The Challenge of Trust in the Omnichannel Era: Bocconi Inaugurates the Harvey Chaplin Chair in Distribution, Channel & Experience Management

What holds together the relationships between industry and distribution in a market shaped by e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and increasingly demanding consumers? The answer, says Sandro Castaldo, is both simple and complex: trust. This was the central theme of his lectio inauguralis, which on Thursday, October 16, marked the inauguration at Bocconi University of the Harvey Chaplin Chair in Distribution, Channel & Experience Management, supported by Campari Group in memory of the great U.S. distributor who passed away in 2024.

Castaldo, Full Professor of Marketing and one of the leading experts in omnichannel strategies, highlighted how partnerships between companies and distributors can create not only economic but also social value, provided they are built on solid and transparent relationships.

Trust is the glue that allows companies to innovate without losing touch with their customers. Only by starting here can we envision distribution models capable of enhancing the purchasing experience and accompanying societal change. _{-Sandro Castaldo, Harvey Chaplin Chair in Distribution, Channel & Experience Management}

Following Castaldo’s lecture, three prominent figures of the global economy took up the challenge: Roberta Benaglia (Style Capital), Wayne Chaplin (Southern Glazer’s), and Simon Hunt (Campari), in a discussion moderated by Tommaso Ebhardt of Bloomberg News. The event provided an opportunity to exchange perspectives on how to build alliances that generate value across the entire supply chain.

This initiative confirms our university’s mission to bridge research and business. It strengthens Bocconi’s role as a laboratory of ideas and solutions to address the transformations reshaping markets and society. _{-Francesco Billari, Rector, Bocconi University}

With the inauguration of the Harvey Chaplin Chair, Bocconi positions itself as a privileged observatory on the evolution of distribution channels and consumer experience, at a time when trust is increasingly becoming the true currency of exchange in global markets.