Category: Events

International Business in the Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Era – EIBA 2020 Conference

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The sudden emergency of COVID-19 instantly changed the landscape of business (and conferences) around the world. Some of the features that characterize the business environment in the pandemic era include increasing uncertainty and complexity, the growing importance of digital connectivity, changes in the international labour markets, and emerging geopolitical tensions.

We already see the first consequences on the company-level, such as the resilience of GVCs becoming a leitmotif of international configuration and reconfiguration of MNEs’ activities, political discussions about regionalization and de-globalization, reshoring, and back-shoring strategies, to name just a few.
With travelling often impossible and almost always limited, urgent calls for citizens to return to their home-countries, expatriates and management-teams of MNEs also had to adjust their way of doing business and living.

The 46th Annual Conference of the European International Business Academy (EIBA), which will take place fully on line from 10 to 12 December 2020, will be dedicated to discussing the trends, the challenges, and the new normal in the international economic, technological, and social environments, as well as implications for MNEs and MNE employees.

Though fully online, the EIBA conference will follow the same structure as the traditional one, with doctoral workshops, plenary panels, paper presentations (competitive, interactive, poster) and panel sessions.

Special workshops are being organised on recent topics in International Business teaching and research, as well as academia in general, by experts in the field.

The call for posters & workshop proposals will be open until October 19, 2020.
For more information, please visit the conference website: www.eiba.online.

Looking forward to see you at EIBA 2020 Online!

Lucia Piscitello
EIBA Chair
Professor of International Business, School of Management, Politecnico di Milano

DRIVE – Developing Research and Innovation capacities in Albania and Kosovo

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Margherita Pero, Associate Professor of Business Processes Reengineering, School of Management, Politecnico di Milano

 

Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices is one of the key actions of the Erasmus+ Programme, which makes it possible for organisations from different participating countries to work together, to develop, share and transfer best practices and innovative approaches in the fields of education, training and youth work.

In this context, transnational capacity-building projects are a unique opportunity to address the challenges of higher education institutions and systems, to increase cooperation within the EU, to promote people-to-people interactions, intercultural awareness, and understanding.
And this is possible even despite the current pandemic and health concerns.

This is the first goal we can consider as being achieved by the Erasmus+ DRIVE project, which is a partner of the School of Management.
Launched in February 2020, just before the pandemic spread in Europe, Developing Research and InnoVation capacitiEs in Albania and Kosovo (hereinafter DRIVE) is an Erasmus+ project with the objective of developing the research and innovation capacities of Higher Education Institutions in Albania and Kosovo, by enhancing their institutional capabilities, staff skills and networking.

The consortium is composed of three universities from Albania (POLIS University, Polytecnich University of Tirana, European University of Tirana), and three universities from Kosovo (University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina, University of Gjakova “Fehmi Agani”, Universum College), the Hamburg University of Technology (Germany), the University of Aalborg (Denmark), and Politecnico di Milano, with the School of Management.

Within the consortium, the School of Management will contribute to:

  • Enhancing the skills of students (graduate level and beyond) to conduct independent research by improving the capacity of teachers and mentors,
  • Enhancing the research capacities of academic and managerial staff through study visits and tailored training,
  • Strengthening institutional level managerial capacities for research activities and innovation by setting or strengthening dedicated research and innovation support structures (RISS), and
  • Promoting research excellence and innovation by developing interdisciplinary networks and industrial collaborations among local and international stakeholders.

The partner Higher Education Institutions in Albania and Kosovo would be able to improve their research and innovation capacities and foster links and collaborations among the actors in the innovation ecosystem (institutions and organizations) by the time DRIVE comes to an end.

To achieve this aim, five training workshops are planned, and will be hosted by the European partners throughout the project’s lifespan. A wide set of activities will be organized during these workshops, including training sessions, brainstorming, discussions, study visits, establishment of new structures and development of guidelines and roadmaps.

The series of workshops are designed to target different audiences that require capacity building actions on the following themes:

  • new methods of training and mentoring (for teachers)
  • developing guidelines for new methods of training and mentoring application (for mentors)
  • ethics in research, on how to publish in high-quality journals, how to build a research project and how to manage a research project (for researchers)

Finally, partner universities will be trained on establishing or empowering dedicated research and innovation support structures (RISS), research networks, and developing a virtual platform for managing such a network.

From 22nd to 24th September 2020, the School of Management successfully designed and chaired the training week on “creating the framework for improving study programmes to enhance the research skills of students”. Although due to the current health concerns not all partners could join the sessions physically, we were able to develop and virtually chair the programs related to sharing and discussion on teaching methodologies, leveraging on blended online sessions and face to face group discussions.

