Giacomo

President, could you introduce Isagro to us, highlighting its mission and values?

We are an Italian company of more than 600 employees engaged in research, development, production and distribution of agropharmaceuticals, i.e., products for agricultural crop protection.
We invest in innovation and development of new molecules with low environmental impact.
Established in 1993, we have been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange’s STAR segment since 2003.
We produce in 5 plants including 4 in Italy and 1 in India and sell to 80 countries.

We have always asked a question that all managers and entrepreneurs should seriously ask themselves, in every sector: what contribution does our business make to the well-being of people and the planet?

Let’s start with a very concrete scenario: when we are 9 billion in 2050 we will need more food than today; since we cannot increase the arable area by much, we have to make sure that the yield per hectare of agricultural areas increases, a goal, however, that necessarily has to be reconciled with ensuring the lowest possible environmental impact and maintaining the effectiveness of the pesticides used.

That’s our mission: to discover molecules to make effective products with less and less environmental impact.

In an industry like yours, where the R&D function is key to the business, how do you manage to be innovative?

Research investment for us accounts for as much as 10 percent of sales, and employees engaged in R&D are about 100 out of 600.
When we talk about R&D we at Isagro refer not to a general effort to improve products, etc., but to actual “discovery,” that is, the discovery of innovative new molecules.
We are among the very few companies in the world in this sector to do so, even in our small size, but we manage to be extremely competitive by leveraging “Italian creativity” applied to plant protection and health.

So can we talk about the value of Made in Italy in a globalized world even in a specific sector like agriculture?

Yes, we have developed a business model of which we are very proud: it is a pathway that from the discovery phase of active molecules for agricultural defense products takes us to the second phase of placing them on the market through alliances with international partners with whom we share the very high investments required in the development, registration and marketing phase of plant protection products.
Investments that we could not sustain alone, because we would risk “overspending” beyond financial capacity and at the same time “underinvesting” compared to needs.
For this reason, we have developed “mosaic” agreements that may involve co-ownership of development with some international companies, such as the one in 2012 with FMC Corporation: a collaboration agreement for the development of a new fungicide discovered by us that has a broad spectrum of action and potential for use worldwide.
Thanks to this partnership today we are well advanced in the development of the product that we expect to bring to market early in the next decade.

Alessi is a world-leading industrial design company, a symbol of Made in Italy, which became B-Corp in 2017.

What is the underlying vision that guides the way you do business?

The “Virtuous Circle” model, inspired by the work of Vittorio Coda, is at once my way of looking at the enterprise, the purpose I ascribe to it, the value orientation, the decision-making model I use (even implicitly), and the reference for measuring impact.
The model has over time been adapted to the reality of Alessi and simplified into what, for disclosure purposes, I call the “3 P’s model.”

The simplified vision
In summary, the model represents the enterprise as a virtuous circle revolving around 3 constituent elements: the People, from whom everything begins; the Product, which connects us to the true lord and master of every business, the customer; and the Profit, without which the business cannot survive.

Alessi’s specific purpose, as I see it.
The Virtuous Circle expresses a threefold purpose, not three purposes that somehow add up.
Alessi’s purpose is to pursue these three goals at the same time, keeping them in balance with each other and making sure that they positively influence each other:
Primacy in Design Excellence
The consistency of profitability in the long run
A special working environment

CV as comet star, to inspire and guide decisions
The Virtuous Circle is a high-level representation of a vision.
While not designed as an operational tool, it also guides and directs management.
The most natural way to use it is to regard it as a comet star: a reference to follow when faced with crossroads.
That promises us a goal of satisfaction even if and when we do not yet see it clearly.
The beauty, and the difficult part, is the compromise, the mediation between the three goals to be kept in mind simultaneously; it is also the challenge that, personally, leads me to unearth solutions that at first glance may elude us.

The CV for the dissemination of a systemic vision in the company
In my interpretation, every corporate role, every activity, at every level, directly or indirectly impacts all three components.
The higher you go up the hierarchical ladder of the company, the more necessary it is to have a circular outlook.
Going down, of course, perspectives change, but it remains important at all levels to avoid the “polarization” of viewpoints: this representation invites everyone to broaden his or her gaze, while safeguarding his or her specialization.

