Notice

Due to work overload we have to take a break in posting new articles for a fortnight.

Next new post will be ready for march 13th. To offer you a service that we hope could be appreciated, we have listed down here and will often update some links to previous articles, listed by subject, that you could enjoy reading and that could be helpful.

In the meantime we will welcome suggestions, hints, cue of other posts, news, articles, links that you would like to be discussed on this blog.

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Italy


Interviews

Meeting

Export

The German shopping

Next post Thursday Feb 23rd

The area around Varese, in the norther part of Lombardy, the region whose capital is Milan, is a sort of foreigner colony.

Many of the companies present there are no more owned by Italian entrepreneurs or shareholders.

Recently Cobra was bought by Blu, a German hedge fund.  And this is just the last one of a long list including BTicino, in the switch industry, Ignis who is now known as Whripool, CB Ferrari and much more.

Why this?

Because this small and medium enterprises can be considered like gold nugget in the present business world. Cobra, to name the last one, is listed at the Italian Stock Exchange market, employs about 450 people and is a market leader in the car antitheft systems.

Germany is a sort of new landlord in this part of Italy, being shareholder of 43 companies, on the podium you can find US (silver medal) with 33 participations and Swiss with 24.

Isn’t this a signal of the quality of Italian companies?

Let's thank Hotel Ungheria, an excellent place to stay while in Varese, for the pictures published in this post

Through foreigner eyes: hetty de Vogel (II)

Next post Monday Feb 20th

Let's go on with the second part of the interview with Hetty de Vogel

Hetty loves Italy, and she talks about our country in her blog, that you can find in her website fully dedicated to the pleasure of Italian gourmandizes, like olive oil, wine and so on.

You’ll fine a short bio, better say her story at the end of this intriguing interview that is aimed to share what Italy appears to be when seen through “foreigners eyes”.

We would like to thank Hetty for her courtesy and warmly recommend you to visit her website!

Which are the main strengths of our people/country?

The strength of Italy and Italians are a lot. They are extremely creative in every front.   If you have a problem, they will find the solution. If your company needs a special product or something not being part of the normal production, they will find a way of how to answer to your demand. They are very flexible and maybe because of their organization of which I spoke before, they have the capability to adapt to every type of situation. Something more difficult to find in Northern Europe. 

And of course, I don't have to forget to mention....the Italian history, the Italian food and culture, the Italian design, its art, music and films. There are really so many things that it's hard not to forget anything.

And which the main weaknesses? 

What sometimes  maybe a strength in other situations becomes a weakness. The flexibility and organization give Italy and Italian companies still an image of "hard and difficult to work with".  

Italian companies should make an effort to break this image;  to show foreign companies that,  with a good mutual collaboration and communication, the business opportunities can be great and very interesting !

Tell us more about your blog: which is its goal? what you want to share with your readers?

My blog and website/shop all started with my great passion for Italy. With my blog I want to share this passion with those already loving Italy, with those longing to learn more about this beautiful country and for those people who are just curious. I mostly blog about Puglia/Salento because this is one of those parts of Italy I discovered some years ago and a region I really love a lot. So much that I decided to make it my work. A part of Italy where traditions and culture are still everywhere.  And then of course its nature..the olive trees, the 2 beautiful seas, its delicious food…In my blog I want to share my passion for all this. I write about thinks I like and notice, curiosities, tradition, places to go and recipes..traditional and modern. I believe that when you blog about something you really love, then this passion can be transmitted to the reader even through such an impersonal thing as internet. My goal is to reach as much people as possible telling them about this part of Italy not very much known yet. On my website, besides the blog there is a part with some information about my suppliers, their products and of course the shop.

You are selling Italian products: how it is to deal with Italian producers as supplier?

Yes, I buy specialties from Salento and Puglia and I sell them through my webstore. Dealing with my suppliers is absolutely great; I have the chance to work with people which are not only my suppliers but they became friends as well. The producers of the products I buy, like Olive Oil, Tapenades and wine are passionate about what they do, and like me, they adore sharing this passion. It are all family companies, like most of the Italian companies. Our collaboration is based on friendship and the will to create a real collaboration and transmission of ideas in order to promote these wonderful products outside Italy.

