Cooperative Consumers Coop, better known as Coop, was Italy’s first retailer to embrace hypermarkets, in the 1980s, and then began opening even bigger superstore venues while expanding its offerings to include insurance and banking services, electricity, and prescription drugs. Throughout this expansion, Coop sought innovative ways to support its strategy with technology. Massimo Bongiovanni has strongly helped the company realize that goal as president of Coop Centrale, which manages purchasing and distribution for the retailer’s cooperative network of stores, as well as the IT and services that support marketing, pricing, and other elements of Coop’s commercial policies.

Earlier this year, McKinsey’s Brad Brown, Lorenzo Forina, and Johnson Sikes spoke with Massimo Bongiovanni about technology’s role in fostering growth and innovation.