What do you think about when you hear the name Italy? Is it sandy beaches along the Mediterranean Coast? Is it the Coliseum in Rome? Or is it the thought magnificent aromas coming from perfectly prepared food? Well let me let you in on a little secret. It is all of these plus much, much more. Our class flew into Milan on Saturday May 8th. The first few days were busy trying to adjust to jet lag while working full days. Don’t let this last sentence make it sound like it was terrible, but in fact the opposite. The next weekend our class went to Rome, and saw many amazing sights. However, my roommates Chris Price and Jon White decided to go to Zurich instead. If you are a full blown lover of capitalism by all means you must see Zurich. The banking industry coupled with the culture was amazing. The train ride back to Milan was well worth the price of the train ticket. We were able to get beautiful pictures trolling through the Alps. This weekend we will be heading into Milan to tour and meet with the Lombardy government. So, look for a blog post next week sometime. Now on to the actual work in Italy
The working environment in Italy is quite different when compared with the U.S. This is not a compare and contrast to determine a victor, but a simple evaluation to show how business is done in differently across cultures. The first thing I found unique about Italy is the size of the companies. The company I am currently working for has 59 employees, which in Italian terms is quite large. There are many million dollar plus firms in Italy with only 5 employees. So imagine the rate of return each employee is bringing into the company. The U.S. environment feels that every facet of business is moving to large MNC’s. So, thinking of this Italian ideal of small organizations takes a little while to conceptualize.
The next defining characteristic is that most Italian companies are family owned. These people have a true sense of entrepreneurism. They nurture their companies from the ground up, and the word acquisition is not even in the picture. However growing up in the U.S. culture, all I think of is growing a business, and if the opportunity arises selling it to the highest bidder.
The final cultural difference, I noticed, is the inability to start a company. Now think about this for a minute. Imagine you wanted to start a business, ok. If you didn’t have the capital, what would you do to finance starting your company.……
You probably said get a loan from a bank or, if you had a really savvy idea, maybe you said get venture capitalists backing. However, it isn’t like that inside the European Union. This is due to regulations on tax reporting and venture capitalism is not allowed between nations inside the EU. The banks also require much more information before they are willing to approve loans. For me, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but just another way of conducting business.
Jonathan Smith

