Evolve by MAIRE

The Company vision that led to the successful listing of Maire Tecnimont

N° 0 - DECEMBER 2017 www.mairetecnimont.com

A QUARTERLY BY THE MAIRE TECNIMONT GROUP EDITED BY Department of Institutional Relations and Communication Registration pending at Courts of Milan EDITOR IN CHIEF Carlo Nicolais PROJECT AND DESIGN Cultur-e www.cultur-e.it EDITOR Maire Tecnimont Spa Registered Office Viale Castello della Magliana, 27 - 00148 Roma - Italia Operative Headquarters Via Gaetano De Castillia, 6A - 20124 Milano – Italia PRINTER Gam Edit Srl Via Aldo Moro, 8 - 24035 Curno BG www.gamedit.it Issue completed: 20/11/17 The rights due for published texts are available for all parties that we were not able to contact.

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EDITORIALS An Anniversary Addressing the Future

Our Industrial Strength

Editorial by Fabrizio Di Amato Chairman and Majority Shareholder, Maire Tecnimont

Editorial by Pierroberto Folgiero CEO and Managing Director, Maire Tecnimont Group

STRATEGIES Antifragile as an Opportunity

Leadership Styles

Besides resilience, one must see great opportunity in great uncertainty, explains Nassim Taleb, the 21st century Darwin.

Egon Zehnder believes that the experience in Maire Tecnimont reveals that achieving results depends on the attitude of individuals.

In the Name of Human Capital Employees Share Ownership Plans: looking at the data, our country risks coming in last in Europe. The Maire Tecnimont Plan.

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REPORTAGE Innovation Snapshots A pictorial story: people, technology and complexity at extreme latitudes.

HISTORY Our Story, Our History A chat with Carlo Nicolais, Head of Institutional Relations and Communication.

TERRITORIES A Cross-Cultural Challenge

How to Be Influential

Exploiting differences in multinationals is a success factor for managers.

An interview with Yadvinder Rana, Professor of Cross-Cultural Management at UniversitĂ Cattolica di Milano.

Focus India: Enterprise Interculture

Sustainability as a Project

The progressive integration of Tecnimont Private Limited, an Indian Company, required a cross-cultural management strategy.

An initiative to measure socio-economic benefits in favour of local communities.

MOTTOS Disseminating an Entrepreneurial Mindset A Compass to Inspire the Daily Work of Individuals.

EVOLVE | EDITORIALS

AN ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSING THE

FUTURE NÂ° 0 - DECEMBER 2017

EDITORIALS | EVOLVE

03 They represent the maintenance, development and growth of key elements of our country’s industrial heritage, in a sector that risked being acquired by foreign investors with inevitable repercussions on employment, loss of competences and consequences for the entire supply chain. hat day at the end of November 2007 really does not seem so long ago. The excitement of entering the Milan Stock Exchange in Palazzo Mezzanotte held great promise for the future. Now, ten years after the date, which marked the listing of Maire Tecnimont with a demand 1.6 times that of the global offering, it only seems natural to take a moment to review our experience since then, with a lateral look that will launch our group into the future.

This is how we conceived the project for this new magazine that we have fittingly decided to call EVOLVE. It’s a full immersion into our fundamental values: through the milestones that have led our Group to develop over 50 companies with more than 8,000 employees and collaborators. And it is all based on our company vision, on our idea of enterprise, which has contributed to the development and consolidation of the results that make us so proud. My professional commitment, which began when I was eighteen years old, led over time to the creation of Maire Tecnimont, a Group that has developed by growing organically and expanding through acquisitions, both nationally and internationally, integrating and focusing the entrepreneurial project on renowned companies. Many things have changed since the first years. The hydrocarbon processing industry, in which we are an international leader thanks to a consolidated network of companies and branches worldwide, has changed. General contracting has changed and is now becoming more complex and multicultural. And leadership styles have changed, too: managers now coordinate their employees differently and with new governance models.

