Organisation and people
Mercedes wants more hours for the same pay, but an hour only gets cheaper if someone buys it
28 September 2026, 09:33
Mercedes-Benz management wants to lengthen the working week of its German workers without raising their pay, so every hour paid would cost less. But the cost that matters to anyone drawing up quotations is the cost of the hour sold: it is calculated on the hours that actually end up on an order, and the gap between those and the hours paid is the number almost nobody measures.
In the vineyards between Gorizia and Udine, an hour's work was worth less than €3
27 September 2026, 18:23
The Guardia di Finanza in Gorizia found 107 undeclared workers in the area's vineyards, in some cases paid less than €3 net an hour. Punishing those who exploit is right. But behind the coachloads of farmhands lies a problem every business knows: in the vineyards, and not only there, Italians no longer go.
In Orzinuovi an abandoned nightclub has become a factory in nine months
26 September 2026, 18:23
On the site of the Kalua, closed and abandoned for years, the AB group has built a 16,500-square-metre plant where around a hundred people will work. A story that begins in 1981 with a 21-year-old and the electrical systems of the cowsheds of the plain south of Brescia.
The bank asks its customers for an extra confirmation. For €95 million, a WhatsApp was enough
25 September 2026, 18:14
The then chairman of Fideuram sent off €95 million after a message from a fake Carlo Messina and the cloned voice of a lawyer: €36 million is still missing. The same bank tells its customers to be wary of urgent requests.
Before a plan, calculate where the company is heading if nobody does anything
23 September 2026, 08:06
The twelve-month extension of short-time working for a company in the Melfi supply chain helps explain what the five-year inertial projection is for: the scenario obtained by assuming that nobody takes any decision at all.
The debate about bringing managers back is for companies that have one
22 September 2026, 08:09
Il Sole 24 Ore asks whether bringing back a leader who had left is a good idea. The question takes for granted something most SMEs simply do not have: a manager to bring back.
Lucas invented the category in which his museum will be judged
21 September 2026, 18:07
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art was born inside a category defined by its founder, and that makes any verdict impossible: the same thing happens in business every time a project is declared non-comparable.
Your best deal may have been a terrible decision
21 September 2026, 13:00
Poker players and football analysts have stopped judging choices by their outcome. In business it still happens, and the cost is that the organisation learns the wrong lesson.
If a digital investment doesn't show in your numbers, it didn't happen
21 September 2026, 12:36
The Economist asks how quickly investment in artificial intelligence turns into gains for everyone. The same question, three rungs further down, is whether that €40,000 of software shows up anywhere in your accounts.
How to (really) reorganise a company: case history no. 4
Theory and practice
“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 manage generational handover in a family business
Theory and practice
We have often talked about control, method and strategy, but there is a moment in the life of every business that truly puts all of this to the test: the generational handover.
Why Fractional Management is the right solution for SMEs
Theory and practice
In our recent posts we have talked about controlling, organisation and synergy between skills.
“In our company we all do a bit of everything.”
Theory and practice
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
Theory and practice
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
Theory and practice
But then they discover that orders are still managed with Excel files, scattered emails and manually entered information.
The real problem isn’t the work. It’s how it is organised
Theory and practice
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
Theory and practice
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
Theory and practice
It happens more often than you might think. The business grows, the market responds, customers increase but, beneath the surface, something starts to creak.
Digital complexity syndrome in SMEs
Theory and practice
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
Theory and practice
In many SMEs the data exists but stays locked away in digital drawers: endless reports, Excel files everywhere, charts that nobody really looks at.
The consulting that really matters: why tax advice is not enough
Theory and practice
Talking about method, numbers and control is important, but there is one aspect that deserves attention: the difference between those who manage the accounts and those who help the business grow.
Controlling does not mean “doing the accounts”
Theory and practice
And yet how many SMEs still confuse them? Many business owners believe that having up-to-date accounts or efficient management software is enough to know how the company is doing.
Controlling? In SMEs it is still an optional extra
Theory and practice
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.