News | Luiss Business School - School of Management

05 October 2015

How do you build a successful career? The meeting with Barbara Del Neri, Head of Marketing South Europe at P & G

The job market is becoming more and more complex, companies are constantly asking for highly specialised professionals. In the past, students could build their own careers step by step according to a learning by doing logic. Today, students have the need and opportunity of making their own choices in terms of industry or professional role. Choosing to attend a master is almost an obvious choice for students who, although very young, have clear ideas about their professional goals. To understand how to achieve their professional goals, young graduates had the opportunity to meet Barbara Del Neri, Head of Marketing for Southern Europe at Procter and Gamble, at LUISS Business School on September 24, 2015. She graduated with honours from LUISS Guido Carli and was immediately called for an interview in marketing with P&G. In other words it was the chance of a lifetime, since working at P&G had been her dream since high school. But how did she attain the position she holds today? Crucial are her intense passion for the job, a learning by doing attitude and a leadership style that goes beyond simply giving orders. Del Neri states that "there is a great difference between imposing oneself and being followed. Leaders belong to the latter category: they listen, suggest, innovate to create the environment that drives innovation”. It is essential to make choices that involve sacrifices, investing on oneself is important when it comes to education, talent is not enough, you have to learn and have passion, a lot of passion. Talking about post-graduate education Barbara Del Neri affirms the importance, in the present situation, of acquiring the necessary knowledge to operate in a specific field. But no matter if the field of choice is Finance, Marketing or Real Estate she underlines the need for young people to have a strong background in terms of soft skills, can-do attitude, ability to compete at a global level and flexibility of thought and action. The current scenario forces us to face new challenges and constant changes that only the ability to adapt and a global mentality can master. Finally, when a student points out how hard it is nowadays to choose one’s own career path, Barbara Del Neri suggests to continue pursuing their dreams despite having to accept some compromises: you have to love your job to get good results! Watch the video 29/09/2015