Looking back on what we have done, I believe that this entrepreneurial vision has contributed to providing the stability that was necessary to develop our performance in terms of turnover, marginality and results. And, if we add to this the resolve with which we have directed our ship, the will to reach beyond our limits, the ability to integrate intuitions with competences, we can pinpoint the strategic elements that have contributed to reinforcing our original nucleus during the initial phase. As I have said on other occasions, it’s a business made of men and women, who perceive signals, move flexibly and adopt continuous innovation in processes and products. Their presence in our Group - and their exponential growth in terms of motivation and results - implies a special attention in management. In a complex sector like ours, one only reaches important results through the commitment of strong individuals with fundamental values. Maire Tecnimont management is a tight group. It is concentrated and deeply involved in providing a powerful and courageous impetus to our global entrepreneurial vision. Reviewing the course of our history, we see a series of values that keeps us optimistic about the coming challenges. Generosity in action, accompanied by a rigorous ethical behaviour code, strengthens our Group identity and makes us a fundamental protagonist of a country that exports “made in Italy” to the five continents. A part of this commitment to share experiences and results is represented by this publication you are reading. It’s a small, yet important, tool to extend our community of individuals, both within and without our Group. And to provide you, issue after issue, with a series of stimuli and narrations of a perpetually changing economic and geopolitical scenario. Happy Reading!

Fabrizio Di Amato Maire Tecnimont Chairman and Majority Shareholder

This entrepreneurial adventure has led us to develop an enterprise that is a protagonist of the so-called “pocket multinational” Italian model. It’s an agile, creative and versatile system that is recognized as one of the most evolved models for global enterprises like Maire Tecnimont, a Group operating in over 40 countries. The importance of strategic acquisitions, such as those of Fiat Engineering and Tecnimont - that we have consolidated and extended - have effects that extend far beyond the perimeter of the Maire Tecnimont Group.

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EVOLVE | EDITORIALS

few months ago, during a meeting with our directors, we quoted a famous passage by Goethe: There is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself … All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred … Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Even before innovation and clear-cut, common objectives, one must have an entrepreneurial mind-set. This is the only way to achieve challenges in these extraordinary times. In celebrating the tenth anniversary of our listing on the stock exchange, I ponder the importance and value of so-called “entrepreneurship” in our Group. Planners, engineers, chemists, finance experts and specialized attorneys are all part of an entrepreneurial body that exports a model of “made in Italy” to the entire world. It is human capital made of dinstinctive competences, technology and patents, but, above all, result-oriented brains. In fact, our story is about Italian genius and enterprise, where the intellectual abilities of individuals, together with our market approach, represent a true enterprise value that is unique and irreplicable.

And is India, too, obviously, with Tecnimont Private Limited (developed decades ago by Montecatini and then Montedison), which has two thousand engineers for initial project phases and three thousand technicians to supervise the final phases of the construction and commissioning of the plant. We are proud that - besides our technological centres in Milan, Rome, Sittard in Holland, Salzgitter in Germany, and Prague – our Mumbai Office is the Group’s main centre for detailed engineering and develops three million man-hours per year in engineering services, two-thirds of the total produced yearly by Maire Tecnimont as a whole. Thus, we are a “company of brains” that has developed hundreds of infrastructural works around the world and licensed some 1100 patents. We base our optimism for the future on our deep industrial roots, as we continue to adapt our business, intensify innovation at a time of discontinuity in the sector, and modify technology as required by the evolution of the market. As in the case of green chemistry, which is destined in the future to become a significant driver of the industry’s transformation.

When we speak about “human capital intensive,” we refer to companies without cranes, ships, production chains or presses. We intend agile, flexible and international groups like ours, with 8,000 active individuals in 50 companies, located in 40 countries across 10 time zones; companies which create employment and value, around the world, thanks to technological competences and operational potential.

From an organizational point of view, in this decade since our listing on the stock market, we have consolidated our senior management, integrating high-level professional profiles. We have radically revised our internal procedures and increased employment, hiring nearly two thousand and two hundred employees over the past three years.