The impact on the context
It was very nice to realize that the same goals that I consider so central and indispensable to the success of our enterprise also imply a benefit to society.
This is the little bit of good news that I would like to continue to testify to: that, provided we adopt a sound conception of the purpose of the enterprise and thus of its social role, the good of the company goes hand in hand with the good of all the stakeholders with whom it relates: the enterprise is made to grow along with its context.

Can you give us some examples of concrete application of this way of looking at business?
I recount two “emblematic” projects, born in different contexts and with very different specific weight, but perhaps helpful in better understanding the implications (and impact) of a circular vision.

“MAKE OR BUY?”
In 2008, at the onset of the economic crisis, there arises (not for the first time) the need to question the sustainability of the Crusinallo Factory and the possibility of taking the road, taken by most, of relocating.
Beyond the ownership’s desire to keep production in the territory, there arises the need to question it to ensure the consistency of economic results for the company.

Project development involves many business functions: general management, product marketing, purchasing, production, human resources

Elements that came into play in the decision

• Profit
  • production costs vs. purchase costs (with estimates on actual products as examples)
  • impact on indirect costs
  • depreciation of mold costs
  • costs of staff reduction
  • Careful not to take irreversible steps, with a view to prudence
• People
  • Impact of relocation in terms of staff reduction
  • Flexibility to change on the part of people (maintaining the factory must be a shared effort)
• Product
  • Desire to preserve the “workshop of applied art” that the factory represents: design and product are born in the same place and observe each other
  • Protection of technological presidium on cold metal stamping
  • Ability to produce in small batches (essential to a “design encyclopedia” made up of over 3000 pieces) and flexibility in production times, in response to difficult orders
  • Made in Italy brand distinctiveness
• Community and Environment
  • Effects on local supply chain
  • Disposal of decommissioned facilities

Outcome of the decision-making process

• Choice to maintain the Factory, without job cuts and containing access to CIGO as much as possible
• Review of decision-making (with a view to balancing purchasing and production) and production processes (with a view to maximizing efficiency and nontraumatic optimization of production costs)
• New flexible contract agreed with unions
• Development of design projects and marketing initiatives specifically aimed at increasing factory production hours.
  By way of example:
  • (UN)Forbidden City (2012), an illustrative chapter in Alessi’s activity of exploring new international expressive languages, created with the specific goal of creating objects designed in Asia but to be produced in Crusinallo, based on the provocative brief “Designed in China, made in Italy.”
  • “Cut and Fold” (2013) is the title of a project brief created with the intention of “directing” the creativity of the designers, involved through competition, toward projects that can be produced in the Crusinallo factory.
    The use of lasers, together with simple metal bending, allows for the generation of complex shapes for low investment, thanks to the plant’s technological oversight.

“GOOD WORK, THE FACTORY FOR THE CITY”

2013 was marked by the extraordinary concurrence of a time of overcapacity, and a year of excellent profitability.
The Layoff Benefits Fund, an important industrial crisis management tool, has always been “disliked” by the company because of the negativity of the message it sends to people, far removed from the culture of valuing work in which we have always believed.
We were therefore afforded the luxury and challenge of finding an alternative and more coherent solution, for the management of redundant hours, with the main objective of strengthening the relationship with people, restoring value to their work at a time of crisis.

Again, the development of the project, transversally involved multiple business functions: Human Resources, Production, Administration, Communication

Elements that came into play in the decision

• People
  • Desire to send a positive and motivating message in the face of factory downtime
  • Need to give (useful) employment to factory employees, alternative to their ordinary employment in production
  • Compatibility of organizing an outside activity with the need to carry on ordinary activities in the company
  • Attention to people’s wishes (also in terms of activities to be performed)
• Profit
  • Costs associated with the non-activation of CIGO
  • Reasonableness of the investment (with respect to noneconomic returns)
• Product
  • Opportunity to counter negativity, including in terms of image, related to the factory’s moment of crisis
  • Opportunities to demonstrate creativity and innovation in contexts other than product design
• Community and Environment
  • Ability to respond effectively to community needs through people’s work
  • Indirect opportunity to strengthen the relationship with the territory

