When a piece of Italy goes away it is never a day of celebration. And when a company like Indesit, a symbol of Made in Italy and family capitalism, is at stake, which lowers the tricolor to pass bag and baggage to the American giant Whirlpool, the regret is strong. But reason helps better than feelings in interpreting Indesit's change of ownership and flag and suggests at least four considerations.
First: from an industrial point of view, the color of ownership, except in the case of strategic and not only important companies as in this case, makes no difference because what really matters for the future of a company is the quality of its management and the lucidity of its strategies.
Second: in the face of the clear difficulties of the Merlonis, the change of hands of Indesit was the most natural outlet and the arrival of a large multinational, which knows Italy well and respects the independence of the companies and brands it buys, it is a guarantee for the future of the Marche group. And with all due respect to a family as emblematic of family capitalism as the Merlonis, the security of the company is more important than the fate of its founders and owners. Growth is always better than decline and Indesit changes its flag but remains very much alive in the national territory.
Third: importance must not be confused with the strategic nature of a company and if Indesit is certainly a first-hand industrial reality, this does not mean that it can be defined as strategic because it is certainly not irreplaceable (the market is full of white goods companies) . Economic patriotism is sacrosanct when there are truly strategic assets at stake, but it risks clouding ideas in other cases and opening the door to economic nationalism which fortunately is a disease that does not belong to us and which we gladly leave to the French, whose economy today it is perhaps more difficult than ours.
Fourth: the Indesit case highlights, once again, the complex and sometimes lethal problem of generational succession for small but also medium or even medium-large family-owned companies. If a family has neither the financial nor the managerial resources within it, it is useless for it to stubbornly defend control of a company which would end up condemning it to decline. Selling is often a sign of foresight and the case of Indesit certainly is.