Our sector, the so-called downstream of natural resources, is a complex one that is experiencing a historical period of energetic transition. Business is moving towards a tertiary sector related to talent and added value. As Italians, who have inherited engineering and design abilities from the tradition and experience of the petrochemical industry, we can look to the future as leaders. We are great exporters of culture, know-how and creativity for managing complexity. How does this reflect on the market? For Maire Tecnimont, this is evident in our strategies – which aim to expand our geographical activities – and results. First of all, in the Middle East, our second home, where thanks to the undisputed contribution made to the industrialization of the petrochemical industry, we have the opportunity to reap the investments that big local players are currently identifying in view of the stabilization of the energy scenario. The project that we have recently signed in Russia with the Gazprom Group is particularly exciting, as we are the only Italian company that will work in the new industrial area on the Chinese border. Our profound understanding of the Russian world and our engineering and operational capabilities in remote and difficult areas will allow Maire Tecnimont to act as a strong international company with a significant local presence. And with a prominent role as a locomotive for the entire supply chain of Italian SMEs producing technological components. Asia is also the peninsula of Johor in Malaysia, where we are developing two units for the production of polymers at the large Petronas Integrated Complex with development prospects in south-eastern Asia, a region that will benefit from the growing demand for exports in China and India, besides the development of the Indonesian market.

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I hope that you welcome this “number zero” of EVOLVE with curiosity and interest. It a new communication channel for the Maire Tecnimont Group. Publishing a trimestral magazine will help us focus on our mottos one by one: these are our company mantras, which were launched to accompany the ongoing cultural turnaround. It will address issues that are not meant as simplistic slogans, but rather conceived to act as true pillars for our growth as individuals and as a company through the dissemination of entrepreneurial culture. I have shared, with Chairman Di Amato, the objective of making Maire Tecnimont the Italian contractor of choice for the transformation of raw materials into derivatives for industry and agriculture with a global leadership in petrochemicals, fertilizers and refining. We can distinguish ourselves on this increasingly competitive horizon only by continuing to field our entrepreneurial culture, operational abilities, and Italian technology and engineering. And in this scenario, the single decisions made by every individual will truly make the difference.

Pierroberto Folgiero Maire Tecnimont Group CEO and Managing Director

EDITORIALS | EVOLVE

OUR

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH NÂ° 0 - DECEMBER 2017

EVOLVE | STRATEGIES

ANTIFRAGILE

AS AN OPPORTUNITY REDUCING RISK DOES NOT MEAN DECREASING VARIABILITY AND UNCERTAINTY; IN FACT, THAT IS WHERE ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS RESIDES. CAREFULLY ANALYSING “ANTIFRAGILE,” THE BEST SELLER THAT HAS MADE NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB THE 21ST CENTURY DARWIN, WE HAVE DISCOVERED THAT ENTERPRISES PROSPER AND GROW WHEN THEY ARE EXPOSED TO VOLATILITY, CHANCE, DISORDER AND STRESS FACTORS, AS WELL AS BEING DIRECTED BY MANAGERS WHO LOVE UNKNOWNS, DOUBTS AND ADVENTURE.

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STRATEGIES | EVOLVE

07 Nassim Nicholas Taleb Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an American-naturalised Lebanese philosopher, essayist, mathematician, and expert of financial mathematics. He currently is Professor of Risk Management at the University of New York. His book - “The Black Swan” - has been included by the Sunday Times amongst the books that have changed the world. Besides this book, which sold nearly three million copies, in 2012, Taleb published “Antifragile,” a new book in which he explains how uncertainty is not just a source of dangers from which we must defend ourselves, but also an element that can produce advantages. His books have been translated into 33 languages.

assim Nicholas Taleb is the closest thing there is to a guru. He is a former trader, a scholar of probability, and now the author of a best-seller, as well as a speaker and consultant who owes his fame to “The Black Swan” book (which addresses disastrous and highly improbable events that we erroneously tend to consider impossible). Although he prefers to spend his time in the solitude of his office, Nassim Nicholas Taleb is currently Distinguished Professor of Risk Management at the University of New York Polytechnic Institute. His books have been translated into 33 languages.

“Some things,” he wrote on the Sole24Ore, “prosper and grow when exposed to volatility, chance, disorder and stress factors; they love adventure, risk and uncertainty. Nonetheless, despite the omnipresence of this phenomenon, there is no word that describes the exact opposite of “fragile.” Taleb had the intuition to call it “Antifragile.” Taleb concluded by pointing out that “Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better. This quality is the basis for everything that changes over time: evolution, culture, ideas, revolution, political systems, innovation, technology, cultural and economic success, and entrepreneurial survival.”

