The operation conducted by Leonardo Del Vecchio di has been concluded successfully after four years merge Luxottica with Essilor, creating a group with a turnover of 16 billion, with about 140 employees, and which will play a dominant role, worldwide, in the sectors of production, distribution and design of ophthalmic lenses, optical frames and sunglasses.
Leonardo DelVecchio he is certainly not young (he will be 86 in a couple of months), but he demonstrates uncommon vitality and energy. Always on the spot since he left Agordo with a small artisan company that soon became Luxottica and conquered the world leadership in eyewear.
Entrepreneurial courage supported by a vision of the evolution of the sector and the market. Aware that without this connection of the two characters, one gets by with the risk of entering paths that often lead to default.
In the mid-nineties Del Vecchio enters the Benetton family EMS supermarkets. He becomes its president and declares a few years later that that position had helped him to understand how a company in the hands of managers works.
You don't grow if you don't rely on managers, if you don't transform the family business into a "family-controlled" business. But pay attention to the choice of the right person and the control to be exercised over his work, once hired in the company and conferred the powers. He has recently expressed himself clearly, and without regard, with reference to the managers of groups in which he is the majority shareholder. "I am companies with great potential and as long as there are results, management has nothing to fear”.
It is known that entrepreneurial courage is an abstract character if the field of activity in which it is exercised is not better qualified. It is one thing to limit oneself to one country, the original one where the company was born, another quite different is to extend attention to the whole world.
So Del Vecchio reasoned from the beginning of his entrepreneurial adventure when with Luxottica he didn't even set himself the goal of entering the Italian market. He began immediately, through the wholesalers of other countries, then gradually absorbed into him his company, a conquer the world market. Not only that, it has also taken a step forward by integrating production with distribution by purchasing chain stores around the world.
That's not all, a few years ago Del Vecchio saw the opportunity to merge Luxottica with Essilor by putting together frames and lenses. A "French countryside" very complicated arm wrestling with Essilor's master father.
With patience but with a lot of determination and supported by the vision of creating a global giant, he managed to win, avoiding to win big. With the new governance processes will be faster and the presence of the French state with Bpi France in the capital and in the board of directors gives the company greater stability.
A stability that also invests the property itself which finds in this structure a lesser possibility of making choices dictated by personal and family gains. We recall that the corporate group is a heritage from treat with a long-term vision.
So you respect too the public role that the company plays. Think of the employment it creates, the indirect economies it determines and the other influences it exerts on the environment. A wise choice by Del Vecchio, consistent with what he had done so far, which confirms that philosophy of company with a social value which he always pursued.
