Apparently the foundation stone for a complete renewal of Confindustria was laid in the Assises of Bergamo. Thousands of entrepreneurs gathered behind closed doors and spoke out of their teeth. They have taken note of the difficult situation in which they find themselves: they do not have a reliable political backing, they do not have trade unions capable of stipulating lasting pacts for development, they cannot count on a solid and widespread culture of the market.
On the contrary, they find themselves having to deal with an increasingly self-referential policy and with a loss of credibility of all the ruling classes which to a large extent also involves entrepreneurs and Confindustria. So it's been said that you have to fend for yourself. We need to stop asking for favors or subsidies from politics. We must avoid being homologated to politics by not participating in the talkative theaters that characterize the way of doing politics in Italy. Above all, the management methods of one's own organization must resemble as little as possible the rites and systems of politics, starting with the electoral campaigns for the various association offices and the unscrupulous use of the spoil system by the winning faction. In essence, the philosophical inspiration that already belonged to Angelo Costa, the legendary first post-war president of Confindustria, has been re-proposed, i.e. of an authoritative and non-corporate association that defends not only the interests of existing companies but "looks at the companies that will come” that is, a Confindustria that must have the ambition to pursue, also through the defense of legitimate partisan interests, a broader general interest of the country to develop both economically and culturally.
But how to reform the organization and the behavior of its managers in order to achieve this important change of pace? A new culture is needed not only to be offered to the country, but to be applied primarily within the Confindustria system, if one really wants to set an example for the entire ruling class. And there are really many things to change, in behavior even before in the statutory rules and in the more efficient reorganization of the offices. In fact, we cannot delude ourselves that it will only be by cutting costs and unifying services that Confindustria will be given back the weight of a different and authoritative member of the ruling class that it is losing somewhat. It will first be necessary to set the priorities that the system must pursue with differentiated roles between the center and the periphery, and thus modify the race towards small or large armchairs. The degeneration towards politicking asserted itself more than a decade ago with the D'Amato presidency, when the same president explicitly divided the association between the majority that had won the elections and the minority that had lost with the right for the majority to occupy all command posts, when the concept was affirmed that Il Sole 24 Ore and Luiss are two "tools" in the hands of the presidency to be used for the pursuit of its political ends. In short, when the concept of Confindustria as a free association of companies has been lost in which the president is not the "boss" of the industrialists who conquered that place after a tough electoral competition, but the "spokesperson" of the entrepreneurs called to that role to pure spirit of service.
When it was no longer understood that Confindustria gained more prestige and authority from having promoted a large independent newspaper at the service of the entire Italian economy, rather than from using that tool daily as a cudgel to put pressure on this or that party or on this or that minister. Thus Luiss, in Guido Carli's intentions, was to be an autonomous center of cultural elaboration and certainly not a lobbyist producer of culture in tow of contingent interests. Regardless of whether or not these proposals have been fully implemented or not, they have in any case produced serious damage in the practice of the Confindustria which has often ended up absorbing the logic of parties, of divisions into currents, of the parcelling out of command positions. Hence the degeneration of the so-called "professionals of representation", given that if it is a question of organizing currents or roped parties then we need professionals willing to stay in the association almost full time. And it is strange to hear Stefano Parisi, former director general of Confindustria, thunder against this degeneration, given that he himself was one of the most active promoters of this practice. Is he repentant? All of this, paradoxically, took place just as the traditional political role of Confindustria was declining, which drew its main legitimacy from its role as counterpart of the trade unions and as the main subject at the negotiation table with the Government. The latter has practically fallen into disuse, while the coordination role of the large collective labor agreements is progressively fading with the emergence of decentralized bargaining and with company agreements (Fiat brands) which replace national ones.
So what to do with Confindustria? If the role of trade union counterpart (which was the decisive need of the founders a century ago) is progressively reduced and with it that of political subject, what spaces will the organization of industrialists be able to occupy? A lobbying role only for measures that concern single sectors can be better played by trade associations that represent homogeneous interests. A lobby on the major issues of taxation, economic policy, market rules, corporate law is already carried out by Assonime which also brings together banks and insurance companies and therefore can better represent the requests of joint-stock companies. Do more business services? Of course it is possible, but there is an important private market of business services that adapts and specializes with greater speed and flexibility than the offices of a large and complex association can do. However, in a country like Italy where there is a low culture of the market, where the school is far from the business world, where the public sector is ever larger in spite of governments that proclaim themselves liberal and say they want less , where the "dead hand" of many small and large monopolies slows down the competitiveness of the system, Confindustria could and indeed should play a very important role in trying to change the climate of public opinion and make the market appreciate a little more, mobility, merit. But to do so, it must regain credibility. If it preaches the virtues of the market and merit, it will have to be the first to set an example by applying them transparently internally. And then enough with the para-political practices that reward membership in a consortium, but must create structures where professional choices made by professionals are privileged. What damage, for example, has the appointment of Gianni Riotta to the direction of Il Sole 24 Ore done to the image of Confindustria (as well as to the finances of the publishing house) outside the logic of a company listed on the Stock Exchange?
Carbonate: not just a "status symbol"
For the president of the industrialists of Turin, a major reform is needed that will push Confindustria to make fewer requests but more proposals linked to the general interests - Before choosing the new President, let's decide what to do and how to get there
“We feel like those on the front lines without having adequate support behind us for the harshness of the battle that is taking place”. Gianfranco Carbonato, president of the Industrial Union of Turin, talks about the state of mind of many entrepreneurs who flocked to the Bergamo meetings to express this malaise and to seek, without unnecessary alarmism but with firmness, a possible way out of this situation of suffering. “The high turnout of entrepreneurs at an event that took place behind closed doors, and therefore without great showmanship, demonstrates that deeply felt issues were addressed. After all, in Italy, few social groups feel the effects of international competition firsthand. Only entrepreneurs experience the effort of those who have to measure themselves daily on international markets. And they feel that politicians do not have in their Agenda the commitment to support the competitiveness of enterprises. Entrepreneurs are experiencing, like other social groups, a growing detachment from politics, from its way of debating, from its inability to make decisions consistent with the need to restart the country's development".
