Industrious business
A recently published book describes Italy’s “fifth capitalism”.
‘Industriousness’ plus ‘determination’, ‘work’ and ‘commitment’ are some of the many terms that can describe the nature of being in business. It’s also a question of vision and projects to carry out, and a question of ‘silence’, that is, confidentiality, paying attention to your own work, a culture of working and being, not of appearing. There’s no shortage of examples, and Roberto Mania provides them in his recently published book Capitalisti silenziosi, which has an important subtitle: “the revenge of family businesses”. That’s the focus of the book’s easily readable pages (just over 130 of them): rediscovering the role and meaning of the entrepreneurial families that, often without standing out a great deal, have made Italian industrial and economic history.
Mania writes about this Italy of medium-sized (even large), mostly family-owned businesses. These businesses sketch out a model with key figures who – going almost unnoticed – have changed the production landscape of the country, allowing it to compete in the (increasingly) troubled waters of a globalised world. It’s an account of what some have called the “fifth Italian capitalism”: a structured system of medium-sized to large, innovative, globalised (albeit with local roots, in small towns rather than large urban areas), financially stable, digitalised, environmentally conscious companies, capable of bringing a good number of small-scale subcontractors along with them. Above all, in the vast majority of cases, it means firmly family ownership.
So it’s business culture that becomes family culture, and which accounts for nearly half of national industrial production in total. From this strong core, moreover, derives a large proportion of the more than 4000 medium-sized and large manufacturing companies who demonstrated their ability to react better than others when faced with the pandemic-induced crisis. They adapted more quickly to the new situation, safeguarding employment and keeping factories open in the name of resilience. They were all “working silently”, in fact.
Roberto Mania tells us stories about and the current situation of this particular capitalism. He explains: “This isn’t the return of the old family capitalism. This is another story that deserves to be told, also by including the voices of those who are part of it.” That’s what the book proceeds to do, involving names like Bombassei, Illy, Squinzi, Rana, Marcegaglia, Nocivelli, Bauli, Lunelli, Barilla, Garrone, Scavolini, Vacchi, Ferrero and Bonfiglioli. They are all characterised by certain traits: they speak little; they have little time for politics; they dislike finance; they’re open to outside managers; they compete on global markets with quality, focusing on their traditional sectors instead of conjuring up unexpected diversification; they reinvest profits; they’re pro-European and anti-populist, but they’re not the new powers that be. They have therefore succeeded (some time ago), says Mania, in turning their companies into “pocket” multinationals, reinforcing them and emerging from the inheritance wars unscathed thus far.
Capitalisti silenziosi. La rivincita delle imprese familiari
Roberto Mania
Egea, 2024
A recently published book describes Italy’s “fifth capitalism”.
‘Industriousness’ plus ‘determination’, ‘work’ and ‘commitment’ are some of the many terms that can describe the nature of being in business. It’s also a question of vision and projects to carry out, and a question of ‘silence’, that is, confidentiality, paying attention to your own work, a culture of working and being, not of appearing. There’s no shortage of examples, and Roberto Mania provides them in his recently published book Capitalisti silenziosi, which has an important subtitle: “the revenge of family businesses”. That’s the focus of the book’s easily readable pages (just over 130 of them): rediscovering the role and meaning of the entrepreneurial families that, often without standing out a great deal, have made Italian industrial and economic history.
Mania writes about this Italy of medium-sized (even large), mostly family-owned businesses. These businesses sketch out a model with key figures who – going almost unnoticed – have changed the production landscape of the country, allowing it to compete in the (increasingly) troubled waters of a globalised world. It’s an account of what some have called the “fifth Italian capitalism”: a structured system of medium-sized to large, innovative, globalised (albeit with local roots, in small towns rather than large urban areas), financially stable, digitalised, environmentally conscious companies, capable of bringing a good number of small-scale subcontractors along with them. Above all, in the vast majority of cases, it means firmly family ownership.
So it’s business culture that becomes family culture, and which accounts for nearly half of national industrial production in total. From this strong core, moreover, derives a large proportion of the more than 4000 medium-sized and large manufacturing companies who demonstrated their ability to react better than others when faced with the pandemic-induced crisis. They adapted more quickly to the new situation, safeguarding employment and keeping factories open in the name of resilience. They were all “working silently”, in fact.
Roberto Mania tells us stories about and the current situation of this particular capitalism. He explains: “This isn’t the return of the old family capitalism. This is another story that deserves to be told, also by including the voices of those who are part of it.” That’s what the book proceeds to do, involving names like Bombassei, Illy, Squinzi, Rana, Marcegaglia, Nocivelli, Bauli, Lunelli, Barilla, Garrone, Scavolini, Vacchi, Ferrero and Bonfiglioli. They are all characterised by certain traits: they speak little; they have little time for politics; they dislike finance; they’re open to outside managers; they compete on global markets with quality, focusing on their traditional sectors instead of conjuring up unexpected diversification; they reinvest profits; they’re pro-European and anti-populist, but they’re not the new powers that be. They have therefore succeeded (some time ago), says Mania, in turning their companies into “pocket” multinationals, reinforcing them and emerging from the inheritance wars unscathed thus far.
Capitalisti silenziosi. La rivincita delle imprese familiari
Roberto Mania
Egea, 2024