Eleonora
Foschi


Eleonora Foschi
Junior Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Accounting Studies University of Bologna Core Faculty
Email contact

Eleonora is a Junior Assistant Professor at the Department of Management of the University of Bologna and the Bologna Business School, where she holds the Waste Management and Circular Economy course. She is also involved in the multidisciplinary research activities of the Centre for Sustainability and Climate Change of the School with the aim to strengthen the adoption of circular economy strategies to reduce the environmental and social pressures and rethink the business models. Eleonora advanced her knowledge of circular economy from different academic and professional experiences. She got a PhD in 2020 at the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering of the University of Bologna with a thesis on plastic packaging circularity and system innovation. She completed her scientific training at the Technical University of Delft. Then, she joined the Pioneer into Practice Program, working at the Finnish start-up Repack. Finally, she worked as a professional technician at the IPPC unit of the Regional Agency For The Protection Of The Environment. She has some practice by collaborating in EU projects such as BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE, eCircular, CEI, TRIS, and ROCK. She reinforced her knowledge by cooperating in networks such as ICESP, SUN, SEC and the #Plastic-freER control room. Her scientific contributions actually converge on the measurement of sustainable corporate performance and the design and validation of circular business models.

COURSES

Moving from linear to circular economy needs a complete rethinking of products, processes and supply chains. This transition calls for the adoption of an anticipatory approach based on which the life-span, the functions, and the generation of waste should be kept in mind in the design stage to identify and prevent potential impacts in each step of the value chain but also maximize, add and maintain value in the further loops. Despite the existence of waste management systems, materials are still a pervasive presence in the environment, with resulting social concerns. By reconnecting societal needs and environmental pressures with company value proposition, externalities can be reduced, and value can be shared. Circular economy is the way to embrace corporate responsibility: reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture and repurpose, over than recycling, are among the circular strategies that support organizations to address a socio-technical innovation and change the business models in a sustainable way.

Sustainability Transition Management
Sustainability Transition Management (Part-time)

Every year, our society uses the amount of resources that it takes planet Earth a year and a half to regenerate. This and other global, empirical evidence items bring the topic of sustainability at the center of the economic, political and social debate. Recent studies have shown the way in which a sustainability-oriented management approach adopted by certain companies leads to a medium-long term competitive advantage versus competitors, a success achieved also thanks to the ability to innovate the business model and introduce measuring tools to monitor and manage at best the value creation process. The aim of the course is to start a debate on the possible ways to introduce sustainability policies and practices for companies. In particular, by way of case-studies and traditional lectures, the course will deal with three main topics:

  • Business sustainability and triple bottomline
  • Sustainability-oriented innovation
  • Green business models
MBA Evening

Corporate sustainability and the circular economy are currently among the most discussed topics internationally, also due to climate change. The aim of the course is to understand why these issues are of such importance, underlining their urgency. We will learn more about the innovation activities of operational and system processes that companies adopt to implement strategies aimed at the Circulary Economy and the transition to a low carbon business model.

Finance, Control and Sustainability

Corporate sustainability and the circular economy are currently among the most discussed topics internationally, also due to climate change. The aim of the course is to understand why these issues are of such importance, underlining their urgency. We will learn more about the innovation activities of operational and system processes that companies adopt to implement strategies aimed at the Circulary Economy and the transition to a low carbon business model.

Gestione d’Impresa – Made in Italy
Gestione d’Impresa – Food & Wine
Gestione d’Impresa – Retail Management and E-Commerce
Business Management – Global and Emerging Markets
Business Management – Green Management and Sustainable Businesses
Business Management – Tourism, Heritage and Events
Business Management – Life Science and MedTech

Corporate sustainability and the circular economy are currently among the most discussed topics internationally, also due to climate change. The aim of the course is to understand why these issues are of such importance, underlining their urgency. We will learn more about the innovation activities of operational and system processes that companies adopt to implement strategies aimed at the Circulary Economy and the transition to a low carbon business model.

Business Management – Italian Premium Brands

The design (redesign) and management of these processes, measuring and controlling their sustainability and environmental impact on man and the planet, are the new challenges of modern production systems. To face this challenge, it is necessary to rethink the production chains, moving towards a logic of circularity, where waste is eliminated and the waste of a production process becomes a second raw material of a subsequent production process.

The objective of the course is to introduce models and tools useful for analysing and controlling production and logistics processes with special attention to the circular economy and sustainability throughout the life cycle of a product, from the supply of raw materials to disposal.

In this context, the course intends to pursue the following results:

– To provide students with the key concepts of circular economy and the knowledge of the main processes characterizing sustainability in operations and in the supply chain (i.e. Green Purchasing, Green Manufacturing, Design for Sustainability, Reverse Logistics, Closed-Loop Supply Chain);

– Provide students with KPIs and tools for assessing sustainability and environmental impacts along a supply chain;

– Encourage the integration of sustainability tools and KPIs with those traditionally used in the planning and management of the Supply Chain and production processes.

 

Sustainability and Business Innovation