GC&P is glad to announce the launch of two new divisions: interview to Antonio Salvi and Tommaso Abbatecola

Antonio Salvi, head of the Milan Division is a manager with a long experience in Deloitte while Tommaso Abbatecola, head of the Center-South Division, is an expert in manufacturing and TPM.

Antonio e Tommaso, first of all we would like to know what you think of the present situation of Italian enterprises in the North, in the Centre and in the South?

A: After the 2009 storm the situation seems to show signs of improvement and it is time to look around and see who is gone and who is still there. Many small and medium sized companies have disappeared: some entrepreneurs have chosen to close or undersell their businesses; others have started bankruptcy procedures. Most companies are still in trouble mainly because of the “credit freeze”. The good news is that a number of SME have gained strength in spite of the crisis and are going to become the new protagonists of the market.

T: In centre and south Italy we have different types of companies: some have been set up by local people, others are subsidiaries of groups based in the North or of multinational groups. In many cases they have been located here only to take advantage of public funds. As a consequence we do not have many industrial districts and our people do not have an advanced and innovative industrial culture.

What are the main difficulties they have to face today?

A: Most SME are still under the effects of the 2009 shock and are uncertain as to the best direction to take. So first and foremost they need to redefine their strategies in terms of innovation of products and markets in order to find new niches and new markets and start a new virtuous cycle of growth and prosperity. But if they want to be competitive they have to change their organizations so as to improve efficiency and eliminate wastes.

T: Many companies are not prepared to face global competition especially in these times of crisis. Their efficiency is lower than that of the average company of the North due to technological and organizational problems. Managers’ and workers’ expertise and motivation are often unsatisfactory. Corruption and racketeering in some areas do not encourage sound industrial development.

If these are the main difficulties, what consulting services could be more useful for the businesses in your regions?

A: Process innovation aimed at increase efficiency and reduce costs is one of the few strategic levers that can be used in time of crisis in order to get a competitive advantage. In order to measure the effects of process innovation we think that a company should abandon the traditional management control systems based on product standard costs and adopt a new system based on value stream control and the minimization of the work needed to get relevant information. What a company really and badly needs is a management accounting system which is simple, lean and capable of measuring the true results of organizational changes.

T: Long term projects, such as the classical lean transformation, are difficult to implement at the moment because our managers are more interested in getting short term results. As a consequence we are going to propose solutions easy to understand ant to implement and capable to produce short term benefits. At the same time we plan to educate our managers on the principles of lean thinking and especially on the principle of continuous improvement.

What is your approach towards clients and prospective clients?

A: Our approach is to show and explain in detail a new management accounting system which is simple to understand, lean and effective.

This system is known as “Lean Accounting” and is widely used in the Anglo-Saxon world and in a number of advanced Italian companies.

What we are doing, and has never been done before in Italy or elsewhere, is to support Lean Accounting with a business intelligence open source system.

T: We start with a short but effective analysis of the company aimed at identifying the main problems and at making a number of feasible proposals showing the costs and benefits of each of them. After a thorough discussion with our client we make an implementation plan of the proposals that have been approved and we start the implementation project. After showing the effectiveness of our approach we help our client to start a more radical lean transformation plan.

Any special initiative in sight?

A: We are conducting a study on the management control systems adopted in various sectors. The first results concerning the piping sector will be presented in an event on Lean Accounting that will take place in Milan in the near future.

T: We have just started GC&P’s operations in our area and we are moving our first steps. At the moment we already have an interesting opportunity in Umbria.

A last question on your team. Can you briefly introduce your colleagues?

A: In this project aimed at small and medium sized entreprises in Lombardy I have two exceptional partners: Paolo Guadagno e Claudio Scarduelli.

Paul is a great expert in management accounting systems and in particular in Lean Accounting applied with the aid of an open source business intelligence system. Claudio is a great ICT expert and helps us to use the most advanced systems.

T: We plan to present our team in the next newsletter

Antonio and Tommaso best wishes for your new professional adventure!