05 October 2015

Digital transformation: governance on living IT infrastructures

(by Paolo Spagnoletti, Scientific Director of EMIT Programme, LUISS Business School - Assistant Professor of Business and Management Department and Coordinator of CeRSI, LUISS Guido Carli University) 29/09/2015 IT infrastructures are dynamic systems whose growing complexity depends on the local, persistent, and limitless shaping of IT capabilities. This re-shaping results from the emergence of diverse communities with new learning and technical opportunities (J. vom Brocke, Braccini, Sonnenberg, & Spagnoletti, 2014). Therefore an IT infrastructure follows a trend determined by its social context and can be considered as a living system. The living IT infrastructures concept refers both to organizations, where business processes are vertically integrated in a hierarchical organization, and to innovative organizations where business models exploit the digital platforms (Resca, Za, & Spagnoletti, 2013). As the relationship between IT and organizations evolves, the potential for new forms of organizing is continually created (Zammuto, Griffith, Majchrzak, Dougherty, & Faraj, 2007). On the one hand recent advancements in information infrastructures, platforms, and applications are blurring the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds by providing ubiquitous communication, sensing, and computing capabilities (Hanseth & Lyytinen, 2010; Yoo, Henfridsson, & Lyytinen, 2010). On the other hand individuals and organizations make use of IT as a resource for achieving their own goals in a given environment. This creates unparalleled opportunities for innovating current forms of organizing towards socially interactive, ethically sensitive, trustworthy, self-organized and resilient systems by connecting people and organizations. Nevertheless, IT also constrains practices and poses issues in terms of privacy, ownership, freedom of speech, responsibility, technological determinism, digital divide, cyber warfare, and other ethical issues. In this situation, the governance of living IT infrastructures requires to balance the application of standardized procedures with the capability to lead the digital transformation of the organization. In order to enact effective governance practices, Chief Information Officers (CIO) and their IT staff need to master cost management and compliance tools together with models and methods for Information Systems (IS) development and maintenance. However, if CIOs want to play a leading role in the digital transformation of their business environment, they must also adopt a corporate management view on IT governance by challenging the alignment paradigm and developing a critical understanding of the opportunities and threats of digital innovation. Recent works conducted by the Information Systems (IS) group at LUISS BS, have addressed emerging topics in the IT governance arena such as the design principles for the design of digital platforms supporting online communities (Spagnoletti, Resca, & Lee, 2015), the view of IS design as socio-technical construction and hence as an emergent process for engagement and learning (Spagnoletti, Resca, & Sæbø, 2015), the incident-centered analysis of information security settings and the balance between prevention and response paradigms for managing information security (Baskerville, Spagnoletti, & Kim, 2014). These studies have a direct impact on the teaching programmes at LUISS and the Executive Programme in IT Management & Governance of LUISS BS is the ideal target for translating these theoretical concepts into practice. With the aim of making the EMIT Programme even more competitive at a national level, the VI edition has been designed both to preserve the key strengths that have determined the success of the previous editions and to better articulate the strategy and innovation module. The Programme is in fact recognized as a unique opportunity to acquire both specific competences on IT governance and horizontal competences. The former include business process management, security management, service support and operation management. The latter concern, for instance, project management, change management, and legal aspects. Participants are given the opportunity to obtain five certifications (COBIT 5, PMP, CBPA, ITIL, CISM) in two years. The revised module on “Strategy and innovation” - together with a set of thematic workshops on technology trends (e.g. Social Media, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud, etc.) and IT governance issues (e.g. cybersecurity, agile sw development, etc.) - will enable the participants to perceive the challenges of digital transformation and to consider their implications within the organizational contexts where they work . References Baskerville, R., Spagnoletti, P., & Kim, J. (2014). Incident-centered information security: Managing a strategic balance between prevention and response. Information & Management, 51(1), 138–151. doi:10.1016/j.im.2013.11.004 Hanseth, O., & Lyytinen, K. (2010). Design theory for dynamic complexity in information infrastructures: the case of building internet. Journal of Information Technology, 25(1), 1–19. Resca, A., Za, S., & Spagnoletti, P. (2013). Digital platforms as sources for organizational and strategic transformation: a case study of the Midblue project. Journal of Theoretical and Applied E-Commerce Research, 8(2), 71–84. Spagnoletti, P., Resca, A., & Lee, G. (2015). A Design Theory for Digital Platforms Supporting Online Communities: A Multiple Case Study. Journal of Information Technology. Spagnoletti, P., Resca, A., & Sæbø, Ø. (2015). Design for social media engagement: Insights from elderly care assistance. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 24(2), 128–145. doi:10.1016/j.jsis.2015.04.002 Vom Brocke, J., Braccini, A. M., Sonnenberg, C., & Spagnoletti, P. (2014). Living IT infrastructures — An ontology-based approach to aligning IT infrastructure capacity and business needs. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 15(3), 246–274. doi:10.1016/j.accinf.2013.10.004 Yoo, Y., Henfridsson, O., & Lyytinen, K. (2010). The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation: An Agenda for Information Systems Research. Information Systems Research, 21(4), 724–735. Zammuto, R. F., Griffith, T. L., Majchrzak, A., Dougherty, D. J., & Faraj, S. (2007). Information Technology and the Changing Fabric of Organization. Organization Science, 18(5), 749–762. doi:10.1287/orsc.1070.0307

