Brand and human capital: the key to success

The strength of brand and human capital

The number of Italian companies relocated back to their homeland since 2007 is 97i, and this number is bound to grow. This phenomena is called “reshoring” and first started in the USA, the most famous case there being Apple going home to produce the Mac. After America, Italy has the second highest incidence.

Why? It’s simple: producing in Italy pays more than producing abroad. Salaries in eastern Europe are not that low anymore and transporting the products to the boutiques of Florence from China costs more than moving them from Prato. But most of all it’s the Made in Italy effect and the excellence of our workers that makes the difference. Yes, today companies are more competitive on the market when selling real Italian products, produced by Italian engineers, Italian IT specialists, and Italian workers. The quality is higher and the consumers are willing to spend for it.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts

W. Churchill

We need to raise the standard of human capital and to storify the brand: these are the two keys to winning in global competition. Not cutting the costs of production. This is true for mechanical engineering and for leather and textile goods, and even more so for companies that make innovation their core business. The time of production lines, capital and Fordism is over: now is the time for people’s creativity, talent, competences and innovation.

The new Made in Italy

A transformation that also includes the most traditional Made in Italy products and concepts. We don’t need to think about the sharing economy, makers and Fablabs in order to show how important innovation is for our manufacturing; we just need to look at our artisans: they are using 3D printing more and more to produce their works of art, and shoe factories in the region of Marche are selling to Chinese clients thanks to expanded e-commerce. And many other small and medium size enterprises are now able to integrate the centuries of traditions of their lands and families with technological and economical competences, blending them with a great sense of marketing and internationalization.

It becomes clear what happens when innovation is not there: l’83% the companies that closed down this year didn’t have a web site!. This digital delay costs us 3,6 billions a year and makes us lose important development opportunities.

In order to bring factories to use Facebook and artisans to use a Twitter account for their business, we need politicians and leaders to realize how crucial it is to provide Italy with digital tools, and most of all to have people able to use them.

The right collaborator is the one that innovates

Talent, in its meaning of an individual’s potential, is a strategic propellant, a macroeconomic growth factor. But how do we find the right collaborators? Or, how can a company transform its own employees into the Andrea Guerra (Luxottica) of the future?

Starting from the idea that a person’s professional wealth is not fully described just by titles.

Telling the recruiters that you are looking for a financial consultant may not be enough. The consultant found may not be familiar with private equity; he or she might not have previously worked in a company of similar size or be able to introduce and realize operational reorganizations or use programming languages. Having your employees following a basic course in computer science doesn't guarantee that you are raising little Larry Page. And most of all, it could be a serious expense in absolute and transactional terms because, if not targeted well, training courses and research often fail to be efficient in detecting necessities and matching professional needs.

So, a solution?

Bestr aims to fill this gap, with a web portal able to certify professional and transversal competences in a secure and reliable way and to cross reference them with company searches.

The right person over the right profile.

Conclusion

Not automations, but results.

Going through recent numbers, 7 years of crisis, 25% less of industrial production, 1 million and 160 thousand jobs lost, 120 thousand factories disappeared, all makes sad reading; but there are other numbers that show a brighter side and reveal our country to be a great industrial power.

We are leaders in innovation in 100 trades. Our export is in constant growth. And thanks to the inventiveness and the courage of many, despite being only the 23rd largest country regarding population, we still rank 8th in the world for industrial production. Extraordinary, right? Imagine what we could become if we were able to find and valorise the right people...