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Portraits

of Success2010Interna tiona l, c rea tive,innova tors: Boc c onians

a t work

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Contents*

Vikram Has a Full Plate of Ideas 3

by Tom aso Eridani

An MBA Students Blog 5

by Tom aso Eridani

A Visiting Professor Jogg ing Down the Navig lio 7

by Fab io Tod esc o

Thanos, a Seria l Entrep rene ur and Professor 9

by Fab io Tod esc o

Gia nc arlo, a Serial Volc ano at the EMIT 11

by Fab io Tod esc o

Texting for Serena 13

by Tom aso Eridani

Wound ed Chile by Edoardo Moruzzi 15

by Davide Ripam onti

24 Hours with Tan ja , Massimilia no and Alberto 17

by Fab io Tod esc o

Two Boc c onians Develop the Cap ello Index 19

by Fab io Tod esc o

______________________________________

* Portraits of Suc c essis a selec tion of a rticles previously pub lished in the Boc co ni Newsletter. Articles are a vailab le on t he w eb

on ViaSarfatti25.eu, the Boc co ni online new sma ga zine, at the follow ing a dd ress: www .viasarfatti25.eu.

Translations by Offic e of International C om munica tion.

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Vikram Has a Full Plate of IdeasbyTom aso Erida ni

A Boc c oni stude nt, Vikram Kandula has develop ed and

ma rketed a line of ec ologic al dishware, ba sed on a loc al

Ind ian trad ition tha t uses fallen lea ves. He p red ic ts p rod uc t

sa les of 1.5 million in 2010

Crea ting a profitab le business with a g oo d p roduc t tha t is prod uc ed susta inab ly and used responsibly. With

these g oo d intentions, Vikram Kandu la, a 27-year old Boc c oni stud ent from India, found ed his ow n b usiness,

Ham pi Prod uc ts. The c om pa ny holds de ar to a prac tice held in rural Indian, a nd produc es dispo sab le

dishware for ca tering which spo rt a stylish d esign a nd a very low environme ntal impa c t.

After grad uating in engineering in Delhi, Vikram already showed the first signs of an entrepreneurial spirit at 24

whe n he o pe ned his ow n business in clothing m anufac turing c ompany. The b usiness wa s go ing we ll, but

Vikram und erstoo d tha t he ne ed ed to lea rn som e mo re skills in order to bette r deve lop his ideas.

I need ed to learn more ab out business and I knew Boc c oni had a go od rep utation for tea ching a wide a rray

of manag em ent skills, e xplains Vikram . And I a lso liked the idea of living in Ita ly for a fe w years and ge tting to

know the c ulture.

But while he wa s thinking abo ut ma king a land ing a t Boc c oni, Vikram a lrea dy had his next initiative in mind. A

light bulb went on w hen he went to a wed ding in a rural pa rt of India with a Dutch friend , Fred eric Sand ers,who m he had m et in Mumbai while Sande rs wa s doing a n internship in the Susta inab ility Dep artme nt a t ABN

AMRO. The two friends we re struck b y the dispo sable p la tes used for the we dd ing feast of o ver 1,000 gue sts.

They used plates ma de from the leave s of a loca l palm tree . The lea ves fall naturally a ll yea r long a nd the

plates are m ad e b y loca l produc ers without c hemic al or toxic produc ts so p rod uction is sustainab le and

responsible, says Vikram. They a re perfec tly ec olog ica l and b iodeg rada ble. These a re all fac tors whic h

tod ay s ma rket values. The o nly thing left to d o w as to refine the p late s de sign and think ab out ho w to

prod uc e them o n a larger sc ale.

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Vikram and Fred eric went to work, in collab oration with the loc al produc ers, and after a fe w mo nths they ha d

put tog ether and tw ea ked a line of produc ts and were rea dy to b eg in exporting. Summe r wa s ap proa c hingand they d ec ided to try to sell their prod uct to sea side c lubs in Bloemend all on the Dutch c oa st. They

rec eived g oo d fe ed ba c k, with the fifth c lub o wner they spo ke to imme diate ly ordering 5,000, and the business

took off.

Fred eric has an ae sthetic e ye a nd is go od with emo tions, while I have a go od business sense a nd am go od

with c osts. We a rgue a lot, but the res a g oo d b a lanc e b etw ee n our skills, says Vikram.

Meanwhile, with a Me rit Awa rd und er his belt (the Boc c oni sc holarship for interna tiona l stud ents assigned o n

the b asis of a c ade mic me rit), in Sep tem be r Vikram a rrived in Milan to b eg in work on his Ma ster of Sc ienc e inInternat iona l Manag ement. The ha rd wo rk in class is intense fo r som eo ne like Vikram who c ontinue s to w ork on

his ec ologica l dishwa re p roject. A Dutc h d esigner is broad ening the rang e a nd increa sing the numb er of

produc ers in India w ho, co ntinuing to use entirely handm ad e p rac tices, are being trained w ith new

technologies and processes.

With Frede ric working full time and Vikram wo rking one wee k a month, the pa ir wa s ab le to sign ag reeme nts

with seve ral distribu tors in Franc e for the c atering industry a nd ma ke c ontac ts with o ther d istributors in Ita ly.

Estima tes fo r sa les in 2010? 1.5 million item s. Its a c omm itment tha t will req uire a fac tory to b e built in southern

India to keep up with produc tion of enoug h plates to c over req uests.

Pursuing this business a longside my stud ies is a b ig job , bu t ha ving m y own business has alwa ys bee n a drea m

of mine, explains Vikram . And e verything Im learning in the c lassroom, marketing for examp le, c an be

ap p lied right a wa y. Professors like Ma rkus Venzin and Rob ert Grant have helpe d me immensely in their

advising.

From Bocc oni New slette r no. 81/2010

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An MBA Students BlogbyTom aso Erida ni

Sed a Sarac er keeps an a nimated online d ia ry on the Financ ia l

Times web site of her expe rienc e a t SDA Boc c oni. She and the

other interna tiona l bloggers a t FT p rovide an insiders view tha t

round s out o ffic ia l informa tion ab out MBA prog ams in various

countries.

Born in Istanb ul in 1984, Sed a grad uate d with a de gree in International Com merce and then w orked in

ma rketing at a multinational c omp any in the va rnish sec tor for three years. During that pe riod, she b ec am e

aw are of the ne ed for a turning point in her c areer path.

I cho se a n MBA bec ause a t university I lea rned simply throug h read ing b ooks, but the n I wa nted to lea rn newbusiness skills along with other people who had work experience, who I could exchange ideas with and learn

from as well, e xplains Sed a. And I c hose SDA be c ause it has a g reat rep uta tion and it offers a spec ializat ionin marketing that interested me.

Just be fore the program b eg an in Oc tob er, the p rop osal to write a blog on the w eb site of the Financ ial Time s

c am e to he r throug h SDA. Sed a s outgo ing and c urious pe rsona lity enc ourage d he r to a c c ep t the p rop osal

and so she found herself with e leven othe r blogge rs, including a stud ent from Kenya n w ho stud ies at INSEAD,

an Indian student in Chic ago and an American a t Cam bridg e.

I was fam iliar with Fac eb ook and Twitter bu t I didn t think of myself as a po tent ial blogge r. But I was c urious

ab out the propo sal and now Im rea lly into it! says Sed a. I started with the g oa l of offering a rea l view of

wha t it mea ns to c omp lete an M BA. Often, in fac t, only offic ial information ab out MBAs c an be found, while

wha t I wa nt to d o is to d esc ribe wha t really go es on b ehind the sc ene s, persona lizing my story as muc h as

possible.

In her various po sts (an a verage of tw o p er wee k) Sed a has in fac t ta lked ab out the intensity of the p rogram,

the impo rtanc e of networking , and job prospec ts at the e nd o f the program, but a lso a bout the recreational

moments among students such as parties and soccer tournaments.

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At the b eg inning it wa s a big e ffort, partly be c ause I tried to plan m y po sts. Now I c an b e m ore spo ntane ous

whe n I write, it co mes ea sier and its almo st a relaxing b reak from the frenzy of the p rogram , says Sed a .

Betwe en the program, the blog and c lubs (Sed a is a me mb er of b oth the MBA SDAs Ma rketing Club a nd the

Wome n in Business Club), Sed a s c om mitme nts keep her from spe nd ing time on her grea test p assion, oil

pa inting. So, at least for now, her dream of p ainting the Duomo of M ilan w ill have to wa it.


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A Visiting Professor Jogging Down the NavigliobyFab io Tod esco

Last sem ester Tom er Broude held the first c ompulsory c ourse in

English in Law a t Boc c oni and ran the Venice mara thon. His

tra ining was along M ilan s c ana ls.

Milan for te aching, Venic e fo r running . Tha nks to Tom er Broud e, 40, a Visiting Profe ssor from Heb rew University

in Jerusalem , last sem ester stud ents in the sec ond yea r of Law a t Boc c oni pa rticipa ted in the first c om pu lsory

c lass held entirely in English: a c ourse in Interna tiona l Law . Broude too k ad va nta ge of his time a wa y from

home to train along the Naviglio Grande and pa rtic ipated in one of the most difficult Italian m arathons, held

in Venice , on 25 Oc tob er.

