Some entrepreneurs focus the business on themselves without making the company grow. The problem of yes-man and family members inside

There is no doubt that the market has become more complicated and that, in order to survive, companies must equip themselves with an independent, qualified management structure often unrelated to the family that owns them, which enjoys an international vision and has decision-making power to evaluate the best prospects for the company before the entrepreneur.

Many family businesses, which deal with recycling , are experiencing a phase of strong transformation due to market changes, which are mostly represented by the entry of structured companies that dealt with related but different businesses until recently.

The world of plastics recycling developed in the early 80s of the last century, somewhat muted, in the form of small businesses that collected waste plastic and followed its processing, sometimes even with somewhat craft.

Their development, in the following years, depending on the European geographical location, followed the national entrepreneurial systems which were based, in the north, more easily on the creation of medium and large enterprises, while in Southern Europe, more often than not, based on growth of small and medium-sized enterprises that took advantage of the opportunities the market could offer.

At the beginning of the 2000s , the growth trend of the plastics recycling market and its related industries accelerated greatly, with the transition of companies to increasingly larger turnover and productivity.

Starting from this period, the Southern European market , contrary to what happened in Northern Europe, has been characterized by an important number of small companies that have turned into medium and large companies producing plastic polymers, recycling equipment or services for the market. In addition, many micro craft businesses have turned into small and medium-sized plastics manufacturing companies.

Many founders of these companies, especially medium-large ones, have followed step by step in first person, the development of their creatures since their foundation, with success sometimes growing over time and becoming the only point of reference within the society.

The incarnation of commercial and productive success in a market that has continuously grown over the years has not generally created situations in which we could stop to understand if the business model, launched by the owner-entrepreneur , was correct with the evolution markets.

In the meantime, many things have changed, in an increasingly globalized and competitive world , not only from a commercial point of view, but also on raw materials, on technical innovations, on the necessary speed in making decisions and on the quality of management necessary for the size company.

Some entrepreneurs, living on past successes, have not dealt with the evolution of the market in a lucid and impartial way, continuing with a management model that revolved, or still revolves around them today, creating a soldier only on the battlefield .

There are crucial situations that have affected or will affect the fate of these companies:

•  An under-sized management structure with respect to the company’s turnover
•  A pyramid of values not directed towards customer attention
•  A non-objective evaluation of the professional qualities of family members inserted in the company to whom responsibility and decision-making powers are attributed
•  A propensity in creating yes-man collaborators in key roles
•  Difficulty in delegating specialist and delicate tasks to collaborators
•  Inability to create a managerial team that can acquire the management of corporate areas
•  Inability to question yourself
•  Inability to trust
•  Limitation of the professionalism and career opportunities of the collaborators
•  Fear of the shadow effect, which some employees may create on relatives who work in the company
•  Non-priority internationalization
•  Failure to become aware of the founders-manager’s age limits
•  Lack of a corporate strategy for the succession of the leader

Today, many of these companies are slowed down and in difficulty for the reasons described above and, moreover, for the business slowdown due to the excessive decision-making concentration in the hands of the entrepreneur who no longer has the time and, perhaps, all the related skills the many evolving business areas, also from a technological point of view , to follow the swirling flow of the current market.

It should also be added that, since the demand for increasingly large quantities of recycled plastic material in finished products, large, forward-looking and structured companies are acquiring market share through the incorporation of recyclers , who can guarantee the supply chain. of the second raw material.

A part of these entrepreneurs understood how competitive the market is becoming, also due to the disproportion of the financial resources that the new competitors can field, but above all for the ability to network and seize all the opportunities that the market grants, therefore decides to sell the company with the aim of relaunching it or to withdraw.

Another part of entrepreneurs firmly believes in the history of their company, relying on themselves and on the tradition that has marked their path, in a sort of immutability of things, with the hope one day, as far as possible for them, let their children wear their crown and become the kings of their little kingdom.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.