05 October 2015

People management & analytics: a possible and necessary synthesis

(By Laura Innocenti, Professor, LUISS Business School | People Management Competence Centre & Lab) 02/10/2015 The increasing complexity of organisations requires managers to make very quick, at times immediate, decisions. But in high pressure situations it can be hard to make "the right choice", that is, to identify the best organisational or managerial answer. Such decisions are chiefly based on experience, intuition, benchmarking, and just rarely on data. This is the thesis provocatively suggested by Denise Rousseau and Eric Barends in an article published on the “ Human Resource Management Journal” (2011). The authors' objective is to encourage a larger use of "evidence-based" approaches, or, in other words, to cause the interest of HR managers to make greater use of evidence from studies and empirical researches as elements to support the decision making process. In order to support their thesis, the authors propose a short test. True or false: People with poor performance benefit from feedback more than those with high performance; Conflicts related to the “task” improve group performance while those linked to the relational sphere penalize it; Tests that measure integrity are not reliable because people tend to lie. To those who answered “true” to at least one of the above statements the authors reply that based on a vast and concrete number of empirical researches the groundlessness of such answers can be proved. The adoption of an evidence-based approach requires a radical change from the usual, and somewhat more reassuring, procedures that usually determine the choices made by HRM. It means, indeed, acquiring a critical perspective not only towards what doesn’t work in the organisation, but especially towards what seems to work. It means seeking objective answers, inside and outside of the organisation, which can empirically support the choices made. Therefore, how should we move in the direction of a more evidence-based approach? Certainly, an important step is to become more familiar with the studies and researches conducted by the academic community which give sound and reliable empirical evidence that provides effective stimulus for reflection for those working within the organisation. It is likewise important to acquire further sensitivity towards the enhancement of the empirical data available in-house. Sometimes HR functions are not able, due to a lack of time or specific cognizance, to “extract” from the various available data information that can be strategic for the decision-making process. It is in some cases a matter of reading the data with new eyes, in others it means having to acquire specific additional information. The Big Data revolution is based on these premises and concerns all the organisation areas. Knowing how to read, combine, and extract insights from data represents, at this moment, a distinctive competence even in more traditional businesses. However, this is not a knowledge within everyone’s reach. In order to guarantee these results, the HR Departments must set in motion a cultural change that requires, simultaneously, to be sustained by sound competences in the use of analytical metrics and models.

02 October 2015

Supply Management as a strategic driver of innovation and cost optimization to compete in globalization.

(by Vincenzo La Notte, Professor, LUISS Business School) September 30, 2015 30/40 years ago, the demand for goods and services was much bigger than supply and the role of Production was central; production systems were vertically integrated and the strategic role of Supply Management was marginal. The buyer took care of administrative duties and the relationships with suppliers were limited to asking for 3 bids in order to choose the most convenient. Nowadays we are living in a total different world: the supply of goods and services is definitively higher than demand and companies need to build inside their competitive advantage to face competition, which is global, and no longer local or regional! Customers’ expectations are related to quality, fast deliveries, reliability, customization. The large part of companies have outsourced many processes in order to focus on their core competencies. Then suppliers are a strategic part to meet customers’ expectations. Thus, the choice of supplier is important, because it does not mean simply to choose a supplier, but a partner who has to support the business. The modern buyers have a strategic role and their competencies should be firstly strategic with regard to the supplier positioning in the matrix of Kraljic in order to build the competitive advantage and synergies with customers-suppliers. Secondly, the modern buyer is a business facilitator who understands the financial strength of the supplier through the analysis and the correct interpretation of the ratios. In addition, he has technical skills and technologies knowledge in order to check if the supplier is properly equipped for the business needs. He holds logistics expertise and legal expertise, in order to roll out agreements with the supplier. The mentioned skills must be matched with negotiation and relationship management skills to get the best results with all the counterparts. All the above mentioned aspects are deepen in the course ACQUISTI & SUPPLY MANAGEMENT (Educational programme allows participants to obtain the CPSM® ISM* certification - designed for professionals, experts and managers in Purchasing and Procurement). Material and exams are in English. *Institute for Supply Management™ (ISM) is the first supply management institute in the world. Founded in 1915, ISM is a highly influential and respected association in the global marketplace with a membership base of 50,000 professionals in 75 countries around the world of the most important organizations worldwide.

30 September 2015

An insight of the Luxury and Fashion Industry. My experience at FENDI headquarter.