One o f the sub jec ts Broud e is mo st interested in is the WTO (the World Trad e Orga niza tion), where G iorgio

Sac erdot i, Full Professor in Inte rnat iona l Law a t Boc c oni, served a s Europ ea n justice fo r eight ye ars, until

Novem be r 2009. Tha t s why it w as natural for Broude to think ab out Boc c oni for the last sem ester of his yea r

and a half sab ba tica l lea ve, pa rt of which wa s spe nt a t Ge orgetow n University in Washington, D.C.

At first the stude nts seem ed a little intimida ted , mayb e b ec ause o f the new experienc e o f having to interac t

in English, or ma ybe bec ause the y were used to c lasses tha t are mo re trad itiona l than mine, explains Broude ,

thinking a bo ut his experienc e in Milan. After awhile, howe ver, they loosened up and , thanks in pa rt to their

exc ellent English skills, they p roved to be very go od stud ents. They we re a lso very com petitive, whic h isc ertainly positive o n one hand, b ut which also p oses the risk losing sight o f the real go al o f stud y, which is not a

grad e but knowledg e. The experienc e wa s espe c ially interesting for the professor and stude nts when a Moo t

c ourt, a simulation o f a trail in front of a n internationa l court and ba sed on a hypothe tica l ca se, wa s held

during c lass.

Acc ording to Broud e, a marathon can be an antidote to short-term planning . Both in training, which ha s to

follow a sc hed ule, and in running, where you have to follow prede termined rhythms, maratho ns have only

long-term g oa ls.

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Broud e started running a ga in a few ye ars ag o a fter a long b rea k. I started running when I wa s a kid and

during m y milita ry servic e, he says, a nd fo r me it bec a me a lifestyle, som ething tha t your bo dy sta rts to ne ed ,and tha t helps you stay in shape a nd stay hea lthy. A marathon, with its 42.195 kilometers, howe ver, was a non-

professional cha llenge , whic h I wa nted to ta ke on a fter awhile. I c hose the one in Venic e b ec ause I thought it

would b e a ma zing, so I started training in Toronto, Cana da and I didn t stop even when I move d to the United

Sta tes and Finland .

Over the semester, Broude ran two half-mara thons in Monza a nd Sanremo, and he d isc ove red a running wo rld

tha t was different from the one he e xperienced in Israel or the United Sta tes. In Italy, he says, I saw lots of

group s with their soc ial uniforms and p eo p le who w ould run in groups, while running a b road is muc h more of

an individua l sport. The op posite is true, howe ver, fo r university life. In the United Sta tes and Israe l, struc turedac tivities that involve the entire fac ulty of an ac ad emic subjec t are more freq uent, and c an a c t as soc ial

gatherings.


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Thanos, a Seria l Entrep reneur and ProfessorbyFab io Tod esco

Papad imitriou, a SDA fac ulty me mb er of Op erations and

Tec hnology Manag em ent, has twe nty yea rs entrepreneuria l

experienc e in rad io, market resea rc h, web sem antic s and

music.

To inte rac t with the top internationa l mana ge rs who pa rticipa te in SEP, the Senior Exec utive p rogram a t SDA

Boc c oni, which he c oordinates, yo u nee d to ha ve c omp any e xperienc e, says Thano s Pap ad imitriou, 39-yea r

old Athens native a nd SDA fac ulty mem be r in Op erations Tec hnology a nd M ana ge ment. And he ha s plenty

of expe rienc e: Co nversa tion Sta rter, a Harvard Business Sc hoo l blog , de fines him a s a serial entrep reneur a t

the b ottom of his po st Are you the bo ttlenec k in your orga nization?

I was luc ky to am ong the first in Greec e to ge t to know the world of c omp uters and elec tronics, he says. At

17 he ope ned a free rad io with a fe w friend s, at a time when o nly the sta te rad io sta tions were leg al. Young

Greeks we re fo llow ing the Italian exam ple from a few yea rs ea rlier, explains Thanos, a nd for a p eriod of time,

our rad io had the most listene rs in Athens. The rad io sta tion did n t ac cep t ad vertising and the initiative neve r

be c am e a business, b ut lots of m y pa rtners stayed in that sec tor and are now some of the most p op ular DJs

in Greec e.

Papa dimitriou left Europe right a fter to stud y c om pu ter sc ienc e a t MIT and UCLA. His first job wa s c onsulting for

a spin-off o f MIT, Cam bridge Tec hno logy Partners (CTP). I wa s the re for four yea rs, and I went from ac ompany with 400 peo ple to o ne w ith 5,000 pe op le. It wa s a highly tumultuous mo ment: the United Sta tes had

just gotte n ou t of the c risis from the ea rly 90s, crea ted by the end of the C old War, and industries like

aerospac e we re substituted by tec hnolog y industries. From m y p oint o f view , since I had to bring IT system s to

c omp anies, I had to a nalyze p roc esses in deta il and the p roc ess-based ap proac h turned out to be useful in

ma ny o ther p hases in my p rofessiona l life.

Papa dimitriou left the C TP whe n he d ec ided there wa s no more room fo r profe ssional grow th in the short term

( I wa s too young for the next step ) and he sta rted a PhD in Ma nage ment a t UCLA. But I missed my p revious

work, so I found ed Alpha De ta il with two friend s, a m arket researc h co mpa ny in the pharmace utica l sec tor

whic h analyzes doc tors b eha vior. We sta rted w ith a Pow erPoint p resenta tion, and tha nks to tha t we raised

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one million d ollars from our former emp loyers and w e opene d in Feb ruary 2001. When things see med to be

sta rting we ll, with seve ral projec ts and promising c onta c ts for the sta rt-up , the US ec ono my w as shaken b ySep temb er 11 and everything stop pe d fo r a few m onths. We we ren t ab le to pa y our salaries in Novem be r

and Dec emb er, says Pap a dimitriou, but we be t on our future a nd it worked . After a short while, the

c ompany sta rted invoic ing 14 million dollars a ye ar, but I had left all ope rative roles to finish my PhD. An

ac ad emic effec t of his entrepreneurial expe rience wa s a pa pe r ac c ep ted at the p restigious VLDB (Very Large

Data Base) Confe renc e in 2000. The sta tistica l methodolog y de velop ed for Alpha De ta il is also a t the b ase o f

ano ther artic le, written with Valeria Belvede re a nd Albe rto G rand o, to b e p ublished soon on the Internationa l

Journal of Prod uc tion Resea rc h.

At the end of the PhD in 2003, Thanos co nta c ted two stud ents at the Universitys Sc hoo l of Eng ineering

spe c ializing in natural lang uag es proc esses and c omp uter scienc e who had a g rea t idea : to co mp ete w ith

Goo gle with a sema ntic sea rc h eng ine, which is ab le to und erstand sea rc hes in dep th a nd provide o nly truly

releva nt responses. I wa s their ad visor for the sta rt of Infocious. But te c hnica l exce llenc e is not eno ugh .

Goo gle wa s so we ll-estab lished by then tha t it couldn t be ousted , so we mod ified the p rojec t and c rea ted

Lingospot, a service a imed at a nyone who ma na ge s information web sites or group sites to increa se the

number of pages visited and advertising revenue. Actually, thanks to sema ntic searc h engines, pub lished text

is interpreted and the m ost impo rtant words are a utoma tica lly linked to o ther text on the site or the group of

sites tha t dea l with simila r terms, while a dve rtising b ased on keywords are a na lyzed and presente d in a n orde r

that follows the effec tive relevanc e c omp ared to the te xt.

Pap ad imitriou ca me ba c k to Europ e in 2004 continuing a do uble academic as a SDA p rofe ssor at t he

Op erations and Tec hnology Ma nag eme nt Unit at SDA Boc c oni and entrepreneurial trac k. It s true that he re,

I have to a dm it, starting a c omp any is muc h more d iffic ult, both d ue to a larger ave rsion to risk and due to the

ab senc e o f an e ffic ient ventu re cap ital market. Establishing himself in Milan, where he tea c hes c ourses in

Op erations, Innova tion Ma nage me nt and Entrep reneurship both a t SDA and a t the University, he founded

mBryo a long w ith two o ther pe op le. It is a sort of incub ato r with offices in New York which he lps de velop

entrepreneurial ide as and write g ood business plans, and he c ollab orates remo tely, mana ging a de licious

blog on entrep reneurship, Che fs Not Bakers.

In Greec e he is involved in M2C Me dia , a c ompany tha t ma nage s music transmissions and a dvertising

messag es in large distribu tion spa c es, which reac hed a ma rket sha re of 25%, along with InHouseMusic, a music

produc tion com pa ny that c rea tes bo th ad vertising jingles and c omm ercial trac ks (Sand yma n ca n be fo und

on YouTube to g et a n idea of the g enre). You c an t esc ap e your pa st, he says now, c om menting on his

return to radio even though toda ys media has a more technologically ad vanc ed form.


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Giancarlo, a Seria l Volcano at the EMITbyFab io Tod esco

In the ir prod uc tion p hases, his idea s revo lve a round soc ia l

netw orking a nd smartphones. He b eg an an internship in

Germany to study from entrep reneurs and imp orted a n

interesting idea into Ita ly.

