Help with your research

To request to view the materials in the Historical Archive and in the libraries of the Pirelli Foundation for study and research purposes and/or to find out how to request the use of materials for loans and exhibitions, please fill in the form below. You will receive an email confirming receipt of the request and you will be contacted.

Pirelli Foundation Educational Courses

Select the education level of the school

Visit the Foundation

For information about the Foundation's activities, guided tours and accessibility, please call +39 0264423971 or fill in the form below, providing details of your request in the notes field.

Two-way exchange between society and the entrepreneur

An entrepreneur acts within a well-defined environment, not alone and not impervious to outside influences. In the same way, the actions of an entrepreneur affect—even significantly so—the social and institutional context within which the related enterprise operates. The same is true of the corporate culture of that enterprise, which is the result of influences and provocations that come from within, but which are also in constant contact with that which lies outside of the organisation.

All of this can be deduced by simply observing reality, but going from observation to theories that can lend rationality and methodology to this reality can take quite a bit of effort, and may lead to many errors in interpretation.

Works that provide a record of where we have been are, therefore, of great assistance in this regard,  particularly in a field of study as complex and delicate as that of entrepreneurship and corporate culture.

Shabir Bhat (University of Kashmir Business School) and Riyaz Khan (School for Entrepreneurship Studies at JKEDI in Sempora, Pampore, India) have accomplished just that. In their “Entrepreneurship and Institutional Environment: Perspectives from the Review of Literature”, the two Indian researchers analysed the most important literature of recent years that concerns the link between entrepreneurship and the “institutional environment”. What resulted was a methodical study of the leading journals that look closely at the various aspects of entrepreneurship,

with the two authors then identifying two intertwining levels of study that point to the connections between entrepreneurship and the environment. First of all, there is the “micro view”, which examines the aspects that are specific to the entrepreneur or found within the specific enterprise. When seeing the entrepreneur and related actions from a micro level, we base our interpretation of reality on the personal characteristics of the businessman, such as his ability to see development opportunities and formulate growth strategies as a result. The “macro view”, on the other hand, takes a series of factors into account that concern external processes that are often beyond the control of the entrepreneur. In this case, the review of the literature shifted onto an analysis of the social setting, the financial/capital environment, and the political/institutional environment and how they effect the actions of an enterprise.

Bhat and Khan thereby show that the available literature indicates that the institutional environment has a far-reaching impact on entrepreneurship development in any economy. Therefore, the authors conclude that the analyses of entrepreneurship should also be conducted through the lens of the institutional setup in which the entrepreneur operates.

And this is no obvious conclusion, but one that both confirms that an enterprise is a social entity and that the social and institutional setting can be crucial to the birth, growth and death of that enterprise. What is happing in Italy today could be an interesting case study in this regard.

Entrepreneurship and Institutional Environment: Perspectives from the Review of Literature 

Shabir Bhat, Riyaz Khan

An entrepreneur acts within a well-defined environment, not alone and not impervious to outside influences. In the same way, the actions of an entrepreneur affect—even significantly so—the social and institutional context within which the related enterprise operates. The same is true of the corporate culture of that enterprise, which is the result of influences and provocations that come from within, but which are also in constant contact with that which lies outside of the organisation.

All of this can be deduced by simply observing reality, but going from observation to theories that can lend rationality and methodology to this reality can take quite a bit of effort, and may lead to many errors in interpretation.

Works that provide a record of where we have been are, therefore, of great assistance in this regard,  particularly in a field of study as complex and delicate as that of entrepreneurship and corporate culture.

Shabir Bhat (University of Kashmir Business School) and Riyaz Khan (School for Entrepreneurship Studies at JKEDI in Sempora, Pampore, India) have accomplished just that. In their “Entrepreneurship and Institutional Environment: Perspectives from the Review of Literature”, the two Indian researchers analysed the most important literature of recent years that concerns the link between entrepreneurship and the “institutional environment”. What resulted was a methodical study of the leading journals that look closely at the various aspects of entrepreneurship,

with the two authors then identifying two intertwining levels of study that point to the connections between entrepreneurship and the environment. First of all, there is the “micro view”, which examines the aspects that are specific to the entrepreneur or found within the specific enterprise. When seeing the entrepreneur and related actions from a micro level, we base our interpretation of reality on the personal characteristics of the businessman, such as his ability to see development opportunities and formulate growth strategies as a result. The “macro view”, on the other hand, takes a series of factors into account that concern external processes that are often beyond the control of the entrepreneur. In this case, the review of the literature shifted onto an analysis of the social setting, the financial/capital environment, and the political/institutional environment and how they effect the actions of an enterprise.

Bhat and Khan thereby show that the available literature indicates that the institutional environment has a far-reaching impact on entrepreneurship development in any economy. Therefore, the authors conclude that the analyses of entrepreneurship should also be conducted through the lens of the institutional setup in which the entrepreneur operates.

And this is no obvious conclusion, but one that both confirms that an enterprise is a social entity and that the social and institutional setting can be crucial to the birth, growth and death of that enterprise. What is happing in Italy today could be an interesting case study in this regard.

Entrepreneurship and Institutional Environment: Perspectives from the Review of Literature 

Shabir Bhat, Riyaz Khan

Fondazione Pirelli lands on Pinterest

Eight boards to tell the story of Pirelli from its foundation in 1872 to date, through the best images which have been a feature of its advertising and a “Pirelli from the World” board for collecting your pictures of Pirelli.

Advertising posters and sketches, photos of car races and the shop floor, pictures taken during the exhibitions and other events organised by Fondazione Pirelli, shared with users as demonstration of the opening-up and aspiration towards dialogue and interaction which is a feature of the Pirelli historical archive.

Boards set to expand and gain new images thanks to ongoing work of recovery, restoration and enhancement of new material which constitutes one of the main goals of Fondazione Pirelli.

View gallery on Pinterest

Eight boards to tell the story of Pirelli from its foundation in 1872 to date, through the best images which have been a feature of its advertising and a “Pirelli from the World” board for collecting your pictures of Pirelli.

Advertising posters and sketches, photos of car races and the shop floor, pictures taken during the exhibitions and other events organised by Fondazione Pirelli, shared with users as demonstration of the opening-up and aspiration towards dialogue and interaction which is a feature of the Pirelli historical archive.

Boards set to expand and gain new images thanks to ongoing work of recovery, restoration and enhancement of new material which constitutes one of the main goals of Fondazione Pirelli.

