“Keiretsu” is as much a word as a philosophy. He lives in the manuals of corporate economics and appears in the speeches of top managers, who generally talk about it without then putting it into practice. In Japanese it expresses the concept of “business system”, but also of “series” or “grouping”. The idea is that companies with different purposes and sizes join forces for a common purpose, that of attacking a market, or favoring its defense and innovation, through a fluid home-made economy of scale that generates profits and wealth. Practice reveals that everything works best if there is a large entity around which smaller, but no less motivated and innovative units grow. It can happen with a horizontal or vertical design. It is about aligning the sun, planets and satellites to advance them and, above all, grow together.
The idea of an organized “teaming up” is struggling to break through, particularly in our country. Instead it could be useful to think about different companies that begin to pool resources and not each for itself. A group of start-ups would benefit from using shared services, laboratories and research centers that they cannot afford individually. Together, it would become a whole other story. Especially if a big fish was the pilot.
In the “keiretsu” it is possible to train staff, research, hire, purchase raw materials and spare parts, deliver goods and offer services. Together. The critical mass is obtained that allows experimenting with the best technological solutions and building the human capital that is needed, thus bypassing the chronic defect of our country, that is the relative reduced diffusion of skills suited to the needs. Engineering and process come together in the application of common intentions, talents and guidelines.
Let’s imagine a “keiretsu” in the North West, with a battleship that feeds on bread and innovation and pulls mature and old companies, medium and small, to bathe them in the sea of start-ups that grow with public funds and private talent. A free group to the point of welcoming some banks, in compliance with the legal limits. “If we do not join together we are lost”, said a big piece of Piedmontese industry days ago, complaining about the fragmentation of the creative and productive fabric of the North West. In the awareness of disunity, he confessed the temptation to surrender. Then he found himself talking about “keiretsu”. As if he were chasing a dream and a passion that does not allow us to contemplate capitulation in any way. Inevitable choice, in fact. What you don’t do, you can’t.