A recently published book analyses the close bonds between human factor and technological innovation

Individuals above all, even in an era that seems to be ruled by the digital transformation of production (and in many cases also of our individual lives) – indeed, at the end of each “corporate story”, we find what is technically termed the “human factor”: women, men, young people, elderly people who always succeed, despite all, in having the last word. It should be clarified that this is not about whether technology – or humanity – will triumph at all costs, it is about something different, something more complex and pervasive, and understanding this self-contradictory yet real mix of conditions is key to fully comprehend where an enterprises is headed (and which tools we should use to steer it in our chosen direction). It is around this critical knot of issues that the research by Tatiana Mazali (sociologist specialised in cultural and communication processes), Paolo Neirotti (engineer specialised in strategy and organisation) and Giuseppe Scellato (economist) revolves around, outlined in their collaboratively written book L’impresa competente. Scelte manageriali, lavoro e innovazione digitale (Competent enterprises. Managerial choices, employment and digital innovation).

Their work starts by acknowledging the complexity of the ongoing transformation, termed the Fourth industrial revolution, a little-studied phenomenon as yet, in which, together with current hyper technologies, the human factor continues to play a determining part. The human ability to promote or hinder innovation is the notion underlying Mazali, Neirotti and Scellato’s reasoning, who tackle the topic by combining conclusions from the fields of sociology, organisational studies and the innovation economy.

At its heart, then, we find people who rise up thanks to their skills, experience, attitudes, life stories, future aspirations. The authors address this set of themes by condensing years of analysis and, above all, by looking at the results of field research that investigated the current relationships between technologies and skills.

The book, just over 150 pages, begins by giving a snapshot of the ongoing transformation and is then subdivided into three main sections: corporate digital investments and required skills, how such skills are changing, and an analysis of the relation between innovation, training and organisation, and also comprises various significant accounts from actual companies (of every type and size), which enhance and round off their theory.

Mazali, Neirotti and Scellato’s work (masterfully edited by Annalisa Magone), comprehensively tackles a complex and constantly evolving topic, and does so by including some pointers useful to understand it and, above all, by providing a toolbox that readers will be able to use once they reach the end.

L’impresa competente. Scelte manageriali, lavoro e innovazione digitale (Competent enterprises. Managerial choices, employment and digital innovation)

Tatiana Mazali, Paolo Neirotti, Giuseppe Scellato

Marsilio, 2023

An article summarises the significant relations between elements that are only seemingly different in production organisations

We need to grasp the true meaning of enterprise from the people who embody it and bring it to life – it is a matter of culture and of its consequent approach. It is also a theme that must be shaped by the context in which an enterprise is founded and grows, by the wider culture in which we live, by the territory, its history and the people who inhabit it.  The relationships between culture, people and enterprise are complex ones, and thus must be properly comprehended – and indeed, Emmanuel Adeyemi’s recently published article, entitled “Culture, Gender, and Business”, attempts to do just that. An article that, as stated by the author, emphasises the significance of “understanding how these factors intersect and influence various aspects of the business world, including organisational practices, leadership styles, workplace dynamics and economic outcomes.”

Adeyemi then goes on to explore how cultural factors shape gender roles, expectations and opportunities within a workplace environment and discusses the implications engendered by cultural influences on the overall participation, progress and experience of women in the business world. The paper is structured into three key parts: the first examines cultural and corporate cases in countries such as China, India, Israel and Japan; the second touches upon the relationships between doing business and religion; the third analyses gender issues in production organisations.

Understanding how culture, gender and enterprise interact, concludes Emmanuel Adeyemi, is essential not only to promote inclusive and diverse workplaces, but also because organisations that embrace cultural diversity and gender equality, he asserts, “tend to exhibit greater creativity, innovation, and adaptability. They also benefit from increased employee satisfaction, improved decision-making processes, and enhanced financial performance.”

Emmanuel Adeyemi’s analysis has the merit to summarise in only a few, clear pages a complex and constantly evolving topic – one that companies really need to recognise and that can radically change the whole production culture.

Culture, Gender, and Business

Adeyemi Emmanuel

M.A History and Strategic Studies, University of Lagos, Akoka.