Hetty de Vogel: I was born in Holland where I accomplished my university studies in Management in 1988.  In the same year I left for Italy, where I have been working as an Exportmanager for 12 years. I've got 2 children and moved to Paris in the meantime. I decided to raise my children while they were still young. Since  3 years I've decided to pick up working again by fulfilling my dream of starting a company of my own; an e-commerce for the sales of Italian products and specialties. 

The first 2 years I've been studying an preparing everything; I found my suppliers, worked out my ideas and since one year I'm online with my website. In my work I combine my passion for Italy with my knowledge and experience....an I put in place everything I have learned and I'm still learning about internet marketing, a really fascinating aspect of my work.

Through foreigners eyes: Hetty de Vogel (I)

Next post Friday Feb 17th

Hetty loves Italy, and she talks about our country in her blog, that you can find in her website fully dedicated to the pleasure of Italian gourmandizes, like olive oil, wine and so on.

You’ll fine a short bio, better say her story at the end of this intriguing interview that is aimed to share what Italy appears to be when seen through “foreigners eyes”.

Since the interview is very detailed and therefore quite long, we will publish it in two separate post.

We would like to thank Hetty for her courtesy and warmly recommend you to visit her website!

How came you were based in Italy?

Actually, I'm not based in Italy, not anymore. I've been living in Italy for about 12 years and now I'm living in Paris. I'm Dutch, I accomplished my studies in the Netherlands and after my graduation I left  for Italy.

Why Italy? Because I've always loved Italy.  Since my childhood, when I went every summer holiday with my parents to Italy.

What do you honestly think of Italy?

It is difficult to answer this question in one sentence. As I said before you can imagine that I'm not very objective. I adore Italy, the Italian people, the culture, its history, the nature, the way of living and of course its food. I can really say that I feel at home in Italy. Anyway, being Dutch with a Dutch education and having lived and worked in Italy and having travelled a lot, I don't close my eyes and I can see some more negative sides of this country.

For example the malfunctioning of the public services, the low salaries in comparison to the Northern European ones, the difficulties for young people to start an independent life without support from their parents

How do you see the future of this country?

In the current unstable economical situation the whole world is in nowadays, it is very hard to tell how the future of Italy will be. I'm not an expert, so it's difficult to make any predictions.

I sincerely believe that Italy and Italian companies have a very great potential and they have such a lot of sources, of culture, creativity and ideas that they can really exploit all.  I'm not only talking about the small and average companies,/industries, but also about individual young people having good ideas and being creative. I think that for one reason or another they don't take advantage enough of everything they have and of all the possibilities there are to create jobs and business. For example internet, internet marketing for the promotion of Italian companies, small and bigger ones, still isn't very much used. 

Which are your hints and suggestions for foreigners willing to make business with Italy and Italian people? and specifically

            a) what to avoid?

            b) what to consider?

Having worked in Italy as an export manager and import manager and now trading with Italy, I can suggest to foreigners who want to start a collaboration with an Italian company to slow down and take their time. I will try to explain my opinion: If foreigners want to work with Italian companies and people, but not only Italy, I believe more generally, when you want to work with a foreign country, you have to know and learn about there habits and most of all adapt yourself to it and respect them.

This means in Italy you have to take your time. Things don't go as fast and quick as they may go in Northern Europe. Business discussions and deals often take place during long "relaxed" lunches rather then from an office. Often stories about their city and region (Italians are proud about there roots), about their family, their holidays abroad, are discussed before getting into the real business.

Italian companies may seem less organized or maybe are organized "the Italian way", but is is just a way of decipher there way of dealing. For example "delivery next week" means maybe next week, but it might be the week after. "There is no way of an early delivery"; just ask again and then they will pick up the phone and do there upmost to speed up things. 

Even if things are changing a bit, Italians don't speak very well foreign languages. The communication might be a bit difficult in the beginning. But with their creativity they find their way of expressing themselves. 

If you realize this and if you take this into account, working with Italy and Italians becomes really pleasant, stimulating and interesting.

Resistance to change

Next post Wednesday Feb 15th

So here is Mario Monti, actual Italian Prime Minister, discussing about the new culture of job.

He said some time before this interview that  Italian guys should be more used to change their jobs frequently and should not be maniac about permanency, which was what their fathers, and especially their grand fathers were aimed to.

He needs to explain because what he said –maybe with a too ironic tone- caused a true hurricane.