We have chosen to write about him here because, especially in “Antifragile,” Taleb explores a new concept of enterprise, organization and management. The Lebanese author, who is now an American citizen, explains that it is impossible to have a complete understanding of the context and risks inherent in any new project. “Otherwise one would never act. Acting means pursuing a project that affects reality and alters its initial conditions.” Thus, Taleb points towards a route that philosophers once called the “just life.” He teaches us - as the book’s subtitle promises - how to prosper from “things that gain from disorder” softening his mathematical and statistical arguments with Greek philosophy, literature and a range of anecdotes.

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A N TI F R AG I L E N U G G E T S

EVOLVE | STRATEGIES

MEASURING FRAGILITY

HOW TO TAKE DECISIONS Antifragility helps us to better understand fragility. Just as we cannot improve our health without mitigating illness, or increase our wealth without first reducing loss, the mechanism of antifragility allows us to tackle decision-making processes with a wider (non-predictive) approach during periods of uncertainty in business, politics and life, in general. And this is true wherever the unknown prevails, in any situation characterised by chance, unpredictability, opacity or partial understanding.

FACING THE UNKNOWN The antifragile loves chance and uncertainty, which means it also loves mistakes – or at least certain types of errors. Antifragility has a peculiar characteristic: it allows us to face the unknown, to do things without understanding them and to do them well. Thanks to antifragility, we are better at acting than at thinking.

ANTIFRAGILE FINANCIAL CONTRACTS By just taking a look around us, it is easy to identify elements that enjoy a certain dose of stress and volatility: economic systems, our bodies, our diet, our psyche. And there even are antifragile financial contracts that are expressly conceived to gain advantage from market volatility.

It is much easier to understand if something is fragile than foreseeing an event that could damage it. Fragility can be measured, while risk cannot. In the “Black Swan,” Taleb explains how it is impossible to calculate the risk of rare events with a significant impact and predict their occurrence. It is much easier to manage sensibility to damage provoked by volatility, than to predict an event that might cause the damage.

EXPLOITING ANTIFRAGILITY Taleb proposes a series of rules that can be employed in any context or area of application to move from fragile to antifragile, to reduce fragility, or exploit antifragility. “Identifying antifragility (and fragility) is nearly always possible with a simple asymmetry test: anything that can take advantage rather than disadvantage from casual events (or shocks) is antifragile, otherwise it is fragile.”

CHANCE STRENGTHENS, PREVENTION WEAKENS By suppressing chance and volatility, we have made the economy, our health, politics, education, and practically everything else fragile. Antifragility characterises every natural system that survives; depriving it of volatility and chance can only damage it. Complex systems are weakened and even destroyed when all its stress factors are eliminated.

NAKED IN THE COLD AS TRAINING One Taleb fan wrote that speaking with him is like being trampled by a platoon of butterflies. The man who predicted the financial crisis before everyone else, the one who is hated by bankers, explains why he wears the Vibram “FiveFingers” shoes. He likes to write standing up. On some winter mornings, he steps outside practically naked “for two-three minutes, as long as I can stand it.” It’s all part of the training to become antifragile and be prepared to confront “black swans.”

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STRATEGIES | EVOLVE

09 BOTTOM-UP IS BETTER Our modern and highly structured world has often harmed us with top-down policies which represent an obstacle to system antifragility. As in the case of neurotic and over-protective parents, those who try to help us, often end up harming us. While nearly everything that is top-down increases fragility (blocking antifragility and growth), processes that work their way upwards from the bottom tend to flourish. The very process of discovery is influenced by the antifragile art of experimentation and an aggressive assumption of risk, rather than regular instruction or technological processes aimed at innovation.

ANTIFRAGILITY AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHERS The greatest factor of social fragility, which is also the main generator of crises, is our dislike of taking risks. In other words, we become antifragile at the expense of others by profiting from volatility, change and disorder and, vice versa, by exposing others to the risk of loss or damage.

TRY AND TRY AGAIN “If I jump from a ten-meter-high theatre balcony, I will probably die or suffer significant injury,” Taleb points out, “but if I divide that jump into ten parts, they become ten, small, one-meter jumps and I can accomplish them with the same abilities I use to walk.” Trying and trying again, failing and starting again should be the basis for entrepreneurial success, but in some cultures, this is practically a taboo. Instead, we must “embrace failure” as a fundamental element for success.

START-UPS AND RESTAURANTS A start-up is antifragile: before it works, it may fail nine times, just like a cat. And this is also true for restaurants in New York. The sacrifice of those that have shut down, saves those that remain. This is true in Silicon Valley, too, which benefits from its mistakes – at least, until dotcoms decide to be listed on the stock exchange.