Gianc arlo Ga riba ldi, a stud ent in his sec ond yea r of the EMIT, the Master of Sc ienc e in Ec ono mic s and

Ma nag em ent of Innovation and Tec hnology, may b ec ome a serial entrepreneur in the future. For now he is

c ertainly a serial volca no, very ac tive in spe wing forth entrepreneurial ide as, some of w hic h a re alrea dy in

the testing phase.

The idea for Post-Here beg an at EMIT, within an e xisting initia tive whic h required a business p lan to be drafted

and presented to a group of fac ulty and business ang els. Co mb ining messaging and geo-localization , Post-

Here a ims to be an ap plic ation for sma rtpho nes that allows users to excha nge ge ograp hica lly-c onstrained

messag es, e xplains the stude nt, who c am e up with the ide a with classma te G ab riele Rod riguez. We c an

imagine tha t pa rticipants in a c omm unity ma y lea ve c omm ents in front of shop s, for examp le, or that

someo ne ma y leave a c olleag ue instructions on wha t to d o onc e they ge t to a ce rtain plac e.

With a Bac helor deg ree in Enginee ring of Auto ma tion, Gianc a rlo ha s alwa ys had e ntrep reneurial aspirations

and, when loo king fo r a Ma ster of Sc ienc e, he soug ht ou t a less tec hnica l MSc than Enginee ring. He c hose

EMIT a fter see ing a Boc c oni rec ruitme nt p resenta tion reserved for eng ineering stud ents.

Ga ribaldi ha d a go od idea ab out the tec hnic al a nd entrep reneurial p ossibilities of Post-Here tha nks to a nother

project of his which is in a mo re d evelop ed pha se. MatchMe , anothe r sma rtpho ne a pp lic ation, aims to

rec onc ile real life w ith soc ial networks. Partic ipants in a c omm unity trac k their profile a nd the p eop le they

would like to mee t, says Ga ribaldi. When two pe op le with a c omp atible profile find e ac h other in the range

of a fe w me ters, the a pp lica tion notic es this and informs the tw o of the recip roca l proximity. Unlike

ma tc hma king sites, the ma tc h d oe sn t look a t just roma ntic c ha rac teristics, but a ll kinds of sha red interests.

Here, though they use different methods, the business should hold, as in the case of Post-Here, thanks to

advertising revenue and sales of premium versions with advanced functions.

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The ide a of Ma tc hMe b eg an a few years ag o w hen G ariba ldi was still studying eng ineering, and it has alrea dy

evolved . At the be ginning, the matc h wasnt c om munica ted through sma rtpho nes but through Abb rac c ialetti, a brand nam e registered b y the stude nt which is a b lend of the Italian words for hug a nd

brac elet, and w hich we re c rea ted for the ap plic ation. Then we rea lized two things: that starting p hysica l

produc tion for the ab brac c ialetti would result in high p rod uc tion co sts and that sma rtpho nes were b eginning

to b ec ome more e stab lished . The we Ga ribaldi is referring to are the other three eng ineering stude nts who

c ollab orate w ith him a nd two ad visors: a m ana ge r in the te lephone sec tor and a spe c ialist in market resea rch.

The stud ent believes he ll have a be ta version fo r the first market tests by the summ er.

His idea s a re no t d estined to rema in just ideas. He ha s recently bee n wo rking on his latest ambition in

Ge rmany. Through the Erasmus for Young Entreprene urs netw ork he co nta c ted a G erman entrep reneur who is

ac tive in customizing several com mon ob jects in a c omp any, with the aim of enha ncing the b rand value of

the c omp anies that use them . Gariba ldi thus de cide d to do a 3-month c urricular internship at the German

c ompany, utilizing Boc c oni offic es for the bureauc ratic issues. Over these c oming months, I will be his assistant

to see wha t a n entrepreneur rea lly do es. If everything works out, I might b e a ble to be c ome an Italian

referenc e, imp orting the business.


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Texting for SerenabyTom aso Erida ni

A Boc c oni student, Serena Coc c iolo is a vo lunteer at Projec t for

Peop le, an organiza tion which promotes text messaging to

supp ort mic rofinanc ing p rojec ts for women in Ind ia .

Serena C oc c iolo w ants you to text her, not for her but for the wom en in West Beng al who need funds to

suppo rt their ag ricultural business or sta rt a sma ll entrepreneurial ac tivity. A stud ent at Boc c oni in he r first ye ar

of the Ma ster of Sc ienc e in Ec ono mic and Soc ial Sc ienc es, Serena is a voluntee r at the assoc iation Project fo r

Peop le, which launc hed a te xt messag ing c am pa ign to raise fund s for mic rofinancing p rojec ts to he lp wom en

in the p oo r rura l area south o f Kolkata .

Serena dea lt with microc red it projec ts firstha nd last yea r, du ring her third yea r in the Bac helor in Ec ono mic

and Soc ial Sc ienc es a t Boc c oni. As pa rt of a n internship p rogram for the d eg ree, she spent t hree mo nths in

India with Project for People , a non-profit organization whic h ha s be en spo nsoring cooperative and

development projects to p romo te self-sustainability in loc a l populat ions in Ind ia, Ben in and Brazil since 1993.

My g oa l for after university is to w ork in the field o f c oop eratives and de velopm ent, and in pa rtic ular in the

microc red it sec tor. I chose this internship b ec ause it g ives me the c hanc e to ge t e xpe rience direc tly in the

field, exp lains Serena .

In Janua ry 2009 she left for Ind ia a nd stayed in Kolkata for three m onths, traveling to village s within a 100km

rad ius from the c ity. Serena ob served c urrent p rojec ts and worked on a cc ounting expe nses, loa n a lloc ation

proc ess ana lysis and ga thering da ta on op erations. She a lso helped monitor the Wome n Pea c e C ounc il

project w hich a ims to d evelop the role o f several wome n a s Judges of the Pea c e to resolve legal and family

issues in the villag es.

I saw how m icrocredit wo rked firsthand , along with the effort of involving w ome n and most wo men s

hap piness and satisfac tion abo ut wha t they we re a ble to c rea te, says Serena. It was a ve ry ed uc ationa l

expe rienc e. I learned a lot from the loc a l sta ff, bu t also from the c om munities involved , ob serving their

different worlds.

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After returning to Milan, Serena wa nted to c ontinue her c ollab oration so she started working at the m icrocredit

group of the assoc iation, working m ainly with the orga nization a nd c oo rdination o f internships in India forBoc c oni stud ents (ab out six per yea r) as well as with ac c ounting and a na lysis of seve ral microfinanc ing

projects.

Projec t for Peop le rec ently promo ted a c am pa ign for text messag ing to raise fund s for microfinanc ing p rojects

in India to allow wom en a nd the ir families to g et o ut of a state of p overty and red eem themselves from the

role o f ma rginaliza tion, a s the a ssoc iation explains. Funds are intend ed to p rovide sma ll loans whic h a llow

wom en to supp ort or launc h a business (both trad itiona l hand c rafts and ag ric ultural) and allow their c hildren

to atte nd sc hool (a ma nda tory req uireme nt to take a dva ntag e of mic roc red it). Collecte d funds will also

supp ly drinking wa ter to the v illage s.


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Wounded Chile by Edoa rdo MoruzzibyDavide Ripamonti

A law student a nd pho tographer, Edoa rdo w as on vac ation in

the South Americ an c ountry for a relaxing visit with his b rother

whe n the deva sta ting e arthqua ke struck. He ha s p rod uced a

very touc hing p hoto grap hic rep ort, and he te lls of his

expe rienc e a nd his hop es for a c aree r in photojournalism.

To transform your childhood pa ssion into your c aree r is eve ryone s drea m, but only a few c an a c tua lly

ma nage to d o it. Amo ng them is Edoa rdo M oruzzi, a 21 yea r-old from Bolzano, who is in his fourth yea r of the

law program at Boc co ni and is an up and co ming p hotographer.

I sta rted w hen I was young , messing a round w ith my mothers c ameras, he reca lls, then I went up the linefollowing the c hang ing tec hnology, from a nalogic al reflex to the first digital ca meras and now to the mo de rn

profe ssiona l digita l cam eras.

Tog ethe r with his pa rtner and friend Giusep pe Balac c o (a NABA graduate), Edoa rdo w as just sta rting to ge t

some recognition whe n his first big job c am e a long: In 2008 we we re hired as the o fficial pho tog raphers for

the Europ ea n c ano e c ham pionships at the Idrosc alo he re in Milan, then o ther job s c am e through, suc h a s

prod uc t ca ta logue s. In the last few m onths, it has be en insitutional video s for various c ompa nies. Edo ardo s

training is not the typica l pa th through p hotog rap hy sc hool a nd ap prenticeship he is largely self-taug ht. I

trained myself throug h prac tica l expe rience and by read ing a few ba sic b ooks. I be lieve tha t formal

ed uc ation is important, but direct expe rienc e c ounts even mo re .

