Customers and sales
Preferential origin: a component made in Italy counts as European only if the supplier declares it
13 November 2026, 08:11
Brussels is considering postponing the duty that from 2027 would hit electric cars traded with the United Kingdom without enough European or British content. The minimum share is calculated on the value of the materials, and a part produced in Italy counts as European only if whoever supplies it declares its origin in writing.
Monte dei Paschi: the State rescued it and has not yet got its money back. Now Intesa wants to buy it and promises its shareholders €61 billion in dividends
12 November 2026, 16:13
Between 2017 and 2022 the Treasury spent about €7 billion on the Siena bank and has not yet got all of it back. On 10 November Intesa Sanpaolo published the prospectus for its bid: the plan offers the new group's shareholders five years of dividends, and families and small businesses less competition.
Turnover has grown: how much comes from prices and how much from the quantities sold
8 November 2026, 08:07
According to the Bank of Italy, sales by Italian companies grew faster in the first nine months of the year, but the figure is calculated at today's prices and price lists have gone up. Before deciding on headcount, purchasing and the 2027 budget, it pays to separate, within sales growth, the part that comes from prices from the part that comes from volumes.
When a customer stops the line, it pays only for what it had confirmed or authorised
7 November 2026, 08:13
Stellantis warns that a shortage of an electronic component may halt some Fiat lines in Italy until the end of the year. For anyone supplying an assembly line the question is who pays for parts already made and materials already bought, and the answer lies in the delivery schedule, which mixes commitments and forecasts.
A customer entering a creditors' arrangement can happen to anyone: credit management decides what it costs
4 November 2026, 08:13
A yacht builder is offering its suppliers a small part of what they are owed. Anyone selling on credit cannot choose which customer will get into trouble, but decides every day how much to be exposed: how exposure grows unseen, the credit limit and the order block, the email that gets the debt acknowledged, credit insurance and factoring.
Letter of credit: how to get paid by a foreign customer you do not know
2 November 2026, 08:13
Istat records falling sales to the United States and strong growth to Turkey and China. Anyone looking for customers in new markets has to decide who answers for payment: a documentary credit shifts the promise from the buyer to a bank, which however pays only against documents that comply with what is written.
For some inner areas the State expects irreversible depopulation. In Meduno a company is investing €50 million and looking for 200 people
31 October 2026, 15:53
A food company is enlarging its factory in a mountain town that the State counts among its inner areas. The national plan for those areas provides, for some of them, for accompaniment towards "irreversible" depopulation.
Turnover that depends on one person should be measured before that person leaves
29 October 2026, 07:58
One of New York's large law firms is heading for closure after a long run of partners leaving for competitors. In an Italian company the same risk lies in customers who know only their salesperson, and the share of sales that depends on them can be calculated before it turns into a loss.
Small parcels from outside the EU: the European fee starts on 1 November. Italy's own slips again, to 2027
27 October 2026, 16:07
From 1 November every small parcel arriving from outside the Union pays two euros for customs checks, and customs are ready. The levy Italy wrote into its budget law, by contrast, has been postponed four times, and every month of waiting costs millions in lost revenue.
When customers postpone projects, a fall in turnover shows up first in the orders
27 October 2026, 08:22
A German IT services group lowers its sales forecast for the year because customers are taking longer to decide: the ratio between orders received and turnover shows that slowdown before it reaches the invoices.
The delivery term written into the contract decides who collects a duty refund
22 October 2026, 09:42
Sartorius has passed on to its customers the US tariffs that US customs is returning to the group. A duty refund goes to whoever appears as the importer on the customs declaration, and who that is depends on the delivery term in the sales contract.
The State wants fewer cars on the road. Its railway more than doubles the fare for those who left the car at home
21 October 2026, 18:32
From 1 November Trenitalia, a state-owned company, scraps the carnet used by people who go to the office once or twice a week: for them the train costs more than twice as much. Against empty seats, the solution is fewer passengers.
TIM's former network: KKR's clearance rested on a promise, not on a condition. Now Brussels is challenging it
19 October 2026, 18:18
In 2024 Brussels left the contracts under which other companies rent TIM's former network out of the conditions of its clearance, relying on KKR's word. Now that operators are complaining of price rises, the remedy on offer is a capped fine, and higher wholesale prices may end up in internet subscriptions.
Multi-year supply contracts: a fixed price leaves cost increases with the seller
16 October 2026, 09:47
On 15 October Ericsson said it will pass higher component costs on to customers when current contracts expire. A price fixed for several years protects the buyer; the seller protects itself with a price review clause written before signing.
When a business grows, receivables absorb cash even if customers pay on time
15 October 2026, 09:23
On 14 October Airbus said it will soon decide whether to build more A350 aircraft each month than the 12-13 its current assembly line is designed for. For anyone supplying a customer that is increasing production, selling more means advancing more money: receivables and stocks grow with turnover before the payments come in.
Chinese hybrids: for two years a petrol engine was enough to dodge the EU duty
13 October 2026, 18:24
The EU's 2024 duty hit only Chinese electric cars: hybrids arriving in the Union rose from 107,000 in 2024 to about 378,000 in the first seven months of 2026, and the cap agreed now, 350,000 a year, still sits above 2025.
Illegal telemarketing: Agcom fines the companies that supplied the numbers, the call centres remain unnamed
12 October 2026, 18:19
Retelit Digital Services and Tekmind have been fined €822,500 for failing to check how call centres used the numbers assigned to them; the regulator says it also traced the call centres, but their names are not in its press release.