Three sessions were arranged in this workshop:

  • sharing experiences on the well-developed innovative teaching methodologies by EU partners,
  • brainstorming innovative teaching methodologies applicable at partners in Albania and Kosovo, and
  • developing a roadmap for the adoption of innovative teaching methodologies.

The results of this intensive week show that the main barriers to be overcome in order to fully benefit from the innovative teaching methodology are cultural, skills-related, institutional and technological.
Therefore, the roadmap that will be developed based on this workshop will include actions at all levels: from a single course and a single teacher, to a study plan level and an institutional one.

The participants, both physically present and online, were strongly engaged in the discussions on the future of teaching in their countries, showing that the topic is relevant and, despite the emergency situation, that people are willing to take on these new challenges. Although we—School of Management professors—were connected online, we could feel the enthusiasm of the participants in sharing their thoughts and experience of teaching with innovative methods.
This enthusiasm gives us the energy to continue with our project, to move from words to deeds.

How can traceability improve sustainability in the global coffee supply chain?

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Food supply chains garner public attention for sustainability; traceability is one of the possible solutions, but is it always the case?

Verónica León-Bravo, Assistant Professor, School of Management, Politecnico di Milano

 

Sustainability in the food industry has recently gained a great deal of attention, as this sector faces several challenges regarding scarce natural resources to be preserved, attention to consumer’s health and safety, communities’ economic development around the world, food and packaging waste, land and water consumption, and unfair trade relationships. Moreover, consumers today opt for food that is not only tasty and nutritious, but also of high quality, grown responsibly and with specific characteristics or origin, which in turn calls for better and more efficient traceability. Consequently, food companies are developing varied initiatives, assessment policies, standards, traceability systems and reporting tools with sustainability purposes.

During the current health world emergency, food chains are also struggling with menaces on their products’ health and safety. As is the case of a few Brazilian poultry exporters who were suspended by China in July 2020 due to concerns about possible Covid-19 contamination in the containers. China established certain restrictions and newer or different certification requirements for food products coming from several countries, with the aim of avoiding a new outbreak, although no evidence that Covid-19 could be transmitted though food existed. Another case was related to Ecuadorian shrimp exports to China, which were suspended in July 2020 because of similar concerns relating to the containers, though the shrimp and inner packaging tested negative. How can companies in producing countries ensure buyers the quality and, even more critically, the health and safety of their products? Around the world, improved traceability could be the key for supply chain continuity under risky or unexpected situations.

Through its Food Sustainability Lab, the School of Management at the Politecnico di Milano is dedicated to studying the elements shaping and determining the food supply chain efforts to become sustainable, and improve its sustainability; thus, a broad multidisciplinary team is running several research initiatives in this area, given the interest and relevance for the academic community, companies and society at large.

One of the research lines is focused on the traceability systems implemented along the supply chain, in particular for food commodities, such as coffee, that involve actors dispersed around the world. Commodity chains are highly fragmented and long, with many very small producers in low-income countries, and several intermediaries are needed to ensure the product flow from origin to consumption. According to the International Coffee Organization, coffee consumption is steadily growing globally, reaching up to more than 169 million bags in 2019-2020. Producers (exporters) are mainly located in South America, Africa and South-East Asia, with Brazil being responsible for 43% of production. Global consumption registered close 119 million bags in 2019-2020, with the largest importers being the European Union and the United States [1]. Consumers in these markets increasingly demand coffee that is not only safe but also ethical, organic, generates a low carbon footprint, etc., requiring the supply chain to demonstrate traceability throughout the chain.

Traceability systems available in the market are said to help actors in the chain not only to track the product from origin to final consumption, but also to respond to the need for mandatory and voluntary quality standards, certifications of origin, and to create the basis for reporting sustainability-related practices and performance. The benefits of traceability could be spread along food supply chains: for managing risks, maintaining consistency and specific product features, and keeping a chain of custody. In addition, traceability helps to achieve operational efficiencies, increased productivity and reputational benefits.
Nonetheless, traceability requires substantial investments in technology and processes aimed at tracking goods along the supply chain. Cost is still proving to be a difficult barrier to overcome, especially in the initial production phases. Current debate in the literature also questions whether traceability systems are driven only by quality assurance expectations, or are also somehow related to sustainability needs and goals.