Tog ether with ta lent, that is. Bec ause a go od pho tog rap her do es more tha n ma king po rtraits of reality, but

rathe r interprets rea lity from his own po int of view. Its the p hotog rap her who d ec ides wha t p art of the

observed reality he will transmit, he explains, combining creativity and the ability to deal with the unforeseen

events that so o ften oc c ur.

Tragic unforesee n eve nts, som etime s, which c an ofte n turn into g reat o pp ortunities to g row p rofessiona lly and

pe rsona lly, as hap pe ned to Edo ardo . I had go ne to visit my b rother in Chile , where he is a d iploma t at the

Ita lian Emb assy , he says, and o ur plan was to stay in San tiag o fo r a we ek a nd then g o to Easter Island , but

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then I was involved in tha t te rrible earthquake . It was a toug h experienc e for Edo ardo , who a c c omp anied his

brothe r, helping w ith reflief wo rk a long w ith everyone a t the Emb assy. But it was also the c ha nc e to pu ttog ethe r an e xtrao rdinary photo grap hic repo rt, whic h will stay in my pe rsona l portfolio; I too k pictures of the

trag ed y,the p eop le, a c ountry deep ly wo unde d but which a lways kept faith in its institutions, as you c ould see

from the Chilean flags that were flying eveywhere.

At only 21, the road to b eing a c omp lete pho tog rap her is still a long o ne. In wha t a spe c ts do es Edo ardo

c onsider himself strong , and where is there room for imp rovem ent? Im p retty g oo d at landsc ap es, buildings

and stud io shots. In a w ay, those in the stud io are the m ost interesting bec ause you have to b uild them from

sc ratc h, which e mp hasizes c reativity. But I nee d to improve in portraits, I don t think I have ye t de velop ed the

ab ility to interac t well enoug h with peop le.

In the future, he sees himself as a pho torepo rter, be c ause its a job tha t wo uld a llow me to c omb ine my

pa ssion for pho tog rap hy with my love o f exploration and resea rc h, and a bo ve a ll b ec ause it would a llow me

to d o the p hoto s I like b est, the o nes that te ll a story.


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24 Hours with Tanja , Massimiliano and AlbertobyFab io Tod esco

The Boc c oni tea m who w on the Ca seIt business gam e in

Vanc ouver ta lks about their big d ay. The key to vic tory was

tea mw ork ba sed on equal roles for all mem bers of the group ,

with in-dep th d isc ussion of e very po int o f stra teg y.

A tea m o f Boc c oni stude nts rec ently won the m ost impo rtant internationa l informa tion tec hnology b usiness

ga me in the world, CaseIt, held in Vanc ouver. In front of a pa nel of ac ad emic s and ma nag ers in the sec tor,

pa rticipants were asked to find a solution to a n unp ublished c ase and de fend their de c isions during the

disc ussion tha t would follow.

During the long w eekend from 31 Ma rch to 3 April, Tan ja Co llavo (1st yea r in the M Sc in Internat iona lMa nage ment), Massimiliano Spa lazzi (in his 2nd year of the sam e p rogram ) and Alberto Xodo (1st yea r in the

MSc in Market ing Mana gem ent), led b y IT Systems Professor Gianluca Sa lviotti, beat out 15 othe r universities

from all over the wo rld to b ec ome the first Europ ea n tea m to win sinc e the c omp etition b eg an in 2004.

The 24 hours be twee n 9am on 1 April and 9am o n the next da y we re d ec isive hours, said Tanja. That wa s

when w e we re forced to d elibe rate in our hotel room , using only c omp uters and the ma terial provide d b y the

orga niza tion to d isc uss the c ase a nd p repa re our presenta tion slide s. We read the c ase, wo rked it out, put a

strate gy in plac e, then we reread it, worked it out in a d ifferent way, put a nother strate gy in plac e a nd so o n a

few more times, said Albe rto, de sc ribing a seem ingly c hao tic p roc ess, but o ne w hic h seem s to ha ve w orked . The idea , e xplained Ma ssimiliano , wa s that no one in the tea m ha d a spe c ialized and exclusive role. We

ac tually disc ussed everything several times and ea c h time we all partic ipate d, without leaving a nything o ut.

The c ase wa sn t the mo st c lear-cut , as it was d ivided into two p a rts. On one ha nd , exp lained Salviotti, the

fac ulty tutor who a cc omp anied the stude nts on their trip to Cana da , they were asked whe ther to slow do wn

or spe ed up the impleme ntation o f a project. On the other hand the issue w as whether to introd uc e p rovisions

which in the future w ould skirt all the drawb ac ks that ha d a ffec ted it. The d oub le timeline a nd the need to

ma ke bo th an op erative dec ision and a strate gic de c ision m ad e it diffic ult for several team s.

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The th ree stud ents we re selec ted out o f those w ho w ere taking the IT System s c ourse a nd who had show n

interest in the event, which the Internationa l Relat ions Servic e ha d a nnounc ed , e xp lained Salviotti. None o fthe three stud ents, how ever, is spec ialized in IT, like mo st o f the stud ents from o the r universities. Ta lking with

the othe r partic ipants, said the three stude nts, w e realized that m any o f them ha d an engineering

ba c kground and knew sop histic ate d IT pa c kets inside a nd out, so w e g ot a little sc ared. But the c ase w as

de finitely more foc used on strate gy, which ga ve us the ad vanta ge .

The p ane l rec og nized the te am work involved, the simplic ity and elega nce of the solutions and the d ec ision

and rea diness with which the y respond ed to ob jec tions, said Salviotti.

Desp ite the prestige of a n eve nt p erfec tly organized by stud ents at Simon Fraser University (t he

profe ssiona lism 22- and 23-year old students have show n is truly incred ible, the memb ers of the Bocc oni team

said ), Tan ja, Massimiliano a nd Alberto wa nted to p a rtic ipa te so the y co uld have a n interna tiona l business

c ase ga me expe rienc e with stud ents from a round the world, they fe lt less pressured tha n most of the

Ca nad ian, Asian a nd US tea ms. In some c ases, the y explained, you c ould see ho w stressed they w ere and

a few teams even skipped the dinner with international speakers on the first day so they could keep training.

Languag e wa sn t a p rob lem for the Italian tea m eithe r. All three a re in prog rams held in English and they a ll

have internationa l expe rienc e on the ir rsum . Ac c ording to Alberto and Ma ssimiliano: During our

presenta tion our only tac tic w as to let Tanja sta rt and finish, since she speaks Eng lish the b est.


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Two Boc conians Deve lop the Capello IndexbyFab io Tod esco

Franc esc o Bof and Sergio Venturini have worked out a system

tha t ob jec tively eva lua tes soc c er player performance in rea l

time. Presente d in London, it will be tested a t the World Cup in

South Afric a and extended to a nalyze league players in va rious

countries.

The p resenta tion o f the Capello Index at the London Stoc k Exchang e c aused quite a stir in the British p ress. The

idea tha t the c oa c h of the English national side had de velope d a n inde x to me asure p layer pe rforma nc e

and wa nted to test it during the World Cup in South Africa wa s see n as a d isturbanc e to the te am . But its

rea lly an atte mp t to injec t some sc ientific ob jectivity into the world of soc c er, and imp ortant roles are b eing

played by Franc esc o Bof, professor of spo rts ma na ge me nt a t SDA Boc c oni, and by Sergio Ventu rini, who

tea c hes quan titative me thods at Universit Boc c oni and SDA Boc c oni.

Our work bega n mo re tha n a year a go , says Bof. Fab io Ca pe llo a nd Franc esc o Me righi, an e ntrep reneur in

fanta sy spo rts ga mes and soc c er soc ial networking, had the ide a of a n index to m ea sure o bjec tively the

pe rforma nc e o f playe rs on the field . The intent ion wa s to use it in fantasy foo tball or as a suppo rt for co ac hes

and ma nag ers c onsidering roster cha nge s. Bof wa s brought in bec ause of the b ook Ma nag eme nt de l Calcio

tha t he wrote with Fab rizio Mo nta nari and Giac omo Silvestri in 2008.

The first time we met, Ca pe llo alrea dy ha d a ta ble of c riteria that reflec ted his c onc ep tion of how to mea sure

soc c er pe rformanc e , explains Bof. Ove r the mo nths, this has bec ome a list of ove r 500 possible events in ama tc h that c ould a ffec t a p layers eva luation. The eve nts involving a player during a m atc h are wo rked

through sta tistica l algorithms to p roduc e a grad e simila r to tho se p ub lished on the spo rts pa ge s and useful to a

professional aud ience . Eac h ma tc h up da tes the o verall grad e o f a player, and the system works up do zens of

sta tistics that show strengths, weakne sses and trends of p lay, ove r a sea son or a c aree r.

Bof, who be c am e c hief inde x develope r of the c omp a ny formed to ma nag e the inde x, oversees its struc ture

and c onte nt, as we ll as the resources to run it. He a nd Ve nturini deve lop the algo rithms for crunc hing the

numbe rs, and the ir go al is to ma ke the d ata ava ilab le two hours after the end of a m atc h.

