it-biz - The Italian Business Magazine

After his unanimous nomination at the top of Veneto Confindustria, Andrea Tomat, who was president of Treviso Unindustria, gave his opinion on the dramatic situation that the manufacturing companies of our country are living, companies that are on the edge of an endless abyss, while we witness a mad waste of public expenditure that every year absorbs more and more resources reducing all the more the margins of the Treasury to help the emergency of the credit sector that should provide resources for banking companies so to avoid the business paralysis and the massive number of employees receiving redundancy
payment. The words of Andrea Tomat echo as we are going to highlight for the extraordinary character of the conscientious message of the president of Veneto Confindustria representing a territory that by itself exports more hand-made articles than Belgium. First of all, Tomat disagrees with the fact that the General States have been involved: “The General States to face the crisis?” – the influential man wonders. “The idea in itself would be good, but I do not think that in this moment the bases are there.
We only need to take decisions quickly and to work on some lines that can yield results”. “I am referring to the question of credit which is a priority for us” - Tomat added.
It would be good at this point to specify that, in order to face this recession, entrepreneurs chose a clear policy: few, precise and heavy measures on the possibility to be given credit and on social security cushions to bear the initial phase of the crisis without losing manpower and avoiding social dangerous tensions. Now we can work on a thirdstage, but in Europe so to bring the credit market back to the normal within 60 days. I wonder then how this can be combined with the convocation of the General States that would need time for discussion. The objective rationality of the president Tomat does not leave room for wasting time. Previously, he had said in support of his exemplary arguments: “It is not possible to foresee times and manners with precision so to emerge from the crisis tunnel, especially in a short period. However, I do believe that the structure of the production system in Veneto allows to go on, to look ahead towards the future and start again”.
Then, the president proceeded going into some incumbent problems: “We cannot estimate with precision immigrant labour requirements; what is certain is that it must be constantly updated on the basis of the surveyed demands. The territory’s competitiveness allows to assess also the capacity to adjust to what is necessary – Tomat continued – and to do this we need to understand that to guarantee a quick answer in view of a recovery is fundamental. In this respect, we have to place timeliness before precision”.
Then, the president continued: “Two are the elements characterizing the crisis, the credit situation which is closely linked to technologic innovation and consequently to investments and administration of human resources. On this regard, we have common goals, such as increasing the quality of human resources and making a further effort for school education enhancing the training system”. Then, the president moved on to analyse some social questions as well, showing that he is well informed about the problems that need to be supported and encouraged with precise and appropriate plans. “There are sectors, such as tourism and house assistance, that can hardly be guaranteed by local manpower, also in a critical period. The problem does exist, but nevertheless we cannot forget that in Veneto, like other areas in Italy, the demographic situation is characterised by a general aging that affects the consistency of the active population. The only way to proceed is to monitor the production situation and its consequences on occupation – Tomat added – to understand where manpower is lacking
and where it is in excess and, above all, how to organise the processes of professional requalification so to find a good balance between the production sectors and the territorial areas”. The precise analysis dictated by the solid experience gained by the president, both for his business work and for what he did when he was at the top of business associations, is flawless and it provides us with the necessary elements to rectify the negative effects of the current crisis going so far as showing the reduction of the waste of the public expenditure, waste in which our politicians and bureaucrats have so far revealed their bad attitude.
The last episode that exemplifies the current situation was the cynic request of a high officer of the Quirinale who, despite enjoying the privilege of a salary of 485,000 Euros per year, asked and obtained a 10% rise in his salary. There are no limits to the rich and very rich emoluments of the ruling politic and administrative class: no-one dares to challenge the way things are going and the president Tomat correctly underlined this saying that a rigorous reduction of public expenditure and wastes on every level is necessary to give a significant signal to citizens.
In this moment, people need to trust institutions, especially banks and economic and politic bodies that must be trustworthy and not too conflictual.
The reference to the bank credit, that has recently suffered a strong slowdown damaging several companies, was the natural preamble for president Tomat. We do not know whether and how many resources the government set aside for this purpose, however we think that the call of the Confindustria top managers give suggestions to the government, even though the shortage of available resources cannot work wonders.