I do not want to discuss that diatribe, but I’d like to point out something that Monti said that could be relevant to our goal: understand better Italy for business purposes.

He said “Italians are too afraid of changes, they do not want to change, they mistrust changes”. That’s unfortunately dramatically true.

There are two main mistakes Italian entrepreneur use to repeat constantly, and we can depict them with these two frequent sentences:

“Our products are the best in the world: (si vendono da soli - they can be sold without any effort)”.

“We always did it this way (abbiamo sempre fatto così!)”.

Now when you came to sell to Italy you should understand this and have a very clear strategy to overcome this resistance.

Either you look for those entrepreneurs who are not afraid to change and who, on the contrary, leverage the changes to win an added value

or

find a logical and invincible demonstration why your clients should make a change, explain them that is no more time to sit down, relax and take it easy….

Any suggestions or comment to share?

The coffee ceremony

Next post Monday Feb 13th

We talked about food last time and the importance for an Italian guy to have lunch.

Now there is something also very relevant in Italian “food culture” and it’s coffee.

Coffee for us is much more than just a simple hot drink. It means welcome and care. It’s a pleasure, and even more it’s a ceremony. When we invite someone to have a coffee it’s much more than just an opportunity to spend sometime together, its’ a way to share a profound pleasure.

When the soluble coffee arrived in Italy, it was the Seventies, brough by Nestlé, the Nescafé can, it was a terrible flop. Why? Why it took so long to Nestlé to re-position Nescafé and find a market niche?

Having in mind that the coffee ceremony is a way to welcome a friend into your house, how can you really take care of her/him if you just have to boil some water and dissolve a brown power into it? How much more care and love will you show her/him if you have to set up carefully the “caffettiera”, and prepre a hot and strong coffee for your guest?

That’s why Nescaffé is now presented as a different drink, for young people, competing with liqueurs and soft drink much more than with traditional coffee.

So the coffee ritual is important for an Italian, remember it next time she/he will invite you to have one!

What food means to us

Next post Thursday Feb 9th

What food mean to an Italian? You need to know if you want do business with us. Because it’s relevant.

I once read a book about European habits that open my eyes. It said that when two Anglo-Saxon people met they usually invite each other “let’s have a drink together” so they can talk about their memories.

Now when something similar happens in Italy, when I met a long time lost friend what I would suggest is “let’s have lunch together” or a pizza or a dinner or a “panino”. Never just a drink.

That book linked these main differences to some religion issues, which is not the subject of this post.

Food is.

Sitting around the same table for having meal together for us in Italy it’s really significant: it means we can shelter you, invite you to one of our inner part in (business) life, since we all know that we eat and we drink, good wine, and… “in vino veritas”… that we can translate “wine brings truth”… meaning that when you are even slightly drunk you start talking from the hearth.

Being sit at the same table means for us sharing our problems, find common path, be open to  intimacy, business confidences.

So if you want to improve your relation with an Italian guy, take him to a good restaurant and do not start talking business till he starts doing, or at least after the pasta…

Find your Italian Partner

Next post Monday Feb 6th

Find your Italian partner. Or client. Not so easy.

The Italian government try to ease the process with a new web portal aimed to develop the Made in Italy industry.

You can find there a sort of mall where you can buy directly from the producers and a directory of company looking for foreigner partners, whatever this mean.

This is not the only web page that works on connecting Italian companies with potential suppliers. H2BIZ is working in the same direction opening a Mediterranean hub to ease partnership and sales between companies  based in Souther Europe, North Africa and Middle East.

It could be a good way to set the stage, to understand what’s going on and what you can find. It could be a way of conducting a market research to have a clear picture of the local situation.

Which other way do you know and what to share to find out potential clients and partners in Italy?

The growing Italy

Next post Thursday Feb 2nd

There is an Italy which is growing nonetheless. It’s the Italy of the districts, geographical concentration of companies producing the same kind of products, a typical Italian phenomenon mainly due to spin off and/or historical reason.

There are quite 150 around Italy and they are not just the backbone of the Italian economy but often, and this is the case, its foundation and drive.

The Edison Foundation recently published the results of the first nine months of 2011 showing that a substantial growth was attained in 101 of them, with an increase in export sales of 11,3% compared to the same period of 2010.