NEW YORK AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH New York is antifragile, according to Taleb. It was built to resist adversity. It has suffered crises, terrorism and hurricanes, but has always survived. However, the most antifragile system in human history is that of the Catholic Church, because it is founded on the principle of subsidiarity. Any decision can be made at the lowest level.

REDUCING RISK The rapid transformation of contemporary economics drives us towards a fundamental error: trying to minimize risk by reducing volatility. However, it is the latter that conceals elements necessary for success and the ability to survive.

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EVOLVE | STRATEGIES

WEB AND GOOD TECHNOLOGY At present, the web is antifragile because it benefits from its many errors. If it was controlled by the government, it would become fragile. Hardly anyone uses computers anymore. Tablets have become successful because they resemble an ancestral form of writing on stone tablets. In fact, Taleb considers good technology to be that which destroys old technology thanks to models that embrace our primary gestures.

GLOSSARY Fragilista Someone who causes fragility because he thinks he understands what’s going on and who usually lacks sense of humour. Often, Fragilistas fragilize variability-loving systems by depriving them of variability and error-loving systems of errors. They tend to mistake organisms for machines and engineering projects.

Naturalistic Risk Management

WATER OR WINE

The belief that, when it comes to risk management, mother nature has a much, much more significant track record than rationalistic humans. It is imperfect, but much better.

Every semester, Taleb takes his students to his favourite Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. Once, a Chinese student, who had never drunk wine before, mixed a fine red wine with water and the indignant sommelier took the bottle away. “Either wine or water. No mixes!” He was right. It’s the Law of the Scale: “In finance, a combination of low and high risk is robust, but not medium risk!” This is also true at work. “Pursue two careers, one that is not very satisfying and one you love. Work as an accountant, but write a novel, like Primo Levi.”

A CRISIS-RESISTANT TAXI DRIVER An example: two fifty-year-old twins live in similar environments and earn the same amount of money. The difference is that one has been working in the same company for thirty years and receives a salary. The other twin works as a taxi driver and what he earns is the result of endless negotiations, market analyses, intuitions and opportunities. “Who do you think will resist better during a crisis?” The answer is the taxi driver, because he is more antifragile. “The employee is fragile, because he is actually immobile,” while the taxi driver is antifragile. He “earns from disorder” because he is exposed to a range of stress elements that characterise his occupation and that allow him to grow and survive by adapting to the environment.

Naïve Interventionism Intervention which disregards “iatrogenics,” harm done by healers as, for example, when a doctor does more harm than good. The preference, or even obligation, to “do something” rather than nothing. While this instinct may be beneficial in emergency rooms or ancestral environments, it hurts in others in which there is an “expert problem.”

Empedocles’ Tile A dog always sleeps on the same tile because of a natural, biological, explainable or non-explainable affinity, confirmed by long series of recurrent frequentation. We may never know the reason, but the affinity is there.

Narrative Fallacy Our need to fit a story or pattern to a series of connected or disconnected facts. Its statistical application is data mining.

Subtractive Prophecy Predicting the future by removing what is fragile from it rather than naively adding to it. It’s an application of the “via negative” (concentrating on what something is not, on an indirect definition. In practice, it is a recipe for what to avoid, what not to do).

Sources: • Nassim Taleb, “Antifragile”, Il Saggiatore • Nassim Taleb, “Lezioni di finanza antifragile”, Il Sole24Ore • Stefano Feltri, “Manifesto contro la stabilità”, Il Fatto Quotidiano • Laura Piccinini “Viva lo stress”, D - la Repubblica • Marco Boscolo, “Nassim Taleb: ecco le tecnologie che trionferanno”, Wired • Federico Rampini, “Per uscire dalla crisi economica serve il coraggio di sbagliare”, La Repubblica

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Glossary source: Nassim Taleb, “Antifragile”, 2012.

STRATEGIES | EVOLVE

HOW

ANTIFRAGILE Admiral Yi Sun Sin, considered a Korean hero, who died in 1598 during the Battle of Noryang.

English Counter Admiral Nelson at Alexandra, Egypt in 1798, facing the French ships.

