Enterprises, encyclopaedias and change
In his latest book, Gianfranco Dioguardi outlines a new production organisation able to match innovations with innovation
A chameleon-like enterprise – an enterprise that keeps on transforming, constantly adapting to new circumstances, situations, sudden contextual shifts, markets, policies. As such, an enterprise that must possess a larger, more complex amount of knowledge and skills, just like an encyclopaedia. These are the notions on which Gianfranco Dioguardi – engineer and professor of economics and business management at the Polytechnic University of Bari – wrote L’impresa enciclopedia. Organizzazione come strategia per il Terzo Millennio (Encyclopaedia-like enterprises. Organisation as a strategy for the Third Millennium), recently published.
Dioguardi, who in Italy is considered one of the fathers of management engineering, notes how the complexity of the Third Millennium has turned companies’ traditional strategic dynamics upside down. It is no longer possible to first implement a definitive corporate strategy and then build on it a corporate structure able to actualise it. The changeable nature of situations forces the realisation of ‘just in time’ organisational structures, and as such the ability to implement operational strategies that constantly take into consideration growing needs of sustainability and resilience. And, actually, it is the company itself that must modify its own culture, making it increasingly versatile, by promoting research and young people, Dioguardi explains.
The book starts by offering a very perceptive snapshot of current events – from pandemic to war and their impact on economy and society – and then goes on to explore first the concept of research (including its motivations, such as inquisitiveness and doubt) and then the new protagonists in such organisations (young people and entrepreneurs). It then examines some “lost values” such as corporate spirit, a culture conceived in the widest sense of the word, as well as the meaning of sustainability and the focus on digitalisation. Some industrial, territorial and urban scenarios are subsequently outlined, suggesting a future marked by “encyclopaedia-like enterprises” and urban territories able to develop in a new manner that is more mindful of people and the environment.
In his conclusion, Dioguardi writes, “As such, we need to conceive new ways of doing business, adopting new “system architectures” based on network models (“network enterprises”), in order to develop organic organisational models whose flexibility can be adjusted in real time according to the shifting needs presented by the external context and capable, moreover, to blend a large corporate dimension with the small and medium companies typical of the Italian economic context. We need to conceive institutions as “encyclopaedia-like enterprises”, which can acquire and determine the culture of its individual collaborators, turning it into a strategic tool that can be deployed on the territory in order to fight the danger of social exclusion.”
L’impresa enciclopedia. Organizzazione come strategia per il Terzo Millennio (Encyclopaedia-like enterprises. Organisation as a strategy for the Third Millennium)
Gianfranco Dioguardi
Guerini Next, 2022
In his latest book, Gianfranco Dioguardi outlines a new production organisation able to match innovations with innovation
A chameleon-like enterprise – an enterprise that keeps on transforming, constantly adapting to new circumstances, situations, sudden contextual shifts, markets, policies. As such, an enterprise that must possess a larger, more complex amount of knowledge and skills, just like an encyclopaedia. These are the notions on which Gianfranco Dioguardi – engineer and professor of economics and business management at the Polytechnic University of Bari – wrote L’impresa enciclopedia. Organizzazione come strategia per il Terzo Millennio (Encyclopaedia-like enterprises. Organisation as a strategy for the Third Millennium), recently published.
Dioguardi, who in Italy is considered one of the fathers of management engineering, notes how the complexity of the Third Millennium has turned companies’ traditional strategic dynamics upside down. It is no longer possible to first implement a definitive corporate strategy and then build on it a corporate structure able to actualise it. The changeable nature of situations forces the realisation of ‘just in time’ organisational structures, and as such the ability to implement operational strategies that constantly take into consideration growing needs of sustainability and resilience. And, actually, it is the company itself that must modify its own culture, making it increasingly versatile, by promoting research and young people, Dioguardi explains.
The book starts by offering a very perceptive snapshot of current events – from pandemic to war and their impact on economy and society – and then goes on to explore first the concept of research (including its motivations, such as inquisitiveness and doubt) and then the new protagonists in such organisations (young people and entrepreneurs). It then examines some “lost values” such as corporate spirit, a culture conceived in the widest sense of the word, as well as the meaning of sustainability and the focus on digitalisation. Some industrial, territorial and urban scenarios are subsequently outlined, suggesting a future marked by “encyclopaedia-like enterprises” and urban territories able to develop in a new manner that is more mindful of people and the environment.
In his conclusion, Dioguardi writes, “As such, we need to conceive new ways of doing business, adopting new “system architectures” based on network models (“network enterprises”), in order to develop organic organisational models whose flexibility can be adjusted in real time according to the shifting needs presented by the external context and capable, moreover, to blend a large corporate dimension with the small and medium companies typical of the Italian economic context. We need to conceive institutions as “encyclopaedia-like enterprises”, which can acquire and determine the culture of its individual collaborators, turning it into a strategic tool that can be deployed on the territory in order to fight the danger of social exclusion.”
L’impresa enciclopedia. Organizzazione come strategia per il Terzo Millennio (Encyclopaedia-like enterprises. Organisation as a strategy for the Third Millennium)
Gianfranco Dioguardi
Guerini Next, 2022