The next one renewal of the leaders of Confindustria stimulates some reflection on the role of business representation in today's reality. Certainly the detachment of Fiat from Confindustria dates. Not so much because it "distorts the major Italian organization of entrepreneurs", but because it is an acknowledgment of it: it is a symbol of the problems that have long since arisen in the evolution of things, without having found the ability to untangle their solution. President Marcegaglia's response, so simple and convincing, to Marchionne's specific reasons to explain the cancellation, convinces me that Fiat has seized the opportunity for a strategic decision, however definite.
“Can a business organization give up the largest and most representative Italian private industry without losing its mission?” But what is the mission today? Confindustria, established in the early 900s as a trade union counterpart in labor relations, on this foundation, integrated by Assonime, extended its powers, becoming with the post-war period a protagonist of Italian economic policy. The organization, which has been handed down to us, at the time responded well to the mission of representative body of private industry, of large and small private economic initiative, powerfully developed under the government of the State, in the administrative context of the mixed economy, in the dialectic contrast with the public enterprise, dominant in energy sources and public utility services; dialectic that became even safer after the nationalization of electricity.
This context explains the widespread, authoritative business consultancy service, generated by the privileged relationship with the authorities, in the absence of competing professional services on the market. They are mission and privilege that time has dissolved; the organization is today a beautiful dress without a body. It's another of the legacies we carry on from failing to adapt our institutions to the new times in the 90s.
What can Confindustria be in a European market integrated into the global economy? It is not only Fiat that is located in different territories, in integrated markets; to be without nationality, if not perhaps for the freely chosen law of society and enterprise; in the competition between legal systems; between administrations; between labor markets, selected according to qualification and professional education. It is now the reality of companies that are located like multinationals, which we can say are minor if we look only at the volume of business: it is the type of product and clientele that make a global or local company. It is such a widespread reality that it is today's industrial economy. It is a reality in which we have deeply inserted ourselves, with our defects and strengths, which still allow us to hold our own. We have achieved this thanks also to the decisive will of the companies and their representatives. It is curious: Confindustria has been a fundamental driving force behind the European and world integration of Italian industry and economy, also as a means of privatizing the market, and thus escaping the now useless and hindering national bonds; but then it didn't know how to update itself.
In terms of national representation of interests, is a Confindustria needed? I feel that I exclude the task of forging economic culture in the general interest of the country, with the sensitivity that has often characterized entrepreneurial associations in the context of the mixed economy in the past. Today, the separation of roles is required in the liberal private market. The academies respond better to objectives of general interest, which even the industrialist may feel motivated to promote, but with instruments other than associations, as we see abroad, think tanks, foundations, from which the promoter detaches himself, a once created. Therefore I feel it is inappropriate today for partisan associations to have both an academy and a press.
In the market, partisan interest is intrinsic to the associative organization, however seriously understood as the integrated interest of the members, well understood as an interest in the medium-term perspective, and not of the economic advantage of what the single entity manages to catch. This representation of business interests is certainly necessary vis-à-vis trade unions, national governments, Europe and representations in other territories. The industry that operates in Italy, even if it is global, needs a transmission belt for its interests in the territory. Europe and the global do not cancel the national; On the contrary! The perspective changes, and therefore the interests to be represented. They are the interests in the evaluation and re-elaboration of data according to one's own perspective; to macroeconomic policies, to follow national laws in the global context; the quality of working relationships; to the professional quality of work in the competition of the global labor market. But it is difficult to formulate an organization technique that responds to, and forces, the integration of interests into the new reality, without falling into the personal and economic pressures of some more influential parties. The current state of the association proves to be very uneven, especially due to the presence of entities under state influence.
The territorial associations serve the industries that remain rooted in the territory for production and customers, in offering them extremely useful services, with, as I see, different results, but carrying out essential tasks. Moreover, they can hardly accompany companies entering the world market globally, if not with prohibitive costs, in competition with professional companies that have a global organization. On the other hand, in the new context, national integration is of little use to local associations. There are still several sectoral associations, often integrated at a European and global level, rather than at a national level, with specialized objectives in the sector.
The reflections that I have come to develop cannot fail to raise two questions: 1) what will the next Confindustria electoral campaign be like? 2) what influence will the Fiat posting have on the candidates?
I don't think the problem is the person. Certainly the quality of men counts; but what the person can do depends on the organization, and on the philosophy that feeds it.