What’s encouraging is that 48 districts scored the same level of export sales obtained in the first nine months of 2008, the peak reached before the explosion of the present crisis.

Which are the top scorers?

Number 1 is the industrial machine district around Treviso, which reached a +40% in sales outside the EU; very good results were attained by the machine tool compartment in Rimini, leather goods in the Florence area, textile and garments in Perugia, the paper industry in Lucca, shoe industry around Fermo and the pump and hydraulics components in Reggio Emilia.

What is in for us? Here is a country that is ready to capitalize on its efforts, ready to relaunch the Italian economy, eager to discover new markets and  ready for the battle.

Are you interested to be their partner? Do you know how to approach them? 

Neither Monti nor Schettino: that’s the real Italy.

Next post Monday Jan 30th

Yes, we know, we are used to be described as romantic and unreliable opportunist. A mix between an artist, even in the worst sense of the word, an innovator, a genius, a latin lover with no scruples nor cares and definitely without sense of honor.

We are not that. Not everyone. I’m not saying that the description does not fit to some Italian, but you can find even in Germany people that can be described that way.

The tragic disaster of the cruise ship Costa Concordia unfortunately brought to the scene another dramatic icon, that commander who seems to have played all the nasty and frarful characters of the movie and literature history, from Lord Jim to  commander Philip Francis Queeg. 

Schettino almost become a new insult, if not the label to depict an old way of life.

But the acid journalist who loves to trap Italy in this symbol too easily forgets the members of the crew who stayed there till the end, helping passengers and even giving their life for them.

We are no more an hard working country, we are no more the “italiani brava gente” (nice and good people) as we were known in the XX century, and those who are responsible for this change, this shift toward selfishness will receive what they deserve, but we are still a people that know how to strive toward  the light.

We cannot even be represented by our present prime minister, which is too English and to professorial to truly embody the typical Italian guy. I’m not blaming him neither suggesting a political evaluation, just offering that his sober loden does not exactly talks of Italy.

Who are we then?

The simple, hidden people who wakes up every morning, take a breath to forget all the worries that night set down in her/his hearth, looks outside the window trying to solve the cold winter in a hopefully spring, and start working hard and professionally in whatever she/he is involved, better say committed.

Like this profound and powerful trailer, realized by Fiat, suggests.

We deserve your trust and respect, believe me.

Discover Italy through blogs

Next post Thursday Jan 26th

Let’s go on introducing some blogs that talks about Italy and what’s going on down here.

This time is the turn of Italy Chronicles  a web magazine, with also a Facebook page that present the point of view of expats living in Italy about what’s happening: politics, economy, tourism and of course food.

Food is a big thing in Italy, and not just because we know how to prepare it and we love also to east it, but as a market and not just for export. The agro-alimentary industry can be an interesting niche for companies selling in this field.

Discover Tuscany, the other blog we would like to present today, actually cover this last area: providing info about the wine industry in Tuscany it essentially supplies information about the potential client in this sector that can be reached by potential supplier.

The third, and last blog I’d like to introduce today is much more focused on business and financial opportunities. Business evia Italy  provides updated information about investment –company to buy, real estate opportunities and so on- along with chances to move to Italy to cover jobs or buy your own farm.

But is this the best period to move to Italy? What’s going on politically that can provides hints and clues about the chances to invest in our country or consider Italy an intriguing market?

Stay tuned!

blogging about Italy

What I’m trying to do with this blog is to provide hints and clues to people willing to make business with Italian companies to avoid misunderstanding and wasting opportunities.

And maybe offer my service to help them shortcut their path to success.

I may be a dream but I’m not the only one. Neither the only one to talk about Italy and the Italian  scenario.

So I’d like to introduce you a couple, well two couple to be precise, of blogs that I found interesting to discover more about Italy, from several point of views.

The fist one I’d like to introduce is Italian Notes, written by Mette Vaabengaard a Danish journalist dividing her time between her job in Copenhagen and a farm in South Italy. She talks about a lot of stuff: from food to people to places. A nice reading to understand more about our country and habits.

Foreigner Remarks is the creation of an American journalist, Rebecca Helm-Ropelato living in Italy since 2001. I hope to have the chance to interview her once. She discusses of many subjects connected to the Italian daily life. This post about the Italian way to focus on local approach more than global is very interesting.