Arabic Warlord Tariq, who in 711 sailed from Morocco to Gibraltar and said to his men: “The sea is behind us, the enemy in front of us. There are just a few of you, all you have is your sword and your courage.”

Those which precede the arrival of your mother-in-law for Sunday lunch.

A sensation of nausea you experience at the gym after running for 10 kilometres.

The lack of breath we experience when we try to pick up our luggage from airport conveyer belts.

A child falling face first after tripping on his grandmother’s carpet.

A stimulus to purchase new items that are destined to lose their novelty, especially in comparison to newer ones.

What is Seneca’s Scale?

The Greek Commander Themistocles in 480 BC at Salamina during the battle with the Persian fleet led by Xerxes.

What is the “Tapis Roulant” Effect?

Who said, “Burn your vessels”?

ARE YOU?

A tool that is widely used in gyms for weight lifting and body-building.

His pupil, Gaio Musonio Rufo, who held the scale for Seneca when he weighed himself.

A long, thin rod with weights on either end used by tight-rope walkers to keep their balance.

A situation in which there are more advantages than disadvantages by simply keeping extreme negative results (emotional damage) in check, rather than improving elements in the middle.

What are stress factors?

Job uncertainty for a manager who is put to work with a younger colleague.

Those experienced by a future engineer the night before his Construction Science Exam.

An expression that is related to Seneca and Ovid, who believed that genius arises from need and success from difficulty, or to Publilio Siro who believed that “Poverty drives man to try many things.”

What was the main strength of Imperial Rome? Emperor Caligula who was known as such because he usually wore caliga, typical Roman sandals.

Francesco Totti who scored 250 goals in the Italian Premiere League.

The architecture of the E42 Area, later renamed EUR for “Esposizione Universale di Roma”.

The right answer is always D. N° 0 - DECEMBER 2017

Its enormous ability to try, fail and try again in a continuous cycle. This strenght was not based on a reasoning, but on the experience matured in misfortune.

EVOLVE | STRATEGIES

LEADERSHIP STYLES “ITALIAN MANAGERS ARE VERY CREATIVE AND CAPABLE OF RESOLVING CRITICAL ISSUES, BUT THEY MUST PUT MORE EFFORT INTO EXPLOITING TALENT.” THE MAIRE TECNIMONT EXPERIENCE REVEALS HOW THE ACHIEVEMENT OF RESULTS DEPENDS ON THE ATTITUDES OF INDIVIDUALS. HERE IS A CONTRIBUTION BY EGON ZEHNDER’S SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM, WHICH WORKED WITH OUR GROUP. n an extremely complex and rapidly changing world, only those who are committed to sharing responsibility and power will manage to guide companies through this phase of re-equilibrium of the global economy. Leadership is one of the most important competences for the managers of the future. Managers will have to manage complexity by demonstrating they know how to involve and adequately motivate all the resources in an organization.

In order to transform experience (schools attended, knowledge of markets and technology, management of complexity) into concrete results, a leader must cultivate his or her soft skills in terms of thinking (strategic approach, market knowledge), business (driven by results and clients) and organization (collaboration and ability to influence, organizational competences, team leadership, drive towards change and inclusion). How, then, should we face an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (so called VUCA) world? On the one hand, managers must act as true agents of change, stimulating creativity and innovation and emotionally charging their teams; however, they must also generate strategic objectives and connect their enterprise with the external world and its stakeholders. On the other, they have to develop intellectual curiosity, insight, determination and engagement. In fact, as explained by Harvard Professor Robert Kegan in reference to “Immunity to change,” a leader must overcome the resistance to change that sometimes inhibits an individual’s full potential. This is the only way to enact a management style that is adequate to changing circumstances and particularly to the so-called “Exponential Organizations” in the digital sector that register non-linear growth rates. Our experience as advisors to the world of enterprises reveals that over 80% of medium-large Italian companies evaluates the professional and managerial performance of their employees. Half of them integrates these evaluations with training and feedback interviews for individual improvement. Mentoring and coaching? Only 20% of enterprises supports their managers in this case. Thus, there is an understanding of the importance of human capital: one of the key elements to entrepreneurial success, in fact, is the development and assessment of individuals. However, if we measure the degree to which the business community is truly aware of the importance of developing processes, systems and methods to improve the efficacy of teams, we discover that the issue of collective leadership is not homogeneous and only present in the most advanced contexts.