The research team at our School involved in this project is composed by Prof. Federico Caniato, Federica Ciccullo, Verónica León-Bravo and Giulia Bartezzaghi. Currently, we investigate the traceability systems implemented in the coffee supply chain, providing a taxonomy of solutions and characterizing how these systems are applied, in terms of technological display, information width and depth, as well as considering their relationship with sustainable value creation. The analysis of the case studies (including different stages in the chain, located in different geographical regions) revealed how the implementation of traceability systems along the coffee supply chain could be influenced by the targeted information width and depth, along with the supply chain tier, country of origin or company technological capabilities. On the other hand, it is observed that the link between traceability and sustainability, especially for coffee roasters, might be influenced by two main contingencies: volumes purchased and product type. Indeed, one of the companies being studied explained that dealing with large volumes makes it impossible to trace all the details up to the producer, especially for non-certified products. On the other hand, another company, using advanced technology for traceability, highlighted the precise information they are able to register and communicate while buying smaller lots from certified coffee producers. Besides, we found traceability and sustainability to be disconnected when they are both implemented but managed separately and not aligned. Whereas, traceability and sustainability can be synergistic when both followed a common strategy and are consistent with each other, i.e., the level of detail in the traceability system corresponds to the scope of sustainability practices.

Maintaining consistency and keeping a chain of evidence (e.g., benefits of traceability) are efforts incurred during the current health crisis as companies worked hard to apply newer and stricter safety measures that needed to be shown to international buyers. For instance, the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the slaughterhouses affected by the Chinese restrictions are working to reverse the bans and started testing the cargoes with the aim of demonstrating to buyers that the food is not only sanitized in the plants, but also before transportation. Similarly, Ecuador improved shipping protocols and applied the required quality standards, allowing shrimp exports to China to be resumed in August 2020. These two examples also show that different actors in the supply chain need to work together to apply health and safety measures, that in turn need to be demonstrated to the downstream actors, thereby ensuring traceability and transparency along the supply chain.

There is no doubt that adopting traceability could bring varied benefits to companies in the food supply chain, but for improving sustainability, it might not be enough. Sustainability in food supply chains needs attention from varied angles. Traceability implementation in a commodity supply chain is one of the projects currently being developed at our School. Other research projects in place are observing different food supply chain configurations, such as short supply chains, and their implications for sustainability; or analyzing the added value of information obtained in the assessment for sustainability with a supply chain-wide perspective.

Managing sustainability along food supply chains is still a work in progress that requires multi-tier involvement for reducing ‘distances’, reaching common understandings and better performances; and thus, achieving food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture as called for by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

 

___________________________

[1] http://www.ico.org/prices/new-consumption-table.pdf 

Exploring Innovation and Design as Leadership: the IDeaLs project

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The world of Innovation Management is being disrupted, as companies all over the world explore new ways to develop new products and services. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence and other digital technologies, the role of people in innovation processes is increasingly uncertain.

IDeaLs was born to explore how companies can achieve Innovation through collective Design activities and shared forms of Leadership.

Founded by the Politecnico di Milano and the Centre for Creative Leadership, IDeaLs is a research platform that unites Academics and Managers to discover new ways of engaging people in activities of collaborative design to Make Innovation Happen.

Over the past two years, IDeaLs has collaborated with nine international organisations operating in diverse sectors, ranging from utilities to logistic providers, healthcare organisations, and sportswear.
For each organisation joining the platform, a core team of 2-3 managers would bring an innovation challenge to the research team. Over a time period of 4-6 months, each challenge was analysed, and multiple workshops performed with the partner organisation. At the end of the time frame, the results of the research, and the impact in the organization, were shared among all partners in a collective final event.

In line with the requests made by managers, IDeaLs aims to develop new tools and methodologies to support organisations during their transformation processes. Over the past years, IDeaLs has developed a “Story-telling” experience: upon briefing by managers, through a series of workshops, participants designed their own transformation story, a roadmap for both individual and collective change. This experience had a positive effect on all partner organisations: firstly, every participant committed to three concrete actions to perform, resulting in an average of 120 small, autonomous steps towards the destination outlined by the managers; and secondly, the workshops increased the levels of engagement towards innovation, which was constantly monitored by the research team.

Ultimately, IDeaLs represents a community of “innovation leaders”, who discuss relevant topics on leadership and innovation, besides learning about the case-studies of the other companies. Three yearly events are organised in which members discuss their insights, share success stories, and examine their organisations’ approaches to innovation.

As a founder of the platform, the School of Management is contributing both to consulting the companies and to the research.

First of all, the activities are related to the design of new methods and tools to foster collaboration among individuals in an innovation setting. Second, the platform aims to give a methodological contribution, developing a measurement instrument which makes it possible to assess the strategic readiness of an organisation to pursue an innovative direction.