In today’s business environment, competition among companies is driven by passion and innovation. The luxury and fashion industry is particularly meticulous with offering an enduring experience to its customers based on tradition, quality craftsmanship, and a stimulation of the senses. Our MBA learning tour at Fendi’s headquarters was no exception. From the moment we set foot into the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, a roman landmark exemplifying Rome’s heritage, we recognized the symbiotic relationship between a fashion powerhouse and one of the most enchanting cities in the world. Employees at Fendi are engraved with the company’s ideals associated to breaking the rules and innovating through “Fun Furs”. The open working environment is suitable for nourishing employee creativity and company DNA is embodied into the day-by-day activities. The learning tour at Fendi provided me an improved view on how innovation should encompass not only the final product but also the way we execute our daily business activities, best practices and procedures can make a difference between failure and success, and giving back to a society that has contributed to your success is of upmost importance. Johnny Velásquez, MBA, LUISS BS MBA

30 September 2015

The role of Accounting valuation in Accounting frauds in Italy

(by Saverio Bozzolan, Professor of Accounting, Department of Business and Management, LUISS Guido Carli University) 29/09/2015 It is a wide discussion about false financial statements and what matters in order to identify an accounting fraud. Previous Italian law on False Financial Statements (D.Lgs 61/2002) sanctions directors, CEOs, CFOs, statutory auditors if they omit to disclose information when the disclosure is requested by law or if financial statements contain numbers that do not provide a truthful representation of the firm’s economic and financial situation, even when they are obtained through subjective valuation. The recently promulgated law on False Financial Statements (Law 69/15) takes out all the valuations as an element that can determine an accounting fraud. This change has definitely affected the criminal relevance of accounting valuations taking out their role. According to many commentators, the new law opens a leak since accounting frauds cannot be determined by misevaluations or wrong estimates. A recent sentence of the “Corte di Cassazione” (33774/15) provides an interesting interpretation of the new law. The motivations of the sentence are several and go to the same direction. For example, the violation of the “conservatism” principle in evaluating financial statements is no longer a sufficient condition for detecting an accounting fraud and for the persecution of those who are responsible. The same provision is for the valuation of credits in relation to the estimation of the bad debts: thus the adoption of the net realisable value is no longer questionable for accounting frauds. Along the same lines and even more significant, there is the valuation regarding tangible and intangible assets as well as the initial inscription (and the subsequent loss of value) of acquired goodwill. What comes out from the sentence of “Corte di Cassazione” is clear: all estimated values in financial statements that are the result of a valuation process have no more relevance for an accounting fraud.

29 September 2015

Project Organising Competence Centre (POCC)

LUISS Business School will formally launch the new Project Organising Competence Centre (POCC) with the aim to promote research, build theory, and support improvements in project practices by forging a close collaboration with industrial partners in Italy and internationally. POOC reflects a recent growth in research and teaching expertise in project studies within the LUISS Business School and the University at large. It is being established to address a variety of issues concerned with project-based organising in firms and projects, including innovation, learning, capability building, and strategy. The November 4th launch event will show how to turn impossible projects into possible projects. Two round table discussions will further illustrate different case studies focusing on challenges and solutions of impossible projects turned into possible and successful ones. The event will bring together leading academic researchers and management practitioners to share and debate ideas and project practices. Programme Detail

24 September 2015

Meet LUISS Business School in Italy: discover our programmes

Willing to study a Master’s degree? Aiming to boost your career? Meet LUISS BS in your city, discover the LUISS BS offer and receive individual guidance service related to possible post-graduate courses. Make the proper investment in training, evaluating your background to achieve your career goals. LUISS Business School is ready to support you! #MasterYourCareer Upcoming events:: MILAN - 30 September 2015 NAPLES - 13 October 2015 ROME - 22 October 2015 BOLOGNA - 29 October 2015 TURIN - 12 November 2015

22 September 2015

Board Practice: the strategic role of Corporate Governance in the Financial Institution