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It is a rema rkably large project, whe n o ne c onsiders that to ana lyze a ma tc h live requires two tec hnicians and

a sup ervisor. Then c onsider tha t a fter testing it on the World Cup ma tc hes, the e ntrep reneurs look to b e fullyop erational for leag ue p lay in England , Italy and Spa in. Ge rmany a nd Franc e a re also ve ry interested .

This system is a huge step forwa rd in the ob jec tivity of p layer eva luation , sta tes Bof. Comp ared to spo rts

journalism ratings, the sub jec tive e lemen t is elimina ted , as is c onsideration of the final sc ore. It is the tea m

index, whic h is the a verag e o f the individua l indice s, that c orrelate s with the result of the ma tc h. It is a

pe rfect ible system a lrea dy revised seve ral times - that c an be integrated with othe r eva luations.

For examp le, Bof c ontinues, a t this po int we c an t eva luate move ment without the b all. There are some

excep tions, but it is just too d iffic ult, eve n if we knew all the sc hem es run by the c oa c hes. But we have run

thousands of t ests, and the system is very robust a nd innova tive. It doesn t reha sh stats ava ilab le elsew here,and doe sn t substitute o ther ana lysts. It simply gives them the too ls to ra ise the q ua lity of their work, and to

keep improving indefinitely.


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Aldo and Riccardo, Rep resenting Boc coniat the Nationa l University Tennis Championships

byDavide Ripamonti

Two top p laye rs, 19-yea r olds De Florio and Stiglich, rep resented

the University at a lead ing tennis tournament held in Ita ly s

Mo lise reg ion. Both enrolled in the Bac helor of Business

Adm inistration and Ma nag ement a t Boc c oni, they have

lea rned to b alanc e a thletic s and ac ad em ics.

Theyre b oth the sam e a ge , 19, with the sam e ranking, 2.6 (though Ricc ardo has alrea dy e arned enoug h

po ints to m ove a step up ), and the same stud y prog ra m, the Bac helor of Business Administration a nd

Ma nag em ent. Aldo De Florio a nd Ricc ardo Stiglich a re two athletes c alled to represent Boc c oni at the

Nationa l University Champ ionships, which were held from 21 to 29 May in Ca mp ob asso, Mo lise. They re b oth

registered for the te nnis tournam ent in the singles as well as the d oub les, where they p layed tog ethe r. They rea lot a like, but the yre a lso ve ry different from e ac h othe r: I sta rted p laying te nnis whe n I was 6 or 7 yea rs old,

says Aldo , originally from Rome a nd a former under 12, 14 and 16 reg iona l c hamp ion in Lazio, a nd whe n I wa s

10 yea rs old I sta rted pa rtic ipa ting in my first regiona l tourname nts. Then, sinc e I was doing we ll, I sta rted

playing mo re seriously, with my own c oa c h and a n athletic trainer. I did a ll this while c ontinuing to fo c us on

school.

Ricc ardo s introduc tion to tennis wa s a little late r, who , until he w as 13, cho se to play ba sketb a ll in his

home tow n of Sond rio. But then I wa snt tall enough, he jokes, and so I de cide d to start playing te nnis,where I rea lized that I could b e p retty go od . To d o so, howe ver, he ha d to leave his home town, be c ause I

c ouldn t grow a nymore as a player there, he e xplains, so I ca me to Giussano where there wa s a g rea t

tea c her, Argentine M arcelo Cha rpentier, a fo rmer professiona l player who wa s a t the 100th plac e in the ATP

rankings in the late 90s.

It might be a little late to ta lk ab out go ing pro, but Aldo a nd Ricc ardo ha ve d ifferent opinions ab out the top ic.

Aldo, who won the first edition of the Boc c oni Tennis Tourname nt hand s do wn in Dec emb er (Ricc ardo didn t

pa rtic ipa te), is the sta r on the Boc c oni Sport Tea m a t the CUS Milano Cup . He says, I think I c an get a little

bet te r, but th is is my level more o r less. Up until last yea r I trained eve ry da y, but now I only train 2 or 3 times a

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we ek bec ause Id rather foc us on m y stud ies. Tennis, one o f the m ost me ritoc ratic spo rts, isn t forgiving a fter

brea ks, and players who train less lose p lac es in the rankings be c ause there are no te am dyna mics whic hc ould hide individua l pe rformanc es. For him, howe ver, c urrently p lac ed a round 400th in the nationa l rankings,

c omp etitive ma tc hes are c ontinuing, with tournaments and with the Serie B team National Cham pionship,

whe re Im p laying with Rome s Circ olo Antic o team . Its a ha rd champ ionship with lots of trave ling .

Ricc ardo Stiglich, who wo n the only previous c omp etition b etwe en the tw o, at a tournament in Gub bio, two

years ag o, is taking his time a nd de dic ating time to b oth his tennis and his ac ad emic c areers. Bec ause he

sta rted p laying tennis relative ly la te , he still ha s time to fu lly exp lore his limits. My life right no w is very busy, he

says. I have tennis, then c lasses and I stud y in the eve nings. Im trying to ge t a s high a s I ca n in the rankings

he s a round 320th in Ita ly right now so I c an ge t into the ATP rankings and then p articipate in tournaments

with c ash prizes. I still ha ven t given up the idea tha t I c an ma ke a living off o f tennis.

He s also p articipa ting in the Serie B tea ms, with the Pro Pat ria Milano, but he s a iming for Ca mp ob asso:

Loo king a t the b oa rd of registered tea ms, it looks like its go ing to b e a n interesting tournament, t hey say ,

and we hop e w e c an ge t a s far as possible and ea rn some important po ints for the rankings. Then the re s the

do ubles ma tc hes, even if we ve never played tog ether.

Last yea r another Boc c oni playe r, Ma tteo Rom an w as also in the c hamp ionship. This yea r its Aldo and

Ricc ardo s turn to represent the university.


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A Boc c oni Government in Vanc ouverbyTom aso Erida ni

Eight Boc c oni stud ents were part of the 9-member Ita lian

delegation in the Ca nad ian c ity for the 2010 G8/ G20 Youth

Summ it, a fo rum for young leaders from around the w orld .

The team d eb a ted world issues and presented their fina l

do c ument, which they may take ba c k over the Atlantic .

A Boc c oni majority go vernment, with 8 mem be rs out of 9 from the University, in positions incluidng the hea d of

sta te a nd the M inister of Ec ono mic s, rep resente d Italy in Vanc ouve r a t the G8/ G20 summ it for yo uths last

month, taking p a rt in lively de ba tes with the ir pe ers from a ll ove r the w orld.

Now in its 5th ed ition, the G8/ G20 Youth Summ it brings tog ethe r university stud ents from me mb er c ount ries,

hosted in the sam e c ount ry as the o fficial G8. Its ob jec tive is to g ive youths a vo ice that is hea rd on the most

c urrent g loba l issues whic h ma ke up the p rogram fo r the lea de rs at t he o ffic ial summit.

Cand idate s for the Italian d elega tion were c hosen b y Youth Enga ge ment Prom oters, one of the ma ny

internationa l stud ent o rganiza tions whic h help orga nize the e vent, while the nine final de lega tes were

selec ted by a c om mittee of three Italian university professors. Boc c oni had go od reason to b e p roud , since

the m ajority of the final de legation, which w as chosen o ut of hund red s of c and idate s, was suc h a large

ma jority of Boc c oni stud ents.

Stefa no G reco, Claud ia Frac c alvieri, Claud ia Pereira da Conc eiao, Chiara Rivera, Franc esc o Fasiello, GiuliaOb erti, Folc o C ioni and Luc ia Brambilla (a long with a no the r stud ent from LUISS) we re assigne d va rious roles in

the Italian go vernmen t, from the he ad of sta te to va rious respo nsibilities for foreign a ffairs, deve lopm ent , etc .

Eac h stud ent w as a lso a ssigned the ta sk of prep aring two position p ap ers to p resent in Vanc ouve r for

discussion during the various panels.

The idea be hind th is summ it is to give youths sugg estions and our views reg arding these glob al issues a vo ice

and visibility, e xplained Claud ia Frac c alvieri, a stud ent in her 2nd ye a r in the Bac helor of Internat iona l

Ec onom ics, Ma nag eme nt and Finance .

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At the Simon Fraser University in Vanc ouve r, five full da ys we re given ove r to d eb ates be twe en the 130

stud ents. Pa rtic ipa nts at tend ed p lenary sessions, and me etings betw ee n representa tives of the individua lareas to d isc uss va rious issues suc h as globa l governa nc e, the fight a ga inst te rrorism a nd food sec urity. The

final objective is to produce a final document, like at the official version, which includes the various proposals

and purposes which em erge.

It wa s nice to be ab le to c ontribute to the se impo rtant issues and c ome up with feasible p rop osals, said

Claud ia Pereira d a C onc eiao, origina lly from Brazil, enrolled in the 1st yea r of the Bac helor in Ec ono mics and

Soc ial Sc ienc es.

I found it rea lly interesting to see how these issues a re dea lt with differently around the w orld , said Claud ia

Frac c alvieri. In fac t, outside the c lassroom we we re all friends, bu t de ba tes we re very lively and an imate d!Then, in the evenings we went ba c k to a fun and friendly atmo sphe re.