The history of the bond between Pirelli and Indonesia has been over a century in the making. It was in the early years of the twentieth century that the Milan-based company began purchasing hectares of land with rubber-tree plantations in South-East Asia. The company was certainly proud of these acquisitions, as we can see in a poster meticulously drawn in India ink in 1922, which shows all the properties – including production sites and sales offices, as well as plantations – that it had acquired in its first fifty years of operation. The plantations were also photographed by Girolamo Bombelli, whose images of Indonesia are gathered together in two albums now in our Historical Archive. Even then, these snapshots evoked pride and care also in the production of the raw material. In 1963, the plantations became the subjects of another photo shoot, this time by Fulvio Roiter, for Pirelli magazine. And it could hardly have been otherwise, since natural rubber has always been an ingredient of primary importance for the production of Pirelli’s tyres. From the time the business was set up, Pirelli engineers have travelled the world in search of the best rubber plantations. Their quest has focused primarily on quality, combined with care for the environment and sustainability throughout the entire life cycle of the product. And it includes respect for people. This has always been a hallmark of Pirelli’s approach and one that is implemented in every country where the company operates.

This commitment to sustainability is as true as ever in Indonesia, starting with the training of the farmers who grow and tap the rubber trees. These farmers have a complex and delicate task, and they are the first link in a quality chain that culminates in the production of tyres. Today Pirelli purchases natural rubber from companies that act as processors, which is to say they buy raw natural rubber directly from farmers and then process it for industrial use. Notably, in 2014, Pirelli entered into a partnership with Kirana Megatara, a company that owns approximately 18% of the natural rubber market in Indonesia. This partnership extends well beyond commercial interactions, for the extra ingredient is corporate social responsibility. The two companies actively engage in sustainability initiatives that help the local farmers and their families, including aspects such as training and the right to education. Scholarships are awarded each year to the children of these farmers, helping them in their intellectual and professional development, and the company’s attention focuses constantly on the environmental impacts of the plantations. All of this without neglecting moments of corporate cohesion, as in the tapping competition – a exciting contest between skilled rubber tree tappers, which not only fosters a sense of competition but also imparts vital knowledge about optimal cultivation and tapping techniques, which are essential for obtaining an ever-purer product.

But there is more to Pirelli’s experience in Indonesia than the production of this raw material of true excellence. Since April 2012, a joint venture with Astra Otoparts has led to the production of motorcycle tyres destined for the Southeast Asian market, making a significant contribution to the worldwide production of Long P tyres.

And then, on 28 October 2021, a three-year project was launched in the Indonesian forest of Hutan Harapan, in collaboration with the BMW Group and BirdLife International. This initiative includes activities to support local communities, forest conservation and the protection of endangered animal species.

Efficiency and sustainability serve as levers of competitiveness, as well as being the foundations of a culture that keeps a watchful eye on every aspect of industrial production. Pirelli in Indonesia clearly proves this.

A new contribution by Aldo Bonomi helps us better understand the relation between society and economy

Districts at first, then complex territories, and now “urban bioregions”. In an attempt to explain past and current territorial transformations, the more attentive observers have developed models able to clarify and rationalise the social and economic shifts engendering them. An exercise that is not purely theoretical but also practical, and useful to those entrepreneurs or managers who, every day, have to deal (or clash) with what is happening outside (as well as inside) factories and offices.

Readers who want to better understand these changes must tackle the tangled issues underlying them, and as such will appreciate one of Aldo Bonomi’s latest analyses – “Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane” (“From social districts to urban bioregions”) – which begins by looking at the microcosms identified a few years ago, their turning into districts, and their latest incarnation as “bioregions”.

First of all, Bonomi explores the concept of ‘district’ – as well as the perhaps excessive use of the term – and then relates it to the advent of welfare as the most recent model that may be able to develop and meet the complex issues generally affecting economy and society. Thus, ‘district’ is identified not only as a physical location but also as a space in which to “mindfully organise shared aspirations” through a full understanding of the importance of the humanist criteria to be implemented. Indeed, in Bonomi’s analysis concepts such as that of subsidiarity and “community intelligence’ are very pertinent in determining the features that distinguish districts.

And, from districts, he goes on to territorial platforms focused on production and “value extraction”. Theories that, as Bonomi writes, are constantly compared against “actual on-site experience”, which may also engender “juxtaposing elements taking the shape of co-optation”.

