When we talk about business development today, we immediately think of its ability to innovate and attract capital. The increasingly persistent adoption of technologies such asartificial intelligencelinked to automating certain processes, is generating great changes and just as many reflections.
If it is true that any evolution leads to a historical “bottleneck” (see for example the printing revolution), with social and economic consequences to be faced, it is equally correct to think about the new opportunities or how to strengthen and maximize the resources you have.
It is in such an evolutionary context that the new book by is well integrated Benedict Good written by four hands with Federico Frattini from the title Innovationship: Capital-driven innovation and published by Aegean. From the outset, the two authors immediately place emphasis not only on the importance of relational capital but on how the latter must be considered a true asset on a par with technological and financial capital.
We are in a historical period where innovate it has become vital for companies to remain competitive and with a long-term perspective. What makes the difference here, however, is not the availability of technology which has become increasingly “open and accessible”: it is relations the real key that can create the right mix and facilitate dialogue and comparison between different resources who have a common objective.
Obviously it is not so simple and linear, just as people and the relationships that are established between them are not. Precisely because we talked about own capital, that relationship must be managed in this way, having it clear that the aim is to produce not only individual but also collective advantage. This must be a fundamental assumption to be internalized a priori if one does not want to obtain the negative boomerang effect of an improper use of the relational capital.
Is relational capital a novelty or a trend?
From relational capital it has been talked about since the mid-nineteenth century but it was in the 80s of the last century that it began to enter in a more concrete way in managerial comparisons and in treatises on economics and sociology. One of the authors who contributed most to clearing the importance of relational capital was Robert Putnam defining it as:
“the set of characteristics of social organization, such as trust, norms and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions.”
It is not the only way to describe this important asset and although a precise and univocal definition does not exist, everyone agrees that it must be based on strong social ties that can provide individual and collective benefits.
Clearly not all bonds have the same intensity and strength but the fundamental aspect is to be aware of them and know how to make good use of them at the right time. There building a network of relationships it is a process that requires time and care and, above all, must be based on a relationship of exchange and mutual trust.
We talk about people, human beings and theirs ability to create a system and build great things in a process of continuous innovation at the service of man and his ability to remain human. Relationships and their maintenance are the first and fundamental piece, the conditio sine qua non to continue doing great things.
