1. How would you describe the culture of your family’s business?
In my family business, we are working mainly in Italian and then in English which makes us a bilingual structure. Since the company is in a small town close by a mountain it is not easy to hire international staff so we are mainly hiring locally which means that we provide a lot of jobs in the local area. On the other hand, my father never saw the limit of different cultures within the company but the location of the company it is not easily accessible so it is easier to work with International people than to hire them.
2. In what ways are your family’s purpose and values reflected in this business culture?
-Good governance: my father always wants to be fair and always wants to have everyone's point of view before taking a decision
-Meritocracy: it means that is you work well you will be rewarded for it
-Respect and education: this is at the base of any relation. Always respect the environment where you are in and the people that you are with
-Honesty: no lies when you talk with a colleague, do not hide issues and always have a transparent relation
-Simplicity: it is a local company with a very direct communication in the whole company, from CEO to any employee.
3. How does this stage of your family business’ lifecycle contribute, affect or erode the business and ownership dimensions of your business?
The company has been bought around 50 years ago from my grandfather when my father was still a child. My father did not contribute financially nor did he really know what the business was about during the first years since he was still in high school. Back at that time my father was still focused on his studies. Looking at the business now, I think that how it is structured it gives a lot of power to my father in the decision-making because he doesn't need to go through the board for every single decision.
4. What transition do you envisage for your family business’s lifiecyle stage in the coming 10 years?
I believe that in the next 10 years, my family business will be in the sibling partnership stage. I think that my father and his brother want this firm to be solely managed by our family only and they will try to buy the shares owned by the other family. Thus, I think that our family business is a long way from being in the cousin stage.
5.How do you anticipate your family business and its owners and agents (including yourselves), reacting to these changes?
I believe that a sibling partnership will be a very big success for my father because this is what my grandfather tried to do in the last years of his life.