Clearly a very intricate phenomenon where ‘territories’ are to be intended as “common property and social capital” and as such, just as districts, they only come alive when they’re listened to, through the presence of specialised stakeholders and distinguishing sites, and the introduction of specific implementation plans. All factors that, as Bonomi emphasises, are increasingly more marked and driven by social ethics – social ethics placed amongst welfare, production and politics, with the potential of turning into a positive challenge for all, including good corporate culture.

Aldo Bonomi’s writings are always rather demanding, yet equally useful and significant.

Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane (“From social districts to urban bioregions”)

Aldo Bonomi

UP Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (DOI 10.36253/fup_best_practice)

Aldo Bonomi, Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane, pp. 115-127, 2023

A recently published book summarises principles and guidelines to enhance human capitals in enterprises

Enterprises that exist not only for profit but also as agents of social development, as opposed to “exploitative” enterprises devoted to increase their own budget rather than the balanced development of an economic and social system. These are still the two extremes in today’s debate on the role of enterprises, their functions and the impact they can have – a real matter of corporate culture bent on social responsibility or reduced to mere management strategy.

The recently published Il capitale umano in azienda. Prospettive di valore e modelli di riferimento (Human capital in companies. Prospective values and reference models), collaboratively written by Paolo Ceruzzi, Enrico Sorano, Alberto Sardi and Francesco Natalini, provides a significant contribution to the debate by bringing some clarity to this complex topic.

The volume – a little more than 130 pages – begins by looking at Pope Francis’s criticism of an economic system based on profit, which he defined as a ‘voracious model’. Indeed, according to the Pope, the precarious conditions of our country are mainly due to an economic model that we have been following for too long a time, profit-oriented and short-sighted, based on the delusion of an infinite financial growth – a system that can also be defined as disastrous.

A denunciation of corporate models contradicting those others that, on the other hand, nurture the improvement of social, environmental and economic wealth and well-being of both enterprises and society in the long run.

Thus, this book acts as a kind of guide leading readers to understand that enterprises and corporate practices focused on the creation of corporate models whose aim is the improvement of the wealth and well-being of workers will, in turn, engender the improvement of economic, social and environmental wealth and well-being.

As such, this is a work that provides readers with the expert tools required to comprehend and implement corporate approaches different than those merely focused on making a good profit.

Il capitale umano in azienda. Prospettive di valore e modelli di riferimento (Human capital in companies. Prospective values and reference models)

Paolo Ceruzzi, Enrico Sorano, Alberto Sardi, Francesco Natalini

Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2023

“A civic economy,” called it Italian President Sergio Mattarella, referring to entrepreneurial association Confindustria’s Assembly, distinguished by an exemplary title: “Impresa, lavoro e democrazia: la strada della Costituzione” (Enterprise, work and democracy: the road to the Constitution”) and convened on a symbolic date, 15 September, the “International Day of Democracy”. He then went on to explain the origins of the civic economy, found in the writings of Neapolitan Enlightenment philosopher Antonio Genovesi, the first person in Europe to hold a Chair in Economics, in 1754.

The civic economy. An economy founded on the notion that the market could contribute to the creation of a freer and more egalitarian world (indeed, Adam Smith saw Genovesi as his master and inspiration) and enhance the value of people – a “relational system built for reciprocity”, informed by both individual interest and social solidarity, with the market as its central space and the common good and civic virtues as its key referents.

This is the meaning of the quote chosen by Mattarella, further corroborated by mentions of other great intellectuals and economists from Italian history (such as Carlo Cattaneo and Luigi Einaudi), in the awareness that “the market, enterprises and economics are in themselves also spaces for friendship, reciprocity, gratuitousness, fraternity” and that therefore “economy is civic in nature and market means communal life, and both are ruled by the same basic law: mutual assistance.”

In his keynote speech, the president of Confindustria Carlo Bonomi defined enterprises as “democratic spaces in which values related to the greater good and social responsibility must concretely unfold, just as it happened during those really tough months of the pandemic” and advocated for an “inclusive” employment market actually enforcing the right to work, especially in terms of women and young people. These sentiments were echoed by the Italian President: “All this leads to the awareness that living spaces, as well as the people and citizens who inhabit them, play an essential role in our aim to attain social cohesion, freedom, rights and democracy in Italy.”

