Chiara and Innovative Technologies

A BOCCONI GRADUATE, TODAY CHIARA FARRONATO IS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT THE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL. SHE STUDIES THE EFFECTS OF THE SHARING ECONOMY ON THE REAL ECONOMY

“I did the CLAPI program at Bocconi because I wanted to become a diplomat, but I realized right away that I was missing more advanced courses in math and micro- and macro- economy for that path. So I moved to the Economic and Social Sciences program, and obtained a double degree with the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium”, explains Chiara Farronato, who is now Assistant Professor at the Technology and Operation Management (Tom) Unit at the Harvard Business School. Over time, her dream changed and a diplomatic career gave way to an academic one. “When I was at college I started to think about pursuing an academic career, so I decided to get a PhD. I ended up at Stanford”.

It was 2008, and online companies offering local services started to pop up on the market, such as Air B&B, Uber, Ebay, and TaskRabbit. “I experienced the change in the digital market firsthand, because I was living in Palo Alto, right where that cultural revolution was taking place”. The advantage of being in Silicon Valley was also practical, logistical and economic because many of the firms where Chiara Farronato had work relationships were just a few kilometers from Stanford. After California, she went to the Harvard Business School thanks to the job market: here, in a mixed context which brought together operation research scholars and economists interested in the technology and innovation sector, Chiara Farronato conducted her research on the effects of the sharing economy on the real world: “During my first year at Cambridge, I only did research because I was on maternity leave and so the university allowed me to take a break from teaching. Now I teach Technology and Operations Management to first-year MBA students. There are loads of students, and so they’re divided into groups. Before lectures, my colleagues and I often meet with several senior faculty members to do teaching meeting groups where we can exchange working methods”.

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by Allegra Gallizia