In class this week with Professor Gupta, we continued our discussion on corporations with the topics of social reform and a case study. Much of our first class consisted of a recorded lecture by Paul DeNicola, who visited Lehigh as a guest lecturer in 2019. Mr. DeNicola gave a general overview of corporate governance and discussed related trends over time, among other things. Topics included the composition of directors on the board, shareholder behavior, and corporations becoming more involved. In the second half of our week, we debated the ins and outs of a case study on Apple. It wasn’t easy to answer most of the questions that Professor Gupta brought up. What should Jeff Williams do in his new position as SVP Operations? How responsible is Apple for the actions of its suppliers? What would we do differently?

This week at Tempocasa wrapped on a large bulk, the first half, of my time working for the company. Our supervisors ultimately assigned us this summer to research what makes US real estate companies so successful in the market and what makes them different from Italian companies. This week, we finally gave our presentation to our supervisors. On Monday, we gave a preliminary presentation to someone at the company who said what we did was good, but it was going in the wrong direction. We were very confused when given this feedback but we adjusted our final presentation to present to our supervisor on Thursday. The presentation on Thursday went great. In my section, I analyzed two Italian companies, Toscano and Re/Max Italia, and compared them to US giant Keller Williams, pointing out successful strategies and areas for improvement.

This past week, I finally went on my most anticipated trip of the program, Cinque Terre. I was able to stay for an extra day in the beautiful village of Vernazza because a few people and I booked an Airbnb. This was the first place I have ever visited that was not a traditional beach. Instead, we spent a lot of time swimming in the sea, climbing, and subsequently, jumping off of massive rocks. At night, we were able to have dinner right next to the beach at the restaurant where our Airbnb host works. On our second day there, we took to visiting the other villages on our way back to the train. Highlights included the mozzarella and pesto focaccia, our terrace overlooking the village, and the best gifts to shop for. Other than Cinque Terre, I toured Brera, the design district, during design week. I was able to visit a Hermès design show which showed off their new ideas.