Starting on 15 February 2016, the Pirelli Foundation will host a series of meetings on the history of factories and work in the twentieth century, for teachers of lower and upper secondary schools of Lombardy Region.

The course, now in its fourth edition, is promoted by Fondazione ISEC in collaboration with the Pirelli Foundation and the Fondazione Cineteca Italiana. It will adopt a multidisciplinary approach to examine the issue of work, which is highly relevant today and of great social and cultural importance. After an introductory lecture that will provide a historical overview of the rise of industrial society in the twentieth century, two subsequent meetings will look at the factory and work, through the unique vision of the arts: literature, cinema, and photography.

The lessons will be followed by two workshops in the archive, during which the teachers will come into direct contact with documents and archive sources. The course for teachers will then continue with a guided tour of the Pirelli Industrial Centre in Settimo Torinese, one of the most advanced tyre manufacturing plants in the world, to which the architect Renzo Piano contributed by designing the Spina, the central “backbone” of the factory. The course also includes three film screenings introduced by film history scholars. The film screenings will be held in the morning and will be open not only to teachers but also to student classes who may be interested.

Teachers need to enrol on the course (including the lessons, the workshops in the archive, and a visit to the Industrial Centre in Settimo Torinese) by writing to didattica@fondazioneisec.it by Friday 30 January 2016.

Registered teachers will be provided with teaching materials related to the course.

Cinema screenings for classes must be booked. Please call +39 02 6442 3971 or write to schools@fondazionepirelli.org

A certificate of attendance will be available for teachers, upon request.

Download the programme

In 1906, Pirelli interpreted “Science, City and Life” in the form of innovation in transport in Milan. At Expo2015 it is looking at innovation as energy for life. Starting from the earth, and from the tree that represents it. On 28 April 1906, the International Exhibition opened in Milan as a tribute to the Simplon Tunnel. Its inspiration was the theme of “Science, City, and Life”, and the dynamism that underpins all transport.

Over a century later, original budgets, photographs, sketches and correspondence in the Historical Archive illustrate the world of Pirelli and document the levels of excellence the company has achieved in terms of technology and innovation, and its close attention to the quality of life and work, as well as to safety and culture. On that occasion, the Long P set up its stands in the Motoring Hall and in the Aeronautics Pavilion of the Expo, amid flight displays by aerostats and airships that plied the sky over the city, and a host of other attractions.

109 years later, on 1 May 2015, Milan (re)opens its doors to the Expo, which this time has as its theme “Feeding the Planet. Energy for Life ”. A theme very close to Pirelli’s heart: “Expo Milano 2015 is a great opportunity for Milan and for all Italy,” said Marco Tronchetti Provera, Chairman and CEO of Pirelli, “and this is why Pirelli has chosen to promote a series of related events, including the Tree of Life, a large contemporary work that is destined to become an icon of the creativity and industrial quality of Milan and of the Italian economic system – a powerful symbol of the event throughout the world.” This is an event of global reach and it promises a better and more balanced form of development, powered by innovation. A promise that Pirelli upholds. Just as it did a century ago.

All of us at the Pirelli Foundation would like to wish you Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year, and we’ll see you all again on 7 January 2015.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for being with us in this year of wonderful events and great satisfaction. Here are just a few of the numbers: 4,900 people visited the Pirelli Foundation and our Historical Archives; 45 schools participated in the workshops of Pirelli Foundation Educational, involving more than 1,000 students of all types and ages; over 500 people took part in our events for Corporate Culture Week.

Keep following us in 2015 as well.

Best wishes to you all.

Incidences and coincidences, to borrow an expression from Leonardo Sciascia. Unintentional, but fortuitous lexical harmony between CGIL and Confindustria in reference to corruption and the need for greater lawfulness. In the title of an interesting conference, organised for 14 November by the Lombardy office of the trade union CGIL and by Bocconi University’s Department of Legal Studies to discuss the burden of corruption and organised crime on the Italian economy, we find reference to removing this “ballast” from the marketplace and to generating jobs and growth through lawfulness. Then on 17 December in Rome, the presentation of the economic report by the Confindustria Research Centre, the title of which describes corruption as “ballast” on development. Lawlessness as “ballast”. This is the operative word. An obstacle to a sound market culture, a hindrance to balanced economic and social growth, a rift in the world of business and in the improvement of society, and lawfulness seen as an asset to the competitiveness of a nation and, of course, as an essential condition to the ethics of a community and to civil coexistence.

