Heeding those who would like to postpone the renewal of Confindustria's top management until after the virus would be not just a choice blatantly dictated by conservative opportunism which aims at an improbable crumbling of the consensus reached by Carlo Bonomi, but it would mean preparing a confederal tomorrow even more marked by the impotence of recent years and by the growing lack of weight, proactive and factual, in the country's rich and dynamic industrial fabric.
Some young industrialist tried to throw the stone of the postponement. Now a regional president, that of Tuscany, is also coming out into the open, convinced that with the postponement the fracture of his territories can be healed. Some interested observers also maintain this; he wishes it some character who from the trampoline of Luiss or Sole24Ore dreams of Hills or Ministries; some politicians connected to viale dell'Astronomia suggest it in the hope of seeing a trend that has seen Vincenzo Boccia sit down at endless tables with dozens of more or less representative associations.
It weighs like a boulder, then, the issue of public nominations (in continuity or in renewal) as a power glue of no small importance. We are certain that the most attentive and dynamic branch of Confindustria (to be clear, the one that supports the candidacy of Carlo Bonomi by a large majority) will not be able to give in to the opportunism of the moment nor will it be able to escape (if necessary) from the elementary technology of the on vote line.
As the days go by, the central conservative nervousness becomes palpable; good last the "bellows" deliberately made to travel in Lombardy on future vice presidencies, handed out by the dozen as medals of recognition. All this happens in the moment of greatest commitment for Bonomi: the one addressed to the internal and organizational front. A pruning and rationalization of the structures; a significant containment of costs to rapidly achieve overall efficiency of the system based on the strategic valorisation of the contribution of the product categories.
Regaining a marked centrality of the Confindustria action and proposal in the complex season of economic recovery and post-virus social change it will be the real bet of tomorrow's Confindustria. The dust that has long accumulated in the Confederate rooms needs to be addressed. In the first place, a new and more marked authority will have to be restored to the fabric of its representation in the territory (Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Fairs, Universities, Credit Institutes, Foundations, Economic Bodies, etc. etc.), subtracting the reason for many presences from a kind of curriculum associative reserved for the most faithful or, which is too widespread, such as TFR reserved for outgoing presidents.
This network combined with the strength of real interests of the product categories it can represent the place where the weight of the interests of the companies is exerted and the ability to positively direct the resources of the territory towards growth and development objectives. An equally demanding effort will have to be directed to the extremely delicate and strategic sector of credit. It will be difficult to escape the issue of the low capitalization of our companies despite the simultaneous growth of Italian private wealth.
You have to be fully aware that it will not be possible to face the fatigue of the ascent, of recovery and relaunching with scarce capital, with de facto poor companies, with reduced profit margins that link the fate of companies very often to the income statement alone. A courageous and transparent reflection will have to be done. Perhaps it will be necessary to stop the spin-offs of corporate assets more in favor of the owning families than from efficiency needs; perhaps it will be necessary to do the same with many services intertwined with the business cycle which are very often entrusted autonomously to children and relatives; perhaps greater attention and control will be needed to the bond loans of shareholders only more aimed at interest that the money market has not offered for years more than for growth or conversion needs.
It will be necessary to support the policy so that it puts in place encouraging and favorable conditions for companies that capitalize or, better still, for those, even if not listed, that turn to private savings by issuing guaranteed, transparent and exempt medium-term bonds contributions of any kind. This sort of enterprise democracy will favor dynamic saving and it will oblige a transparency of collective behavior capable of making the ethical spirit of capitalism emerge from chatter.
A choice will also have to be made for the Confindustria Study Centre, abandoning the pride and presumption of competing on the macroeconomics with what other Italian and international institutions are already doing. Perhaps it is worth reporting, in the analysis and in the proposal, the cognitive effort of the Study Center to understand the reality and the trend of the real economy of the country and that of the markets where the medium and small Italian enterprises are measured. Also in terms of internationalization the need for a change is felt and a more decisive presence of Confindustria. The country makes not small resources available to the "voice" but distributed in a thousand streams and in a thousand small hunting territories.
Few but clear choices are needed; few but consistent Fairs; few missions but targeted, well prepared, authoritative and the response, in a short time, of the benefits collected. On these issues, the urgency of a new confederal management becomes even more pressing.
