Broadening vision to contribute to change | Interview with Professor Daniele Rimini

7 December 2022

An expert in Marketing Strategies and Business Plan, Professor Rimini teaches the MBA Part-time evening course at BBS. A course dedicated to professionals who want to turn their careers around not only by acquiring new skills, but also and above all by broadening their vision including the various corporate functions, thus contributing to change at every level. 

The Business Plan: it’s considered to be fundamental for start-ups, but often neglected by existing companies that want to restructure themselves. Why is it important to rely on a clear plan instead, especially in times of crisis, even for a company with a long history under its belt?

We are in a time of strong ‘discontinuity’ where changes in the external context are much more frequent and closer together in time. It is unthinkable to maintain one’s business model trusting that things will continue to go well in this situation. It thus becomes necessary to review the approach to the markets even for the most established companies and make those adaptations that can enable them to seize the new opportunities that will arise while limiting the threats that we will inevitably have to ‘manage’ by limiting the damage. Most of the planning tools and guidelines introduced in management can be applied to the business units of multi-business enterprises as well as to independent companies, and also to established enterprises, ideas for new start-ups, technologically advanced enterprises and business lines that have lasted for centuries; to a large extent, even to non-profit organizations competing for customers under the name of constituents, patients, donors, students or the like. Good planning is the alternative to drifting. It connotes imagining a course of action, mapping and justifying it with credible data, perceptive analysis, plausible hypotheses and a convincing logic.

Lecturers often say that in addition to teaching, they learn from their students. Give us an example along these lines, perhaps a particularly interesting project work developed by your MBA Part-time (Evening) students?

I have a very recent case, developed during the course, that we decided together with Paolo Di Marco to include within our latest publication Market Strategy & Business Plan – ISEDI – released this year. C.ALLA is a luxury brand of lingerie and beachwear totally made in Italy by Italians. The brand creates unique, custom-made, elegant and sophisticated garments. It was born in 2018 simultaneously with the creation of a silver fiber, an innovative fabric with antibacterial and antiseptic properties, conceived by the designer and founder of the brand Carlotta Checchi, with an experimental thesis. Under the guidance of the young entrepreneur, C.ALLA caters to enterprising women who have stories to tell and do not want to give up the pleasure of being admired and desired. C.ALLA has developed an exclusive fabric made from a silver fiber with a patent pending. C.ALLA silver is dermatologically tested, hypoallergenic, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiseptic, mite-resistant and helps prevent unpleasant odors. Attention to one’s health is increasingly a key issue. Thanks to C. ALLA’s Silver fabric, it will be possible to put a comfortable fabric in contact with one’s body that can protect one’s well-being and health. The silver thread, woven with pure cotton, creates a fine fabric that is ideal for daily use and sports activities. It ensures freshness and comfort, without sacrificing the exclusive experience that only silver can offer.

Give three reasons why you would recommend investing in an MBA to an entrepreneur, and three reasons why a manager today really shouldn’t do without one.

The Entrepreneur and Manager should coexist in the same organization because they are strongly complementary, providing on the one hand intuition and specific field experience, and on the other the ability to analyze and plan activities to achieve set goals. The entrepreneur should invest to improve the aptitude for analysis, understanding of the main planning tools and personnel management activities. The manager should invest in an MBA to stay “up to date” on the evolution of managerial tools, to broaden their vision including other business functions and, above all, to become an “ambassador” of cross-cutting processes within organizations too often set on functional “silos”.

How can BBS’s MBA Part-time (Evening) have a real impact on the participants’ professional careers?

Back in the day (it’s been 25 years) I attended Profingest’s MBA when BBS did not yet exist and I am living “testimony” that such a path can completely change your professional life. I’d studied Accounting in high school and then Business Administration at University. After a few years of practice with an accountant I decided it was not my path and today I work in Marketing and Business Plan. Within organizations, figures who are familiar with cross-cutting process dynamics are becoming increasingly crucial and necessary to complement the verticality given by specializations. The great added value is precisely to be able to broaden the vision from one’s own organizational function to better understand the operations of colleagues and contribute to change when something might work better.