Outcome of the decision-making process

• Instead of activating the layoff fund, it was proposed that employees at the Omegna office devote part of their regularly paid time to socially useful activities for the benefit of the local community.
• Participation, which was totally voluntary, was 88 percent, for a total of 9712 man-hours devoted to activities such as repainting the school, cleaning roads and paths, and accompanying the elderly and disabled.
  The initiative also involved another 42 people (retirees, agents, vendors, volunteers) for an additional 436 volunteer hours.
• In the survey conducted in early 2018 (5 years after the project), 95% of employees say they appreciate Alessi’s community outreach initiative and 75% confirm that it has positively affected their relationship with the company.
• In terms of communication, returns have also been extremely positive.
  The total estimated value of the outputs between print, radio and TV is more than 3.5 million euros (almost 12 times the total cost of the project).
• Finally, the project has inspired a bill, presented by Senator Ichino and signed by a bipartisan group of parliamentarians, aimed at institutionalizing and incentivizing volunteerism as an alternative practice to the layoff fund.

Evolution of the project
In the years following 2015, market conditions and production declines made it imperative to activate periods of Ordinary Layoff Benefits Fund.
With the aim of continuing to support workers’ commitment to the local community, Alessi activated the “Good Work – Lend a Hand”, pledging to supplement the salary paid by INPS for the hours employees choose to devote to volunteer activities.
While differing in form, this initiative stems from the same spirit and goals that had led to the implementation of the “Good Work 2013” project: to value people’s work, even at times when it cannot be employed in the company, and to pay special attention to the Community in which the company operates and we all live.

How did Alessi decide to become a B Corp, and what does it mean concretely to be one?

B Corps are companies that, convinced that their purpose does not end with the pursuit of profit, work to maximize their positive impact on employees, the communities in which they operate and the environment, using business as a regenerative force for society and the well-being of the planet.
Becoming a B Corp therefore has meant, from my perspective, translating into a formal and recognizable certification what for me has always been the meaning of “doing business.” Bringing Art and Poetry into industrial production, satisfying the cultural and aesthetic needs of the public; operating responsibly and transparently in the management of people, valuing their work by creating opportunities for the development of professional identity; pursuing a fair and sustainable profit, creating wealth for the context as well: three strategic goals that reinforce each other, creating a virtuous circle in which the success of the business and the good of the community are at stake at the same time.

The certification was obtained after successful completion of a complex and multifaceted impact assessment process (B Impact Assessment), which was created to verify that the company’s activities are directed toward achieving a positive effect on the community, not only in economic terms but also in terms of social and environmental impact.
The assessment considers practices, initiatives and achievements in five thematic areas: governance, employee relations, customer relations, the company’s role in the community, and environmental sustainability of processes and products.
In each of these areas, Alessi has been rated higher than the average of 55,000 companies that undergo the assessment (of which only 2178 in 50 countries and 130 industries have so far achieved certification).

One thing that makes me particularly proud is that, to achieve this, it was not necessary to implement any changes in processes: it was enough to tell what we already were, what we used to do.
Not just in terms of extraordinary activities (which we also do and like to do), but precisely through our business activity and the way it is carried out.

Not only having our own museum, which makes the cultural heritage built up over nearly 100 years of work accessible, but the fact in itself that our products are in the permanent exhibitions of more than 50 contemporary art museums, which certifies that we bring more than 350,000 works of art into people’s homes every year.

It is not so much the fact of doing charity, in the amount of 2 percent of the annual profit, but the choice to distribute the economic value produced in a fair and responsible way, among all those who help create it (starting with the employees, to whom about 10 percent of the ebit goes in terms of performance bonus and participation in the company’s results).

Not just the special projects for employees and their families, which do exist and qualify the relationship with them, but the fact in itself of fighting to secure 4.4 percent of industry jobs today in a province that has suffered dramatically from the backlash of the crisis over the past 20 years.

Can you tell us about Lu-Ve Group’s way of doing business?