President Mattarella’s address to entrepreneurs was clearly informed by the Italian Constitution, utilitarian ethics and corporate social responsibility, as well as the basic bonds between freedom, economic development and social inclusion. And indeed, he also alluded to another Neapolitan Enlightenment philosopher, the abbot Ferdinando Galiani, admired by French Encyclopedists such as Diderot, Montesquieu and Voltaire: “Tyranny is a government in which only a few are happy at the expense and to the detriment of all the rest, who become unhappy.”

President Mattarella wove the term “happiness” into his speech to the entrepreneurs just as he did in another recent address he made on 25 August at the “Meeting per l’amicizia tra i popoli” (“Meeting for friendship among peoples”) in Rimini. Here it is: “Public debate often mentions the ‘right to happiness’, together with the rights to life and freedom, as in the American Declaration of Independence of 4 July 1776. It is interesting to notice the influence of Italian thinkers on that document. In fact, it was philosopher Gaetano Filangieri who, in an exchange with Benjamin Franklin, suggested replacing the expression “right to property” with “right to happiness”.

Mattarella reiterated that, “We do not have an equivalent definition in the Italian Constitution. Yet, there is little doubt that the Constitution comprises a number of rights, as well as demands of Italy to undertake beneficial actions leading to the achievement of the conditions that make life fulfilling; without presuming, of course, that happiness can be a permanent condition, as life will inevitably bring tribulations at times.”

Genovesi, Galiani, Filangieri – why are they the focus of so much attention? The Neapolitan Enlightenment era, in the middle of the 16th century, was one of the most fertile periods for economics and civic doctrines in Italian history and its impact is international. It harmonised with the thoughts of Milanese philosophers, associated with Il Caffè magazine published by brothers Pietro and Alessandro Verri, as well as with Cesare Beccaria’s teachings, which rejected the death penalty and revolved around the relationships between rights, duties, freedom and responsibility. It represented a peak in the ideology that bound political and social reformism to the needs of economic and social development, preaching governance through good laws and policies and the creation of a solid “social capital” to stimulate a more equitable and balanced progress.

Rereading those philosophers today and reintroducing their precepts into public debate means striving for higher quality both in terms of political efforts and of future values and cultures as shaped by the dedication of economic and social actors. The period between the 19th and 20th centuries saw a revival of the school of civic and economic thought that arose in the late Middle Ages and had its roots in Humanism (such as the 1309 constitution of Siena, praising beauty as a good governance tool, and the moral teachings of L’arte di mercatura (The art of trading) by Benedetto Cotrugli). It was brought about by Cavour and Cattaneo, as well as by the Church’s social doctrine and the socialist reformism of Turati and Treves, and found its way into corporate history, too, through the patronage and philanthropy of the Crespi family, Alessandro Rossi, the Marzotto family, the Zegna family, and the care that entrepreneurs Adriano Olivetti, Alberto and Leopoldo Pirelli showed toward social responsibility, just to mention some names.

These are also themes that resound throughout Pope Francis‘s speeches preaching a “just” and “circular” economy, and can be found in the vast body of economics writings that appeared once the era of global finance marked by a fierce laissez-faire and ‘greed is good’ attitude (the motto of the unscrupulous protagonist of Wall Street, directed by Oliver Stone) was over. Writings that reinterpreted liberalism in modern key and were distinguished by John Maynard Keynes‘s powerful liberal socialism (Federico Caffé was one of his most fertile exponents), as well as by the Code of Camaldoli, inspired by Catholic tenets (“Individuals are, by their own nature, social beings: that is, there exists, amongst individuals, a natural sense of solidarity, fellowship and complementarity through which the needs of single individuals can only be entirely fulfilled by society” – a quote that President Mattarella recast as, “Both the individual and the community are the foundations of a legislative system that should not be intrusive, but aimed at enhancing pluralism and freedom.”).

And here, indeed, we find the civic economy, reinterpreted and updated through the ethics of Stefano Zamagni and Luigino Bruni, as well as the decisions made by those Italian enterprises that have embraced sustainability, the green economy, culture and social solidarity not as empty marketing ruses but as genuine assets for growth and competitiveness.

Underlying it all is the spirit of the Italian Constitution as, to borrow the words of Confindustria president Bonomi, “it expresses the spirit of Italian businesses.” And, further, also because “the tenets of the Constitution were not written to instigate a plundering capitalism. Its principles are not aimed at amassing wealth, but at propagating it.

