Unfortunately, the conditions for operating a business in Italy remain grim. The government kills any sense of entrepreneurship by its persistence in demanding businesses and individuals forensically justify how every dollar earned and spent is allocated. If we think paperwork is bad here in Oz, it’s nothing compared to Italy. There is a bizarre paranoia within Italy that is killing all companies......eliminating the desire of companies to grow or even survive. La Pavioni is one of many small family companies with great intelligence, innovation and quality, but like many Italian companies, they can’t assemble the capital to fund the expansion. The tax laws are crippling, the bureaucracy stifling......it’s just too hard. Smeg is capital rich and like many Italian companies they end up being acquired to leverage their IP and considerable design talent. It’s a shame the co-inventor of the espresso machine falls into the hands of a global appliance player.....who’s built in coffee machine in the home are mediocre at best.....but I suppose this is better than being swallowed by a predator from another region. Sign of the times. I’m kinda surprised how LM have been so successful given the challenges with running a company based in Italy