It was a lso a grea t op po rtunity to soc ialize a nd ne two rk. There wa s a lot o f truly interc ultura l con tac t, said

Stefa no G rec o, grad uating in the Bac helor of Business Adm inistration a nd Ma nag eme nt, the hea d of state in

the d elega tion. In p artic ular, it wa s nic e to see how us Europ ea n d elega tes were a ble to ea sily c oordinate

ourselves and work toge ther, thanks in part to the EU Voice mee ting we atte nde d in Germany b efore leaving,

where we laid out o ur shared Europ ea n p osition. Since w e re a ll young, we ho pe that this is a go od ome n for

the future of the Europe an Union.

Now we re d iscussing how to c ontinue this experienc e and the idea s that c am e out of it, c onc luded

Stefa no. The d ream , whic h we re trying to b ring ab out, is to p resent o ur final doc ume nt in Toronto a t the end

of June at the tab le o f the real G20.


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A Golden Apple a t Boc c onibySusanna Della Vedo va

The Ma risa Bellisa rio mela d oro , rec og nizing wom en in

business who c ontribute to the d evelop me nt o f Italian soc iety,

wa s rec ently aw arded to Boc c oni gradua te Barbara Torre.

This was the first time the award was g iven to a c um laud e

grad ua te in Ec onomics.

Im proud to b e a Boc c oni grad uate ! These w ere the wo rds Barba ra Torre used to b eg in talking ab out

herself and the a wa rd she ha d just received d irec tly from the hands of Italian Ministers Tremon ti and Sac c oni

on be ha lf of the Ma risa Bellisario Found at ion a t Co nfindustria on Frida y 18 June.

The a wa rd, a golden apple with the awa rde e s nam e eng rave d o n it, was given to young g rad uate s in

Ec ono mic s for the first time this yea r. For the pa st 22 yea rs, the Found at ion ha s reco gnized those fe ma le

entrep reneurs, ma nage rs, professiona ls and b right businesswo men who c ontribute to the d eve lopment of thec ountry every day with their pe rseveranc e a nd c omm itment.

At 24 years old , Barbara is a young wo ma n, but she a lrea dy has the de termination , the will and the skills to

co ntribute to the d evelopment of Italy as a na tion. I studied ma nage ment at Boc co ni and I graduated c um

laud e o n 24 Octo be r of last yea r with a thesis on the top ic Corporate Gove rnanc e in Italian Comp anies Listed

on the Stoc k Exc hang e: CEO tenure, pe rformanc e a nd sec tor effects. Along w ith my ac ad emic ba c kground ,

my thesis is wha t helped me w in this aw ard. Her ac ad emic ba c kground is go od enoug h to ma ke even those

with mo re e xperience jea lous. Barba ra ha s bu ilt up her rsum du ring he r years a t university by ta kingad van tage of the op portunities tha t Boc c oni offers its stud ents. It s true, says Barba ra, tha t de termina tion,

the desire to put yourself out there and to get things done are individual qualities, but Bocconi provides the

too ls to use them .

A Ca mp us Abroa d p rogram in Australia, Excha nge s in Barc elona and the United Sta tes and a pe rmane nt full-

time p osition a t Proc ter & Ga mb le in Ge neva a fter grad ua tion, where she works with financ ials for initia tives

and c ompetitive intelligenc e. The p osition is stimulating a nd in a n internationa l environmen t tha t allows her to

travel to othe r pa rts of the wo rld for business. She see s herself returning to Italy in the fu ture, howeve r, bec ause

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Im p roud that I wa s awa rded this p restigious rec og nition since I am the first Boc c oni stud ent to have

rec eived the aw ard, and I would like to be a w oma n whose everyda y com mitment wo rks to improve ourcountry.


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Fabio, a Legal Studies Graduate Backstage at La ScalabyFab io Tod esco

The young est a ssista nt d irec tor a t the world -renowned Milanese

op era ho use is 29-year-old Fab io Ceresa , a Boc c oni lega l

studies graduate who c hanged c areer pa ths after grad uation

to beg in working w ith music . He has a lso rec ently written

seve ra l op era lib rett i.

In the c omplex of the fo rmer Ansaldo p lant o n Via Tortona in Milan , Rossinis ope ra LO c c asione Fa il Lad ro wa s

be ing rehe arsed , whic h will be pe rformed a t La Sc a la by the Acade my s stud ents sta rting o n 18 Sep tem be r. In

the la rge rehea rsa l roo m, young singers dressed in ca sua l attire a lterna te o n sta ge , listen to a dvice from the

direc tor, Sonja Frisell, and ask anothe r young ma n jumping up and do wn o n stag e w ith a large b ook in hand

for rep ea ted explanations.

The large boo k is the d irec tors sc ore, a vo lume wh ich ha s the sc ore p rinted only on the left-ha nd p age s; theright -hand pag es ge t filled in by the d irec tor with deta iled instructions abo ut the a rtists m ove ments,

expressions and be ha vior. The young ma n he lping the La Sc ala direc tor is Fab io Ce resa , bo rn in 1981 and a

Boc c oni grad uate in law . These a re the sc ene rehea rsals, he explains, a nd theyre d one to improve a c ting.

Singing rehea rsals happe n at a d ifferent time .

Fabio is the youngest assistant d irec tor at La Scala , though he ho ned his profe ssional c hoic e relatively late,

du ring his university stud ies at Boc c oni. I ve a lways be en p assiona te a bo ut this kind of m usic, he says, and

when I wa s a kid in Rivolta d Add a , I would b uy op era music a lbums with my allowanc e. I played music a nd Isang , but only at a n a ma teur level.

His interest was clea r during his exam in private law with a musician like Giovanni Iudic a , where the disc ussion

turned towa rds opinions on lega l events in ope ra storylines. One of the c onc lusions we c am e to , remem be rs

Fabio w ith a smile, is tha t the c ontrac t be twe en Faust and Meph istop heles should b e nullified bec ause a soul

is not a n ava ilab le goo d.

It wa s du ring his sec ond yea r at university that Fabio d ec ided to try out a n a rtistic ve nture, while c ontinuing his

stud ies ( my p a rents insisted on it, he says, a nd now I am g ratefu l to them ). The roa d tha t leads to La Sc a la

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is full of rather random op p ortunities that m ust b e seized quickly. Through friends of friends, he says, I met a

direc tor who wa s stag ing an o pe ra outside the c ity and , knowing a bo ut my interest, he asked if I wa nted to

help. Then some one else a sked m e to ac t a s direc tor for another sma ll prod uc tion and then a rea l direc tor

notic ed me a nd offered me an inte rnship a t La Sc ala . Tha t wa s three years ag o a nd Im still here.

For Fab io, a pa rallel vein to d irec ting is writing m usic. When I wa s young er, like a lot of othe r kids, I wrote

po etry, but I paid a lot o f a ttention to the structure a nd the m etric s in pa rticular rathe r than the c ontent. Late r I

disc overed that lots of musicians need pe op le who know how to w rite text ba sed on the ir metric s, or their

music .

In this c ase too , you c an see a c hain of e vents tha t, since the first a ttem pts he show ed his friends, turned into

writing a libretto tha t would a c t as the b ase for a musical c omp osition c ontest that ne ver happ ened . ButDaniele Zane ttovich, a musician involved in the projec t, enjoyed the libretto a nd wa nted to a dd music to it. So

it wa s pub lished . His mo st rec ent suc cess wa s winning the CIDIM, the Italian Music C om mittee , Kinde rszene n

for an o pe ra for children: Fab io wrote the libretto for O nc e up on a time there wa s... King Thunde r! ba sed on

Luigi Cap uana s fairy ta le, and Da niela Terranova put music to it.

In the world of music, no one is ever req uired to ha ve a university deg ree, says Fab io, b ut the fac t that I

finished my stud ies a t Boc coni ma rks me as a reliable p erson right a wa y and tha t s impo rtant. And , a few

years ag o, when we need ed to move a tab le to let the audience exit at the end of a n ope ra, I had to ask

one of the artists for help, someo ne w ho a t first had to ld me he was an inte rna tiona l singer. I told him that I hadgraduated from Boc co ni and then w e mo ved the tab le together, as equa ls.


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Andrea and Barbara in Bangladesh with an IDEA

byAndrea Ce lauro

The organiza tion is c a lled IDEA O nlus and its an a ssoc iat ion

tha t p rom ote s c hild sponsorship a nd soc ia l assistanc e for

families and c om munities in the South-East Asian c ountry. And it

wa s c o-founde d by two Boc c oni employees along w ith two o f

their friends.

Inside Bocc oni s wa lls, Andrea Borghi and Barba ra Alfieri wo rk with ad vanc ed tec hnolog ies used to run the

mo st hidd en b ut mo st vital aspec ts of the university. Outside its wa lls, they a re fac ed with the wo rst pove rty in

Bangladesh. For And rea, p a rt of the Boc c oni ITServices (ASIT) tea m and Barba ra , who wo rks at SDA Boc c oni s

Informa tion Tec hnolog y Service , something tha t for many pe op le is a no rmal move from virtua l reality to the

real world o c c urs for them as rad ica lly as po ssible: since 2007 they ha ve d ed ica ted their free time to IDEA

Onlus (www.idea onlus.org), an assoc iation they c o-founded with two other friend s to c rea te a nd de velopc hild sponsorship, soc ial and he a lthca re assistanc e p rojec ts and p rojec ts p romoting e duc a tion in the South -East Asian c ountry.