View gallery on Pinterest

Art and Industry at HangarBicocca. The dialog continues.

Art and industry. What the two have in common is a focus on materials, on form and function, and on communicating. At times, when the conditions are right, they also share the same space and the same symbols, such as it was for Micol Assaël at HangarBicocca, Pirelli’s space for contemporary art in Milan. In the lower section of the Hangar, in what is know as the “Shed” (2,000 square metres of floor space, seven-metre high ceilings, time-worn walls and ironwork that point to the structure’s industrial roots), five “rooms”—actually just large containers made of sheet metal, glass and wood—house a walk-in freezer, a haphazard collection of old engines running out of sync, a wind tunnel, a mass of electrical cables and transformers that can put out up to 9,000 volts of energy, a Kelvin water dropper sending out sparks between its two poles, a series of maps drawn in the tiny cells of an apiary, industrial fans, rubber parts fresh out of the factory in Settimo Torinese, the smell of diesel fuel that evokes the engine room of an old ship, and—seemingly out of place here—the smell of fragrant pine.

Machinery and nature. Obsolete technologies and hints of modern times. This unique assembly of objects, at times both disturbing and off-putting, nonetheless manages to welcome you in. All of this is a fascinating interpretation of the “culture of machines” in which Micol—a youthful artist of just 34 who studied philosophy, frequented art foundries and other sculpture houses, and knows all too well the challenges of manual labour (hence the air conditioners she had installed)—is able to make poetry that is at once tender and biting out of a mass of wires and metal.

The artists who come to HangarBicocca and do their work here often find themselves working along side Pirelli engineers and research-and-development technicians. There was Tomás Saraceno, who talked nanotechnology and special materials with them before creating On Space Time Foam, a cloud of thin plastic held up by air and providing a transparent walkway suspended twenty metres from the ground (a huge success that attracted over 120,000 visitors from September 2012 to January 2013). It was Carsten Nicolai who showed a fascination for the lasers that trace and cut out tread patterns, and this thin beam of light served as inspiration for his Unidisplay, a great wall of light and sound demonstrating harmony and creativity in engineering. Transforming the Hangar into a giant work site, the Roth team created the structures and other works for Islands, the installation of the great Dieter Roth (who passed away in 1998) that featured an “economy bar” made of workbenches and technology of a bygone era once used in the control room of Pirelli’s former reception area in Viale Sarca.

Creative manufacturing, one might say, made possible by the very nature of this place. Indeed, HangarBicocca was once a factory, first for locomotives and then for great Ansaldo Breda electric motors, set in the “grande Milano”, to the north between Bicocca, Sesto San Giovanni and Monza—the industrial heart of the city throughout the 20th century. The signs of those times remain, as does the spirit (the “soul” of the place), that strong identity as a sort of cathedral of industry, now a record of a history to be remembered and a dialog with the present—the embodiment of sound culture of enterprise.

It’s perhaps symbolic, then, that Fausto Melotti’s great sculpture in the entrance is made of weathering steel, in harmony with the black steel of the beams that support the vaulted ceilings of the three naves—one dedicated to The Seven Heavenly Palaces, the other two used to display the work of other artists—a permanent dialog on creativity. The spaces here welcome in and influence these great art installations and then even adapt to them over time, given the versatility that is a part of the very nature of the factory.

This dialog has also been a constant presence in both Pirelli’s history and its culture. Take, for example, the artists (e.g. Cazzaniga, Treccani, Bianconi, and others) who were invited in the 1950s to tell the story of the factory, or Renato Guttuso in 1961, when he depicted scientific research in a grand painting and mosaic entitled La ricerca scientifica. Photographers and film directors (such as Gabriele Basilico, Silvio Soldini and, more recently, Carlo Furgieri Gilbert) have been called in to tell the story of the end of the Bicocca industrial area, its post-industrial renaissance, and the emerging features of a brand of manufacturing that brings together traditional craftsmanship (as embodied by Pirelli’s sgorbiatori, those who carve out tyre tread patterns by hand) with sophisticated industrial robotics. The story of industry continues through new expressions of creativity and a quest for new forms and new meaning—part of what makes the bond between HangarBicocca and the Pirelli Foundation (the history and culture of enterprise). Manufacturing and art, a work in progress.

Art and industry. What the two have in common is a focus on materials, on form and function, and on communicating. At times, when the conditions are right, they also share the same space and the same symbols, such as it was for Micol Assaël at HangarBicocca, Pirelli’s space for contemporary art in Milan. In the lower section of the Hangar, in what is know as the “Shed” (2,000 square metres of floor space, seven-metre high ceilings, time-worn walls and ironwork that point to the structure’s industrial roots), five “rooms”—actually just large containers made of sheet metal, glass and wood—house a walk-in freezer, a haphazard collection of old engines running out of sync, a wind tunnel, a mass of electrical cables and transformers that can put out up to 9,000 volts of energy, a Kelvin water dropper sending out sparks between its two poles, a series of maps drawn in the tiny cells of an apiary, industrial fans, rubber parts fresh out of the factory in Settimo Torinese, the smell of diesel fuel that evokes the engine room of an old ship, and—seemingly out of place here—the smell of fragrant pine.

Machinery and nature. Obsolete technologies and hints of modern times. This unique assembly of objects, at times both disturbing and off-putting, nonetheless manages to welcome you in. All of this is a fascinating interpretation of the “culture of machines” in which Micol—a youthful artist of just 34 who studied philosophy, frequented art foundries and other sculpture houses, and knows all too well the challenges of manual labour (hence the air conditioners she had installed)—is able to make poetry that is at once tender and biting out of a mass of wires and metal.

The artists who come to HangarBicocca and do their work here often find themselves working along side Pirelli engineers and research-and-development technicians. There was Tomás Saraceno, who talked nanotechnology and special materials with them before creating On Space Time Foam, a cloud of thin plastic held up by air and providing a transparent walkway suspended twenty metres from the ground (a huge success that attracted over 120,000 visitors from September 2012 to January 2013). It was Carsten Nicolai who showed a fascination for the lasers that trace and cut out tread patterns, and this thin beam of light served as inspiration for his Unidisplay, a great wall of light and sound demonstrating harmony and creativity in engineering. Transforming the Hangar into a giant work site, the Roth team created the structures and other works for Islands, the installation of the great Dieter Roth (who passed away in 1998) that featured an “economy bar” made of workbenches and technology of a bygone era once used in the control room of Pirelli’s former reception area in Viale Sarca.