Carbonato, who is president of a medium-sized company that works all over the world, knows what the problems of companies are. It is not a question of having subsidies, but of setting up an action for recovery and reforms that lead to an overall increase in productivity. And Confindustria must propose itself as a serious and credible interlocutor of the Government with which it must have a dialectical and balanced relationship but remaining firm on its own ideas. “Everyone must be made to understand – says Carbonato – that the entrepreneurs of Confindustria do not make requests, but put forward proposals that are not only based on a particular interest, but are also reconciled with the general interest of the country to resume a path of growth."
Confindustria therefore maintains an important function as representative of the business system. But it too must surely review its functioning, keep up with the times. ” Yes, even Confindustria - Carbonato affirms - must quickly face a phase of renewal, streamlining and reorganization. Perhaps today some traditional functions are no longer at the center of the system, such as the trade union one for example, even if, as we have recently seen with the Fiat case, our organization must be more innovative and more proactive. Today, however, innovation and internationalization are at the top of the interests of companies and we must do more in this area both directly and in relations with the Government." From an organizational point of view, Carbonato believes that today “there is a system on too many levels which makes management too complex. We need to start an important reform that better focuses the system on what to do and reduces too many levels of representation.” But sometimes on this road, obstacles are also placed by entrepreneurs who aspire to positions in the association. ” It would be enough to think that holding a position in an association is not a status symbol but it is a commitment that entrepreneurs assume out of a spirit of service and sometimes with sacrifice, having to subtract precious time from working in their own company.”
Therefore, the tasks for the new presidency are thus outlined which, moreover, well in advance, already sees some prestigious names in Italian industry in the field. “It seems early to talk about it – says Carbonato – and in any case all the names you read are certainly of great depth. What needs to be talked about now and what to do and how to get there. In any case, I hope that there is a widely shared designation because it takes a lot of strength and a lot of consensus to make reforms. We have many open fronts external and internal to our association. Never before has there been a need for a unified spirit and a sense of responsibility, certainly not real or presumed conflicts of power”.
We need a foreign Pope
A Carli-style choice would be preferable for the leadership of Confindustria – humility rather than ambition is decisive
by Giulio Sapelli
A debate has begun on Confindustria. On the effectiveness and efficiency of representation, or at least this is how I want to interpret the interventions on this subject, in order not to fall into personal disputes that are outside my way of reasoning. The problem is that we have to take the bull by the horns and ask ourselves if the command model of the Confindustria representation in its apical point is not mistaken. That is, if it is not wrong to assume that the National President (the Territorial Unions are quite another thing…) of Confindustria must always be an entrepreneur. I don't address the problem from a theoretical point of view: it would be tedious, even if sooner or later it would be worth doing. I limit myself to recalling that, without a doubt, the golden age of Confindustria after the Second World War was that of the Presidency of Guido Carli and the General Management of Paolo Savona. Sure everyone got annoyed and resented that dyad. But then we forgot the tragedy of the Costa presidency, when Confindustria was against Italy's entry into the European Common Market and when the industrialists directly lent a hand to the political parties to which they cast their votes without any mediation. It ended badly in terms of reputation and risked the rift between the wing of the reformers, who finally won the game (Agnelli and Pirelli with their reform which was historic…) to then cause, alas!, disasters. They can be summarized with the epochal one of the agreement on the single point of the escalator which bore the signature of Giovanni Agnelli. We were in a dramatic situation, of course, with mass violence in the streets and squares and factories with dead and wounded never honored enough and the surrender of the economic and political ruling class. Rather than defending the state, she often defended her children who were in the front line among the violent. Today the international situation of the markets, together with the growing subtraction of sovereignty from the national states, would force industrialists to pay more attention to Brussels rather than to Romanesque politics, transferring a good part of Viale dell'Astronomia to Avenue Churchill in Brussels ("Chez George" is a stone's throw away and you can always dine very well...), because by now the great choices are not made in Italy, but on a European scale. And the time that needs to be dedicated to analyzing the markets and the international situation requires the training and growth of "organic intellectuals" of industrial representation. I am thinking of that misunderstood giant who was Felice Mortillaro, for example, who could have been the forerunner of this new season and who, not by chance, was, however, mortified for his excessive freedom of thought and his too brilliant intelligence. If you want to talk about merit, you need to give a technocratic and non-parental aura to the Confindustria management, starting with the young, working your way up through the older branches. Good prominent officials with illustrious curriculum vitae and capable of interpreting the deep hearts of industrialists would be the solution. And perhaps they would certainly solve the great dilemmas before us much better, with the constant cooperation of entrepreneurs: how to restructure the internationalization of our proprietary representation, not only of industry and how to create, alongside the already existing and highly value, a think tank on industrial relations that is not extemporaneous and casually inspired by the fashionable professor, but capable, instead, of giving the go on this issue not only on an Italian but international scale. In short, with the Supreme Poet one can well wish that it is better for the Imperator to come from horizons outside the pepinière of those who must be represented: the latter would devote themselves even better to their enterprises, with greater concentration and would decide with more freedom and in full conviction and well scrutinize the salaried representatives. My belief is that the truth (and therefore the simple solution) also in representation can be reached with complex thinking, but that this thinking is ultimately much more frugal than one might think: it is constructed by subtraction and not by addition .
*Professor of Economic History at the State University of Milan
