In Professor Gupta’s Corporate Social Responsibility course this week, we learned about corporate governance and the different types of corporate governance that companies follow. I was able to better understand the relationship between management and shareholders and how the board of directors plays a role in organizing corporations. For homework, I compared the corporate governance of Intel and its competitor Samsung by comparing their certificate of incorporations, bylaws, and DEF14As. I concluded that Samsung has better corporate governance because they give more power to the board of directors and require the board to meet more often. My Wall Street Journal article for this week, “Anti-Woke Shareholders Are Going After Corporate Boards”, covered the conflict of interest between shareholders and management, which we also read about in the two readings for class this week; “The Corporation” by Joel Bakan and “A Primer on Corporate Governance” by Margaret M. Blair. Previously, I had never thought about a corporation as a “person”, but Bakan’s book and class discussions introduced me to the personhood of a corporation and the human rights that are also granted to corporations. This was also covered in the film we watched on Wednesday which covered the dangers of a corporation to society. 

In Professor Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar course, we developed a deeper understanding of the Italian economy and what factors are playing a role in the country’s financial performance. Abi and I did a workplace encyclopedia on our company, SuiteFood, and its position in the food and beverage industry. Currently, the food and beverage industry is growing in Italy which puts our company in a good position. We also learned about how Italy is not taking enough advantage of the taxi system. Although the demand for taxis is very high, there are not enough drivers and cars to support the high demand. Another factor hurting their economy is the fact that only 55% of working-aged women are employed. This was very surprising to me as it is the lowest percentage of the EU. Finally, we talked about the difference between Italy and America in terms of economic, political, and social systems. An example that stuck out to me was when Professor Swain had us pretend to explain to an Italian why an American student would wear college apparel in public. In Italy, there is less that goes into getting accepted into a college, so Italians might find it strange to wear college apparel. Additionally, we talked about the differences between the Italian and American political systems. Italy has many political parties while America has two main ones. This may result in Americans being more involved in the elections and more emotional when presidents are elected. 

At my internship this week, more workers joined our team. Dafne and Melissa were hired as the package designers. I was able to work with them to create a new package design for the US market. It was fun to follow the process of creating slogans and key-words that needed to be added to the package. Although Dafne and Melissa had great designs, they needed my help with the correct wording because english is not their first language. This is not something that I would say is in my forte. It was more difficult than I thought to design packages so that they capture the eye of a customer walking through the grocery store. I also did research on competitors’ social media to see the kinds of content they were posting as well as what customers were saying in their comments. I looked at Cure Hydration and Bloom. 

Since my last journal entry was on Sunday, I have not traveled anywhere in Italy since then. However, I have been immersing myself more in Italian culture. Before arriving in Italy, I did not drink much coffee. Now that I am here, I have been drinking coffee almost every day, starting with a cappuccino in the morning. Something that I have found interesting is that Italians do not really eat a full meal until lunch around 1-1:30pm. In the morning, they rely on a cappuccino and maybe a croissant to get through the morning. This is very different from American breakfast. I have also been exploring different parts of Milan, starting with Chinatown. Abi and I work in Chinatown because our boss Emmanuela lives there. It is quite an interesting part of Milan, and it is very lively. This week, Abi and I had our first lunch in Chinatown. There are many food places to choose from that line the streets where many people sit outside to enjoy their meal. The most street food I have seen is in Chinatown. I got a bao bun and soup dumplings. It was so bad. I am not sure if we picked the wrong restaurant or what, but that was some of the worst food I have eaten in Italy. I think from now on, I will stick to Italian food and sushi. After work, I enjoy walking to IES. It is crazy how many cafes and restaurants I pass on my walk. I feel as though in America, all these cafes and restaurants would not survive, so I am shocked whenever I see five cafes in one block. This weekend I plan to head to Venice which I am looking forward to.