By Alessandro Zattoni, Associate Dean for Executive Education and life-long learning, LUISS BS (September 22, 2015) The Board is the most important corporate governance organisation because of its three crucial roles. The Board has to play a strategic role by addressing and contributing to the formulation of the strategic decision-making process. The Board must assure shareholders’ interests and, in a wider vision, it should balance the interests among all stakeholders. Finally, the Board should assure the relationship between the company and the surrounding environment. Despite that the effective execution of these three roles has a great impact on business performance, the legislator has traditionally given general and relatively vague directions regarding the type of tasks given to the Board, and has also failed in giving precise directions on its composition, structure and mode of operation. On the other hand, academics and consultants have long ignored this topic, without developing operation practices aimed to assure an efficient and effective performance of the Board. This lack of attention to the roles and characteristics of the Board, together with the surfacing of irresponsible, if not illegal, behaviors of the top management, has generated over the past few decades numerous legislative changes, thus promoting the introduction (and further revisions) of an Ethics Code. These new rules have positively influenced the Board characteristics. Specifically, they have defined with greater detail the duties of the Board and have given indications prompted to the definition of an ideal Board (in terms of number of directors, the mix between executive, not-executive and independent directors, demographic and professional profiles) and the organization of the tasks within the board (suggesting the separation of Chairman and CEO, the introduction of advisory committees and the introduction of an independent director). At the same time, the Bank of Italy has paid increasing attention to the issue of corporate governance in banks, of brokers and insurance companies starting from the 2008 Supervisory Rules in corporate governance of banks. At the end of a long process of recommendations, interventions and public consultations, the Bank of Italy has recently updated the Supervisory Rules on May 6, 2014. The document deals with the corporate governance in banks and provides specific guidelines to some critical issues such as: the optimal or maximal size of the Board, the level and diversification of the directors’ skills, the presence of an adequate number of independent and non-executive directors and the mandatory introduction of committees for larger dimension banks. It is therefore understood that the new legal deal has fostered, and at times imposed, a positive evolution of the characteristics of the boards. However, the codes and laws have paid more attention to the composition and the organization of Boards, rather than to the behavioral and procedure variables. Recent studies have shown, on the contrary, that the efficacy of the Board is significantly influenced by variables such as, for example, an open and critical debate, the commitment of the Board members to carrying out their tasks and the coordination of the contributions given to the Board activities. These studies therefore put in evidence that the Board design involves composition, organization and also procedural and behavioral aspects. To better all the above mentioned aspects, some researchers and Ethics Codes suggest the introduction of transparent assessment processes for the entire Board and the organization of training sessions on best practices in order to support the growing responsibilities of the Board. The effective implementation of these tools can significantly improve the performance of the individual directors and of the entire Board.

22 September 2015

Sport and Management

The sport has always been synonymous of collaboration, competitiveness and resilience; concepts that meet perfectly the skills needed by an effective Project Manager and which are highly required by companies. Can the sport be a job opportunity for Project Managers? LUISS Business School, in collaboration with ISIPM, presents the event Sport & Project Management on September 25, at Viale Pola, Rome. The debate will be moderated by Paolo De Laurentiis, journalist at Corriere dello Sport and former athlete, and will involve coaches, Sport Managers, athletes running for RIO 2016 and former Olympic athletes, among which: Gregorio Paltrinieri (athlete FIN, European record holder in 1500 long course); Giovanni Coccoluto (thlete FIV, Laser Standard Class, Financial Police Sporting Group); Roberto Cammarelle (super heavyweight boxer). Follow the event on social media using the hashtag: #SportManagement Find out the programme 22/09/2015

14 September 2015

Applications for Master Programmes are open

The next admission test for the admission to the Master Programmes will take place on September 28. LUISS BS offers a complete range of programmes to successfully start or boost your career. For any further information about the selection process, please write to: smluissbs@luiss.it. #MasterYourCareer

14 September 2015

MBA selection day on September 17th, 2015

The next selection day of LUISS Business School MBA has been scheduled on September 17, 2015. The admission test can be held on-campus at 10 am, or off-campus (via Skype) at 2 pm. For any further information about the selection process and the documents required, please write to mba23@luiss.it or call (+39) 06 85 22 5577.

