I was delighted to learn that Italy has the second highest number of businesses in the FT’s recent ranking of Europe’s top 300 ‘long-term growth champions’ – second only to Germany.
Like Germany, Italy has an exceptionally high concentration of family businesses – and they tend to outperform non-family businesses. Many of the companies featured in the FT’s list are multi-generational enterprises, including veterinary pathology laboratory MyLav and Palermo-based luxury retail platform Giglio.com.
A study by McKinsey identifies four key reasons why family firms succeed: a strong sense of purpose, planning for the long-term and reinvesting in the business, financial caution, and the ability to make decisions quickly.
It’s this last factor that helped Naples-based vinegar-maker Acetificio Andrea Milano make it onto the FT’s list. Marketing director Fabio Milano – a fifth-generation employee – said that being a family business had allowed them to innovate and launch new products more easily.
A decade ago the company started making apple cider vinegar (ACV) in response to a social media-fuelled surge in demand overseas. They now make millions of litres of ACV every year, and 70% of their revenue comes from exports.
If boosting exports to Italy, or from Italy to the UK or US is part of your business strategy in 2025, I can help you every step of the way: interpreting at client meetings, translating contracts or providing one-to-one executive tutoring to help you perfect your business English.
And if you’re planning to expand elsewhere, I can connect you with interpreters and translators in more than 150 languages. Just last week, for example, I helped a client who needed subtitles translated from Korean to English.