesses are created is fundamental to understanding the culture behind and within them. The humanity that must be sought in every instance is a humanity dense in its history, its victories and its defeats. It is a humanity that, on occasion, has made “great history” but also a lowlier history, and which truly builds the present and the future. Reading For Profit: a History of Corporations by William Magnuson, just proposed once more in Italy, serves precisely to understand more about the relationships between profit and other objectives that have almost always given rise to businesses.

In particular, the book is a history of the birth of corporations, their evolution and the role they have played and continue to play in shaping the world and our way of thinking. And it’s not just about the economic aspects. William Magnuson traces the journey of ‘corporations’ over the centuries: from the great buildings of ancient Rome to the ships of the British East India Company, to the rails built by the Union Pacific Railroad Company to cross North America; from oil multinationals in the Middle East to today’s Silicon Valley giants. Magnuson’s narrative begins before the birth of Christ and continues to the present day, offering examples that immediately illuminate the role of companies. A few examples are enough to illustrate this. In 215 BC, the Roman army risked collapsing in the face of the Carthaginian advance. It fell to a handful of wealthy citizens, united in societates – the first companies in history – to save the troops and the Republic. They supplied the soldiers with clothes, cereals and equipment, thus turning the tide of the conflict. In the first half of the 15th century, under the leadership of Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici, the Banco Medici became the most important company in Europe, capable of influencing wars, truces and treaties thousands of kilometres away. In May 2012, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg’s company that will become Meta, went public. In 2018, it was accused of influencing the elections that led to Donald Trump becoming President of the United States.

Profit, therefore, but also other objectives have animated and animate production organisations and the men who design, build and manage them. Magnuson then recounts the fate of bankers, explorers, pirates, businessmen and digital entrepreneurs in the grey area that exists between personal interest and common welfare. And it is precisely the swing of the pendulum between these two extremes that leads the book to describe successes and failures in doing business but also, of course, the role of profit.

Profitto. Storia delle grandi aziende dall’antica Roma a Meta

William Magnuson

il Saggiatore 2024

Generational changeover in companies from the perspective of emotions

Conceiving, creating and managing a business is also a question of humanity and of emotions. Many entrepreneurs and managers are well aware of this. So too are those who have to face generational changeover at a certain point in their career. Managing emotions and accounts can then become a further exercise in which to prove one’s production culture. Mariano De Vincenzo and Rossella Torretta tackle precisely this question of generational changeover triggered when a company’s founder passes away in their article “Emozioni e passaggio generazionale nelle piccole e medie imprese” (Emotions and generational changeover in SMEs).

The investigation takes a specific (real) case as its starting point, proceeding to frame the topic more generally. An intervention to promote generational changeover in an SME – explain the authors – becomes a point of departure for addressing generational transition also from the perspective of emotions, which are not entirely irrelevant when you’re talking about production, organisational dimension, budgets, management problems and procedures.

But what happened? On the death of the founder, the heirs were locked in a sort of managerial paralysis in which the eldest son had assumed the role of heir by primogeniture, maintaining the structure that was organised top-down by the father-founder and actually asking the consultants to make his siblings and all the employees accept him in that rule, thus delegating his own authorisation to occupy the position to third parties. De Vincenzo and Torretta obtain a more general profile from this situation.

The fundamental term is ‘time’. The death of a founder poses the problem of time in processing the transmission and acquisition of the inheritance and its transformation is an inescapable part of the transition. Time is essential for coming to terms with the loss of the father-founder and, with him, letting go of self-idealisations and encountering reality. Maintaining an unchanged organisation, moving one man to the place of another, proves merely to be a strategy introduced to avoid facing pain and change. It’s a cultural and human process before being a management one, a process that can’t be followed without expert assistance. Successfully identifying the right path and rethinking the organisation and the position of those who come afterwards in the company are steps that can’t be automatic or swift.

To describe all this, De Vincenzo and Torretta first analyse the characteristics of the two main entities at play (family and business) then proceed to delve into specific aspects such as suffering, the history of the business used as a case study itself, the “actors” involved, the particular figure of the founder, the central issue of the generational transition and hence inheritance, and finally the path taken to face and manage it.

Mariano De Vincenzo and Rossella Torretta’s article is by no means an easy read, but reading it is nonetheless important.

Emozioni e passaggio generazionale nelle piccole e medie imprese

Mariano De Vincenzo, Rossella Torretta

Ricerca Psicoanalitica, Year XXXV, no. 1, 2024