“The cause of this crisis is profoundly different from that of 2008, because it cannot be attributed to the pursuit of the single interest of a public or private body and consequently its management will also be different. The company needs to act together with its stakeholders and, today, this is more necessary than ever”. This is how Marco Sesana, Country Manager & CEO of Generali Italia and Global Business Lines, intervened at the LUISS Business School webinar entitled “A new value of the relationship between the company and its ecosystem”.
“Today compared to the 2008 crisis – continued the manager of the Lion – we must look carefully at the entire production chain and this entails a new vision of risk that is very different from the past, which had increasingly led companies to fragment the value chain. We need to redesign collaboration standards that cannot derogate from the transparency of corporate governance not only of companies, but also of countries. This crisis teaches us that corporate responsibility must consequently be extended to the entire ecosystem”.
In short, it will be possible to seize the opportunity of this crisis, which especially for Italy will be overwhelming in terms of GDP and employment (as well as inevitably in terms of deficit and public debt), to modernize industrial policies and make them more solid. “In the first two weeks of the emergency – said Sesana, speaking of his company – we focused on preserving people's health, ensure business continuity, provide immediate and concrete solutions that meet today's needs of customers and agents, inform and restore trust. We have been agile, concrete and timely, with the ability to reinvent ourselves and work in new ways. In fact, today more than 95% of us work in smart working and all our networks are able to work remotely".
Since the beginning of the Covid -19 emergency in fact Generali stood by its 10 million customers, of households and businesses, intervening promptly in the areas of Health, Labour, Savings and Mobility. Health was the first area of intervention of the Lion which immediately extended coverage for intensive care to all its customers with policies that cover major treatments to deal with the Covid -19 emergency and, thanks to a team of 100 doctors, has activated a teleconsultation service free for customers of Generali Italia, Genertel and Alleanza.
The company then intervened by supporting SMEs in the trade sector, a sector strongly affected by the serious situation we are experiencing, supporting 6 companies throughout Italy and has supported over 1 million workers with health policies with new insurance formulas to deal with Covid 19. Also on the mobility front, the Company has moved with actions that provide for the extension and the suspension of paymentsstarting from the most affected areas. Through Genertel, the direct company of Generali Italia, the Company has, among other things, activated the “Stop and Go” guarantee, which allows the customer to suspend and reactivate car, motorcycle, van and van policies free of charge and without limits.
“There is one thing that will make the difference – concluded Sesana -: face things with pragmatism and concreteness. We manage more with deeds than with words. It is necessary to create a climate of unity and resort to empathic communication towards people and take care of them. For us, people are the real fuel of our business”.
