“It is clear that there will be a reconfiguration of companies that have been relocated to more distant markets. The geostrategic choices of governments will influence this reconfiguration, which represents a great opportunity for Italian companies ». This was stated by the president of Confindustria, Carlo Bonomi, at the end of the first day of the Family Business Forum underway in Treviso. “The export record of 2021 – he continued – with 581 billion euros, two thirds from manufacturing, is the testimony of how Italian companies, thanks to flexibility and the ability to do well and do beautiful, have conquered market share compared to competitors. Just as they will be able to maintain these quotas and acquire new ones, in a total restructuring of the added value. It will be necessary to study the dynamics and traditional characteristics of our businesses, but also to learn to read geopolitics, because it will affect strategic choices ».
Family businesses
Veneto holds the national record of family-controlled enterprises: over 74% of regional realities belong to this type. A spearhead for a type of company that make up the backbone of the country’s economy: those with a turnover of more than 20 million euros represent 65% of the total of national companies, consolidating a total turnover of over 730 billion euros and employing about 2.4 million workers. The photograph was taken by the AUB Observatory of the Bocconi University, Aidaf and Unicredit and presented at the 2022 edition of the Family Business Forum, organized and directed by the journalist Maria Silvia Sacchi, in collaboration with Assindustria Venetocentro and Community and with the patronage of Province of Treviso.
On the first day, today 20 October, Fabio Innocenzi, CEO of Banca Finint, Cristina Scocchia, to Illy caffè, Luca D’Alessandro, co-founder and CEO of Phononic Vibes, Stefano Beraldo, to OVS gave their testimony. Spa (in the dual role of manager and shareholder), Veronica Squinzi, co-managing director of Mapei, Arianna Alessi and Renzo Rosso (respectively vice president and president of the OTB Foundation).
In the two-day program dedicated to family capitalism that ends tomorrow, 21 October, in Treviso, the dynamics of this particular cluster of companies were addressed by entrepreneurs, managers and experts with regard to crucial issues such as generational change, openness of capital to private equity and alternative finance, listing paths and management of corporate leadership.
The numbers
The president of Confindustria Veneto, Enrico Carraro, brought attention to the demographic phenomenon, underlining how “young people are increasingly lacking at the tables of entrepreneurs”. If almost 80% of the SMEs in Veneto have a family leadership, it should be considered that 33.9% of the leaders of the region are over 70 years old (against 27.8% of the national figure) and the leaders under the age of 50 represent only 10.9% of the total (compared to 16.1% of the national average). A fact that at national and local level introduces the urgency to find answers and support for the management of the generational change, while the entrepreneurial formulas require adapting to the new competitive context.