“The problem is not the model, but how companies are managed, bearing in mind that it is precisely in management that politics must stay out the door”. He doesn't mince words Andrea Gilardoni, professor of Economics and Business Management at the Bocconi University in Milan and one of the leading utility experts in Italy.
In an interview given to the Turin edition of Repubblica, the professor begins with an assessment of the decision by the Municipality of Turin to sell 40% of Gtt, Amiat and Trm and to concentrate the rest of the shares in a publicly controlled holding company. “I see no contraindications in bringing together holdings of different companies under a single hat from a service point of view, coordinating actions. The problem is how companies are then managed”.
For companies to function efficiently, the policy should be limited to "indicating the rules and objectives, entrusting the management to a third party and carefully monitoring the results". In such a context, opening up to private individuals can trigger healthy and virtuous competition. “When a Municipality is inspector and controlled, companies tend to sit down. From a broader point of view, I would see it as important to have a national plan leading to large operators who, among other things, can focus on emerging markets. But quickly."