This is an important coincidence for the sake of good culture of enterprise and one that should be a source of satisfaction, an acknowledgement that corruption is a burden on an Italian economy that is already far too fragile. How much of a burden? Sixty billion each year, half of the total for all of Europe, according to the first European Commission report on the issue, which was presented in early February 2014 in Brussels by the Interior Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malström. Some 75% of European citizens and a staggering 97% of Italians – basically everyone – feel that corruption is widespread in their home nation. It is a blight on politics and society that absolutely must be resolved by politicians, by society, and by the business world. Sixty billion was the estimate given in the report by Italy’s Court of Auditors at the start of the judicial year back in February 2012, nearly three years ago, and already the court was saying that lawlessness and corruption were still a significant presence in Italy, while Court of Auditors attorney general Maria Teresa Arganelli underscored that such a high level of corruption was a threat to the freedom of business and undermined the confidence of foreign investors. We can now say that these last three years have been essentially wasted given that the issue is being raised again and is now even more serious.

Confirmation of this crisis in lawfulness and of its impact on the economy has also come from Transparency International, which put Italy in 69th place in its 2014 ranking of 175 nations – one of the worst in Europe along side Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. It’s known as the “Corruption Perception Index”, so it shows how much the Italian people feel that corruption is pervasive and that recovery for the economy and for employment is unlikely.

It is a very serious issue, and not just in Italy, but here it is a greater burden than elsewhere, as documented by Transparency International. To better understand the problem, it would be worth reading Corruption – Economic Analysis and International Law, written by two Italian economists, Marco Arnone and Leonardo S. Borlini, and published by Edward Elgar, including forewords by Italy’s economics minister Pier Carlo Padoan and by Gabrio Forti, a professor of criminal law at Università Cattolica, Milan. In his foreword, Padoan writes that “where public and private corruption proliferates, markets are dominated by distortions and inefficiencies” and “the malfunctioning of markets generates advantages only for privileged lobbies”. Ballast, indeed, and a hindrance to growth.

A document recently published by Confindustria’s research centre (concerning a study by Loredana Scaperrotta), which we talked about here on 25 February, calls for less bureaucracy in Italy in order to return to growth, claiming that even a 1% increase in the efficiency of public administration would result in an increase in per capita GDP of 0.9% and to growth in international investment, which would have a positive impact on employment. The essence of the matter is clear. We must streamline bureaucracy because the complex web of too many rules, along with lengthy, uncertain response times and the unsustainable costs of the public and political machine, are holding back development particularly for the most dynamic of Italian businesses.

And how can we reduce corruption? Legal and social measures aside (for too long vast segments of the political world and of the general public have been indifferent toward, subtly inviting or even colluding with tax evaders, “friends of friends” of organised crime and the generally corrupt), what is needed is less public, political and administrative intermediation, along with an efficient, effective justice system and transparency (including through a strong commitment by the media), while also remembering the lessons of the past, such as those of Max Weber (“[…] bureaucracy is among those social structures which are the hardest to destroy”) and of Gaetano Salvemini (“The tree of death that is bureaucracy – slow, endlessly complex, and in no way meeting the needs of the people because it answers solely to its own”), warnings from the last century, but relevant to this day.

Understanding change, both past and present, helps us to better understand what action to take and, to some extent, what the future may hold. We can’t foresee the future, of course, particularly in economics, where calculation leaves much room for the unexpected, for irrationality in decision making (much to the chagrin of economists) and for human improvisation, but, all the same, being familiar with how industry and business has evolved – especially in Italy – can help business leaders plan for the future. 

A work by Alessandro Arrighetti and Augusto Ninni, entitled “La trasformazione ‘silenziosa’. Cambiamento strutturale e strategie d’impresa nell’industria italiana” (The ‘silent’ transformation. Structural change and business strategies in Italian industry) and recently published online, is just such an effort to help understand what has happened to Italian industry in recent years (and since 1990 in particular). 

Published by the University of Parma’s Department of Economics in its series on Industrial and Applied Economics, this 450-page work is a collection of 11 papers by multiple authors and featuring issues such as changes in manufacturing systems, interpretation of the innovation gap in Italian industry, changing paradigms in production and organisation, the improving quality of Italian manufacturing, and the question of whether or not industrial districts still exist. A total of 22 experts have contributed to this manual to help interpret the evolution of industrial economics over the last 20 years. 

