Great managers often look to the future, the latest trends and upcoming innovations to prepare for the future. Sometimes, however, there are great teachings and ideas even in the past, left by those who have been able to write history. This new series of The European House Ambrosetti looks back, trying to draw inspiration from the great leaders of the past who, perhaps, today would have been great business managers.
 
How to act when you start from a position of strategic disadvantage? Where and how to find new allies? How do you beat innovative competitors?
 
In this first meeting, Andrea Lipparini, Professor of Strategy at the University of Bologna, will tell how Hannibal answered these questions, so familiar to today’s managers. Hannibal, considered one of the greatest strategists in history, managed to overcome Rome’s dominant position by inventing new strategies, seeking allies and "invading" new markets, almost annihilating the formidable military organization of Rome. In the end, he was beaten by an inaccurate SWOT, and a rival student (Scipione) able to learn from the enemy, modifying their tactics and, in part, their cultural model.
 
In particular, it will deepen:

• win from disadvantage: rethink the strategy to surprise competitors
• find allies: search, value and motivate the resources you have available
• knowing the enemy: the importance of identifying and exploiting and exploiting weaknesses
• Continuous change: tactics that win, you change.