{"id":1558,"date":"2024-10-08T09:36:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T09:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eccellenzedimpresa.it\/magazine\/from-italian-sounds-to-made-by-italian-the-new-challenge-for-italian-businesses\/"},"modified":"2025-01-07T11:59:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T11:59:23","slug":"from-italian-sounds-to-made-by-italian-the-new-challenge-for-italian-businesses","status":"publish","type":"cp_magazine","link":"https:\/\/eccellenzedimpresa.it\/cn\/magazine\/from-italian-sounds-to-made-by-italian-the-new-challenge-for-italian-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"From Italian sounds to ‘Made by Italian’: the new challenge for Italian businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Friday, Oct. 11, the CEO of Eccellenze d’Impresa, Luigi Consiglio, speaks at the Bardolino International Festival of Geography<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What if \u201cItalian sounding\u201d was an opportunity for Italian companies? It may sound like a provocation, but we often don’t look in depth at a real problem for Italian companies, but one that should be addressed differently than it is now. Because consuming products that recall the Italian culinary art, imagining eating a plate of pasta with a tomato sauce that evokes the Sicilian sun and a leaf of fresh basil, perhaps topped with a shower of Parmesan cheese, is a dream that many in the world cultivate but cannot afford. And so these lower-income segments of the population, who cannot buy truly \u201cMade in Italy\u201d products, turn to the substitutes on the market at much lower prices, imagining that they are on a terrace in Positano enjoying one of the most typical Italian products. How can the Italian food industry harness this desire? Perhaps there is a way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Periodically, research is produced on the damage that imitations of Italian products generate to our agri-food industry. The latest one was presented by The European House Ambrosetti and describes the losses suffered by our companies from the sale of foreign products that recall an Italian origin in the name, or in brand communication: the impact is estimated at 63 billion euros by 2023, with Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna losing about 10 billion each. According to the research, the value of Italian food and beverage exports would more than double to 126 billion euros, added to the 62 billion in real Made in Italy agri-food exports. These analyses are often followed by calls for greater protection of Italian-made products, but without getting to the bottom of the problem and trying to rationally understand how these phenomena could be countered with market logics, which are much more effective than merely regulatory interventions. We also need clarity about what we want or need to defend: according to The European House, in the first place among the most copied products is meat sauce, which, however, has French origins. What Italian-ness do we have to defend in this case? Would it be like saying that anyone in Italy who makes guacamole could be accused of \u201cMexican sounding\u201d? Should we just import guacamole from Mexico? And what about hummus, or kebabs? The (very serious) argument of defending uniqueness cannot mix with bizarre theories such as defending pizza or carbonara.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On closer inspection, the success of a product abroad is not given by a more or less explicit likeness with an Italian manufacturer, but by the quality of the product. I cite the case of the United States, the market where Italian exports have the highest added value: many Italian companies already produce on American soil. This makes it so that American law no longer allows companies to talk about Made in Europe or Made in Italy products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As in the case of Lindt, which was forced to remove the wording from its trademark \u201cproduced in Switzerland since 1845\u201d because the company has a production plant in America, or Barilla-also with a production plant in the U.S.-which as of this year, as a precautionary measure, has removed the wording \u201cNumber 1 in Italy\u201d so as not to incur possible objections. Other large Italian manufacturers such as Fratelli Beretta, Citterio or subsidiaries of multinationals, such as Galbani and Ferrero, do not mention references to Italy on their packages because it would be misleading to the American consumer and they would be liable to class action lawsuits. But these brands are still successful in the U.S. because they focus on the quality of their production processes and products and have carved out an important slice of the market. It is on this field that Italian companies must make themselves ready and invest in their future, because what is really at stake is the defense of the agricultural and industrial uniqueness of Italians. Our country has ample room to maneuver, even within a global agri-food system that must aim to feed a constantly growing population that will reach 9 billion people in a few years. Italy must assert its unique traits known throughout the world, capable of giving life to unmistakable scents and flavors that only our country’s climate can transmit to the fruits of the earth. The goal must be the creation of a brand that is recognizable in foreign markets, focusing on a reputation built over the years, sales networks and efficient logistics, which can bring Made in Italy products to the world and, above all, to those countries where increasingly large segments of the population look to the consumption of quality products as a \u201cstatus symbol,\u201d a way to stand out from the masses. Among the luxury brands, there is also room for catering, with many Italian products that could reach the tables of young people (the most likely to spend) in Saudi Arabia or other countries that represent the world’s new economies. The same research by The European House – Ambrosetti points out that in China, Japan and Canada on average 7 out of 10 consumers look for real Italian products without considering price aspects. The percentages are also very high in countries such as Germany, Australia, and Brazil, as well as in France, the U.S., and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But exporting the product alone is not enough. Italian companies must also have the courage to take abroad their way of working and making those products that the whole world envies us. This is a solution that could solve, at least in part, the problem of the price difference between products that are truly \u201cMade in Italy\u201d and those that recall them in name and appearance. Let us think of \u201cparmesan.\u201d It should be noted that noting that Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano and Pecorino Romano, are sold in America (and several other countries) through quotas granted to certain importers. In this way it reaches over $16 per pound, reaching as high as $20 in some periods. Therefore, it would be appropriate to study the American antitrust and see if we cannot intervene along a supply chain that multiplies the profit of some Italian producers in an unjustified way, reducing the salability of the products and therefore the volumes. Parmesan has totally different costs, $2 to $4 per pound, with obvious savings for the low-income population, who dream of consuming a quality product even though they know it is not. So, why not move the Italians’ expertise and ability to make closer to the places of consumption, reducing costs and opening up to new slices of the market? Some dairy producer from Parma, Mantova or Cremona might decide to go to Wisconsin (where the milk is magnificent) and make a grana aged the right way to go out on the market with a product manufactured Italian-style but costing around $10 a pound. This is a powerful opportunity for Sistema Italia to replace \u201cItalian sounding\u201d with a \u201cMade by Italian,\u201d with the quality and food safety that only Italians have in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eccellenzedimpresa.it\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cp_magazine\/1558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eccellenzedimpresa.it\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cp_magazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eccellenzedimpresa.it\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cp_magazine"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eccellenzedimpresa.it\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}