Creative manufacturing, one might say, made possible by the very nature of this place. Indeed, HangarBicocca was once a factory, first for locomotives and then for great Ansaldo Breda electric motors, set in the “grande Milano”, to the north between Bicocca, Sesto San Giovanni and Monza—the industrial heart of the city throughout the 20th century. The signs of those times remain, as does the spirit (the “soul” of the place), that strong identity as a sort of cathedral of industry, now a record of a history to be remembered and a dialog with the present—the embodiment of sound culture of enterprise.

It’s perhaps symbolic, then, that Fausto Melotti’s great sculpture in the entrance is made of weathering steel, in harmony with the black steel of the beams that support the vaulted ceilings of the three naves—one dedicated to The Seven Heavenly Palaces, the other two used to display the work of other artists—a permanent dialog on creativity. The spaces here welcome in and influence these great art installations and then even adapt to them over time, given the versatility that is a part of the very nature of the factory.

This dialog has also been a constant presence in both Pirelli’s history and its culture. Take, for example, the artists (e.g. Cazzaniga, Treccani, Bianconi, and others) who were invited in the 1950s to tell the story of the factory, or Renato Guttuso in 1961, when he depicted scientific research in a grand painting and mosaic entitled La ricerca scientifica. Photographers and film directors (such as Gabriele Basilico, Silvio Soldini and, more recently, Carlo Furgieri Gilbert) have been called in to tell the story of the end of the Bicocca industrial area, its post-industrial renaissance, and the emerging features of a brand of manufacturing that brings together traditional craftsmanship (as embodied by Pirelli’s sgorbiatori, those who carve out tyre tread patterns by hand) with sophisticated industrial robotics. The story of industry continues through new expressions of creativity and a quest for new forms and new meaning—part of what makes the bond between HangarBicocca and the Pirelli Foundation (the history and culture of enterprise). Manufacturing and art, a work in progress.

Insight into the Techno-Entrepreneur

The term is “techno-entrepreneurship”, and it refers—at least for a certain segment of the business world—to the creation of high-tech firms in any industry and is seen as something of a final frontier in doing business and making businesses, the final step in the evolution of the modern entrepreneur, who does everything through the use of technology while not forgetting, of course, the basics of what it means to be an entrepreneur.

Francois Therin, with the help of a healthy dose of experts in the field, summarises, in just 18 steps, both the basics to being an entrepreneur and, above all, what it takes to be able to call yourself a “techno-entrepreneur”. 

Therin takes readers of his “Handbook of Research on Techno-Entrepreneurship” (the second edition of which has just been released to bookshops around the world) on a journey that begins with an explanation of the features specific to techno-entrepreneurship before moving on to look into what the family-run business has in common with techno-entrepreneurship, as well as aspects connected to the capitalisation of tech start-ups, challenges and techniques in distribution and marketing, funding options, and connections with the world of education and research. The handbook then explores techno-entrepreneurship as it has manifested in various areas around the world, including China, India, southeast Asia and South America. 

What we get is a sort of map, a road to be followed in order to better understand this unique way of creating a business and a guidebook that serves not so much to understand how to become a techno-entrepreneur, as to better understand who they are and how they work. At 400 pages in length, it’s not exactly light reading, but it is most certainly worth the effort.

Handbook of Research on Techno-Entrepreneurship

Edited by Francois Therin

Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, January 2014

The term is “techno-entrepreneurship”, and it refers—at least for a certain segment of the business world—to the creation of high-tech firms in any industry and is seen as something of a final frontier in doing business and making businesses, the final step in the evolution of the modern entrepreneur, who does everything through the use of technology while not forgetting, of course, the basics of what it means to be an entrepreneur.

Francois Therin, with the help of a healthy dose of experts in the field, summarises, in just 18 steps, both the basics to being an entrepreneur and, above all, what it takes to be able to call yourself a “techno-entrepreneur”. 

Therin takes readers of his “Handbook of Research on Techno-Entrepreneurship” (the second edition of which has just been released to bookshops around the world) on a journey that begins with an explanation of the features specific to techno-entrepreneurship before moving on to look into what the family-run business has in common with techno-entrepreneurship, as well as aspects connected to the capitalisation of tech start-ups, challenges and techniques in distribution and marketing, funding options, and connections with the world of education and research. The handbook then explores techno-entrepreneurship as it has manifested in various areas around the world, including China, India, southeast Asia and South America. 

What we get is a sort of map, a road to be followed in order to better understand this unique way of creating a business and a guidebook that serves not so much to understand how to become a techno-entrepreneur, as to better understand who they are and how they work. At 400 pages in length, it’s not exactly light reading, but it is most certainly worth the effort.

Handbook of Research on Techno-Entrepreneurship

Edited by Francois Therin

Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, January 2014

The Rosetta Stone for Enterprise

We talk a lot about “culture of enterprise”, but when it comes right down to it, it’s not a concept that can be properly summed up in just a few words. It’s a bit like the concept of time as seen by Saint Augustine, when he wrote, “What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.” Indeed, it’s already hard enough to explain what “culture” is, so when we add the concept of “enterprise”, what we get is intriguing, but it is difficult to encapsulate in a single definition. Nonetheless, it is this concept of the culture of enterprise on which a great many ideas in the fields of organisation, management and consulting are based.

In “Theory vs. Practice: A Study of Business Consultants and Their Utilization of Corporate Culture in Daily Practice”, Kathy Brady and William Lowell (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) have sought to tackle the issue beginning with practical experience and then adding a dose of theory. Their study is based on an empirical survey of business consultants and business leaders in order to better understand the broad concept of “corporate culture”.  An analysis of the data gathered then showed that, despite making an intensive use of corporate culture in their jobs, not only did the consultants and business leaders surveyed not all give the same definition of corporate culture, the definitions they did give varied a great deal. For some, corporate culture is to be found in the leadership of an organisation and their ability to make employees feel involved in the organisation and its growth, to motivate them and to take a positive, constructive approach both to work and to life. For others, true corporate culture lies in the employees themselves and in how much they feel like they are each a part of a bigger whole, in the approach they take to those outside the organisation, and in the (written and unwritten) rules and restrictions that are adopted. Others said that corporate culture is to be found in the company’s “mission”, in the manner in which they develop their business, in their systems for developing people, and much more.

In the end, the authors come to a tentative definition: “Like a modern Rosetta stone, corporate culture resides in the behavioural symbols of an organization.”