In the introduction, the two editors of the collection explain that the forces that have altered the manufacturing landscape in many nations over the last 20 years have, within Italy, given rise to entirely new transformations and other dynamics, unique processes and characteristics that can, at times, contradict each other. Moreover, the framework that arises from the set of empirical evidence available shows that Italy’s manufacturing industry has not remained bound within a uniform scheme. On the contrary, all signs point to the fact that businesses have been moving down a wide array of evolutionary paths with variable degrees of change and different types of strategy.

In other words, these are times both of ongoing change and of consolidation in the nation’s approach to changes in competition and in the marketplace generally.

This work compiled by Arrighetti and Ninni is certainly no easy read, but it is thorough, taking a close look at practical issues and providing an important tool in understanding the recent past in order to be better able to assess our present and face tomorrow with greater awareness.

La trasformazione ‘silenziosa’. Cambiamento strutturale e strategie d’impresa nell’industria italiana

Edited by Alessandro Arrighetti, Augusto Ninni

University of Parma Department of Economics, Economia Industriale e Applicata, November 2014 

A business communicates both internally and externally. It has been said many times, but it’s worth taking another look at the connection between good business and good communication, between an organisation at work and the information that flows within it and from within to the outside world. The ideal case would be a sort of “transparent enterprise”, one that is so effective and efficient as to not fear any intrusion, Beyond this utopia, however, one thing is clear: a certain portion of the culture of enterprise is the result of how its story is told.

An interesting read in this regard is Andrea Volterrani’s “La comunicazione organizzativa come narrazione collettiva” (Organisational communication as collective storytelling), a brief look at the ideas and methods that unite communication with the organisation and the culture of enterprise. At just under 50 pages in total, the work opens with a concise phrase: “Communication, organization and storytelling”. Indeed, it is around these three words that the entire work revolves as it takes a look at the connection between communication processes and organisational methods before delving into the topic of how to tell an organisation’s story and concluding with a detailed look at all of the tools used in organisational communication (from interpersonal relationships and formal meetings to a range of listening techniques). 

Apart from its utility as a sort of textbook, there is one passage that is of particular interest: “Adopting a narrative approach to organisational communication means, first and foremost, emphasising the role that all of the stories that arise both within and outside of an organisation, among the people that are a structural part of the organisation and those that are involved for a limited period of time, between the organisation itself and the public bodies and other organisations that are a part of the community and marketplace in which the business operates, and doing so not only to increase the organisation’s visibility and better communicate its goals, actions, and obstacles, but to acknowledge that, in addition to being a set of operating tools and methodologies, these stories are also an invaluable asset to be developed and shared with the entire community concerned.”

In this way, business storytelling forms not only the image of the enterprise, but also its very spirit, the meaning behind doing business well and in a manner that respects the needs of the individual, which should be a common characteristic of any good business.

Download pdf

La comunicazione organizzativa come narrazione collettiva

Andrea Volterrani, 2014 

There are a few Italian corporations that can boast good reputations around the world. The Reputation Institute’s 2014 ranking of the Top 100 lists six of them: Ferrero (34th), Armani (44th), Pirelli (47th), Lavazza (60th), Barilla (73rd), and Benetton (76th). Six is a good number when considering that the classification ranks companies in 15 countries, and it is also worth noting that these are six manufacturing firms and symbols of Italian excellence and of that Italian talent for making beautiful things that are appreciated around the world, as noted by Carlo Maria Cipolla, a great economic historian. They represent the food and agriculture industry in particular, but also fashion and luxury goods, and the rubber and automotive industries, areas in which Italy continues to enjoy a strong reputation internationally.

Topping the international ranking is Google (apparently unfazed by the EU’s accusations of “excess of power” and well defended by US politics and public opinion), followed by Microsoft and Walt Disney. Apple came in fifth behind BMW, then we find Lego, Volkswagen, Intel, Rolex and Daimler. So we see internet companies and car manufacturers as the focus of this good sentiment – all international market leaders and with rock-solid images. Experts point to how reputation and business go hand in hand.

But what does the Reputation Institute measure? The “degree of admiration, trust, good feeling and overall esteem” accumulated over the years. They also add that “who you are matters more than what you sell”. The emphasis is on the intangibles, which are the product of good culture of enterprise, of a history to be proud of, of current actions intertwined with corporate social responsibility, empathy towards the public, quality, sustainability, employee pride and sense of belonging, and the pride felt by all stakeholders. A strong, clear, well-perceived identity is an important asset that is to be developed, not wasted. In this era of the “knowledge economy” and radical rethinking of the paradigms of growth, of production and of consumption, intangibles that convey values (of conduct and positioning, as well as cultural, aesthetic and moral values) translate into financial value (a sort of reward given by international investors to publicly listed corporations) and vice versa in virtuous harmony.

