From the commercial function to a broader business perspective: Marco Businaro shares his experience at BBS
28 August 2026For those in managerial roles, growth often means broadening one’s scope: going beyond a specific function, gaining a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that hold a company together, and developing tools to interpret decisions, people and results with greater awareness.
This need led Marco Businaro, Alumnus of the MBA Weekend, to choose Bologna Business School after graduating and completing a previous specialization program.
As a Commercial Manager, Marco was looking for a learning experience that could complement his profile with a broader perspective on business management.
“The MBA represents the real icing on the cake of an advanced learning journey for a manager: it offers a 360-degree perspective and truly opens your mind to everything related to business management.”
Going beyond your own function
Over time, the commercial role has become increasingly complex. It is no longer only about achieving sales targets, but also requires the ability to understand numbers, operations, innovation, margins and strategy.
For Marco, this evolution made it clear that developing cross-functional skills and understanding the connections between different business functions was becoming increasingly important.
His choice of the MBA Weekend was also driven by the opportunity to combine study with professional commitments.
“The Weekend format allows you to learn during the courses and, at the same time, immediately put into practice during the working week the skills and tools acquired over the weekend.”
This direct connection between learning and application was one of the most significant aspects of the experience. The concepts explored in class could be tested in everyday professional life, while work experience itself became a valuable source of discussion during the lessons.
Connecting experience and theory
One of the most important effects of the MBA for Marco was a change in the way he looks at a company.
His different professional experiences over the years had already given him direct exposure to many of the areas covered during the Master. However, his experience at BBS helped him structure that knowledge, connecting practice with theory and making organizational dynamics that might otherwise have remained in the background easier to recognize.
“The MBA was fundamental in connecting practice with theory: it gave me the tools to structure that experience and to identify those ‘blind spots’ within organizations that might otherwise go unnoticed.”
Real-world cases, classroom activities and continuous exchange with participants from different backgrounds further broadened this perspective.
For Marco, learning to break down complexity now means being able to assess the economic and strategic impact of decisions more accurately and to view his own role from a broader perspective.
A broader commercial role
After the Master, the role of Commercial Manager took on a more comprehensive meaning for Marco.
Alongside defining commercial strategies and achieving targets comes a more cross-functional responsibility: understanding margins, engaging with other business functions and developing people.
Leadership thus becomes an integral part of managerial capability.
“Today, I interpret the role of Commercial Manager much more broadly: not only as a guide for achieving sales targets, but as a strategic connecting figure.”
This perspective makes it possible to view the organization as a system in which commercial, economic, operational and organizational decisions are closely interconnected.
It is also in this sense that the interdisciplinary approach of the MBA creates value: not as a collection of separate skills, but as the ability to connect them in order to understand how a company operates more comprehensively.
Navigating uncertainty
Over the years, Marco has worked in an increasingly dynamic market. In this context, the analytical and strategic skills developed during the Master translate into a greater ability to make decisions, optimize processes and engage effectively with different stakeholders across the organization.
According to Marco, the main challenge for a manager today remains the ability to navigate uncertainty.
Doing so requires skills, but also adaptability, an understanding of context and awareness of the consequences of one’s decisions.
His experience at BBS helped him strengthen precisely this ability: analyzing complex problems from multiple perspectives and developing responses that bring together objectives, resources and people.
The value of the community after the Master
Alongside professional growth, Marco identifies another decisive element in his experience: the human dimension.
The two years of the MBA Weekend created relationships that have continued well beyond the end of the program.
“An MBA changes your life not only academically or professionally: in my case, at least, it changes you deeply as a person, teaching you the value of mutual support and creating lasting relationships that are meant to endure over time.”
The community remains a space for exchange, discussion and sharing. A network that does not end when classes are over, but continues to offer opportunities to meet, discuss ideas and face new professional challenges together.
For Marco, this combination of skills, openness to different perspectives and relationships built over time captures the value of the experience.
The MBA Weekend allowed him to strengthen his managerial profile, broaden his understanding of the company and acquire tools that can be directly applied in his professional life.
A learning journey that begins with education, but continues through the ability to interpret decisions, organizations and the people within them with greater awareness.