From a research perspective, the team is involved in the design of research directions for each year and is currently developing three separate Ph.D. programs related to the platform. The School of Management is further responsible for the dissemination of the knowledge acquired, through a yearly booklet which describes the partners’ projects, as well as presenting the theorical insights in international conferences and publishing the same in academic journals.

“When it comes to us as individuals, we are often overwhelmed by innovations and know very well that the problem goes far beyond the process we apply to make them happen. The world of innovation was so focused on finding the perfect innovation process, but it forgot the people who run it.” [1] IDeaLs aims to bring the person back to the centre, as a driver of organisational innovation.


The Research Team – http://www.ideals.polimi.it/
Scientific Directors: prof. Roberto Verganti; Prof. Tommaso Buganza; Joseph Press, Ph.D.
Research Team: Paola Bellis; Silvia Magnanini; Daniel Trabucchi, Ph.D.; Federico P. Zasa

_________________________________

[1] Source: IDeaLs Booklet 2019

A new era for academic partnerships: the (successful) ‘recipe’ of Politecnico di Milano in China

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Conversation with Giuliano Noci
Professor of Strategy and Marketing and Vice Rector of the Chinese Campus of Politecnico di Milano

The Joint School of Design and Innovation Centre in Xi’an, inaugurated in 2019 in collaboration with Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU), is the first physical campus of the Politecnico di Milano outside Italy. It is an unconventional choice for an Italian university. How did you manage to finalize this project?

Our relationship with XJTU began 12 years ago thanks to a Chinese student who had the opportunity to see the quality of our doctoral programmes, in particular the doctorate in electrical engineering under Professor Sergio Pignari. It was he who, working hard for many years and taking many trips, began to build this bridge between us and China, until he developed this strategic partnership.
We first initiated various exchanges and combined Laurea courses. The idea of having a physical presence on the new XJTU campus then arose and was realized with the construction of a building designed by architects at the Politecnico di Milano (Remo Dorigati and Pierluigi Salvadeo with studio wok, Chiara Dorigati, Francesco Fuoco), which we will fill with people very soon thanks to the numerous projects we have incubating.

What effects did the pandemic have on this project and how did you reorganize yourselves?

The pandemic did not stop the projects; it just led to a partial review of the objectives we had set.
The idea was to start in September of this year with a joint Laurea (Bachelor of Science) course in architecture with our instructors physically present in China. Since this is not possible, we have temporarily moved educational activities online, drawing on the expertise that the Politecnico has gained in recent years.
Secondly, we moved forward an important agreement regarding MBAs made between the MIP — our Graduate School of Business — and the XJTU School of Management, which is one of the most prestigious in the country.
Finally, on the new campus we would like to create a new Joint School accredited by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
This would therefore result in going beyond the goal of having a physical presence: building a true joint university venture abroad. In recent weeks we have been developing the concept of a new Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Product Design involving various Schools at the Politecnico di Milano (Design, Management, Mechanical Engineering, Information and Communication Technology). If the project wins the call from the Chinese Ministry of Education, it would, in fact, be the first pilot course at the new school, with unique distinctive features, above all interdisciplinarity.
Interdisciplinarity is essential in processes of innovation, about which Italy has certainly much to say. And China is strongly dedicated to this front, as shown in the Made in China 2025 plan that was launched recently.

So, education, but not only that: a university partnership that aims to be relevant for the country system?

Certainly. Our goal is also to support strategies for the international and technological development of our businesses. In this sense, Xi’an is one of the most important industrial districts in China, for the automotive and electrical industries in particular, and it is also a very important cluster in the ICT sector (Alibaba and Huawei have very important research centres there).
This is why we plan to have laboratories where we intend to carry out research together with Italian and Chinese companies. The Chinese market is complex but extremely attractive for our companies, and we can support them in their entrance into the market.

Let’s talk about students. The added value of international exchange during a course of university studies is indisputable, but how do students respond to the opportunity for a combined Laurea of this type?

The ambition of the Joint School is to go global. We intend to attract international students from around the world. But we also want to support growth and experience for our researchers and instructors, given that this is an opportunity for them to develop under multiple points of view.
Students’ reactions up to now have been enthusiastic. Faced with legitimate initial scepticism in studying on a continent that is so different from ours, Italian students have always had extraordinary appreciation for this cultural exchange. They are won over by the energy and dynamics characteristic of any Chinese university.
They realize the importance of interacting in an area with one of the highest rates of economic growth in the world, characterized by great encouragement and strong investments in digital technologies and artificial intelligence.

A partnership developed, as you said, based on continual work of visits to the host country. Now this specific historical situation imposes new forms of interconnection around the world.
What scenarios do you foresee in view of this? How do the distances bring us together or modify some means of interaction between us and China?

