1° Sino-Italian Family Enterprises Cooperation and Exchange Forum 中意瑞家族企业合作论坛 September 16 - 18

The first Sino-Italian Family Enterprises Cooperation and Exchange Forum took place in Ningbo, at S&N Hotel from September 16 to September 18, 2017. Organized by Ningbo Municipality in collaboration with AIdAF (the Italian Association of Family Enterprises) and Airaldo Piva’s Hengdian Group Europe, it represented an occasion both to Italian and Chinese family enterprises to share views and suggestions, to better know each other, keep up-to-date and establish connections. The event’s venue was particularly significant: Ningbo boasts the presence of more than 120 thousands small and medium-sized enterprises, most of them family-run businesses.

The opening ceremony saw the participation of many guests, among them the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce, representing the whole Italian system, the Swiss Consul General Alexander Hoffet and the spokespeople from the State Administration of Foreign Export Affairs, from Ningbo Municipality and Jiangbei District. Among the others, AIF Ticino and Ningbo DEDALO Business Management Co.Ltd  宁波代达罗企业管理有限公司 also contributed to organize the initiative. 

 After the opening greetings the Forum proceeded with the guest’s speeches. In particular, Professor Guido Corbetta from Bocconi University of Milan and Leader of Italian Family Enterprise Management Discipline and Prof. Gianluca Colombo from USI University and Dean of the AMC School of Management, who provided to the audience interesting research data and suggestions about the best strategies to adopt in order to be able to better manage the generational turnover within the company, followed by the keynote speech by Professor Chen Ling, Dean of Zhejiang University Institute for Entrepreneurs, who gave an insight into the history and transformation of China’s family enterprises.

The event developed in a round table discussion, in which both Italian and Chinese family-run enterprises had the possibility to share their own experience and point of view, exchanging ideas on the best practices to deal with business’ internationalization and with the transition from a family management to a national and international one. Several guests took part in the panel discussion, among them Ms. Elena Zambon, President of Italian Family Enterprise Association and Chairman of Zambon Pharmaceutical Group, Mr. Mirko Audemars, General Manager of AUDEMARS Group, Mr. Wang Xiaolun, Founder and Chairman of Zhejiang Xiaolun Pharmaceutical Equipment Co., Mrs. Feng Weiwei, Chairman of Ningbo Shining Optoelectronics Co. and Mrs. Lu Jing, Chairman of Ningbo East Royal Special Hospital Co.

Lastly, five Italian companies and five companies from Ticino were given the chance to present themselves and their own business to the public, an audience characterized by a huge Chinese attendance, confirming that even local-based companies are mostly family-run, and giving proof of the big interest they have in developing family run businesses.