One thing can be said for “Theory vs. Practice”: it’s an interesting exploration of something that is like time to Saint Augustine. We all know what it is, but no one knows how to explain it well.

Theory vs. Practice: A Study of Business Consultants and Their Utilization of Corporate Culture in Daily Practice 

Kathy Brady, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 

William Lowell, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater  Journal of Practical Consulting, Vol. 5 Iss. 1, 2014

We talk a lot about “culture of enterprise”, but when it comes right down to it, it’s not a concept that can be properly summed up in just a few words. It’s a bit like the concept of time as seen by Saint Augustine, when he wrote, “What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.” Indeed, it’s already hard enough to explain what “culture” is, so when we add the concept of “enterprise”, what we get is intriguing, but it is difficult to encapsulate in a single definition. Nonetheless, it is this concept of the culture of enterprise on which a great many ideas in the fields of organisation, management and consulting are based.

In “Theory vs. Practice: A Study of Business Consultants and Their Utilization of Corporate Culture in Daily Practice”, Kathy Brady and William Lowell (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) have sought to tackle the issue beginning with practical experience and then adding a dose of theory. Their study is based on an empirical survey of business consultants and business leaders in order to better understand the broad concept of “corporate culture”.  An analysis of the data gathered then showed that, despite making an intensive use of corporate culture in their jobs, not only did the consultants and business leaders surveyed not all give the same definition of corporate culture, the definitions they did give varied a great deal. For some, corporate culture is to be found in the leadership of an organisation and their ability to make employees feel involved in the organisation and its growth, to motivate them and to take a positive, constructive approach both to work and to life. For others, true corporate culture lies in the employees themselves and in how much they feel like they are each a part of a bigger whole, in the approach they take to those outside the organisation, and in the (written and unwritten) rules and restrictions that are adopted. Others said that corporate culture is to be found in the company’s “mission”, in the manner in which they develop their business, in their systems for developing people, and much more.

In the end, the authors come to a tentative definition: “Like a modern Rosetta stone, corporate culture resides in the behavioural symbols of an organization.”

One thing can be said for “Theory vs. Practice”: it’s an interesting exploration of something that is like time to Saint Augustine. We all know what it is, but no one knows how to explain it well.

Theory vs. Practice: A Study of Business Consultants and Their Utilization of Corporate Culture in Daily Practice 

Kathy Brady, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 

William Lowell, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater  Journal of Practical Consulting, Vol. 5 Iss. 1, 2014

Businesses seek skills that few individuals possess, so one highly pragmatic solution to this problem is to do the training in-house.

Businesses seek skills that few individuals possess, so one highly pragmatic solution to this problem is to do the training in-house. A popular trend in the US in this regard, and one that is now on the rise in Italy, is the “corporate university”.

The latest statistics published in the 2014 report of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which show that the economic recovery that is currently under way is failing to create new jobs quickly, further reiterate the gap that exists between education (both universities and vocational schools) and the job market (source: Il Sole24Ore, 21 January). Entitled “Global Employment Trends 2014: The risk of a jobless recovery”, the report clearly points to an increase in unemployment throughout the world. In Italy, the situation is expected to remain critical for quite some time to come, with unemployment having risen from 10.7% in 2012 to 12.2% in 2013, a figure which is expected to climb to 12.6% in 2014 and to 12.7% by 2015. In 2007, before the worst of the Great Crisis, unemployment was at just 6.1%. Jobs are being lost, as are professional skills, as both service and manufacturing firms close their doors, and with them opportunities are disappearing for large part of the young people who are now entering the job market. 

In recent years, many paradigms of business have undergone radical change (as lifestyles and consumption habits have changed in response to the crisis), but education and other strategies for adapting to the job market have not kept up with this change. This is not only a matter of culture, but also reflects a lack of investment. According to the ILO, OECD nations should be allocating at least 1.1% of GDP to funding efforts to better match supply and demand in the job market, whereas the average is currently at just 0.6% (with the exception of several nations in northern Europe, namely Germany, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Belgium, Finland and Denmark, which all surpass the minimum threshold recommended by the ILO). In short, there is a lack of education, a lack of skills, and no jobs.

The figures published by the ILO, backed by a study presented by McKinsey & Company in Brussels in January (including an introduction that bore the heading “Europe’s rocky journey from education to employment”), also confirm the alarming fact that Italy is actually lagging behind the rest of the EU nations studied, with 47% of all businesses stating that they are unable to find the skills they need. In other words, nearly half of all businesses are unable to grow at the pace they would like due to a lack of workers, a lack of education and specific skills, and a lack of the tools that are in demand among the businesses that are wanting to hire (for example, just 23% of Italians looking for work possess English skills at the level needed by potential employers).

The situation in Italy is critical precisely in this “knowledge economy” in which human capital and advanced skills are the leading means of staying competitive. Measures being implemented by the Italian government (based on EU recommendations) to promote career training and internships are an initial response to help close this gap, but it is closing all too slowly. 

As such, businesses are taking matters into their own hands in the form of the corporate university, an innovative educational tool to create better jobs which has two goals: to train new hires and to provide lifelong education for middle and upper management in order to keep pace with changes in processes, products and the marketplace. Already common in the US (there were already more than 1,000 corporate universities in 1997, and the number is expected to reach 4,000 by 2015), the phenomenon is now on the rise in Italy, where Assoknowledge (an association within Confindustria) estimates there are already 39 corporate universities within organisations both large (e.g. Eni, Enel, Pirelli, Ferrero, Barilla, Generali and others) and not so large, such as the automotive firm Landi Renzo and the engineering firm Lombardini.

And what do they teach? Both technical subjects related strictly to production and more generalised topics that include leadership, problem-solving, team-building, communication, economics, safety, and even environmental issues. In other words, strategies for enhancing the culture of enterprise and for providing employees with both skills related to production processes and, above all, skills needed in order to face today’s rapidly changing world – the ability to deal with complexity and to put decisions into action in an organisation’s various business processes. 

Within Pirelli’s school of management and our professional academies (in which most of the training is handled in-house after having “trained the trainers”), both skilled blue-collar workers and for up-and-coming managers receive training that focuses on quality and safety, production processes, the supply chain, finance, management and operations, as well as on topics such as “driving change”, diversity management (which is crucial in a large multinational organisation), leadership, creating value, and the values that Pirelli has taken on over the course of the organisation’s long history and gradually adapted to the changing times. The Pirelli experience is unique among corporate universities, such that it has become one of the benchmarks in the open discussion taking place within Confindustria concerning how to innovate in education in order to meet the needs of today’s businesses.