The topic of Hybrid Learning will further accelerate relations between the Politecnico di Milano and China. In recent months, when the number of trips has reduced to zero, we have actually interacted more frequently than before and have increased the level of objectives and results obtained. In this direction, with regard to both research and university/postgraduate teaching, previously little-explored perspectives are opening.
In China, during the period of quarantine due to COVID, a good 180 million students studied entirely online. For us, it is now natural to expand our educational programme beyond the physical presence of Chinese students, when students do not want to move. Applying the reasoning of Hybrid Learning (with in-person and remote lectures) also opens participation in new courses of study to Italian students who do not want to move to China, for example.
Paradoxically, at a time when physical connection was not possible, cognitive and relational interconnection was more frequent because on both sides we discovered the possibility of working with a never-before-imagined frequency of interaction precluded only by our sensory system.
For example, with Tsinghua University in Beijing — the most important university in China, which has a joint campus in Milan at our Politecnico — we are now launching three large educational projects involving the MIP Graduate School of Business (in addition to other university departments) which were developed in just six months. To obtain similar results in the past, four/five years of continuous trips would have been necessary.
This naturally does not mean diminishing the importance of physical contact and campus life.
It just implies new roads that are worth travelling.

One last question about the educational approach in Chinese management schools. Is the material taught evolving in a way more inclined to collaboration with the West, or are the two models radicalizing into different positions?

The perception I have always had about China is that there was curiosity about Western managerial models. What was interesting, however, were especially topics tied to managing innovation.
The approaches move in opposite directions. China is aware of the power of its economic system and is therefore self-referential, even in its means of management.
This, however, does not preclude different opportunities for us — as the Politecnico and as Italians — particularly for two reasons.
The first is the very high number of Chinese students that want to study abroad and who will move to Europe in significant numbers (and also to Italy, we hope).
The second is that Italy is very attractive for our capacity to both develop a system of small and medium-sized companies, and create luxury brands. This is a great reputation, on the level not only of design, but also of marketing.
As a result, our country and our management schools are decidedly interesting.

If you had to briefly give 3 keywords for the future of the Xi’an project in the short term, what would they be?

Consolidating the Joint School to favour paths of growth for young talent at the Politecnico.
Opening a couple of laboratories with companies: one in the automotive industry and the other might be exporting the Polifactory format to Xi’an.
Creation of a start-up incubator with the related establishment of a venture capital fund.

«Data science and business analytics: today companies can’t do without them»

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Professor Carlo Vercellis, director of the executive programme in data science and business analytics, tells about the latest trends in the market of big data and makes an appeal: «External consultants are no longer enough. Organizations now need to integrate these positions internally»

 

Growth which for the last five years has been constantly in double digits, around 20%, investments that in Italy reached the value of 1.7 billion euros. The market of analytics, in other words the analysis of data, has come to a turning point. «But now it’s time to grow», says Professor Carlo Vercellis, professor of machine learning at Politecnico di Milano, director of its executive programme in data science and business analytics and scientific head of the Big Data & Business Analytics Observatory. «Large companies have gained familiarity with these tools, although up to now they have mainly relied on external consultants. It’s time to incorporate these figures within companies, even in SMEs. There are many challenges to be faced, just as many professional figures required and therefore job opportunities for those who want to work in this field».

 

Organization, management, process automation: the latest trends

There are two particular trends identified by Vercellis. «The first challenges are of an organizational and managerial nature, and involve the governance of the supply chain of data driven projects, that is those based on data: moving from experiments, which have become increasingly numerous and complex, to the pilot project, and then to the start of production and to deployment. The second challenge concerns business processes, that must be changed in a data driven perspective. We’re thinking about process automation, that is an automation of processes that substitute human activities with little value added through algorithms that allow software and robots to carry out a series of repetitive tasks. This allows to free up resources, human and material».

 

Lots of data, lots of algorithms: the need for functional awareness

However, data alone is not enough. You need to know how to question, read and interpret it, and for this there’s a need for specific skills: «We are submerged with data. The two main sources are social activities, that provide unstructured data, which cannot be reduced to tables of numbers; and the Internet of Things, or that network of objects, household appliances included, with smart features, which collect large amounts of more structured data», explains Vercellis. «To read them you need to know which analytical tools to use: we’re talking about algorithms, obviously, which while sharing basic settings are not all the same. According to the task to be carried out, one can be more suitable than another. For this reason, there’s the need for a professional with “functional awareness: experts capable of using data and business analytics tools, without having to be technicians. These are the professional roles that companies are starting to look for today, because little by little they are realizing that external consultants are not enough».