I will introduce you to the next two on Monday. Have a nice weekend!

Self-phone and respect

Second post about self phone and Italian habits.

As I mentioned everyone as a self phone, some more than one, and it’s almost always connected.

So people want fast answer and seems to be always in a hurry.

And they can get nervous if you are not immediately reachable.

My experience, what I’d like to share with you, is slightly different: what they are looking for is contact and attention. Not necessary immediate answers.

You can teach them, you can “instruct” people, that you could not always be on-line because you are giving the deserved respect and attention to the person you are talking to as you would do for them if you were listening to them. So you need to switch off your phone from time to time.

What you need to do is to provide them a voice mail box with a nice welcome message and call them as soon as you really can.

I once tried this message and got good feedback: “I cannot take you call right now because I’m talking to someone who deserves all my attention and time. I promise to call you back as soon as I can to give you the same respect”.

What could you suggest?

The self-phone etiquette

The world changed dramatically about 20 years ago. Especially in Italy. It’s hard to set the exact turning point.

The late Eli Goldratt used to say that you have a true change in technology when you have a real change in paradigms and behaviors.  That’s what happened.

I’m talking of self phones and the revolution, which is much powerful than an evolution, they caused which can be summarized by the iconic fact that we replaced the old question “hello who’s talking?” with “hello where are you?”.

What did self phone changed of the Italian way of doing business? Which are the impacts caused by this new tool which sometime seems to have reached the role of goal?

Two the main area I’d like to cover and suggest:

the “use of self phone” etiquette

the consequences for availability

Consider that Italy is one of the country with the highest presence of mobile phones.

A recent research by Nielsen pointed out that we owned more than 20 millions smart phone which represent about the 45% of the self phone used in Italy. It’s about 1 each Italian inhabitant.

We are cell phone addicted, that’s true.

And it seems we are unable to switch off. Even during sales meeting.

But, and that’s the point I’d like to make, don’t dare to be interrupted by a phone call if you are the salesman and not the client.

For a weird and inexplicable reason the client has the right to keep her/his phone switched on while you must turn it off.

So before entering a meeting with an Italian VIP, and we mentioned that everyone believes to be a VIP, please have your phone switched off if you do not want to waste the chance to make business. And in case you forgot it inside your coat pocket, and someone search you: let it ring and switch it off as soon as the bell stops. You will win some respect from your client.

Normal Jeans: like a candle in the wind

next post Monday January 16th 2012

How to dress for a meeting in Italy?

I wore just twice jeans in a working day and both time I have been reproached by my boss, actually two different ones.

We are pretty formal, and we do judge potential suppliers and partners by their dressing style. I know, that’s not fair neither too relevant. It’s our culture.

Yes, Sergio Marchionne, the famous CEO of the Fiat Group, Chrysler included, can wear a sweater, a black polo neck sweater and no one dare to judge him.

But, unless you are Marchionne, or someone at the same level of popularity,  my suggestion is to follow the tradition dressing code: so wear a jacket and a tie and try to avoid too bright colors, that could be suitable if you work with the fashion gurus but not for more traditional niches like mechanical, heavy industry, power generation, ICT and so on.

Accenture and particularly McKinsey people in Italy uses to wear black dress, sometime daring to go for a sober chalkstriped one, while ladies use to wear a somber black or gray close fitting dress (like Audrey) or a tailleur with a smart and moderate pearl necklace.

Of course you are not asked to dress that way, but the closer you can go to this sample, the better it is. In any way my suggestion is to avoid any kind of affectation: gold Rolex could work during the “anni da bere”, the 80s, not know.

I used to work for a filtration system companies and many of my clients were iron mills, paper mills, machine tools producers and end users and so on. We use to filter lubrication oils. So we had to visit the maintenance manager down in the subsoil where the tanks and pumps are.

I’ve been taught to dress anyway as I was meeting their CEO in their smart headquarter downtown.

And what about summer, when hot hits hard? Same thing. You could try to forget your tie in the last fortnight of July, south of Florence, and if you have already met the client, so that won’t be your first impression.

What is your experience of the dressing code in Italy?

Dressing code: making a good first impression

next post Friday January 13th 2012

There is no second chance for the first impression: the most trivial and worn commonplace are very often the smartest one.

