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Historical thought
NEW CHALLENGES FOR THE BUILDERS OF VALUE The appreciation of a product’s worth increasingly drives buying behaviour: a survey undertaken by the Bocconi University with the Cologni Foundation and the support of Vacheron Constantin provides new insight into consumer trends
Enterprise size is considered a fundamental lever when competing in a globalised market. Italy’s businesses, 99% of which are small and medium-sized, have lost significant market share and experienced an increasing mortality rate. Italy must now learn how to exploit an emerging phenomenon that is associated with the tastes of a very distinct market: a new category of consumers that has significantly changed its buying behaviour, moving away from consumption for the mere sake of possession; an approach that indicates a stronger cultural inclination towards the appreciation not only of the unique, intrinsic value of a product but also of the people who created it and their knowhow. This phenomenon represents a potential and decisive solution for Italy, whose network of contemporary artisan businesses of excellence constitutes a virtually inimitable economic system, the only one truly capable of meeting this new demand. CDR (Claudio Dematté Research of SDA Bocconi School of Management) and the Cologni Foundation, with the support of Vacheron Constantin, have analysed the features, results and issues related to these enterprises, which are
characterised by an exceptional and competitive business model and provide a significant benchmark both for the next generation of entrepreneurs and for a reworking of economic policy. The pressing need to leverage this excellence will demand hard thinking about both the structure and culture of this manufacturing sector and the institutional and legislative framework supporting it.
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Promoting and sustaining the assets that are specific to the sub-segment of Italian artisanal enterprises of excellence - design, creative intelligence and craftsmanship - is essential to rethinking and redeveloping the competitive edge of “Made in Italy” products on international markets. The results of the study, completed in July 2015, will be presented in the volume Costruttori di valore [Builders of Value], edited by Maurizio Dallocchio and slated to be published by Marsilio Editori in early 2016. The research analyses strategic, economic, financial and social information that was gathered from the very craftsmen operating in geographical areas associated with traditional skills: the masters of
*Maurizio Dallocchio is professor of Corporate Finance at Bocconi University in Milan, Director of the Master’s programme in Corporate Finance and former Dean of the SDA Bocconi School of Management. Matteo Vizzaccaro is assistant professor in Accounting, Control, Corporate and Real Estate Finance at SDA Bocconi.
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