 

The job opportunities in the world of analytics

The professional profiles that fit this requirement are varied. «They go from business users, able to understand the logic and limits of these tools, to the translator, a bridge figure who knows the language of data science and business, and is able to facilitate communication between these two worlds. Professional roles today are increasingly technical: the data scientist, data engineer, business analytics data scientist solution architect».

 

The executive programme in data science and business analytics of MIP Politecnico di Milano aims to train professionals in the different areas needed: «It’s a course that begins in October, requires a commitment of two days a month and touches on all the issues tied to this subject», explains Vercellis. «It involves hands-on sessions and final project work in which students must apply notions learned to a problem, proposed by themselves or professors of the MIP faculty. The course is for individuals, who perhaps are looking to reskill, but I expect that above all it will be companies that take advantage of this opportunity: a great opportunity to train an internal resource able to manage the company’s needs, a task that an external consultant would never be able to carry out».

MIP Politecnico di Milano, the only Business School in Europe to gain B Corp Certification

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on MIP Politecnico di Milano, the only Business School in Europe to gain B Corp Certification

The Business School joins the international community of companies that stand out for their commitment to combining profit with the well-being of society and care for the environment.

 

MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business is delighted to announce that it has achieved B Corp Certification. This prestigious recognition is awarded to companies that emerge for their commitment to sustainable development and building a more inclusive society. MIP Politecnico di Milano is the first Italian and only European business school to have been accredited, and is just one of a few worldwide.

 

During the accreditation process, MIP was helped by Nativa, designer of sustainable and regenerative evolution models, the first B Corp in Europe and B Lab’s Italian partner.

 

B Corp companies form an international community of companies with the common goal of combining profit with a search for the collective well-being, and care for the environment and society as a whole. Around 3,400 companies have been awarded this certification, one hundred or so being in Italy. The required certification process involves a rigorous assessment to examine the organisation’s model of governance, its care for human capital, its relationship with its partners and social context, and respect for the environment. The procedure, therefore, analyses and measures the results achieved by the company in question in this area.

 

This recognition certifies MIP’s consolidated commitment and, more generally, that of the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano to which MIP belongs, for years actively involved in research, training and joint projects with companies on topics concerning social responsibility. MIP’s status as a B Corp certified company will direct its actions in the field of sustainability over the upcoming years. Its plans include expanding initiatives that can produce an impact in the areas of accessibility, inclusion, the well-being of people and environmental sustainability.

 

One of the essential elements that led MIP to undergo this certification is its full understanding of the role that every company will play in building a better tomorrow for everyone. The purpose and raison d’être of every business will increasingly be re-thought, to give centrality to the role that it wishes to hold in society. As well as encouraging growing interest in its training programmes on the topics of purpose, sustainability and inclusivity, MIP intends to use its status as a Certified B Corporation to accelerate the virtuous process by which it will become itself a sustainable organisation.

 

Vittorio Chiesa and Federico Frattini, President and Dean of MIP Politecnico di Milano, respectively: “All of us at MIP are intensely proud to have received this significant certification”. We are, above all, delighted to say that we are the only European business school to be a Certified B Corporation. Furthermore, in the current unprecedented health emergency, when we are querying the development models that allowed it to happen, seeing our contribution for a more sustainable future being recognised in this way takes on an even deeper meaning. Business schools are increasingly underlining their strong role as agents for change committed to building a better and more inclusive society”.

 

Raffaella Cagliano, Deputy Director of the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano: “This acknowledgement is a major milestone and rewards the hard work carried out with passion and commitment in recent years. B Corp Certification fits into a strategy of sustainable growth that the School of Management has been carrying forward for a long time, and we are convinced that this is the principle responsibility for an institute like us that operates in research and trains young professionals and managers”.

 

Eric Ezechieli, co-founder of Nativa: “Our collaboration with MIP Politecnico di Milano has been highly beneficial and we are happy to have helped MIP, as a representative of Italian excellence, in accelerating its progress towards B Corp Certification. MIP’s commitment towards people, society and the environment is a clear signal to all business schools: parameters linked to sustainability must be included in the organisation’s mission, as a core competence for tomorrows’ decision-makers”.

What is innovation and how can it be achieved in daily life?

Posted on | by Chiara Vasta | Leave a Comment on What is innovation and how can it be achieved in daily life?

Today “Innovation” is a keyword used in a huge variety of contexts. In the business world, it has become almost synonymous with fame, fortune and money, and it is a tool that can make your business much more competitive. But what is innovation really?

If we Google it, we get the following result:

“Innovation – Every novelty, change, transformation that radically modifies or in any case causes an effective rejuvenation in a political or social order, in a production method, in a technique.”

