I’ll tell you what happens in Conad and Coop Italia
News in large-scale distribution: Pugliese leaves the leadership of Conad after twenty years and Coop Italia decides to reorganize. The in-depth analysis by Mario Sassi, author of the Blog-Notes on work
Impossible not to grasp a connection between two apparently distant events. On the one hand, the termination of the twenty-year relationship between Francesco Pugliese and Conad and on the other the strategic reorganization of Coop Italia. The first and second large-scale retail outlets have always lived their cooperative nature with great and loyal competitiveness, albeit of a different nature. The first of entrepreneurs and the second of partners.
CONAD'S CHALLENGES
Conad seems to want to slow down, take a breather and consolidate the acquired perimeter. The rush following the acquisition of Auchan and the leadership in the national market have thoroughly committed the five cooperatives. Francesco Pugliese has probably "stressed" their respective leaderships to allow the Consortium to position itself at the top of the sector. He leaves at the highest moment of his management. Now it's up to Mauro Lusetti (ex Coop) to summarize the internal confrontation. Conad must confirm its primacy which is not made up only of numbers, relaunch itself in the political leadership of the category, be the protagonist and not a follower in the renewal of the expired National Contract, decide its own role in Confcommercio and accelerate innovative projects by completing the complex management of the Auchan affair.
THE SHADOW OF COOP ITALIA
Coop Italia has remained somewhat in the shadows in recent years. Certainly not stopped. While giving up the leadership in the standings already before the Auchan operation by the "cousins" of Bologna, it has chosen to look inside, put its strategy and objectives in order while confirming its own nature. With the latest decisions it seems ready to accelerate. The decision to definitively "consecrate" Maura Latini's career at the top of Coop Italia is a first sign. First of all, personal satisfaction, which I fully understand.
More or less in the years in which Maura Latini joined Coop during her school holidays, I joined Galbani. About the same level – the last. The satisfaction of arriving after many years in the management committee of the largest company of the Danone Group at the time in the role of human resources director was the culmination of a first phase of my professional career. In that experience I learned to observe reality from different points of view. Above all to understand people, the climate that surrounds them, the commitment that characterizes them and allows the company to achieve its objectives. So, it's true, the social elevator was working.
THE CAREER OF MAURA LATINI
Maura Latini at the age of 20 was a cashier in a Coop supermarket. A fate common to many young people of that generation. “There was something beautiful about this place full of people, colleagues, customers,” recalls Latini. A vision that makes work in the store different from all the others. Those who choose this career often start from here because the point of sale is the only place that allows you to observe the grass from the root side. A feature that is never lost again. Even when you go up the career ladder. Maura Latini reached the goal as a simple "underdog" and has been the managing director of Coop Italia since 2019. «I have climbed all the steps of the organizational ladder of a store» he declared in an interview.
From cashier to managing director of Coop Italia, a reality that boasts 1,200 points of sale in fifteen regions with a total number of 53,000 employees and over eight million members with a turnover of almost 15 billion euros. A fact that should not be underestimated. Of the 53,000 employees, 70% are women, specifically, 44-45% of department heads or shop managers are women, and around 33% are managers. In a sector, that of the large-scale distribution where, if we remain with only the executives of the approximately 700 with formal qualifications, women are 22% but the percentages do not change if we go down the hierarchical scale.
The presidency of Maura Latini is completed with Maurizio Prandi as vice president and Domenico Brisigotti as general manager. Coop looks to its future aiming at an evolution of the relationship between large-scale distribution and the upstream supply chain by focusing on the search for innovation. There is a need. I believe the challenge can be summarized in moving from the traditional centrality of the product on the shelf to that of the consumer, emphasizing the richness of the offer in terms of breadth and diversification.
The second step that should not be underestimated is the change in the structure with a more marked distinction between the functions of ANCC-Coop and Coop Italia. It is no coincidence that the next move will be Marco Pedroni's candidacy for the presidency of ANCC-Coop. ANCD-Conad and ANCC-Coop (the two associations that represent the respective cooperative systems) have both experienced a period of profound confusion. Sun go nowhere. In both cases their institutional role of protection, representation, coordination and promotion has been affected by the profound modification of the social and political context.
LARGE DISTRIBUTION IS LOOKING FOR A NEW BALANCE
The entire large-scale distribution is looking for a new balance between brands, role and simplification of representation today dispersed in a thousand streams and therefore destined not to count on the decisive tables where the future of the country is at stake. And this weakness is discounted both in relation to the upstream supply chain and with political and social interlocutors. This is no time for division and tactics.
Federdistribuzione, with the election of Carlo Alberto Buttarelli, made the first move by questioning itself and aiming for a unified perspective for the entire category. A recomposition of the front is desirable. The renewal of the national contract in progress (albeit for too long) signals an identical desire to find common ground for discussion with the trade unions in the sector. Marco Pedroni in ANCC-Coop will probably have some sort of delegation to work in that direction.
CONAD WILL ALSO HAVE TO CHOOSE
Finally, Conad will also have to choose. The choice made at the time to join Confcommercio aiming at the recomposition of the entire sector regardless of the size of the companies today, precisely with the exit of Francesco Pugliese, is at a key step. There is a political dialogue to be re-launched with the Government, a work of comparison with the upstream supply chain to be resumed and the need to find a synthesis between the brands in the common interest of the category. The conditions for going beyond the historical divisions are all there. Now it's up to the different protagonists to demonstrate their ability to act accordingly…
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/conad-coop-italia-cosa-succede/ on Sat, 24 Jun 2023 05:00:43 +0000.