LU-VE Group originated more than 32 years ago, when my father had the intuition to take over a high quality company, but then in crisis due to inappropriate management.
Under his leadership we have become one of the world’s leading manufacturers in the heat exchanger industry, present in various market segments, from commercial and industrial refrigeration to civil, industrial and precision air conditioning.
The Group today is strong with more than 2,700 employees with 80 percent of production exported to 100 countries and a turnover that will exceed 300 million euros at the end of 2018.
LU-VE means Lucky Venture, a name that really led to a lucky venture!

This extraordinary growth has been built on an important foundation made up of strong principles that our founder himself has always transferred to every activity and which can be summarized in two assumptions.

“Businesses are women, men, and ideas”-meaning that for us everything has to start with a focus on people in the way we do business.

“Gray matter is our raw material”: without ideas there is no innovation, and without innovation a company cannot grow.
But…where do ideas come from?
From people, and here we come back to our fundamental assumption that puts human resources at the center.

The vocation for innovation therefore is key for Lu-Ve: not only is it a driver of growth, but it is also a value cornerstone.
How do you develop it?

We have always opened ourselves to the outside world with a network of collaborations with research institutions and academia.
Here, too, we go back to our roots: since our founding, we have set out on a true path of collaboration with the academic and institutional world of research, thus managing to develop one of the largest R&D laboratories in Europe in our field.

This is an ongoing and multifaceted journey: recently, for example, we renewed our partnership with the Milan Polytechnic for the next three years: a more than 30-year partnership dating back to the year of its founding.

It is an R&D model that we also replicate whenever we open up globally: when we set up new companies abroad, we immediately select and then contact the best local universities, with a twofold objective: to find people and brains to hire on site and, secondly, to open ourselves up to new stimuli for product innovation.

This approach enabled us to become the first company in the world to apply cutting-edge solutions to commercial and industrial refrigeration: we introduced a new way of conceiving and making refrigeration and air conditioning products, according to cutting-edge technologies that have since become a constant reference for the entire industry.

Not only that, immersing oneself in local realities, through the involvement of local people, allows one to give, but also to receive: in India, in Chennai, we are collaborating with other companies, with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, on a pilot project on the use of new refrigerants.
In China we had interns from John Carroll University, studying to become Western managers in the country.

Does environmental value and focus on people bring innovation and growth?

Since our founding and far ahead of the rest of the industry, we have been dedicated to environmental issues, approaching sustainability in the way that suits us best, which is by putting our best brains into the field through R&D.
We were among the first in our industry to integrate environmental impact reduction goals into the business, both in terms of products and production processes, seeking to combine environmental concern with business development.

With a pioneering approach, we proposed products to the market that anticipated solutions (technical and on the use of refrigerants) that would later become a market standard.

After initial difficulties and resistance found in proposing a real “game changer,” this cutting-edge vision has been recognized by the market and has been one of the growth drivers that have enabled us to take a leadership role in the industry.

Finally, allow me to close with a reminder of the first fundamental assumption for LU-VE, “a company made up of women, men and ideas”: in today’s globalized world, attention to people goes hand in hand with valuing diversity, conceived as an asset to be cared for and harmonized.

On the one hand, our company goes to settle in very different nations, just think that we have 12 production plants in 8 different countries (Italy, China, India, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia and the USA): as mentioned, in each we look for local partners to integrate as much as possible into the new reality.

In parallel, at our headquarters in Uboldo, in the province of Varese, we count as many as 14 different nationalities: here, too, we need to allow everyone to integrate.
We have organized Italian courses so that all workers are on an equal footing and are in the same conditions to fully understand first of all the safety rules and then also their rights.
We also used these training moments to teach the Italian Constitution and the founding norms of our country.

In terms of safety, in the Uboldo (Varese) plant we have created “training breaks”: a new way of creating a safety culture.
These are short intervals made at workstations in which to “go over” rules and operating procedures to preserve and constantly improve safety at work.
The system is so good that it has been adopted by the National Health and Safety Commission of Federmeccanica-Assistal, Fiom-Fim-Uilm as a methodology available throughout Italy for companies in the metalworking sector.

Finally, we try to set a good example: for many years we have been cooperating with the Alfa Cooperative, a social cooperative founded by doctor Antonio Gervasio, which makes it possible to bring people with mental problems into the business world, using work as therapy.