The blah blah according to Treccani: “Onomatopoeic expression, of international use, to indicate a speech or a vain, futile chatter, without a construct”. The blah blah according to Giorgio Marsiaj, president of the Industrial Union of Turin and number one of Sabelt: “The blah blah we bring into 2022 is to repeat that the entrepreneur must be optimistic. But optimism alone is not enough. Whoever speaks is either good and able to do analysis, or it is better that he avoids them, because otherwise we fall back into bla bla. And I’m sick of hearing it. ” To fathom the new year of the number one of Turin industrialists, a concentration of realism imbued with awareness of how 2022, net of further (ugly) surprises on the pandemic front, is the decisive moment for the extension towards landings safer, made of a GDP attested to levels of resistance far from that which recalls the telephone area codes. «If you grow more than 2% you create jobs. And I believe that today, a capable government, which knows how to understand Italy’s role in Europe, can go even further, up to at least 3%. That must be our goal. And the territory can play a decisive role ».
And if it is true that good ideas often come from afar, whoever intercepts them in advance must be taken as a winning example. In the series, even on reshoring there is someone who had seen us long before this phase of the economy.
Looking back to look forward?
«I think about what Alberto Vacchi did after the Lehman crisis. We are talking about 2009. It has convinced about fifteen suppliers capable of innovating and transformed them into partners, entering the capital with a minority stake, even if only with a 10 percent share. It has put into practice a shared growth path for a long-term project and has transformed the packaging district of Bologna into a leading reality in the world ».
But to bring companies back to Italy driven abroad primarily by operating costs and taxation, albeit in an unfavorable economic moment, we need prospects.
«To attract companies relocated to India, Eastern Europe and China to Italy, we need shared perspectives and projects, exploiting the conditions to operate in an attractive context. The partnership is not just made up of a process of exasperation in cost control. As a primary condition, there was the request to suppliers to share a growth path at an absolute level. And it worked ».
How does this system adapt to the Italian North West?
«I am thinking of a wider system, which can lead us to think about the one closest to us. We need to start thinking about one region which is Europe: we need a European industrial policy, it is not enough that it be limited to Italy. Europe today is not really reshoring. They do it in the United States, in South America, but Europe does not. In this moment of great uncertainty and instability, we know that from a long-term partnership perspective, reshoring is an almost obligatory goal. Either you do that, or how can you give your suppliers a broader perspective? ‘
E landing on the territory?
«Large companies must lead small and medium-sized companies on a path of growth together with them, to create jobs and employment. And when I talk about big, I talk about established brands. Car manufacturers, for example, favor reshoring. But I also and above all think of leading family businesses in their areas, which can be a driving force ».
Let’s stay on the field. In recent days, you have written a letter to the associates in which you clearly say that it is not in Rome that the PNRR game will be played, but in every single local reality. How do you overcome the problem, especially in Italy, of the bell tower?
«On the PNRR, the first point of arrival is to understand every detail regarding the resources destined for the North West. We have to focus within a few weeks, at most a few months, which are the key sectors in which to invest “.
Do you already have an idea?
«I am thinking of sustainable mobility, aerospace, the hydrogen match. However, the territory also has great outlets for tourism, services, food & beverage and logistics. But the point that precedes the practical phase is that of understanding, knowing what Piedmont intends to do, what Liguria, what Valle d’Aosta. It takes people who are able to focus on goals. Then, I believe that all the conditions exist to reach them ».
But to do this it also takes shared programs and full harmony. What up to now has not been very easy to find in the area, moreover on plans decidedly lower than the NRP.
“This is exactly what I mean. And I hope to work more and more together, starting with my colleagues in Genoa, who have a decisive system in the port at this decisive moment and in an unrepeatable historical phase ».
More understood between private individuals. And on the front of the interaction with the public?
«Having said that the PNRR is primarily a public match, the private sector has only the possibility of influencing the choices that will be made. It can and must do so by comparing itself with local authorities, but also – on the training front – with universities. We have a great responsibility to interpret the role of companies, so that politics grasp the needs of the territory. If we are the first to understand them and share them, then projects can really be carried out together, uniting public and private sectors “.
A question of identifying the objectives. But don’t we risk being late already?
“No, but the time isn’t long. And let’s stop saying that Italy is the most beautiful country in the world. The most beautiful country in the world cannot have youth unemployment at 30 percent. This is what we need to change above all. We are good at doing things, but the opportunities must be understood first. Only in this way, then, can we exploit them ».
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