IDEA Onlus is the latest step in soc ial work that has brought Andrea to Bangladesh since 1997. Tha t was the

yea r in which he sponsored a little g irl from Bangladesh throug h the non-p rofit o rganization Rishilpi

Develop me nt Projec t. I dec ided to see her in person to unde rstand w ha t its really like to live in that c ountry,

says Borghi. It was an exposure to a wo rld tha t wa s very far from his own a nd not just in terms of g eo grap hy.

You c an only fully unde rstand the d eve sta tion of a pop ulation living in a slum in the forest if you see it in

pe rson. It was a p ersona l expe rience that b eg an to c onsume him, though it didn t turn into a c onc retec om mitment right a wa y. I just started talking ab out c hild spo nsorship a t the office , more to te ll peo ple a bo ut

my experienc e tha n as a w ay o f promoting the Rishilp i mission. In the e nd , spo nsorships at Boc c oni rea c hed a

tota l of two hundred. That wa s the m ome nt in which Andrea s view of the problems in Bang ledesh started to

c hang e. In 2002 he returned to the c ountry with Barba ra, who had he m et in 97 and ma rried in the fo llowing

yea rs. After they cam e b ac k to Ita ly they d ec ided to found a b ranc h of Rishilpi in Italy, in Pinerolo. It wa s a

business that lasted four yea rs, until the co uple d ec ided to g o e ven further. We w ante d to b e a ble to do

mo re. Tha t was how IDEA Onlus wa s sta rted .

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Found ed in 2008, IDEA ca n op erate a ll ove r the w orld a nd c urrent ly has an ac tive projec ts in Mato Grosso,

Brazil and three projec ts in Banglade sh. One o f these, c arried o ut in co llab oration w ith the Banglad eshi non-

profit orga nization Banc hte Sheka and c rea ted as a c hild spo nsorship p roject for soc ial and hea lthc are

assistanc e for c hildren, has turned into an atte mp t to sa ve a n entire c omm unity. We op erate in Joga hati, a

fishing villag e w hose a c tivities were c omp letely upset w hen a sec tion of a c ana l used by the c omm unity was

sold to a p riva te p arty. The inhab itants we re allowe d to fish only for their ow n survival a nd not for sales, a

c ond ition that de vestate d the village. The w ork of Andrea, Barba ra, Ga briele a nd Ma ria (the two friends who

c o-found ed IDEA), a long w ith the loc a l non-profit orga nization , was used to b uild te n new houses for the

po orest me mb ers of the c omm unity, p eop le w ho in some c ases c urrently live under a rented outd oor

c ano py, says Andrea.

Since found ing IDEA, Andrea and Barba ra ha ve spo nsored a n entire fa mily (a wo ma n who esc ap ed from a nab usive husba nd with her two da ughte rs). He is ad a ma nt ab out the imp ortanc e of no t ab using the welfare

state (IDEAs idea is to transform the village into a c o-op that o ver time be c ome s the rea l engine of the

c om munity s reb irth ) and a bo ut the ma rk tha t experienc es like these leave on we ll-to-do Europe . These a re

soc ieties in which soc ial and c ultural differenc es do not a llow ad ults and c hild ren to ha ve relationships. These

are c om munities in which a n invalid is literally ema rginated, in the sense tha t he o r she w ill be pic ked up a nd

thrown into a trash hea p. These are plac es whe re c hildren d ream of a glass of c lean w ater. By see ing this

extreme po verty we should not simply re-evaluate wha t we do , we c an a lso m ore fully unde rstand how muc h

these situations are ofte n the result of ric h c ountries spec ulating ove r poorer co untries.


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Elenas Decisions

byDavide Ripamonti

This yea r s Boc c oni Run w inner in the wom ens c a tegory, Elena

Vittone partic ipa tes in running even ts a t a na tiona l level a nd is

a stud ent in the Bac helor of Business Ad ministrat ion a nd

Ma nag em ent. She is undec ided whether she w ants to keep

running, c urrently juggling a thletic s and stud ies.

Though it dep uted only two yea rs ag o, the Bocconi Run is alread y we ll-know n fo r its high q ua lity p articipa nts.

One suc h pa rtic ipa nt is 19-year-old Elena Vittone , the winner of this yea rs wo men s c ompe tition, who is

enrolled in her first year of the Bac helor of Business Adm inistration a nd Ma nage ment. She is a memb er of

Runne r Tea m RT 99 and trained with Andrea M onti ( I sta rted in GS Chiva ssesi with p resident C laud io Clerici,

she says).

Tall, thin and a little shy, Elena ha s the typ ica l bod y type of a mid-d istanc e runner, pa rtly due to na tural giftsbut m ostly be c ause she trains ha rd a nd ma kes som e sac rific es. She has be en repa id w ith results: This yea r I

wo n the regiona l cha mp ionship in Piedm ont , in the Juniors c a teg ory of c ross-co untry running, e xplains Elena,

and I plac ed fifth in the na tiona l fina ls in Pesc ara fo r the 5-mile trac k rac e. These a re excellent results,

following he r work in 2008, whe n she w on third p lac e in the 1500 and 3000 trac k rac es in Piedmont a nd eighth

in the 3000 in the Youth c a teg ory at the Nationa l fina ls in Rieti.

These pe rformanc es didn t ha pp en by c hanc e: When I wa s younge r I played volleyb all, says Elena, who is

from Chiasso, no t fa r from Turin. Then whe n I was 14 I sta rted trac k and field , the o nly othe r spo rt othe r thanswimming tha t you c ould p lay w here Im from. It was a c omp letely new world, whe re theres no te am spirit,

which red uc es bo th disap po ints and satisfac tions. In trac k and field you re a lone, and hap piness and pa in is

muc h mo re p ersona l.

Her ap proa c h to trac k and field wa s positive from the sta rt. She q uickly tried out the various spo rts, then he r first

c oa c h a ssigned her to mid-distanc e running, be c ause I didnt have a very fast c ore spe ed , whic h is natural,

but you c an imp rove end uranc e w ith training. For som eone who is c omp etitive a nd a mb itious, training

mea ns go ing out everyday, no ma tter what kind of we athe r, even d uring the co ld w inters in her home town.

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She ma kes the effo rt voluntarily, espe c ially when she wa s rep a id w ith her first vic tories: The wins and timing

improvements ge nerally co me a t the sam e time a nd, a nd, until you c ontinue to improve you d on t feel tired

from training, and everything you have to g ive up do esnt bo ther you. When you stop winning, that s when its

time to stop .

Elena is at a crossroads right now, with her life rad ica lly c hang ed in the pa st few months afte r moving to M ilan

to attend Boc co ni. I thought a lot ab out my dec ision to c ome to Boc c oni, and my family and d ec ided that I

would ha ve b etter c areer prospe c ts afte r grad uation if I c am e he re. But I know, she c ontinues, tha t mo ving

here c hang ed my training hab its. Studying is hard w ork, and now Im in a new group, even if my trainer has

c onne c tions with Pro Pat ria Milano, one of the olde st group s in Ita lian trac k and field .

Its a g roup that ha s inc lude d a n Olympic, Europ ea n and world c ham pion like Albe rto Co va. Whateverc hoice Elena ma kes ab out her future, thoug h, the Boc c oni Run ma y have alrea dy found its ruler for the next

few yea rs.


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Cuocolo: On the Web with Il Ricostituente

byDavide Ripamonti

The Boc c oni Fac ulty mem ber, who a lso w orks as a law yer

and c onsultant to loc al a nd Europ ea n organiza tions, provides

explana tions of ho w the Ita lian Co nstitution is applied in his

rec ently-launched blog . The a im is to m ake c onstitutiona l top ic s

mo re c om prehensible to rea ders.

Lorenzo Cuo c olo, 35 yea rs old, Assoc iate Professor of Com pa rative Public Law at Universit Bocc oni, holds

seve ral po sitions and pe rforms ma ny a c tivities: a lawyer in Genoa , his home tow n, and Milan, consultant for the

Genovese Port Authorities and c onsultant fo r the European Council for issues in environme nta l c onserva tion.

These a re roles in whic h my tw o p syche s eme rge , he jokes, the loc al one and the g lob al one .

But Cuo c olo is a lso interested in all forms of m ed ia, from printed ma terial and TV to the we b , the me ans ofinforma tion tha t is c onsidered the mo st po pu lar amo ng the stud ents and p rofessors he me ets with on a d ailybasis in the c lassroom : In 2007-2008 I c ollab ora ted a s an ed itorialist for the d a ily new spaper Il Sec olo XIX, then

this yea r I pa rtic ipa ted in a TV progra m on the Geno a c hannel Primo Ca na le, Universit Pop olare. On the

program I take five minutes to c omm ent on c onstitutional issues which are c onnec ted to c urrent e vents, all

aimed at a wide audience.

