Business innovation 4 sustainable finance

The 2023 edition of the EMF C-Suite Forum of EMF - Executive Master in Finance of SDA Bocconi, dedicated to Business innovation 4 sustainable finance, was animated by the C-Suite of companies and financial institutions.

The program is directed by Andrea Beltratti,  EMF Academic Director and Alessia Bezzecchi, EMF Program Director, who designed the meeting and the survey used by Chiefs and Master's participants whose responses provided important input to the debate. The C-Suite appreciates the relevance of sustainability considerations in business management, especially at the level of values and strategy, albeit with a view to practicality regarding the costs of transition and the short-term impact on profits. The companies that participated in the preparatory work and debate thus confirm the enormous attention devoted to maximizing value for all stakeholders found, particularly in Europe. Andrea Cabrini, Director of Class CNBC, moderated the Chiefs' panels that alternated between talks by Faculty and Executive Master in Finance participants. The featured speakers at the EMF C-Suite Forum 2023 were: Francesco Billari Rector of Bocconi University, Stefano Caselli Dean SDA Bocconi School of Management, Gian Marco Beltrami Director of Marketing & Communication Dallara Group, Andrea Beltratti EMF Academic Director SDA Bocconi, Alessia Bezzecchi EMF Program Director SDA Bocconi, Pamela Bussi Group Sustainability & Social responsibility Prada, Rossella Cappetta EMF Faculty Organization & Personnel and Associate Dean Open Program SDA Bocconi, Stefano Catanzaro, General Manager Italy Allfunds, Andrea Ghidoni General Manager Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, Giuliano Giannessi CFO Dolce & Gabbana, Marco Grillo CEO Abitare In, Loredana La Pace Managing Director and Country Head Italy Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Paolo Magnani Central Director and Coordinator Area Wealth Management Gruppo CREDEM, Luca Manzoni Head of Corporate Gruppo Banco BPM, Andrea Mignanelli CEO Cerved, Renato Miraglia Head of UniCredit Private Banking, Claudio Scardovi EMF Lecturer Strategic Finance Lab & Senior Partner Financial Advisory Deloitte, Silvia Totaro Sustainability and HSE Manager Nestlé Nespresso SA, Emilia Trudu Chief Financial Officer Inwit.

EMF C-Suite Forum project work:

the EMF C-Suite formula includes a "guided debate" broken down into multi-sector panels related to the Master's specialization tracks: Asset/ Wealth Management, Banking & Insurance, Corporate Finance & Control, Corporate Finance & Real Estate. Master's participants engaged with companies sharing their organizational solutions and vision of strategic finance to overcome global challenges, led by Rossella Cappetta, EMF Faculty of Organization & Personnel and Associate Dean of SDA Bocconi's Open Division, and Claudio Scardovi, EMF Lecturer Strategic Finance Lab & Senior Partner Financial Advisory Deloitte.

The summaries of the project works were presented, alternating with panels that saw the direct participation of the Chiefs and two speeches of academic content, the first of which was made by the Dean of SDA Bocconi, Stefano Caselli. He reflected on the relationship between education and management, associating the idea of "School" with that of community and "management" with that of responsibility, highlighting how Finance is crucial in the search for solutions that reduce the many gaps that characterize our society. The second speech was given by Francesco Billari, Rector of Bocconi University, who spoke about how demographic variables move with longer timescales than economic and political ones. This gives us the opportunity to reflect on how to deal with crucial and partly contradictory situations such as global population growth, population reduction in countries like Italy, and population aging. These trends mandate considerations about the need to increase human capital and the benefits of inclusiveness, especially for countries where demographics do not allow for traditional drivers of growth.

The challenges:

what are the relevant challenges that emerged from the debate among the Chiefs of the companies (Abitare In, Allfunds, Banco BPM CIB, Cerved, Credem Group Weath Management area, Dallara Group, Dolce & Gabbana, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, Inwit, Nespresso, Prada, Unicredit Private Banking Division) that collaborated for the devised project works, participants and academics? The debate was extremely rich and complex, but the main elements were better allocation of scarce resources to occupations where private and social benefits are highest, the application of technology, and the involvement of people to enable a cultural change that can better support the new values of sustainability. Finance can help in all these respects, including by helping to increase the amount of funds and reduce their cost for companies that are serious about moving along the path of decarbonization and respect for social values.

Panel 1 of the EMF C-Suite - ESG-Investing & Sustainable Finance: Challenges and Opportunities

Andrea Ghidoni General Manager Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, Giuliano Giannessi Chief Financial Officer D&G, Loredana La Pace Managing Director and Country Head Italy Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Luca Manzoni Head of Banco BPM - CIB, Andrea Mignanelli CEO Cerved, Emilia Trudu Chief Financial Officer Inwit

In the United States, the acronym ESG is mainly being discussed with regard to the social element, to the point that some large players prefer to speak of "decarbonization," thus limiting the pursuit of sustainability to environmental efforts, particularly in the fight against climate change. In contrast, the Chiefs present at the Panel take a much more "European" standpoint, even if we may refer to it as "sustainability 2.0”

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Panel 2 of the EMF C-Suite - Technology and People for Sustainable Value Creation

Gianmarco Beltrami Director Dallara, Pamela Bussi Group Sustainability & Social Responsibility Prada, Marco Grillo CEO Abitare In, Silvia Totaro Sustainability and HSE Manager Nestlé Nespresso SA, Paolo Magnani Coordinator Credem Banca, Wealth Management Area, Renato Miraglia Head UniCredit Private Banking, Stefano Catanzaro General Manager Italy Allfunds.

Technology and people are the two key assets for rising up to the sustainability challenge. Technology provides solutions that are able to reduce the use of material and environmental resources in the production of goods and services, but businesses are made up of people. People who must broaden the values of organizations and define strategies that consider the interest of all stakeholders and not just the owners, who, for that matter, could benefit from lower risk and a better return on their investment if companies aggressively pursue the path of sustainability.

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Advice for EMF participants:

the moderator Andrea Cabrini asked the same question at the end of each panel, regarding advice for Executive Master in Finance participants. The prolonged getting-to-know-you process that preceded the Finance for sustainable future(s) day allowed the Chiefs to give targeted and non-generic advice, which can be summarized as follows: courage to pursue change and inclusiveness, passion, curiosity, leaving the comfort zone, results/visibility/networking, working outside the sidelines, doing a few things well, situational reading skills, strategic vision of business transformation, thinking about innovation as a driver, remaining active through change, not abandoning content, tenacity. A list that EMF participants will carry within them in both their professional and personal lives to become the Finance leaders of the future. 

SDA Bocconi School of Management

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