Corporate wine
A recently published book narrates the story of one of the major Italian wineries: an exemplary case of good corporate culture
History becomes present and future, while human and corporate stories become investments for growth. This is the stuff all well-written corporate narratives are made of and, indeed, this is what we find in Amarone e oltre. Masi: 50 anni di vendemmie, famiglia e imprenditorialità (Amarone and beyond. Masi: 50 years of grape harvesting, family and entrepreneurship), a book made even more special by its author, Sandro Boscaini, six-generation member of the family that founded the business 250 years ago.
The book starts with the very origins of the Masi winery, going back to 1772 and looking at their historical context, and then retraces, step after step, the entrepreneurial choices that were made, the family events that accompanied them and the historical circumstances surrounding them. Thus, readers learn about those first decisions that set the company “in motion”, as well as the developing stages that turned it into a sound business capable of commercial expansion, the critical struggle with one of the most dangerous diseases in the wine-growing sector (Phylloxera), the challenge that the two World Wars posed followed by its growth in the post-war period, and further decisions that proved pivotal for the company.
This work is unique not only for its narration (executed in a very appropriate style) of a century-old company’s entrepreneurial story, but also for its transition, in the second part, from a historical narrative into a corporate account including managerial reflections and up-to-date management topics related to the running of the company, such as decision-making, values, group and brand strategies. As such, it encapsulates, as mentioned above, history and narrative that drive the present and lay the foundations for the future, as well as illustrating why Amarone wines are associated, all over the world, with this particular enterprise.
Thus, in his introduction, Giuseppe Lupo summarises Masi’s corporate culture as a “golden rule to which the Masi Group always adhered to: simply knowing how to accomplish things is not sufficient, we also need to know how to communicate what we accomplish. This is what this story, which thickens as it reaches our current times, is all about: each action needs its own narrative, and every company, in order to overcome the challenges posed by markets, needs a tight organisation. The outcome is an integrated network of people and structures, a conglomerate of minds cooperating towards a single, all-encompassing goal. Will this lead to a communitarian path? Perhaps so. Yet, it is also evidence of a family history whose heritage continues through time, and which encompasses many names and faces, characters and voices while epitomising a single vision: the need to experience modernity, without falling prey to its contradictions but redressing its shortcomings and building something that will last.”
Amarone e oltre. Masi: 50 anni di vendemmie, famiglia e imprenditorialità (Amarone and beyond. Masi: 50 years of grape harvesting, family and entrepreneurship)
Sandro Boscaini
Egea, 2022
A recently published book narrates the story of one of the major Italian wineries: an exemplary case of good corporate culture
History becomes present and future, while human and corporate stories become investments for growth. This is the stuff all well-written corporate narratives are made of and, indeed, this is what we find in Amarone e oltre. Masi: 50 anni di vendemmie, famiglia e imprenditorialità (Amarone and beyond. Masi: 50 years of grape harvesting, family and entrepreneurship), a book made even more special by its author, Sandro Boscaini, six-generation member of the family that founded the business 250 years ago.
The book starts with the very origins of the Masi winery, going back to 1772 and looking at their historical context, and then retraces, step after step, the entrepreneurial choices that were made, the family events that accompanied them and the historical circumstances surrounding them. Thus, readers learn about those first decisions that set the company “in motion”, as well as the developing stages that turned it into a sound business capable of commercial expansion, the critical struggle with one of the most dangerous diseases in the wine-growing sector (Phylloxera), the challenge that the two World Wars posed followed by its growth in the post-war period, and further decisions that proved pivotal for the company.
This work is unique not only for its narration (executed in a very appropriate style) of a century-old company’s entrepreneurial story, but also for its transition, in the second part, from a historical narrative into a corporate account including managerial reflections and up-to-date management topics related to the running of the company, such as decision-making, values, group and brand strategies. As such, it encapsulates, as mentioned above, history and narrative that drive the present and lay the foundations for the future, as well as illustrating why Amarone wines are associated, all over the world, with this particular enterprise.
Thus, in his introduction, Giuseppe Lupo summarises Masi’s corporate culture as a “golden rule to which the Masi Group always adhered to: simply knowing how to accomplish things is not sufficient, we also need to know how to communicate what we accomplish. This is what this story, which thickens as it reaches our current times, is all about: each action needs its own narrative, and every company, in order to overcome the challenges posed by markets, needs a tight organisation. The outcome is an integrated network of people and structures, a conglomerate of minds cooperating towards a single, all-encompassing goal. Will this lead to a communitarian path? Perhaps so. Yet, it is also evidence of a family history whose heritage continues through time, and which encompasses many names and faces, characters and voices while epitomising a single vision: the need to experience modernity, without falling prey to its contradictions but redressing its shortcomings and building something that will last.”
Amarone e oltre. Masi: 50 anni di vendemmie, famiglia e imprenditorialità (Amarone and beyond. Masi: 50 years of grape harvesting, family and entrepreneurship)
Sandro Boscaini
Egea, 2022