SDA Bocconi’s journey towards Lifelong Impact

“Impact” is an emerging concept in managerial culture and training. Impact stands for everything that makes knowledge production meaningful, valuable and apt to be put into practice with a view to improving the organizational, economic, social and relational context, in the broadest sense of the term “improve”: make it more efficient, more innovative, more sustainable… But what does impact actually mean? And is it measurable?

The answer is yes. And it is given by one of the most authoritative organizations in the field: EFMD - European Foundation for Management Development has developed its BSIS - Business School Impact System, “the first comprehensive impact assessment tool” for management schools. SDA Bocconi’s team led by Manuela Brusoni analyzed the indicators and completed the assessment process that allowed SDA Bocconi to obtain this prestigious award and join the select group of “BSIS-Labeled Schools.”

In the BSIS assessment, SDA Bocconi’s “impact zone” starts from the metropolitan city of Milan (defined as “the economic heart of the nation”) and the Lombardy region, and extends to the national and international context in which the School is now rooted.

BSIS defines seven areas for measuring impact:

1. Direct Financial Impact (the budget) and indirect Financial Impact (generated by the School, its staff, students, and all those who are present on campus for various reasons).
2. Educational Impact on the economy and local development through participants in the School’s post-graduate master programs and executive courses.
3. Economic Development Impact through the creation of new businesses and services to established companies in the area, as well as the contribution of participants in the School’s programs to innovative projects.
4. Intellectual Impact on the business community through the contributions of the School’s faculty (research, lectures, publications, conferences, public lectures, etc.).
5. Impact upon the Regional Ecosystem through the involvement of faculty and students in the public life of the community and their roles within professional associations, local institutions and authorities.
6. Societal Impact in the fields of CSR and sustainable development through teaching, research and the management of the School, as well as attention to diversity and equal access in all the School’s activities.
7. Image impact as the School’s contribution to improving the image and attractiveness of the area.

BSIS acknowledged SDA Bocconi’s assets in all of these areas. A few figures from the many available provide an idea of the School’s impact: as to educational impact, almost 4,500 alumni are working in the Lombardy area and 18% of students from abroad found a job there; as to impact on economic development, BSIS acknowledged the great potential of B4i - Bocconi for innovation and ICE - Innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship Center, whose synergy develops major innovation and entrepreneurship projects for startups and companies; as to intellectual impact, the School displays the extraordinary ability to engage companies and institutions in supporting research whose output, circulated through publications, contributes to the productive and cultural growth of the territory. Excellent evaluations for the School’s work also regarding societal impact (for initiatives such as “Women Are Good For Business“ supporting gender equality, for research on sustainability and circular economy and, more broadly, for the new environmentally friendly Campus, open to the city).

The Impact “building site” is always open. “Entering the group of BSIS-labeled Schools is another step in an exciting journey towards a new and broader awareness of the impact our School has on the community,” Dean Giuseppe Soda stressed. “This process has helped us become more aware of the results the School has achieved in relation to the many aspects of community life in Milano, Italy and abroad. The methods used to assess the tangible impacts on public and private stakeholders have produced a body of information we can now use in all institutional communication. It is a great honor for us to receive the BSIS award – now our story, which began 50 years ago, can continue with even greater determination and awareness.”



SDA Bocconi School of Management