The issue of making ofte n d ifficult topic s c om prehe nsible to eve ryday rea ders and listene rs with terms used by

expe rts in the sec tor is very dear to Cuoc olo. It has led him to op en a b log w ith some c ollea gues, Il

Rico stituente , pub lished in Italian, which disc usses current eve nts tha t d ea l with the Constitution. The sta rtingpo int was that w e w ould like to b ring c onstitutional law to the ave rag e read ers level, for anyone who w ould

normally rea d ed itorials and po litica l pag es, but who wo uld never rea d long tec hnic al artic les that o ur leg al

profe ssiona ls write in sec tor journa ls, explains Cuoc olo. Our ob jec tive is bo th c ivic and soc ial in a c ertain

sense. Il Rico stituente ga thers c ontributions from Boc c oni fac ulty membe rs who have suppo rted the site from

the b eg inning, suc h a s Edm ond o M ostac c i and Oreste Pollicino, b ut I also ta lked w ith other peo ple a bo ut the

we bsite, suc h as Ma urizio Del Conte a nd Ma rco Ventoruzzo, who w ere very helpful and sha red it with

c olleag ues from othe r universities, providing the wide st rea c h possible. I wo uld even like to c reate a t rue

editorial panel soon.

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Articles in the Rico stituente nee d to be short, around 3,000 c ha rac ters, a dd s Cuo c olo, who a lso a c ts as the

blog s c oordinator. They a re no t ideo logica l, so the y have a po int of view a nd register that a re suitable for

the we b. The Co nstitution is ac tually a c omm on to pic of interest, and pe op le who d on t work in the sec tor

do n t realize it, so o ur objec tive is to p rovide e xplana tions abo ut this area . Since it loo ks like we re hea d ing

towa rds a p eriod of d eb ate on reforms, c ontinues Cuoc olo, I believe tha t there need s to b e a third-pa rty,

neutra l voice tha t a ims to give explana tions. This is the role o f the Rico stituente .

The main aud ienc e of the Rico stituente , how eve r, ac c ording to its c rea tor, are stud ents. They o ften observe a

c lear sep aration b etwe en w hat is lea rned in the c lassroo m a nd written in their large textboo ks and wha t

ac tually hap pe ns in rea lity. We try to b ridge the ga p o f the sep aration be twee n theory and prac tic e.


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My Africa

byTom aso Erida ni

MBA stude nt Fed eric o Pippo d ec ided to c om plete his ac tion

learning projec t by do ing a n internship a t the Dr. Ambrosoli

Memoria l Hosp ital in Kalongo, Ugand a. He helped improve

hospital managem ent, imp roving his ow n skills, ma king new

friend s and e xpe rienc ing a new c ulture a long the way.

It wa s an unusual c hoice , but one that ma de a big imp ression. Many MBA stude nts follow the c rowd by d oing

an internship in financ e or consulting , but Fed eric o Pipp o, twe nty-nine yea rs old, c hose to spend the three -

month internship fo r hisMBA at the Dr. Am brosoli Mermo rial Hospital loca ted in Kalang o, in Northern Ugand a .

After abo ut four years in the field of ta x consulting, and be c oming c ertified pub lic a c c ounta nt, Fed eric o

de c ided to b eg in his Ma ster in Business Adm inistration a dve nture, which he b eg an a t SDA in Oc tob er of 2009,driven b y the de sire to e xpand his ed uc ation a nd ta ke on new p rofessional paths. When the m om ent c a me toc hoose his a ction learning project (a p eriod of 3 months during the program w hen stude nts c omp lete an

internship o r entrepreneurial, c onsultanc y or resea rc h p rojec t), Fed erico wa s offered an internship in private

eq uity. But he was c urious ab out a prop osal by SDA Dean Albe rto Grand o, who had m entioned the p ossibility

of c omp leting a field p roject at the Dr. Amb rosoli Memorial Hospital, with the ob jective of improving

administrative and manag ement proce dures for the organization and supporting local personnel in applying

these procedures.

Pao la Ga lbiati, a Resea rc her in Corporate Financ e a t Boc c oni who c ollab orated on the project alsodisc ussed this prop osal. I was curious right a wa y a nd I asked Paola if we c ould meet, says Fed erico . Five

minutes wa s eno ugh a nd I imm ed iate ly felt a strong d esire to ta ke on this expe rienc e. And the n the interview s

with the Found ation ma de me feel even more strong ly abo ut it. It wa snt an ea sy c hoice , but I felt like this wa s

an o pp ortunity I had to ta ke at tha t time that w ould never hap pe n ag ain. Valerian Fauve l, a stude nt in the

Ma ster in Corporate Financ e a t SDA also joined the p rojec t, as part of the req uired internship for the p rogram.

So in e arly June Fed eric o a nd Valerian left for Kalong o.

The hospita l, whic h is now a p riva te, non-profit orga nization , was found ed in 1957 by Fa ther Giusep pe

Amb rosoli, a surge on a nd Com bo ni missionary who d ed ica ted his life to trea ting the Ugand a po pulation. It is

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loc ate d in Kalongo , Uga nda , in the Acho li tribe te rritory, an extreme ly poor area , without m any mea ns of

c omm unica tion and lacking de velope d areas. Tod ay the hospital provide s hea lthc are a ssistanc e to around

50,000 pe op le ea ch yea r, almo st ha lf of which a re children under 5 yea rs old. It bo asts 345 bed s and 7 wa rds

(inc luding ma ternity, ped iat ric , malnut rition , TB and AIDS). In 1998, the Co mb on i Missiona ries and Fathe r

Giusep pe Amb rosolis fam ily esta blished the Dr. Amb rosoli Mem orial Hospita l Found a tion, whic h sup po rts the

hosp ital and the St. Ma rys Midw ifery Sc hoo l in Ka longo .

During their three months in the Uganda town, Federico and Valerian analyzed critical elements regarding the

hosp itals ad ministrative de pa rtme nts, whe re some a c c ounting w as still being d one m anua lly. They introd uc ed

a more mo de rn a nd effec tive a c c ounting ma nag eme nt system which uses Excel. They a lso w orked on supp ly

room ma nag eme nt b y c lea ning them out, getting rid of o bsolete m ate rials and introd uc ing an IT system to

ma nag e supp lies. Lastly, they worked on reorganizing the te c hnic al de pa rtment w hich p rovides ma intenanc eservices to the hospita l. This wa s a ll ac c om pan ied by daily training a c tivities for loca l sta ff.

This wa s an extraordina ry experienc e tha t will sta y with me foreve r. I was impressed by the p eo ple there, who

live throug h suc h diffic ult situations (Northern Uga nda has be en a fflicte d b y a long c ivil war that sta rted

around two years ag o), but the y are a lways rea dy to give you a smile, reme mb ers Fed eric o. They we re ve ry

friendly and grateful for the simple fac t that w e ha d dec ided to c ome there to help.

I also p layed o n the loc al soc c er team, the Kalongo United. And afte r the last ga me I was move d w hen my

tea mma tes ga ve me a shirt w ith my na me on it, says Fed eric o. And Ill never forget our Goo d-Bye Party

organized by the stude nts at the M idwifery Sc hool, who said go od -bye w ith songs and da nc ing in our honor.

But this expe rienc e in the hea rt of Afric a a lso e nric hed Fed eric o c onsiderably in a p rofe ssiona l sense. It

c ertainly wasnt e asy to co mmunic ate the need to implement a n effic ient business ma nag eme nt ba sed on

the a pp lic ation of c orrec t ec onom ic sustainab ility princ iples in both the med ium- and long-term to suc h a

different e nvironme nt, not o nly d istant in terms of g eog rap hy. Moreover, I had the o pp ortunity to try out and

improve seve ral aspe c ts of m y soft skills, which are no wa da ys fund am enta l professiona lly. Like knowing how

to interac t with p eo ple from a c omplete ly different c ulture, lead ership skills, ana lysis and prob lem-solving.

Lastly, c ontinues Fed eric o, be ing a ble to work knowing that you a re c ontributing to helping othe rs ispric eless in terms of p ersonal and p rofessiona l sa tisfac tion.

The M BA is now over a nd Fed eric o is looking fo rwa rd to the grad uation c eremony tha t will take plac e in

Dec emb er. In the m ea ntime, Im looking for op po rtunities in finance as long as my d esire to go ba c k to

Afric a isn t too strong. But if I do go ba c k, Ill de finitely go ba c k to Kalong o.

Fed eric o still keep s in touc h with the Found a tion to c ontinue w ha t he and Va lerian sta rted in Kalong o.


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Boc c oni Newsletter takes a look a t c urrent to pics in the fields of ec onom ics, mana ge ment,

law and more in order to highlight the impo rtanc e of ec onom ic resea rc h

and dissem inate Boc c onis vast store of c ultural

and aca demic knowledge . It a lso p rovides periodic upd ate son the many initiatives held at the University:

c onventions, workshop s and other me etings

institutional e vents

c ounselling a nd training at all sc holastic leve ls

exhibitions, concerts and cultural events

presenta ions and m ee tings a t the Ege a Boo kshop in via Boc c oni 8

new publica tions from UBE and Ege a

The new slette r is pub lished eve ry two w ee ks.

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