4/04/2024 – In Italy we have long breathed values of great impact that lead back to the culture of a population, to the history of places and artistic heritage, to the creativity and innovation that have always characterized the beautiful country.
Many businesses have absorbed, through their founders, these values, translating them into examples of genius and design, as well as craftsmanship or innovation, giving us over the decades companies that have written pages of interesting and fascinating history.
Whether it's in the fashion field, del design, of the car or architecture, nutrition or sport, Made-in-Italy made up of historic companies is full of iconic and famous brands all over the world.
But today, when markets are moving at an unthinkable speed compared to yesterday and globalization requires us to provide an increasingly standardized and optimized offer, thanks to the difficulty in passing on the manufacturing traditions of the past to future generations and – yet – the advent of a fast-food style consumption and purchasing model, the value of a company must be sought and constructed in a different way, trying to balance past history and future in a virtuous system.
This gives rise to various initiatives to protect and support the historical legacy of Made-in-Italy, Associations and committees are formed to promote historic brands, but the work remains very complex precisely because that type of brand is confined to a sort of nostalgic niche in which one can go and browse and be fascinated.
th and ’ the case for example of the association “I Centenary“, born in 2001 to associate Campania businesses with over a century of existence and then from 2018 with scope of action at national level, which aims to launch projects to enhance the ability of Italian companies to keep memory and innovation together, with roots in the territories and with an eye towards the future.
Antonio Calabrò, today director of the Pirelli Foundation and president of Museimpresa, he made his debut in the role of honorary president of the Association of historic Italian family businesses, “I Centenary”, on the occasion of the conference entitled «Historic companies build the future» and underlined how << valuing the history and belonging to the territories is not a quirk of the company, but it means valorising a strong point to help companies grow, supply chains and production structures and gain space on the markets >>.
The premise is certainly excellent, many historic businesses have a lot to say, but the true value should be sought and developed in new business models that allow these companies not only to enhance themselves on the market, when also to do “mentor” for the new realities of value that too often rest on a foundation “speculative” and little identity of a place and social context in which they were born and developed.
A very interesting example to observe, by analogy, it is that of’Hermès school of know-how. A program born in 2021, with which the Hermès maison dedicates particular attention to the transmission of its exceptional savoir-faire, but also to their continuous improvement, a school accredited by the French Ministry of Education, which provides training crowned by a state professional diploma and which acts as a guiding light in guiding a new generation of artisans and future entrepreneurs.
In Italy this scheme can be even more incisive and effective, connecting a program of this kind to the places and the history of the places, integrating precisely the historical brands that breathe and make the air of a region or a city breathe.
Coordination of valuable initiatives is always needed, not the accumulation of independent ideas and actions. Also Altagamma Foundation plays an excellent role in promoting excellent Italian companies, but under a common history direction, the present and future could offer today's businesses great opportunities, as well as to the companies of tomorrow an exceptional positioning at an international level.
An essential role in the coordination of these initiatives is then played by the method by which these actions can be implemented. And the “mentoring” it is a methodology that allows you to recreate the conditions of correct development in the realities that are accompanied by strategic planning.
Methodology on which MITO Luxury has been working for some time and which is exemplified in the dedicated section of “Mentoring Club” .