In - formation

Are the small-to-medium sized concerns mainly to blame for the growth deficit in the Italian economic system? Is the particularly fragmented structure of our manufacturing tissue an element of backwardness or, on the contrary, one of modernity? And yet again…is the delay in efficiency that we suffer compared to other nations to be put down to low levels of work productivity attributed to the numerous small and very small companies?

Editorial by Stefano Lavorini

Considering that the micro firms, with less than 10 employees, account for over 95% of the total of Italian companies and 27 and 44 percent out of total added value and employment, one only need read the ISTAT annual report (2016-2017), as well as the last annual report from the Governor of the Bank of Italy to be dismayed, even if, it should be said, signs pointing the other way are not lacking.

But we are speaking of statistics, while in the real world one finds all kinds of situations. Thus among the SMEs (see EC Recommendation n. 361/2003) there are those that work well, rather, better than most, fielding proposals that reflect a renewed culture of doing, attentive to technological change.

I noticed this running my eyes down the list of concerns that, in this latter period, have adhered to the Ethical Packaging Charter, that lists the main shared principles in order to design, produce and use packaging mindfully. Indeed alongside the wellknown manufacturing and user companies, one can find concerns that, with very different figures, show they can look at business with an open mind: that is to say the difference is not so much in the figures as in company culture.

I personally know the history of some of them, as in the case of SDR, that since 1999 has traded raw materials, equipment and consumables for the companies of the graphics and packaging industry in southern Italy.
Respectful of the environment and with high safety standards, in particularly food safety, SDR distributes products to market leading companies inspired by the same values.
Hence a commercial concern, energetically headed by Silvio Dello Russo, and that is keen on seeking new answers and responses to the general crisis of ideas and proposals.
This is probably because he is a man who is part of a generation that grew up in years when there were clashes, but also hope… It is a fact that, looking in particular at the evolution of the consumer goods market, he has shown himself capable of thinking big as well as capable of investing in knowhow and skills in order to innovate the service offered, thus affirming its own uniqueness.

This is why he has called young people with experience to the company, counting on them in order to speak to a market using new words, with the objective of “acculturating” a world that, practically speaking, seems to be suffering from an IT debit, perhaps due to too many daily urgencies. And this without wishing to replace the institutions designated for the task - from the associations, to the universities, to the press - but in carrying out sort of minimum practice that, alongside the company’s offer of solutions and products, combines an effort to aid its interlocutors in understanding the complexity of the market.
An intent, Dello Russo’s, that is hence a long way off from what Bruce Chatwin writes in “Anatomy of Restlessness”, in referring his judgement on an ex director of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, «…education often aims at teaching people as to the vastness of their own ignorance».

SDR possesses a genuine service spirit, borne up by the will to share knowhow acquired in time. You only have to open their new website to realise it: appealingly simple graphics, well organized, clearly accessible information, an effective product presentation, but with more pondered contents. In evidence for example the pop-up on the home page that alerts as to the obligation of the declaration of conformity for food contact packaging materials (FCMs), citing the relative sanctions for non fulfilment of the same.
The new site is only part of an articulated strategy of web marketing that aims at increasing the presence and recognisability of the company, or that is its values, while also having the function of expanding business to new areas of the market.

A complete offer of quality products and qualified service in terms of efficiency, ethical responsibility and sustainability: thus, after having obtained ISO 9001 certification in 2014 SDR is carrying out a study in order to neutralise the carbon footprint generated by its own activities.
To conclude, after consideration, one has all the reasons for saying, “small is beautiful”.