Italy hinders the birth of companies: this is one of the opinions that emerges from the research carried out by ELI-Being the Enterprise promoted by the LE Entrepreneurs group – carried out by NOMESIS Research and Marketing Solutions – which involved over 1,300 companies and a thousand citizens of the Brescia province, through a survey proposed via the web and three in-depth focus groups.
Fundamental actor
The presentation, during the online event “The entrepreneur: fundamental actor of the economy or a cynic oriented only to profit?”, With the aim of addressing the issue of entrepreneurial identity. Among the main issues addressed, the perception of the social utility of the entrepreneur figure, who recorded a vote – on a scale between 1 (not at all useful) and 10 (very useful) – of 7.8 among the population, and of 9.3 among the associates, behind doctors, workers and teachers. As regards the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs, they are seen and seen as “determined” (54.9 in the population, 80.9 among the associates), “motivated” and “ready for challenges”, and in the social image of those who do business prevail the components of “being” (self-realization) over those of “having” (wealth) both in terms of self-image and the image perceived by the population. However, there is a 19.4% of the population who believe that they are more motivated to pursue earnings than they are pushed to self-fulfillment in work. That the state acts as an obstacle is the opinion of the vast majority of both the population (79 , 8%) and associates (90.2%); the relative causes are bureaucracies, taxes and (only for the associates) poor business culture.
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The scenery
Among the reasons that push to become entrepreneurs there are different perceptions between the population and the Associates. Among the population the dimension of the “enhancement of personal skills” and of the “dream” prevails, while among the members the “search for personal satisfaction” and “ambition” prevail. The factors that determine success are instead identified in “skills” and “relationships”. In the intertwining with the context, a kaleidoscope of attitudes is highlighted. “Without business there would be no work” is a concept that applies to 36.8% of the population and 71.0% of entrepreneurs, but “entrepreneurs think only of themselves” is true for the population at 45.4% As regards the psychographic profile, the associates see themselves as more enterprising and optimistic, while in the relationship with politics 34% of the associates place themselves in the wider area of the center-left, 9% in the area of the center and 39% in that of the center-right; 20% do not recognize themselves in the Right / Left logic.
Decision-making models
On the trust and decision-making models of the members of Confindustria Brescia, “speed” is the key to entrepreneurial work; only 10% make decisions on their own; half consult external consultants; only 3% of Associates believe that the corporate image transmitted by collaborators to the outside is negative. Finally, the relationship with Confindustria Brescia highlights lights and shadows. 50.8% gave a vote of full satisfaction (8-10). About 30% of the Associates indicate that they know little or no activity of the Association and 25% feel little or not represented at all.
Business perception
“Every entrepreneur knows the fatigue, responsibilities and difficulties of this profession – declares Giuseppe Pasini, president of Confindustria Brescia – and is aware of how little society is aware of these aspects, but seeing the data that emerged from the project has allowed us to focus on a distance between the perception that entrepreneurs have of themselves and the social image that is far more relevant than we thought. This project allows us to have concrete data, useful for laying the foundations for new coherent representation and action strategies ».