Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
G.P.: From what you have told me, the presence of the Peroni family diminished along with the feeling for the company that was the family’s emblem. At the same time, no internal management emerged that chose to look after the history of the company.
D.B.: That’s right. There were no managers with carte blanche: the Peroni ownership decided everything. Today we are in a period of transition, that situation is over. I don’t know if this is atypical.
G.P.: Not really. It happens in those cases where the family has been overly present, as if the world ended along with the family ownership.
Now, we need to understand what will happen: if Peroni will simply be one beer production center of a company with its heart somewhere else; or will there be an effort to keep the Peroni brewery’s specific identity.
D.B.: Yes, it’s the struggle of the future, but now we are entering a rather delicate area, and, as it isn’t my specific field of expertise, I can’t really give precise answers. In my opinion, the duty of a historical archives or a company museum is to defend the business’ history and culture. For a brewery, this also means the culture that surrounds the product. The Peroni Archives and Museum aims to be a place of cultural transmission and training for the company, the scientific community and the customers.
Visitors, especially foreigners, are amazed at the sight of the library with extensive reading material about the beer industry, as well as a section dedicated to business museums. Then there is the exhibit of historical Italian advertising; the collection of Gazzette Ufficiali or the collection of Peroni glasses, starting from the end of the 19th century. This sort of presentation is a company’s best visiting card.
G.P.: If that type of sensitivity exists, the multinational could strengthen the network of companies it has acquired. You mentioned the Pilsen museum; the Peroni museum is another identity centre; yet another will be in South Africa… so, why can’t they be connected through a glocal strategy: combining local identities with international flexibility… it could become a cultural project. Maybe it is possible to implement a strategy opposite to that of Nestlé – a multinational that destroys local identities.
D.B.: But why didn’t Nestlé do that with Perugina? Actually, in this field there are very different behaviours, but maybe this is an issue lying outside our field of interest.
G.P.: I remember the case of Poretti: it was taken over by Carlsberg that continued only two or three brands of the original firm...
D.B.: Well, if SABMiller became a cultural multinational with a glocal strategy, I would be happy. We’ll wait and see: I don’t know what will happen in this field.
G.P.: To sum up, the Peroni museum is the expression of the strong identity of a family so involved in its own business that it never created a managerial dimension. When the family had to step down to new owners, its original identity remained as a museum, no longer having a point of reference.
D.B.: I think the question is more complex. Of course, you are commenting on the defects of the Italian family capitalism, but this should be put into the context of the expansion of the multinationals, that occurred on a wide scale in the Italian food market during the 70s.
If we consider the Italian brewery section, only Forst of Merano, which also owns Menabrea beer, are Italian. The other well-known beers – Dreher, Moretti, Ichnusa – are all brands that have already taken over by multinationals.
The struggle to survive on the market has become difficult over the last few years. In this kind of market, defending the competitiveness of an Italian family business is extremely challenging: the competition might sell the same product from Nairobi to Hong Kong. The fact is that these are strategic problems that take precedence over the promotion of business culture. I can understand that the field of my activity may not be a priority!
However, the Peroni archives and museum are alive and well; they are open to the public, and are fully available for research, individual and group visits, studies and theses. Well, it would be better if the museum were in Piazza di Spagna, in the center of Rome, where the view is nicer, but we can’t have everything in life!
G.P.: And the archives is constantly in search of its own role inside the company.
D.B.: Certainly. Being closely connected to the company and having no separate identity, the archives and museum are always subject to the company’s fortunes. The important thing is that we exist, we keep going. Hanging onto the company’s leg, if you like, through good times and bad, with the kind of solidarity that doesn’t show up only at Christmas!
The use of illustrations kindly granted by Archivio storico Peroni