Trying to translate it into simple words, innovation is nothing more than a change that positively transforms a situation or status quo. The concept of innovation is closely linked to one of the main dogmas of Lean Manufacturing: continuous improvement. If, within a company, it can be carried out through investments in R&D, Industry 4.0 technologies, innovation can also be carried out at an individual level. Each of us can achieve continuous improvement and be an innovator.

According to research published in the Harvard Business Review, there are 5 characteristics that distinguish the most innovative people:

  1. Ability to associate ideas, problems and situations: as Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is connecting things”. Innovative people are able to generate ideas from old solutions, also taken from other areas, recombining them in a different way.
  2. Ability to ask questions: innovative people ask “Why?” and “What if?”, and they try to understand how existing processes (i.e. the status quo) can be modified to provide better results and are able to change their assumptions, going beyond the boundaries dictated by their own thinking and imagining opposite alternatives.
  3. Observation: innovators must be able to observe common phenomena in detail and without preconceptions.
  4. Experimentation: an innovator must be able to effectively translate new ideas into prototypes and pilot projects.
  5. Relationship: with this term, we intend to highlight that some of the innovator’s time and energy must be dedicated to the relationship with individuals capable of providing him with a radically different perspective on the same problem.

So, the question now is “how do you innovate?” Here are two pieces of advice I’d like to share:

CHANGE YOUR MENTALITY AND TRY TO GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Our brain often tends to rest in routine, in already known thought patterns and, for this reason, finding the mental space to innovate is difficult. Innovating means allowing your mind to accept risky ideas, stepping outside the comfort zone and questioning your own little world. The price of freedom is uncertainty! If you can handle the emotional fear of not knowing what will happen, then you can absolutely be free and, without preset patterns, thinking out-of-the-box becomes simpler.

WORK AND INTERACT WITH PEOPLE DIFFERENT FROM YOURSELF

In our private and working lives, we tend to always relate to people who have the same mentality and worldview as ourselves, because they will always be ready to support our theories when necessary. Of course, It’s helpful to work with people who understand you and think like you, but not always. So, when you can, it’s always best to surround yourself with people who have a different mentality than your own. It is impossible to grow up without understanding the point of view of people with ideas distant from yours.

Ok, now what? How to put these tips into practice?

The options are many. You can start small, in daily life, traveling, meeting people with different lifestyles, attending multidisciplinary conferences, reading, etc. Otherwise you can make some slightly more “drastic” choices. Mine was to apply for an International MBA at MIP. What prompted me to limit my social life, choose to go back to school and devote time to classes and exams? Was it madness? Masochism? Maybe in part, yes, but the main motivation is the continuous search for personal innovation, which nowadays is becoming more and more a necessity rather than an option. And what better environment to reach it than in an international context full of ideas like an MBA?

 

About the author
 Marco Di Salvio

Student of the International Part Time MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano.
Industrial Engineer currently working @ Gucci as WW Supply & Demand Planner, based in Florence.
Tech passionate, Cinema-lover, Sports addicted.
Solving the world’s problems one spreadsheet at a time.

 

QS 2021 Business Masters Rankings: Politecnico di Milano’s School of Management among the best Business Schools in the world

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on QS 2021 Business Masters Rankings: Politecnico di Milano’s School of Management among the best Business Schools in the world

The courses held by MIP, the Graduate School of Business belonging to the School of Management, ranked highly in the international classification for the best MBAs and specialist masters, in 7th place for its Master in Supply Chain Management. A further recognition in the Financial Times’ Masters in Management Ranking 2020: the School of Management 3rd placed Business School in Europe among technical universities.

 

MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business is one of the best Business Schools in the world, according to QS 2021 Business Masters Rankings, the classification reserved for the world’s best MBAs and specialist business master’s degrees, being placed 7th for its Master in Supply Chain Management. Among the elements that have contributed to this position in the upper section of the rankings are its focus on diversity, the employability of its students and the return on investment.

 

In 2021, the QS Business Masters Rankings evaluated the quality of teaching for 258 course at 158 academic institutions in 40 countries across the world. As well as class and faculty diversity, employability and return on investment, the other indicators examined are thought leadership and entrepreneurship and alumni outcomes. MIP Politecnico di Milano confirms its place in the upper echelons of the rankings, as it did in 2020.

 

Looking at the QS international classification of the individual courses offered by the various business schools, the School of Management is listed for its Master in Management (at 36th place) and Master in Finance (at 68th place).