The message is clear. Memory and a constant quest for innovation in both culture and technology. Training people and giving them the tools they need to get by in a new world. And isn’t that what education is all about?  

Businesses seek skills that few individuals possess, so one highly pragmatic solution to this problem is to do the training in-house. A popular trend in the US in this regard, and one that is now on the rise in Italy, is the “corporate university”.

The latest statistics published in the 2014 report of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which show that the economic recovery that is currently under way is failing to create new jobs quickly, further reiterate the gap that exists between education (both universities and vocational schools) and the job market (source: Il Sole24Ore, 21 January). Entitled “Global Employment Trends 2014: The risk of a jobless recovery”, the report clearly points to an increase in unemployment throughout the world. In Italy, the situation is expected to remain critical for quite some time to come, with unemployment having risen from 10.7% in 2012 to 12.2% in 2013, a figure which is expected to climb to 12.6% in 2014 and to 12.7% by 2015. In 2007, before the worst of the Great Crisis, unemployment was at just 6.1%. Jobs are being lost, as are professional skills, as both service and manufacturing firms close their doors, and with them opportunities are disappearing for large part of the young people who are now entering the job market. 

In recent years, many paradigms of business have undergone radical change (as lifestyles and consumption habits have changed in response to the crisis), but education and other strategies for adapting to the job market have not kept up with this change. This is not only a matter of culture, but also reflects a lack of investment. According to the ILO, OECD nations should be allocating at least 1.1% of GDP to funding efforts to better match supply and demand in the job market, whereas the average is currently at just 0.6% (with the exception of several nations in northern Europe, namely Germany, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Belgium, Finland and Denmark, which all surpass the minimum threshold recommended by the ILO). In short, there is a lack of education, a lack of skills, and no jobs.

The figures published by the ILO, backed by a study presented by McKinsey & Company in Brussels in January (including an introduction that bore the heading “Europe’s rocky journey from education to employment”), also confirm the alarming fact that Italy is actually lagging behind the rest of the EU nations studied, with 47% of all businesses stating that they are unable to find the skills they need. In other words, nearly half of all businesses are unable to grow at the pace they would like due to a lack of workers, a lack of education and specific skills, and a lack of the tools that are in demand among the businesses that are wanting to hire (for example, just 23% of Italians looking for work possess English skills at the level needed by potential employers).

The situation in Italy is critical precisely in this “knowledge economy” in which human capital and advanced skills are the leading means of staying competitive. Measures being implemented by the Italian government (based on EU recommendations) to promote career training and internships are an initial response to help close this gap, but it is closing all too slowly. 

As such, businesses are taking matters into their own hands in the form of the corporate university, an innovative educational tool to create better jobs which has two goals: to train new hires and to provide lifelong education for middle and upper management in order to keep pace with changes in processes, products and the marketplace. Already common in the US (there were already more than 1,000 corporate universities in 1997, and the number is expected to reach 4,000 by 2015), the phenomenon is now on the rise in Italy, where Assoknowledge (an association within Confindustria) estimates there are already 39 corporate universities within organisations both large (e.g. Eni, Enel, Pirelli, Ferrero, Barilla, Generali and others) and not so large, such as the automotive firm Landi Renzo and the engineering firm Lombardini.

And what do they teach? Both technical subjects related strictly to production and more generalised topics that include leadership, problem-solving, team-building, communication, economics, safety, and even environmental issues. In other words, strategies for enhancing the culture of enterprise and for providing employees with both skills related to production processes and, above all, skills needed in order to face today’s rapidly changing world – the ability to deal with complexity and to put decisions into action in an organisation’s various business processes. 

Within Pirelli’s school of management and our professional academies (in which most of the training is handled in-house after having “trained the trainers”), both skilled blue-collar workers and for up-and-coming managers receive training that focuses on quality and safety, production processes, the supply chain, finance, management and operations, as well as on topics such as “driving change”, diversity management (which is crucial in a large multinational organisation), leadership, creating value, and the values that Pirelli has taken on over the course of the organisation’s long history and gradually adapted to the changing times. The Pirelli experience is unique among corporate universities, such that it has become one of the benchmarks in the open discussion taking place within Confindustria concerning how to innovate in education in order to meet the needs of today’s businesses.

The message is clear. Memory and a constant quest for innovation in both culture and technology. Training people and giving them the tools they need to get by in a new world. And isn’t that what education is all about?  

A roadmap for business

Where are we now? Where do we want to go? For a business, right from the very culture of its organisation, the answers to these two questions are the keys to building an effective strategy for facing both the current crisis and an ongoing economy that will always have its ups and its downs.  Having a clear idea where you are and where you want to go is no easy task.  There is no universal manual to guide you on your way, but what can be helpful—and what is needed to build and develop a sound corporate culture—are explanations of the present context in which your business is currently operating and of the limitations within which you must make business decisions.

Aspenia 63, the latest issue of the international business quarterly of the Aspen Institute Italia, can help in that regard,  starting with one of its cover headlines: “America pacifica. Cina asiatica” (literally: “Pacific America. Asian China”). Indeed, the articles contained in this issue answer the two questions we asked at the beginning: where are we, and where are we going? 

We are provided with a general overview in the editorial by Marta Dassù, entitled “I nuovi punti cardinali” (The new cardinal points), in which she explains that  the world’s two largest economies of the 21st century, the U.S. and China, both overlook the Pacific Ocean, as do many nations that have been posting the highest rates of growth in recent years. Since the 1990s, the ties between the U.S. and China have become so closely intertwined as to border on an actual symbiosis, as strange as that may sound from a political and ideological standpoint. As such, it is essential for all businesses, even if operating in a manner that may appear extraneous to such matters, to understand the current relationship between these two nations, especially because the world is changing and, as described in the editorial, the pull of the Asian giant is now, at least in certain industries, comparable to that of the U.S. This should also be something for Italian manufacturing to ponder, as it is at the centre of stressors, models and other situations that are just as different as those of the U.S. are from China.

Aspenia 63, therefore, offers up ideas for reflection and different maps of our current reality. It’s not a manual of international politics for business people, but it is certainly a sort of journal full of snapshots that will help businesses to find their way.

One of the conclusions readers will come to as they peruse the pages of this issue is that, while the U.S. is implementing its own strategies with a cautious ‘Asian pivot’, China is pursuing its strategies with more of a ‘European pivot’, judging from the level of investment flowing into the continent, and is broadening its horizons even further into Africa and Latin America. These two formations are something that businesses everywhere should pay close attention to. 