They are neither aimed at interventionism nor at protectionism, which, as history teaches, typically mark regressive paths leading to authoritarianism. And we should not be tempted to stoke fear for the future. Rather, we should be aware that “enterprises are means for growth, innovation, education, culture and integration, with widespread impact and engendering soft power. They are agents for freedom, too.” Indeed, “generating wealth is a significant social function. It is one of the main social responsibilities of enterprises. Though, of course, not to the detriment of other individual or collective wealth.” Let’s have one more quote, from the latest book by Martin Wolf: “Democracy and market share a principle of equality and both strive to implement it.”

Social function and responsibility when doing business – or, the civic economy.

(photo: Getty Images)

The exhibition Bruno Munari: La leggerezza dell’arte will open on 12 October in the exhibition spaces of La Rotonda, a former specialised refrigeration plant from the 1930s, which has recently been renovated by the architect Mario Botta. The event is organised by Eataly Art House (E.ART.H.), and is curated by Alberto Salvadori and Luca Zaffarano, with the collaboration of the Associazione Bruno Munari and the Repetto Gallery.

The display, which will be open to the public from 13 October 2023 to 31 March 2024, looks back at Munari’s most important experiments. It will be divided into thematic sections, with the aim of documenting the creative processes and the themes that were central to his work. From his Futurist origins to his Dada experiments, through to his graphic works and publications, there will be a focus on his environmental works and his artistic research into the use of light.

The display will also include materials conceived, designed and autographed by the great Milanese artist that are now in our Historical Archive. These include window signage, magazine covers, and articles from Pirelli magazine, as well his much-loved Zizì the Monkey. Bruno Munari (Milan 1907-1998), an artist, designer, and writer, began working with Pirelli in 1949. His contributions ranged from iconic advertising campaigns for various company products, including raincoats and Coria soles (the famous poster for which is now in the permanent collection of MoMA in New York), to the design of reinforced foam rubber toys. It was Meo Romeo the cat, and then Zizì the little monkey, from the Pirelli Pigomma collection, of which Munari was the artistic director, that won the first edition of the Compasso d’Oro in 1954. The jury’s motivation was clear: “Normally, toys are ‘naturalistic’ or child-like reductions of mechanical forms, or equally naturalistic or childishly humorous imitations of animals or human figures. […] This toy belongs to a superior category, which has made it an object of intellectual interest.” Munari went on to win the coveted prize again the following year, in 1955, and then again in 1979. His toys also appeared in Pirelli magazine, as in the fairy tale “C’era una volta un re…” (“Once upon a time there was a king…”), and in “Il gatto di gommapiuma ha i baffi di nailon” (“A foam rubber cat with nylon whiskers”), Meo Romeo the cat’s debut in print. These already revealed many aspects of Maestro Munari’s artistic vision: “I must say I love thinking up and following the construction of books and toys for children. Children are the perfect public – they know what they want, they have no preconceived ideas, and if they don’t like something they’ll say so straight out, without beating about the bush. If only adults were the same, many relationships would be so much simpler.”

Munari also created trade fair stands for Pirelli, such as the one for the Plastic Materials pavilion at the 1954 Milan Fair, and the partnership continued until 1956, the year when the company and the artist, one of the towering figures of twentieth-century design, went their separate ways.

On Wednesday 4 October 2023 at 7 p.m., Upcycle | Milano Bike Café will host the presentation of Risuona. The podcast series, which is promoted by the Pirelli Foundation and produced by Chora Media, explores the reverberations between past and future, in a Milan that races by like the wheels of a bicycle. It does so in the voice of Gino De Crescenzo, aka Pacifico, a singer-songwriter and the narrator of the podcast. The sound design is by Andrea Girelli of Chora Media. This specially created, fully immersive journey will take participants to the places that have made the history of Milan and Pirelli. A bike ride for the ears!
The project is presented by Mario Calabresi, CEO and editor-in-chief of Chora Media, Antonio Calabrò, director of the Pirelli Foundation, and Sara Poma, head of Chora Studio. The moderator is Francesca Berardi, a journalist and senior content producer at Chora Studio.

Sustainable mobility and a penchant for embracing and interacting with various kinds of expertise – very much a feature of Pirelli’s multi-disciplinary culture – are also reflected in the venue chosen for this event: Upcycle | Milano Bike Café. The evening will end with an aperitif.
The event is open to all, with free admission while seats last.
You can book here.
Come join us!