 

In the words of Vittorio Chiesa and Federico Frattini, President and Dean of MIP Politecnico di Milano, respectively: “We are proud to receive these superb acknowledgements only days after reopening our campus. We will continue in our efforts of further improving the quality of our teaching, which will always retain its defining elements, such as our care for and focus on diversity”.

 

The School of Management received another prestigious accolade from the Financial Times, confirming its place in the FT Masters in Management 2020 Ranking. The School is placed 3rd in Europe among technical universities with a Business Schools or a Business Management Department. Its place is reconfirmed once again this year, with a smaller field of 90 outstanding management schools being included in the FT’s 2020 MiM Ranking, instead of last years’ 100.

 

Alessandro Perego, the School of Management’s Director, and Stefano Ronchi, President of the degree course in Management Engineering at Politecnico di Milano: “With this recognition, we confirm our place as only one of a few Masters in Management in the world that can combine management, economics and technical-engineering skills into a single MiM. This has allowed us to train managers capable of guiding innovation, increasingly driven by technology, with a mindset geared towards problem-solving”.

 

Click here to see the full QS 2021 Business Masters Rankings

Click here to see the full FT Masters in Management 2020 Ranking

MIP, EY, SACE: the trident to address the challenges of internationalization

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on MIP, EY, SACE: the trident to address the challenges of internationalization

From Brexit to the pandemic, trade wars and the climate emergency: there are many elements that have revolutionized the chain of global values on which many companies based their organization. However, change can open new spaces for Italian companies that, with the right strategy, can take advantage of new and important growth opportunities

 

Until just a few months ago, the business model of many companies was based on a global scale value chain. Production activities were in different countries, according to a principle of convenience. Brexit, trade wars, the climate emergency and, since 2020, the pandemic, could change this paradigm. «The mechanism has gone into crisis», explains Professor Stefano Elia, associate professor of International Business and director of the short courses in the Management of Business Internationalization programme at MIP Politecnico di Milano. «There are two possible answers to this setback: on one hand we could see the resilience of the current model, on the other its reconfiguration».

 

Between resilience and change: an opportunity for Italian companies

«In the first case», explains Elia, «we would see growing flexibility in the production model, accompanied by increased digitalization In addition, companies on one hand could focus on areas that have suddenly become strategic, like chemical and medical ones; on the other, they could focus on incentive-driven sectors. The second scenario has shorter production chains. It abandons global scale, to re-adapt to a macroregional horizon. Within the European Union itself there is a heterogeneity that allows to redistribute certain activities, without moving them outside of the continent and, also in this case, digitalization could play an important role in facilitating an increase both in the quality of products and production processes. This scenario has at least three advantages: trade wars are avoided, nationalist-sovereign winds are kept at bay and the climate emergency is addressed, as the supply chain is shortened». And it is here that Italian companies could come into play: «There is room for them to assert themselves in a competition in which quality becomes fundamental, not only in B2B but also in B2C. It is thought that the United States will recover quickly, as well as Germany, China, South Korea and Vietnam. These are some of the countries to look at, because between 2021 and 2022 the market rebound is estimated at between 5 and 11%».

 

Towards internationalizations: the need for a good strategy

An opportunity for which you need to be prepared. «Companies have two alternatives: either they diversify, or they go outside of their borders, facing greater competition, but also greater growth opportunities. The important thing is that this step is guided by the criteria of quality». And a good strategy: «First you need to understand the attractiveness of your product and based on this understand the countries that could be most interested. Then you need to understand how to present yourself in those countries, adapting your offering to their cultural and institutional characteristics, but also determining whether it makes sense to enter the market on your own or with partners. Lastly, it is important to understand what the most suitable financing means are. Grants, guarantees and credit insurance, legal and tax aspects: nothing should be left to chance».

 

MIP, EY and SACE: together to provide skills

MIP’s short courses in Management of Business Internationalization aims to provide the tools to address all these areas. «Teams that handle internationalization must have a strong capacity for strategic planning, analysis, process management, but also the capability for adaptation and flexibility, to correct errors in judgement or to take advantage of unforeseen opportunities. From this point of view, explains Elia, «MIP courses guarantee an education that covers the areas of business planning management and digital technologies that are functional to internationalization. The winning formula, however, can be found in the MIP, EY, SACE trident: EY, our partner and among the four most important advisory and auditing firms, completes MIP’s managerial offering with technical and professional expertise, sharing its legal, tax and risk management know-how, as well as giving access to its network of consultants and companies. SACE, the Italian agency for the promotion of international investments, provides an institutional perspective, making available a series of powerful tools supporting companies in the phase of internationalization that it intends to make as widely known as possible so that companies will use them to seize the opportunities inherent in the current scenario».