Aspenia 63. Dove Est incontra Ovest 

Various contributors.

Aspen Institute Italia, no. 63, January 2014. 

Where are we now? Where do we want to go? For a business, right from the very culture of its organisation, the answers to these two questions are the keys to building an effective strategy for facing both the current crisis and an ongoing economy that will always have its ups and its downs.  Having a clear idea where you are and where you want to go is no easy task.  There is no universal manual to guide you on your way, but what can be helpful—and what is needed to build and develop a sound corporate culture—are explanations of the present context in which your business is currently operating and of the limitations within which you must make business decisions.

Aspenia 63, the latest issue of the international business quarterly of the Aspen Institute Italia, can help in that regard,  starting with one of its cover headlines: “America pacifica. Cina asiatica” (literally: “Pacific America. Asian China”). Indeed, the articles contained in this issue answer the two questions we asked at the beginning: where are we, and where are we going? 

We are provided with a general overview in the editorial by Marta Dassù, entitled “I nuovi punti cardinali” (The new cardinal points), in which she explains that  the world’s two largest economies of the 21st century, the U.S. and China, both overlook the Pacific Ocean, as do many nations that have been posting the highest rates of growth in recent years. Since the 1990s, the ties between the U.S. and China have become so closely intertwined as to border on an actual symbiosis, as strange as that may sound from a political and ideological standpoint. As such, it is essential for all businesses, even if operating in a manner that may appear extraneous to such matters, to understand the current relationship between these two nations, especially because the world is changing and, as described in the editorial, the pull of the Asian giant is now, at least in certain industries, comparable to that of the U.S. This should also be something for Italian manufacturing to ponder, as it is at the centre of stressors, models and other situations that are just as different as those of the U.S. are from China.

Aspenia 63, therefore, offers up ideas for reflection and different maps of our current reality. It’s not a manual of international politics for business people, but it is certainly a sort of journal full of snapshots that will help businesses to find their way.

One of the conclusions readers will come to as they peruse the pages of this issue is that, while the U.S. is implementing its own strategies with a cautious ‘Asian pivot’, China is pursuing its strategies with more of a ‘European pivot’, judging from the level of investment flowing into the continent, and is broadening its horizons even further into Africa and Latin America. These two formations are something that businesses everywhere should pay close attention to. 

Aspenia 63. Dove Est incontra Ovest 

Various contributors.

Aspen Institute Italia, no. 63, January 2014. 

An entrepreneur is born

Nature or nurture? Of course it has at least something to do with the individual, but no entrepreneur is an island. To be successful, it takes context; it takes circumstances, and it takes other men and women. A business is a community, not an individual.

“The entrepreneur’s ‘resource potential’ and the organic square of entrepreneurship: definition and application to the French case”, by Dimitri Uzunidis, Sophie Boutillier and Blandine Laperche (and recently published in the Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship), takes a close look at this intersection of individual potential, conditioning and social opportunity that eventually gives life to an entrepreneur and his business. It makes for an interesting study, one that starts from a specific theory and then looks at a practical case study of businesses in France.

As the authors explain, the purpose of this work is to study the origin of the entrepreneur and the conditions required for success. It all begins with the individual before then seeking to understand what makes up the entrepreneur’s “resource potential”. So one may not be born an entrepreneur, but it does take something in order to get started—a union of knowledge, character, relationships and financial resources. Then comes all the rest—what really brings this potential to the fore and allows it to develop—the socio-economic context that Uzunidis, Boutillier and Laperche describe in an intriguing manner, as the “organic square of entrepreneurship”, i.e. a virtual setting in which the entrepreneur’s potential, the marketplace, the layout of the economy and public policy all come together. Or coming back to our initial idea, even the most talented entrepreneurs can’t do it all on their own.

This is all then “tested” on the French economy and system of enterprise by analysing the practical implications of this theory. Then, through a series of statistical calculations, the authors determine why and how French entrepreneurs come to be and then further develop.

But the work of Uzunidis et al. is also interesting for another idea that it offers. Looking at the conditions needed for an entrepreneur to be born, the authors explain that the more prominent the entrepreneur on the economic scene, the more important these conditions become. One line from the paper is particularly striking: “The entrepreneur is also at the heart of the political debate, his existence and durability being considered as the reason for economic growth.”

The entrepreneur’s ‘resource potential’ and the organic square of entrepreneurship: definition and application to the French case

Dimitri Uzunidis, Sophie Boutillier, Blandine Laperche

Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2014, 3:1

Nature or nurture? Of course it has at least something to do with the individual, but no entrepreneur is an island. To be successful, it takes context; it takes circumstances, and it takes other men and women. A business is a community, not an individual.

“The entrepreneur’s ‘resource potential’ and the organic square of entrepreneurship: definition and application to the French case”, by Dimitri Uzunidis, Sophie Boutillier and Blandine Laperche (and recently published in the Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship), takes a close look at this intersection of individual potential, conditioning and social opportunity that eventually gives life to an entrepreneur and his business. It makes for an interesting study, one that starts from a specific theory and then looks at a practical case study of businesses in France.

As the authors explain, the purpose of this work is to study the origin of the entrepreneur and the conditions required for success. It all begins with the individual before then seeking to understand what makes up the entrepreneur’s “resource potential”. So one may not be born an entrepreneur, but it does take something in order to get started—a union of knowledge, character, relationships and financial resources. Then comes all the rest—what really brings this potential to the fore and allows it to develop—the socio-economic context that Uzunidis, Boutillier and Laperche describe in an intriguing manner, as the “organic square of entrepreneurship”, i.e. a virtual setting in which the entrepreneur’s potential, the marketplace, the layout of the economy and public policy all come together. Or coming back to our initial idea, even the most talented entrepreneurs can’t do it all on their own.

This is all then “tested” on the French economy and system of enterprise by analysing the practical implications of this theory. Then, through a series of statistical calculations, the authors determine why and how French entrepreneurs come to be and then further develop.

But the work of Uzunidis et al. is also interesting for another idea that it offers. Looking at the conditions needed for an entrepreneur to be born, the authors explain that the more prominent the entrepreneur on the economic scene, the more important these conditions become. One line from the paper is particularly striking: “The entrepreneur is also at the heart of the political debate, his existence and durability being considered as the reason for economic growth.”