Italo Tassinari

In this interview Andrea Tomat President of Lotto Sport Italia describes programmes and future developments of Lotto and Stonefly, companies that apparently are not experiencing any crisis and, above all, know how to stem it.
Innovation and internationalization are the key points of the excellent results, themes that are going to be decisive also for the future of our country, Toamt’s promise.
President Tomat, you took over Stonefly along with other managers in 1998 and one year later Lotto. What did you change and what did you leave as it was under the previous administration? Besides the classic brands, on what did you stake?
Lotto and Stonefly are two different worlds and so are their stories. In 1999, Lotto was in a very critical situation: a radical and resolute action was necessary. I immediately thought about a new business pattern that was more convenient and effective. I changed the organising and distributing structure and renewed the entire production range year after year. Later on, but this is our present, I added new lines and news brands like Lotto Leggenda, Lotto Works, LeDD and Etonic in order to support our development.
The situation for Stonefly was slightly different. Re-launch had already taken place few years before, until when, under my management, we developed a positioning strategy in the sector of creature comforts. The property passing was necessary to guarantee the required resources for the project to develop independently, as it happened later.
The opening of a new Lotto branch in Hong Kong and the five-year licence agreement stipulated with Malay Star 360 show how your internationalization proceed with no interruption. Are they further proofs that you are aiming at the Asiatic market? Which other countries are you pointing at?
Lotto has always been a very international firm. The recent actions in Asia, the new branch in Hong Kong, the agreement with Star 360 in Malaysia and with Li Ning in China testify to our will of reaching all the strategic markets. The Asiatic area is growing twice the speed of other countries and therefore it is essential for us to control it. In this respect, over the last four years, we made an enormous effort and today we are present in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines e Indonesia, besides Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
In all these markets we are growing and we expect to keep on growing also in this phase.
After Loredana Polo, chief executive of Stonefly, left, you took over the operating control of the company. Why? And what was the first step of your new administration?
It was necessary to make a turning point, albeit painful. The firm was not growing at the required rates and the company mission was not on focus. The first step was to focus again on research and development aspects accelerating the improving of the patent “BluSoft System”, a gel capsule to be positioned on the heel to reduce risks of micro-traumas, to limit fatigue and improve walking. From the fall-winter 2008 collection, this capsule is on every Stonefly model and now we are ready to resume our journey.
Lotto and Stonefly are winning firms and appear stronger than the current crisis. What is the recipe of such a success? What would you suggest to business men in this critical period?
Both Lotto and Stonefly are structured companies that can face difficult and complicated situations, as happened in the past. Undoubtedly the current situation is particularly challenging: it is the first global crisis that the world economy has to face. The strategy we are using goes in two directions. On the one side, the target is to pay extreme attention to costs and floating capital. At the same time, it is important to keep on pointing at the main elements of competitiveness that, in my opinion, are innovation and internationalization. I think that all business men are already working on it, especially in the north-eastern regions where people fortunately have a deep pragmatic attitude.
For this reason, I think that our territory will be able to win this important challenge also this time.
Those who are openly against the delocalizing of production in low-cost countries, as you do, are many. What is your take on this?
It seems to me that it is quite common not to carefully consider a very articulated phenomenon. First of all, I believe that development processes are favoured by free trade and circulation of goods and services. We cannot longer think of a world including very few rich countries on the one hand and the great majority of people in a state of poverty on the other. Whether we like it or not, we must think how we can make more people enjoy wealth. The problem is rather how we can transform close and strict economy models without causing a trauma, giving everybody the possibility to change and adapt themselves. The global distribution of work and, therefore, occupation is something we cannot avoid; it has always been a way for distributing resources.
On the other hand, we cannot think to preserve production in geographic areas where it is not longer possible to find out manpower as there are not enough people willing to do a certain type of job. We have thus to develop coherent and global strategies and in this regard it is worth to recall Pascal Lamy who is developing a Doha concerning international trade. It is necessary to negotiate guided opening policies and aim at a global competitiveness also for Italian companies. This must happen also in the shoe industry. High-quality products and production that are quick to carry out will remain here.
We will see, as it happened in the past, a global labour specialization. First-rate sectors such as shoe, textile and fashion industries, must aspire to become competitive in a global market.