09 September 2015

The first LUISS Business School Team Building Day: an outdoor experience where enthusiasm , collaboration and trust meet to create a common vision.

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better” (J.K. Rowling) On September 4th took place the first full day event dedicated to different team building activities at the Resort "Alla Corte delle Terme” in Viterbo, the LUISS BS Staff was divided into teams to put their teamwork skills into practice where trust, listening and mediation skills were tested. The team building did not only highlight competition but also the ability of the teams to work together, stressing the importance of collaboration to reach common goals and effectively divide the tasks between the different team members. The team building event represented an excellent opportunity to deepen relationships with colleagues also after the activities. The event highlighted a message: the importance of each individual, an essential element of a business school, and the real engine for change. Change is a core element in the LUISS BS vision while the School is fully committed to promote innovation. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Watch the pics

03 September 2015

The EBAA National Forum on September 29 in Rome, Italy

Business Aviation in Italy: an important tool to foster economic development in the global markets LUISS Business School is glad to host the EBAA National Forum on September 29, 2015. The Forum is organized by EBAA with IBAA Italian Business Aviation Association and the support of Studio Legale Pierallini. More info

03 August 2015

Forum – Digital Health - The digital for a fair, sustainable and universal health

Rome, 10th – 11st – 12nd September 2015 LUISS Guido Carli, Viale Romania, 32 For Health, The digital can be a real revolution to health. "S@lute, the Forum of digital health" is the event that tells the ongoing transition. To the aim, there will be 3 days of debates and case histories involving 120 discussants. 10th September. The opening day with three different forums in order to build a general overview through the track of technological scenarios and the best practices on how to rule the innovation. We will talk about successful case histories even thanks to Luiss. 11st September. Work tables, live discussions and demo to live real and concrete change. The working groups will be dedicated to three main features: the drug, new healthcare models, patient empowerment. The digital processes will deeply affect the healthcare model with a re-design of the traditional places of care where people will benefit new rights and duties, that is why we talk about patient empowerment. But the relationship with drug - and with pharmacy and pharmacists – will change. Because the digital health is for everyone. 12nd September. The day will be dedicated to start up. “All you can IT” is about 10 Italian start ups which tell their ideas on how to improve the health model to potential investors. An important roundtable on the overall sector. Because the successful digital revolution in Health depends on research and innovation. More info

03 August 2015

The Lean Thinking in the Services Industry

The actual economic scenario is a challenge the companies have to face on: on the one hand, offering performance, quality and timely services; on the other hand, budget constraints and streamline procedures. If the only action to crisis is to keep/recover competitive advantage, the solution is to re-think the business model at strategic and operational level and to assure innovation management approach. With this regard, it is well known the success of specific management models, such as the Lean Thinking, which allows excellent results in terms of quality, efficiency and productivity. Lean thinking is a management philosophy which is oriented to maximize the customer value and to minimize any kind of waste. Although derived from manufacturing, Lean Thinking principles have been successfully applied to the service industry in many utility companies (Healthcare, Banks, Tourism, Insurance, Public Services, etc.). Its application has proven how to keep high quality service level through simplification, cutting waste and related costs, the improvement the overall users’ experience. The application of Lean philosophy to services industry must be strictly linked to the main features of the industry itself: intangibility of services, production and consumption in the same time, are just some of the most relevant pillars to keep in mind. Lean Thinking is something more than a method for process improvement. It is a philosophy and a mindset aimed to cut waste along the value chain through the involvement of staff in the solutions. The Lean is focused on how the product and the services are able to create value to customers and on how it is possible to increase the value itself. That is why we can talk about philosophy, values and behaviors which are able to a renew the corporate culture. Alessandro Bacci Partner Telos Consulting Lean System programme Scientific Coordinator