That’s the case. So how to start a sales meeting in the Bel Paese? What to say and what not to say if you want to look trustworthy and friendly? I always remember that wonderful sequence from Gung Ho, when Michael Keaton address the board of Nissan Motors to support the acquisition of the car plant where he works. 

That’s a true masterpiece, a rich book full of hints of what you absolutely need to AVOID to start positively a meeting.

What about Italy then?

We need to distinguish two main populations: multinational companies and Italian owned companies, especially SME.

If you have a meeting with a director or a manager of  Italian subsidiaries of multinational companies, like IBM, Shell, Toshiba, Volkswagen, Dell and so on, you could behave like in the international context: be professional, concise, straight to the point, do not indulge too much on greetings, don’t be too personal. Although Italian people seem to be very open and friendly, they want to decide with whom they like to share their privacy. Do not push us or we could react even firmly against what we believe could be a sort of violence and violation.

But if you are talking to a SME owner or director, you need to know that the first challenge you have to face is to overcome their skepticism. Italy has been overridden by many foreigners, I mean in its history. When the Roman Empire felt down our country has been conquered and spoiled by almost all the folks that lived in ancient Europe. German barbarians tribes? Name one and you found they invaded Italy and ravaged our cities and countryside.

And after that the French, the Spanish, the Austrian, the Turkish in the South, the Nazi…. So you can imagine people tend to be a little suspicious, even just for genetic reasons, something embedded in our DNA.

So first thing you should do: win their trust. Show them you have studied your lesson, did you homework: tell them you know something about their company, their history (website can help you), show them that you know something about the city they are based in, about Italian culture; avoid commonplace like I love Venice, love your food, love your wine. We take it for granted, we know we have the best food in the world and some of the most magnificent cities of the globe.

Try something different: what would you think of an Italian guy coming into your Manhattan office and start talking of Jo Torre and Derek Jeter or meeting you in Paris and quoting some Aznavour’s songs or Prevert’s poetries? A totally different approach…

Don’t overact. Better be calm, quite even cold, and then warm up during the meeting, that act too warmly and lose the grip of the meeting.. And if you need more hints, just write me.

Looking forward: 2012 in Italy

next post Wednesday January 11th 2012

Looking forward: what will be this new year for Italy, Italians and our economy?.

You can find a independent view of what happened in Italy in 2011 in this post  offered by Alex Roe and his team, although I do not agree with everything it’s told here, I do believe it’s a good résumé and a good place to start from for understanding what went on and what’s going on in our country.

But, what about this 2012?

Forecast are not positive, although the Stock Exchange market of the first days of January where really positive. Personally I do not share the pessimism of economical and political analysts, even if  I have to confess that I cannot sort my expectations from my analyses and hopes from facts.

Why do I believe that 2012 will be better. First, it would be very difficult to find a year worst that 2011…. (smile!).

Well, the new technical government can have enough strength to strengthen our economy, breaking some of the old privileges that plaster our society: trade unions, corporations, bureaucracy. Since this prime minister must not respond to electors, he can impose the sacrifice that could really make a change. Yes, many do not share the same respect and consideration for this government, which actually could look like a coup d’état more than a solution, and fear that banks have took over Italy, like they did with Spain and Greek. Since we do not have the Palantir neither are we so intimate with mr Monti and his ministers, we have just to wait and see…

But what makes me feel rather optimist for next year is a new will that I can find in the people around: the desire to be the hero of one own’s life, to be able to start again dreaming and beating the destiny.

Christmas vacation showed s good level of expenditure: of course less than previous years, especially cutting what was not perceived as necessary, and I do not mean the essential.

We have been told by everyone that we need to save, to act more soberly, so it’ s impossible to reproach if consumption went down!

But hotels were almost full and everyone took some days of vacation and do not save money on restaurants and parties. I’m aware that this could not be takes as a measurement of a potential growth. But if I sum up these indicators with what I heard from other sources, and with the fact we already mentioned that the real backbone of our country is made up of SME having nothing to do with the Stock market, and with the wide opportunity  that still exists for any Made in Italy products, I end up being more positive than pessimistic.

So, next year could really be a new start up, as sort of small “Italia new deal”.

We all need that, so let’s strive to get what we want. The old saying is very clear and sharp: either if you foreseen to lose or to win, you’ll be right.