Harvard Business School Professor, Dr. Gary Pisano headlined the 2013 Carlucci Entrepreneurship Forum at The American University of Rome. His talk, "Competing in the New Global Landscape," drew a standing-room-only audience from both the AUR community and the broader Rome community.

Dr. Pisano made a clear and cogent argument for an investment in education and training in the face of the global recession, maintaining that because of the transformation of global economic competition, the quality of a country's human resources is now the ultimate determinant of prosperity.

The evening lecture was the highlight of the 2013 edition of the Carlucci Forum, which was conceived in 2010 by AUR's Honorary Degree recipient and prominent businessman Robert E. Carlucci. The event is organized annually to recognize and honor his significant achievements as both an entrepreneur and a philanthropist.

Dr. Pisano spent time during the day with a number of different AUR constituencies. He lunched with members of the Business Department faculty, discussing a wide array of topics ranging from research projects to the teaching and writing of cases to the benefits of an American style education in Rome. (His daughter Melanie is a member of AUR's class of 2013). An expert in the case method approach made famous by Harvard Business School, Dr. Pisano led the students in Prof. Kathleen Fitzsimmons' Strategic Management course in a discussion of a case he wrote, on the launch of the FIAT 500 in the United States. The lively discussion got students to analyze the difficulties CEO Sergio Marchionne faced first with the turnaround of FIAT and then with the similar challenge at Chrysler, after the merger of the two auto giants. The students then debated the wisdom (since proven by the US auto market) of Marchionne's strategy to launch FIAT into the US with its 500 subco mpact model rather than other FIAT models.

Later in the afternoon, Dr. Pisano met with about 25 business students for an aperitivo, where some of the Strategic Management students continued the discussion from the earlier class session, and others asked about graduate school and about the HBS method, and got advice.

Dr. Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie Professor of Business Administration HBS. He did his undergraduate work in Economics at Yale University, and received a PhD at University of California at Berkeley. He has been on the Harvard faculty for 25 years. During this time, Dr. Pisano has taught MBA and executive level courses on technology and operations management, operations strategy, competitive strategy, product development, and the management of innovation. Dr. Pisano's research has examined technology strategy, the management of innovation, organizational learning, outsourcing, and the management of intellectual property. His research, teaching, and consulting on these issues span a range of science and technology based industries including aerospace, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, health care, computers, software, telecommunications, and semiconductors. He has applied his knowledge to the real world by advising a number of corporations, particularly in the pharma bu siness, including Merck, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, J&J and Teradyne.

Dr. Pisano is widely published, having authored more than 70 articles and case studies, and six books, most recently Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance. In his research, Dr. Pisano has examined technology strategy, innovation, organizational learning and the management of intellectual property. He's won a number of awards including the prestigious McKinsey Award, awarded each year for the best HBR article of the year, for his 2009 article, and the basis of his discussion at the Carlucci Forum, Restoring American Competitiveness.

The AUR community thanks Dr. Pisano for his time and energy and looks forward to having him back at AUR for graduation festivities in May!