The sixty-first edition of the Premio Campiello has come to an end with the Prize giving Ceremony, which took place on Saturday 16 September at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. The evening was presented by Francesca Fialdini and Lodo Guenzi and was broadcast live on RAI 5.

The coveted prize, which has been awarded to some of the greatest names in Italian literature ever since 1962, went to Benedetta Tobagi, with her book La Resistenza delle donne (Einaudi Editore).

(To find out about the author and the book, click here to watch the interview with the Pirelli Foundation)

During the ceremony, Antonio Calabrò, director of the Pirelli Foundation, and Enrico Carraro, president of the Fondazione Il Campiello, also awarded the winners of the second edition of the Premio Campiello Junior, the competition promoted by the Pirelli Foundation for Italian works of fiction and poetry for young people. The prize for the 7-10 year category went to Nicola Cinquetti for his L’incredibile notte di Billy Bologna (Lapis Edizioni), and the one for the 11-14 year category went to Davide Rigiani for his novel Il Tullio e l’eolao più stranissimo di tutto il Canton Ticino (minimum fax).

(To find out about the winning authors of the Campiello Junior you can watch the Pirelli Foundation interviews by clicking here)

The Premio Campiello Junior continues with its third edition. For all the latest on forthcoming events, you can visit the sites www.fondazionepirelli.org and www.premiocampiello.org.

A recently published book offers an analysis of Italy’s situation and suggestions on which paths to undertake to reset the country

Italy – a winner or a loser? A country of triumphs or a country of failures? The debate on Italy’s situation and economy increasingly swings between these two diametrically opposed views. Historical legacies, distorted – or at least biased – views, images adjusted through particular filters, narratives skewed by biased goals – all these reflect an inadequate portrayal of reality and, above all, concerning prospects for the future. It is a matter of culture, too, at all levels – and it needs a reset. The recently published L’eccellenza non basta (Excellence is not enough), Paolo Manfredi’s latest book, revolves around these core considerations.

Manfredi has been studying the bonds between digital media, territorial systems and SMEs for over twenty years, and in the first pages he sketches a portrait of Italy as a “Tired country, its fabric a little tattered, speckled with wonder. In these times of permanent crisis, Italy is certainly not the only country suffering from less than brilliant circumstances, yet it is the main Western country that, for over 30 years now, has given the impression it has left its future behind.” It is also a country weighed down “by unresolved issues and new burdens, whose pressure seems likely to increase” and in which “reminders of its excellence, used for a long time now to gloss over its challenges, are no longer sufficient: people are increasingly less engaged in the country’s collective fate, the community is older and tired, and struggles to create new excellence.” In other words, despite its undeniable strengths, Italy nowadays appears like a country getting progressively older, with its few young people ill-treated by a struggling education system, increasingly relying on the guaranteed income from what it still manages to sell. Quite the opposite, then, of a country that has made its own fortune and created top-quality brands – which have, however, progressively left behind the regional, cultural and local environment from which they arose, or, if still there, have been focusing on external markets rather than their internal one. The latter phenomenon no longer affects enterprises only, but also families, professionals, students, and even entire territories.

What can be done then? Manfredi identifies two possible paths. The first entails letting excellence prosper, with no care for the rest (territories, people, enterprises), leaving it all to waste away. The second consists in making the effort to build a more lenient, or ‘patient’, circular economy based on innovation, renewed skills, work and biodiversity, so as to focus and galvanise all that energy currently being scattered and squandered away – the energy of artisans, entrepreneurs, councils, cooperatives, farmers, communities and individuals who are keeping together, and alive, the Italian social and economic fabric, in order to design a more inclusive, innovative and future-oriented country.

Manfredi explains all this in little less than 150 clear and comprehensible pages, first describing the world surrounding Italy, then the “great future we have left behind”, and finally outlining the two goals we could attain.

All in all, Paolo Manfredi’s book is infused with the optimism arising from knowing that there are great issues to be solved, yet also from the awareness that we do have the strength to solve them, leading readers to embrace the notion that we should not merely give in to decline, but build a customised economy to suit all of us.

L’eccellenza non basta. L’economia paziente che serve all’Italia (Excellence is not enough. The patient economy that Italy needs)

Paolo Manfredi

Egea, 2023