Electrolux withdraws the dismissals but not the job cuts, and the suppliers were not at the ministry's table
5 October 2026, 18:22
Of the 1,700 jobs announced in May, 1,385 are still going, over three years and with state-backed wage support; across the Friuli Venezia Giulia supply chain, more than a thousand business sites work in the sector and nobody invited them.
In Verolavecchia a €25 million dairy farm does not just wait for the Ministry's price: it also takes its milk to where people drink it
3 October 2026, 18:44
Cascina Malgherosse produces more than 100,000 litres of milk a day, employs ten more people than four years ago and, while the farm-gate price is decided in Rome, puts its milk into vending machines in schools, offices and gyms.
In August shops took more money and sold less: turnover is read by separating prices from quantities
2 October 2026, 11:07
Istat measures retail sales twice, in euros and in volume, and in August the two figures moved in opposite directions: the same check, run on a company's own turnover, shows whether it is growing or has simply raised its price lists.
Gold bars: to plea-bargain a tax fraud you pay the State first; to plea-bargain after collecting the savings of 2,400 people you give nothing back
1 October 2026, 18:17
Italy's Court of Cassation has made five plea bargains final in the gold-bar investigation into Global Group Consulting, and the savers will not get a single euro out of that trial. The law requires payment before a plea bargain only when the victim is the State: yes for tax fraud and corruption, no for people's savings.
The diesel discount hasn't ended: now Eni pays for it instead of the State
28 September 2026, 21:03
The State is cutting the diesel discount that cost it about €12 million a day, and at the same moment Eni is capping prices at its filling stations. The bill moves from taxes to the oil companies' margins, and competitors have to follow suit with their own money.
Money already spent has no place in the decision. And yet it decides almost everything
21 September 2026, 12:53
Britain and France knew Concorde would never pay back what it cost, and carried on regardless. The same sentence can be heard on every factory floor, in front of the line that has been losing money for three years.
Your top customer is worth 40% of turnover: the right question is not how much it buys
20 September 2026, 18:46
How to measure customer concentration by looking at margin rather than volume, and how to work out how many weeks of runway the cost structure leaves you if that customer stops ordering.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 4
Training
“We do have a strategic direction. It just changes every two weeks.” It’s a real quip, made by a sales manager at an SME during an internal meeting.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 3, part I
Training
Sustained growth can hide structural weaknesses and wipe out results, if the organisation does not keep pace.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 1
Training
We are not talking about theory but about reality. About a real business, with real problems and a growth path built step by step, with method, vision and courage.
“In our company we all do a bit of everything.”
Training
It’s one of the things we hear most often in SMEs, and it’s also one of the main reasons why many companies grow in a disorderly way, creating overlaps, decision-making conflicts and operational inefficiencies.
Overlapping roles in SMEs are a real problem
Training
In a company that builds mechanical plant to order, we found ourselves faced with the classic “indispensable” figure: the business owner’s right-hand man, a respected person, present everywhere, involved in everything.
Many companies think they have a good sales process
Training
But then they discover that orders are still managed with Excel files, scattered emails and manually entered information.
The companies that really grow are not the ones that work harder
Training
They are the ones that work best, because continuous improvement does not come from improvisation but from clear, shared and verifiable company procedures.
The real problem isn’t the work. It’s how it is organised
Training
Many companies are organised by function: production, administration, sales. Everything is divided, everything is assigned: it looks like organisation but, in reality, it is more often fragmentation.
Many business owners think they have everything under control
Training
In reality, they simply carry everything on their own shoulders, and this is where one of the biggest limits to SME growth arises: the inability to truly delegate.
When the company grows but the organisation stands still
Training
It happens more often than you might think. The business grows, the market responds, customers increase but, beneath the surface, something starts to creak.
“I don’t need a controller. I already have an accountant”
Training
That is what a business owner told us at our first meeting. His financial statements showed a profit and his turnover was good.
From controlling to control of the future
Training
Many business owners know all too well the feeling that something in the company is not heading in the right direction: the problem is that feelings are not enough and, often, the numbers are only looked at once the problem has already become an emergency.
Profit isn’t found. It’s built
Training
Many business owners “feel” how their company is doing, and they are often right, but there is a limit: gut feelings are not a management system.
Do you really want to understand where you make money? Then you need to change perspective
Training
Once you have started reading COGS and margins, the next level follows: understanding how income is generated.
You don't need cost accounting to understand where you are making money
Training
You need to start by asking yourself: “But what am I really making money on?” Many think that without an advanced cost accounting system it is impossible to answer, but that is not the case.
The problem isn’t the price. It’s how you build it
Training
Many companies are convinced they have a sales problem. “The market doesn't pay.” “Customers haggle over price.” “The competition is aggressive.”
Profitability by product line: what the financial statements don't tell you
Training
In previous posts we got to grips with the logic of the Break Even Point: now we’ll start to understand where the money is really made.
Cost analysis: the lens that separates real margins from illusions
Training
There is a truth that invariably emerges when you get into a company’s numbers: many decisions are made without really knowing what they cost.
From calculation to control: the real value of the Break Even Point
Training
Every business owner knows the concept of “breaking even” but hardly anyone really uses it as a strategic compass.
Digital complexity syndrome in SMEs
Training
For years the market has been pushing a seductive narrative: “digitalise everything and you will be more efficient, faster and more competitive”.
Data culture: the real hidden resource of SMEs
Training
In many SMEs the data exists but stays locked away in digital drawers: endless reports, Excel files everywhere, charts that nobody really looks at.
Controlling? In SMEs it is still an optional extra
Training
Controlling is not a luxury. It is a matter of survival, yet it is still seen as something “to do later”, when there is time, when the company is bigger.