The best culture of enterprise is fuelled in part by information that comes to the company from the outside – stimuli, input and obstacles that provide the organisation with food for thought and ideas for innovation and other data that can help to improve the management of operations and raise the level of employee relations. One such example, that has been around for nearly 15 years now, is the recently released Nomisma report for 2013-2014 on business strategy and economic outlook, “Nomos & Khaos”. 

The report is a sort of digest of past events, not so much an historical account, but rather a reflection on the main issues and challenges that affected Italy and the world over the previous 12 months –  everything a company needs in order to look beyond its day-to-day operations and management. 

The report is divided into seven parts. First of all, there is global overview, followed by an assessment of the major decisions made by the leading international players. Next, we get a closer look at Europe before stepping back to get a view of other international hotspots.  The fifth section looks towards the future, including the role played by international accords and technological progress, the uses of political cybernetics, and the illusion of online democracy. The sixth section focuses on a number of issues that have emerged recently, such as food accessibility, the weak recovery, and demographic transition. The seventh section presents the conclusions of the entire working group that drafted the report.  Throughout the work, the report touches on matters such as America under Obama, Germany as it becomes a leading international player, the Arab nations experiencing new and turbulent times of change, and our precious Italy, standing alone in this increasingly complex world. 

The entire publication – a collection of writings by 25 authors under the coordination of Giuseppe Cucchi and Germano Dottori – is not always an easy read, but the table of contents proves to be an invaluable tool with the title of each chapter being followed by a brief summary of that chapter. 

“Nomos & Khaos” is a work to be read with great care, one that can help business leaders to better understand where their businesses are headed (even those that export fairly little or no longer wish to do so) and can help management to better understand the significance of the decisions they make.

Nomos & Khaos. Rapporto Nomisma 2013-2014 sulle prospettive economico-strategiche

Edited by G. Cucchi e G. Dottori

Agra, September 2014  

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an integral part of the culture of enterprise because it takes a certain cultural awareness to understand the external ramification of a company’s actions and to be able to transform the business into something that produces not only profits, but also welfare for the community in which it operates.

In order to better understand CSR, it takes local and industry studies that look at the impact on operations and at the results of CSR efforts. “Responsabilità Sociale d’Impresa. Policy e Pratiche” (Corporate Social Responsibility. Policies and Practice), by the ISFOL, is a work that offers some help in this direction and so is of use to any business leader or manager looking to understand the topic better.

The book is a collection of results from a field study by the ISFOL’s Education Systems & Services unit that looked into the current status of corporate social responsibility in Italy within enterprises of all shapes and sizes and assesses the extent of the CSR crisis. The emphasis of the study is on the education industry, and the text points to a number of significant experiences in Italy, by both multinationals and other major corporations and by smaller enterprises, that were the result of following an intricate, complex system of international guidelines and recommendations in the area of social and environmental management.

After an introduction to CSR theory, the work, which is based on an extensive series of interviews with individual companies and with associations, then examines public social responsibility strategies and the actions of enterprises both large and small.

The first few lines of the conclusion are significant: “As can be seen in this study and in others, senior management of the most advanced Italian businesses and business associations feel that the future of CSR is founded upon ethics, culture, planning and co-responsibility among the various public and private-sector players in an effort to pursue environmental, social and financial sustainability across the generations.” In particular, the fields of CSR in the future will be seen in the engagement of employees, in the environment, and in the protection of consumers, but the study also goes on to underscore that, based on an overview of the many aspects of CSR analysed, the future of corporate social responsibility lies in placing the individual, not just the organisation, as the leading proponents of social innovation within the various CSR efforts. This focus on the individual can be seen in aspects ranging from respecting the fundamental rights of the employees and ensuring high-quality working conditions and style of life to promoting career training and ensuring equal opportunities, even – and, indeed, above all – in times of crisis. The ultimate conclusion of this ISFOL study is that there is ample room for social innovation, and the current crisis has been this even more evident, underscoring the need for and potential of emphasising individual welfare.

Responsabilità Sociale d’Impresa. Policy e Pratiche

Edited by Paola Nicoletti

ISFOL, Rome, 2014