The entrepreneur’s ‘resource potential’ and the organic square of entrepreneurship: definition and application to the French case

Dimitri Uzunidis, Sophie Boutillier, Blandine Laperche

Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2014, 3:1

Lawfulness means greater competitiveness: the courts push for social responsibility

Lawfulness is a key asset in the competitiveness of a nation, an essential tool in both social and economic development, as reiterated by the Bank of Italy’s director general, Salvatore Rossi. It is a principle of sound democracy and in the relationship between a government and its citizenry, but it is also a condition for fair competition in business and for a positive culture in a transparent, well-regulated marketplace. This is why Assolombarda insists on lawfulness as a cornerstone of projects to drive the Milan area forward (“far volare Milano”, literally: to make Milan fly) and to make the metropolitan area a driver of innovation and economic growth for all of Italy.  Lawfulness as a means of achieving efficiency and efficacy in the justice system and as a means of combatting organised crime.

Presented on 18 January by court president Livia Pomodoro, the 2013 social responsibility report of the Milan Tribunal has a fitting title, “Fare giustizia” (literally: Doing justice), and equally fitting photo of a construction site on its cover, symbolising the attitude typical of Milan of being constantly under construction on a quest to continue improving. Inside, the report speaks to the relationship between the workings of justice and the attractiveness, competitiveness and the quality of life and of the job market in a given area, while also emphasising the open dialog between the courts, the other institutions and all of the various stakeholders (e.g. associations, businesses, unions and social partners in general) and looking at the performance of the Milan justice machine as compared to the Italian average, as well as to the justice systems in other countries where things work better than here.

Take, for example, the time it takes to settle a civil dispute in a Milan court of first instance: 296 days, 60 more than the average of 238 for all OECD countries, but still well below the Italian average of 564 days. Greater efficiency, but still not enough according to the court’s social responsibility report. Efficacy is to be improved, as well, with sentencing needing to be not only faster, but also able to actually ensure that justice is done. Much has been done in Milan to computerise processes, to promote the settling of disputes out of court, to work through the backlog of cases, and to improve the efficiency of the corporate-law court system, but there is still much that needs to be done. Everybody knows it, and businesses and industry associations are ready to lend a hand and to contribute their ideas.

There is also another area in which Assolombarda is focusing its efforts concerning lawfulness. The association has launched a series of initiatives to protect businesses from the unfair competition coming from organised crime and has declared (in Corriere della Sera on 11 January) its support for the anti-mafia efforts of the Milan public prosecutor’s office and their investigations into the perverse relationship between the organised-crime families of the ‘Ndrangheta and unscrupulous business people looking for illegal shortcuts in business.

Competition is a cornerstone of any good culture of enterprise, so long as that competition is open, follows the rules, and is played out in line with the underlying principles of a fair market, i.e. good quality, the best price, the most innovative product, and the most efficient service. This is nothing like what happens in a mafia-run business, where many other elements come into play, such as: violence in dealing with competitors and strong-arming suppliers; bribing public officials; misrepresentation in employee relations and relations based on threats and the frequent use of “off-book” workers; tax evasion; and “black-market” lending of laundered money that is easy to obtain and comes at a very low cost. “The mafia gives bread and death,” penned a courageous newspaper, L’Ora, in 1958 for the first of its documented major inquiries into organised crime: the bread of a broken, distorted economy, and death for those who don’t fall in line.

Despite successful court investigations, criminal trials and various preventive measures, organised crime continues to taint Italy’s economic fabric, and not only in the south (in regions like Sicily, Calabria, Campania and parts of Puglia), but also in the metropolitan areas of northern Italy where most of the nation’s wealth is concentrated (“The ‘palm-tree line’ is moving north,” Leonardo Sciascia famously warned), and in Milan this could even threaten the work being done for Expo2015, as well as other major investments and public works that mafia families have had their eye on for some time. As such, authorities were right to sound the alarm and take preventive measures against the rise of organised crime, and these are efforts that should continue and be further strengthened beyond the standard bureaucratic obligations of anti-mafia certification.

It would also be wise for businesses and industry associations to work hard to increase awareness of these issues throughout enterprise. In times of crisis, some may well be tempted to accept an offer of help coming, directly or indirectly, from a mafia boss or family in the form of easy credit from outside the banking system or the silencing of a tough competitor or aggressive trade union. As Assolombarda has clearly stated, shortcuts will not be tolerated, and shortcuts can be dangerous. Working with the mob is like heading down a blind alley. Once you’re in, there’s no way out, and the unscrupulous businessman has no choice but to support the interests of the mafia and, often, to lose everything he has. “Bread and death” indeed.

Lawfulness is a key asset in the competitiveness of a nation, an essential tool in both social and economic development, as reiterated by the Bank of Italy’s director general, Salvatore Rossi. It is a principle of sound democracy and in the relationship between a government and its citizenry, but it is also a condition for fair competition in business and for a positive culture in a transparent, well-regulated marketplace. This is why Assolombarda insists on lawfulness as a cornerstone of projects to drive the Milan area forward (“far volare Milano”, literally: to make Milan fly) and to make the metropolitan area a driver of innovation and economic growth for all of Italy.  Lawfulness as a means of achieving efficiency and efficacy in the justice system and as a means of combatting organised crime.

Presented on 18 January by court president Livia Pomodoro, the 2013 social responsibility report of the Milan Tribunal has a fitting title, “Fare giustizia” (literally: Doing justice), and equally fitting photo of a construction site on its cover, symbolising the attitude typical of Milan of being constantly under construction on a quest to continue improving. Inside, the report speaks to the relationship between the workings of justice and the attractiveness, competitiveness and the quality of life and of the job market in a given area, while also emphasising the open dialog between the courts, the other institutions and all of the various stakeholders (e.g. associations, businesses, unions and social partners in general) and looking at the performance of the Milan justice machine as compared to the Italian average, as well as to the justice systems in other countries where things work better than here.

Take, for example, the time it takes to settle a civil dispute in a Milan court of first instance: 296 days, 60 more than the average of 238 for all OECD countries, but still well below the Italian average of 564 days. Greater efficiency, but still not enough according to the court’s social responsibility report. Efficacy is to be improved, as well, with sentencing needing to be not only faster, but also able to actually ensure that justice is done. Much has been done in Milan to computerise processes, to promote the settling of disputes out of court, to work through the backlog of cases, and to improve the efficiency of the corporate-law court system, but there is still much that needs to be done. Everybody knows it, and businesses and industry associations are ready to lend a hand and to contribute their ideas.

