CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 6 2023 18 Innovation and Internationalisation in Italy Carlo Russo is the CEO at Affariesteri.it, a consultancy aimed at helping Italian companies who want to develop their business activities abroad through international projects. As the recipient of Most Influential CEO 2023 - Tuscany (International Trade & Development), it seems like a good time to take a closer look. he founder and CEO of Affariesteri.it, Carlo Russo, is passionate about innovation and internationalisation. He is involved in not-for-profit Consulting, Management Consulting, Marketing Consulting, and Business Consulting. He is the go-to person when it comes to starting business abroad, being a specialist in defining and implementing company plans and policies, defining business strategies, and assisting organisations with their action plans in terms of budgets, investments, partnerships, and markets. Affariesteri.it can help develop trailblazing business plans fully capable of optimising business processes. It offers strategic consulting, acting as the right-hand man for its partner businesses, helping them to navigate fast turnarounds and manage difficulties. It supports Italian companies in development and transformation, intuiting advice based solely on their individual needs to offer a service that is tailor made. This creates value for companies through helping them to develop plans and create new opportunities in new geographic regions. Affariesteri.it is itself based in Italy, with locations in Milan, Florence, and Rome, but it offers internationalisation for its customer companies in many different areas. Its operations cover Italy, the Commonwealth of Independent States area (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Krgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Georgia), the Balkan regions (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania), the Gulf area (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Iran, Itaq), France, Spain, Turkey, and Malta. The team Carlos leads at Affariesteri.it, is made up from a pool of cosmopolitan experts and consultants, all operating at the highest level and with considerable experience in the field. These professionals, guided by Carlos, support projects and paths of international business for companies intending to develop or consolidate their activities abroad. Affariesteri.it acts as a partner and a problem solver, occupying the role of ‘Service Company’ alongside its customers. Constant attention is paid to changes in international economic scenarios, and all the requirements necessary to allow companies to flourish in the current global market. Carlos writes numerous social media posts about internationalisation, having lately covered topics such as female representation on boards of directors, and the current energy crisis. In a recent article he identified 3 false myths about internationalisation. The first one concerns companies thinking that to expand they need to be big. Although size Mar23637 T helps, according to Carlos it is in no way a prerequisite for going abroad. Sometimes, it can even hinder progress as large companies can be more set in their ways, making adaptation difficult. Smaller companies can be more flexible and agile. The second false myth concerns people thinking that international markets are risky. Carlos clarifies that actually investments in a new market, which are often joint shared ventures, can be significantly lower risk than domestic ones. Sometimes, for example in emerging In a global market, having excellent managers is no longer enough to internationalize a company: it is necessary to open up to external specialists. How to build a successful foreign plan for an SME? Business ‘as usual’ is no longer an option in a world characterized by economic upheaval, geopolitical crisis and climate change. As a professional with experience in international markets, I have come to the conclusion that there are key elements missing… “ “
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