Five ideas for a relaunch coming from the Northeast, one of the engines of the national economy that cannot afford to miss the recovery train in 2021. The link to the restart of the European economy is an appointment that if it does not find Italy prepared , primarily with the strategic use of European funds, risks making us slip out of the elite of the big Western countries that count economically. From Trentino Camilla Lunelli, Director of Communications and External Relations of the Ferrari wineries, a house founded in 1902 and leader in Italy for classic method bubbles, puts the relaunch of the "Italian brand" among the priorities on its agenda: a major international communication plan is needed for the image of our country.
«The export of high-end products will once again be the key to our economic future, also because the internal market will not be able to satisfy the supply of our companies. I would launch a digital campaign in grand style, through the main global networks, to bring back the joy of visiting the wonders of Italy and buying our products», observes Lunelli who is also a member of the advisory board of Ambrosetti The European House. «As soon as the borders reopen and travel starts again, we must be ready with a strategic plan for tourism. However, reconfiguring the tourist offer of our splendid cities of art with a view to 360-degree sustainability. This will be another of the great challenges that await us».
The Triveneto, in addition to made in Italy and tourism, is one of the great manufacturing areas of Europe and from Verona Giordano Riello, born in 1989, re-proposes the theme of "dwarfism" on the national economic agenda which characterizes many companies, even successful ones, and which however limits the potential of many industrial realities. «Companies need to grow to be competitive. A fundamental tool to speed up this process is certainly the detaxation of profits reinvested in the company. It is illogical to pay taxes on resources that are spent in the company itself, from machinery to investments in human capital. If I increase the size, I increase productivity, I compete on the larger commercial markets and obviously it is possible to increase the job offer», argues Riello, who after his experience in Aermec founded the Nplus group in Rovereto, active in the production of lighting equipment and wiring and electronics for public transport, naval and railways (ed. the company should close 2020 with +44%).
"We cannot lose the investment game to innovate companies: if we don't do it, others around the world will do it, surely they are already doing it on the other side of the ocean". From the "deep belly" of the Veneto region, exactly in Cartigliano, with just over three thousand inhabitants in one of the many engineering districts of the Northeast (the famous German subcontractor supply chain), Cappeller Spa has been producing springs and small precision parts since 1969. «There there are over 1.600 billion deposits in current accounts, a huge figure. The country will need to channel part of this money into the circuit of the real economy. Before ideas, however, I would propose a general method for managing the economy of this country for the next few years. A pact of non-aggression between the political forces on the concrete management of "serious matters", ie taxes and public debt, with a time horizon of at least twenty years.
Then on the rest, the parties and politics can collide and propose unfeasible things to their liking", he provokes scathingly Alessandro Cappeller, CEO of a group that works with the main big names in mechanics European and global. A sort of institutional armistice between the current political forces and those that will govern the second largest industrial force in Europe in the coming years. «The decline of this country can be stopped if we finally take the demographic and birth rate seriously: in 2002 about 540 children were born a year, in 2018 430, a -23% which should distress us. In Veneto in 16 years "we have lost" 28% of births. In a few years, not only will we no longer find graduates, but we will no longer even have graduates».
For the "cradle" Marshall Plan, money is needed (Italy invests only 7,9% of public expenditure in education, a figure lower than that of all the other EU member states), resources and above all a reorganization plan work, school and public services to support families. «My idea is radical: children must be "expensed from cradle to diploma". To encourage births and families, I'm sure that businesses and entrepreneurs would be willing to do their part, you just need to find the rules". In the Treviso area, in one of the world-famous districts for sports footwear, the lawyer Enrico Moretti Polegato, vice president of Geox and CEO of the Diadora brand, emphasizes the need to invest in the training and professional future of young people that can no longer be postponed.
«Italy absolutely cannot afford the luxury of having lost generations, at all levels of responsibility we have a duty to believe in the relaunch of the country. Politics and the ruling classes must at all costs put training and school of all levels at the center of national priorities, this time with important resources to invest". The months of the pandemic have served Diadora to reconfigure, as Moretti Polegato explains, also the crucial aspect of corporate identity, one of the key points for competing within increasingly complex commercial and marketing dynamics. «To all our stakeholders we want to convey the increasingly strong identity of a company that makes sport its philosophy of life, which accompanies those who play sport step by step, experience after experience. We want to do it with products that convey passion, "Italianness" and the typical taste of Made in Italy».
In Bassano del Grappa, historic cluster of gold and Italian luxury jewellery, Filippo Alessi, managing director of Domenico Alessi Spa, for the post-pandemic relaunch, it focuses on the sustainability of production processes, also as regards the quality of working life of its employees. «Human capital is the main capital that entrepreneurs govern, these months have made it even more evident that the success of a company is made by the people who work there. In order to compete for the best workers and the best professionals, companies will need increasingly innovative corporate benefit and welfare systems, overcoming and making up for the shortcomings of public policies".
And nevertheless, precisely in terms of environmental sustainability, manufacturing factories will face years of enormous changes. «The next challenge?» concludes Filippo Alessi, who leads the fourth generation of an industry born in 1946. «Continuous and progressive improvements in the sustainability of production processes: we are trying to eliminate acids, replacing them with the use of eco-sustainable chemical materials ».