There is also another area in which Assolombarda is focusing its efforts concerning lawfulness. The association has launched a series of initiatives to protect businesses from the unfair competition coming from organised crime and has declared (in Corriere della Sera on 11 January) its support for the anti-mafia efforts of the Milan public prosecutor’s office and their investigations into the perverse relationship between the organised-crime families of the ‘Ndrangheta and unscrupulous business people looking for illegal shortcuts in business.

Competition is a cornerstone of any good culture of enterprise, so long as that competition is open, follows the rules, and is played out in line with the underlying principles of a fair market, i.e. good quality, the best price, the most innovative product, and the most efficient service. This is nothing like what happens in a mafia-run business, where many other elements come into play, such as: violence in dealing with competitors and strong-arming suppliers; bribing public officials; misrepresentation in employee relations and relations based on threats and the frequent use of “off-book” workers; tax evasion; and “black-market” lending of laundered money that is easy to obtain and comes at a very low cost. “The mafia gives bread and death,” penned a courageous newspaper, L’Ora, in 1958 for the first of its documented major inquiries into organised crime: the bread of a broken, distorted economy, and death for those who don’t fall in line.

Despite successful court investigations, criminal trials and various preventive measures, organised crime continues to taint Italy’s economic fabric, and not only in the south (in regions like Sicily, Calabria, Campania and parts of Puglia), but also in the metropolitan areas of northern Italy where most of the nation’s wealth is concentrated (“The ‘palm-tree line’ is moving north,” Leonardo Sciascia famously warned), and in Milan this could even threaten the work being done for Expo2015, as well as other major investments and public works that mafia families have had their eye on for some time. As such, authorities were right to sound the alarm and take preventive measures against the rise of organised crime, and these are efforts that should continue and be further strengthened beyond the standard bureaucratic obligations of anti-mafia certification.

It would also be wise for businesses and industry associations to work hard to increase awareness of these issues throughout enterprise. In times of crisis, some may well be tempted to accept an offer of help coming, directly or indirectly, from a mafia boss or family in the form of easy credit from outside the banking system or the silencing of a tough competitor or aggressive trade union. As Assolombarda has clearly stated, shortcuts will not be tolerated, and shortcuts can be dangerous. Working with the mob is like heading down a blind alley. Once you’re in, there’s no way out, and the unscrupulous businessman has no choice but to support the interests of the mafia and, often, to lose everything he has. “Bread and death” indeed.

Telling of the joys and challenges of doing business

Even a business has a story to tell. There are plenty of examples, both good and bad, which makes storytelling in business a delicate matter. It’s all too easy to slip into the mundane or get stuck in the “sap”. Nonetheless, there are a great many stories of business that are well told, but we need a guidebook or tested approach to put us on the right path, and “Narrativa d’impresa. Per essere ed essere visti&rdqurdquo; (Business storytelling. Being and being seen), edited by Maurizio Matrone and Davide Pinardi for Franco Angeli, is just the thing.

With 240 pages chock full of examples, the book takes a systematic look at stories in business and starts from an underlying observation: for businesses, organisations and any other community of individuals in need of a unifying ethic, storytelling is indispensable. This collection of stories demonstrates at least two purposes of storytelling, that of telling stories in order “to be” and “to be seen”, because it is from the story of a business that the organisation gets its culture and its very awareness of existing, and it is that same story that determines how the company is to be seen by the outside world.

So storytelling is a powerful tool in business, but it is also a dangerous one to be wielded with care because, as mentioned at the beginning, it can run out of control and thereby misshape, deceive, distract and lead to ruin. 

Edited by Matrone (author, training consultant and expert in business storytelling) and Pinardi (author and professor of Narration Techniques at Politecnico di Milano), the work offers up both case studies and theory surrounding topics such as self-telling, brand-telling, story-selling, the “business novel”, and telling a good business story. It includes both concepts and practical tools, as well as a wealth of contributions by consultants, trainers, business owners and other experts in business storytelling, all to be enjoyed like a good novel, a movie or epic poetry. It’s got it all, from the great classics of manufacturing to contemporary stories of technology and healthcare. There are stories of Polenghi and Cartier, Barilla and Guinness, and even Pirelli, Fiat, General Electric, Westinghouse, Ford, Edison and ENI.

“Narrativa d’impresa” is a book to be read from cover to cover, as all great stories of production and productivity should be.

Narrativa d’impresa. Per essere ed essere visti

Maurizio Matrone, Davide Pinardi

Franco Angeli, 2013.

Even a business has a story to tell. There are plenty of examples, both good and bad, which makes storytelling in business a delicate matter. It’s all too easy to slip into the mundane or get stuck in the “sap”. Nonetheless, there are a great many stories of business that are well told, but we need a guidebook or tested approach to put us on the right path, and “Narrativa d’impresa. Per essere ed essere visti&rdqurdquo; (Business storytelling. Being and being seen), edited by Maurizio Matrone and Davide Pinardi for Franco Angeli, is just the thing.

With 240 pages chock full of examples, the book takes a systematic look at stories in business and starts from an underlying observation: for businesses, organisations and any other community of individuals in need of a unifying ethic, storytelling is indispensable. This collection of stories demonstrates at least two purposes of storytelling, that of telling stories in order “to be” and “to be seen”, because it is from the story of a business that the organisation gets its culture and its very awareness of existing, and it is that same story that determines how the company is to be seen by the outside world.

So storytelling is a powerful tool in business, but it is also a dangerous one to be wielded with care because, as mentioned at the beginning, it can run out of control and thereby misshape, deceive, distract and lead to ruin. 

Edited by Matrone (author, training consultant and expert in business storytelling) and Pinardi (author and professor of Narration Techniques at Politecnico di Milano), the work offers up both case studies and theory surrounding topics such as self-telling, brand-telling, story-selling, the “business novel”, and telling a good business story. It includes both concepts and practical tools, as well as a wealth of contributions by consultants, trainers, business owners and other experts in business storytelling, all to be enjoyed like a good novel, a movie or epic poetry. It’s got it all, from the great classics of manufacturing to contemporary stories of technology and healthcare. There are stories of Polenghi and Cartier, Barilla and Guinness, and even Pirelli, Fiat, General Electric, Westinghouse, Ford, Edison and ENI.

“Narrativa d’impresa” is a book to be read from cover to cover, as all great stories of production and productivity should be.

Narrativa d’impresa. Per essere ed essere visti

Maurizio Matrone, Davide Pinardi

Franco Angeli, 2013.

Sign up for the newsletter