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STRATEGIES | EVOLVE

13 Nonetheless, we believe that the value of a company (and its ability to achieve better results than its competitors) is intrinsically based on the individual qualities of its employees and the collective quality of its teams. In other words, the excellence of human capital at the individual level is both a premise and a necessary condition for the success of an enterprise, but only if it takes place and develops dynamically through efficient and effective teams.

The Maire Tecnimont Experience On average, Italian managers are creative and capable of thinking laterally. They face emergencies correctly, are sensible to politico-social contexts, possess a good social intelligence and are equipped to manage complexity. However, they are not very international (not inclined to working abroad and not very good at other languages). They are only weakly process-driven and more interested in relations than tasks. They are not very good at delegating tasks, have little human resources development culture, and are weak both with communications and direct feedback. Thus, it is necessary to overcome the typical polarity between creativity/innovation, on the one hand, and structure/processes, on the other. As Egon Zehnder, our understanding of the Maire Tecnimont Group dates back to 2011-12, when during an initial evaluation of key resources, we met with 40 first and second-level managers. At that time, the Group revealed commercial weaknesses and needed to improve the monitoring of economic-financial aspects. However, the management was strongly motivated and its technical-operational competences were solid and widespread. At a time when it was necessary to create a Group identity and define its strategic mission, the company was burdened by the management of an emergency that absorbed all of its energy. Some areas were even uncertain of the Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future.

EVOLVE | STRATEGIES

The management team was exposed to a greater complexity - in terms of dimension, markets, geographies, products and services - than ever faced before. In short, it was a typical scenario of complexity for a company that had expanded too quickly and externally. Processes needed to be redefined and perfected. The Group had heterogeneous leadership development systems (a result of the different company roots) and typical professional development procedures for the sector, with long vertical careers, a marked passion for technical content and less attention to the managerial and global economic/financial dimension. After having (at the time) strongly recommended the company look beyond its daily difficulties and concentrate on the future and the Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity, synergies, managerial dimension and corporate governance, we met again, five years later, with 31 managers (first and second level). Only 12 managers were from the previous project. Thanks to a profound managerial turnover - starting with the appointment of Pierroberto Folgiero as Group CEO - and a significant improvement in its assets, the results had significantly improved and pointed towards a trend of persistant and consistent growth. And this was also due to the significance that had been given to communication, at all levels.

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STRATEGIES | EVOLVE

TEAM PACT Projects are at the centre and Project Managers are the custodians of the common goal. Project Managers are not alone: they lead, take responsibility and are supported by staff. Staff must take a step back and work for the common good of a project. Project Managers must exercise authority, competence and experience. We invest in the involvement and growth of our people. We acquire, integrate and develop competences for the challenges of the future. We create a culture of dialogue and feedback: let’s tear down barriers. We promote change and consolidate experience. Let’s get our hands dirty to create added value. We are the masters of our future: let’s fill the blank page.

The Group’s strategic objectives and its teams’ goals had become very clear. Today, the Group is proud and ambitious. It is experiencing a positive period and this energy must be used to drive the transformation of behaviours and procedures with a greater sense of co-responsibility. The strong orientation towards external markets, accompanied by an interest in everything new, is evident. Moreover, the management team has also advanced in terms of efficiency and economic/financial aspects are monitored closely. Thus, we can conclude that Maire Tecnimont now has a management team that presents all the typical strengths of Italian DNA (creativity, innovation, people skills), but has also made significant progress in the right direction (orientation and structuring of processes, task orientation, development of human resources, and communication). However, there still are areas that must be developed and on which the management is concentrating.

The unanimous agreement on the top objectives to be pursued is proven by the “Team Pact” (see box). The Group, which is well aware of the complexity and rapid evolution of markets, has chosen to undertake a process of self-evaluation, both at critical moments and during more favourable periods. And this demonstrates its “resilience” and its ability to regenerate itself to secure its acquired leadership in reference markets. The Egon Zehnder team

Since 1964, Egon Zehnder, with more than 440 consultants in 69 offices and 41 countries around the globe, works closely with public and private corporations, non-profit and government agencies to provide advisory services, leadership succession planning, executive search and assessment, and leadership development.

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EVOLVE | STRATEGIES

IN THE NAME

HUMAN CAPITAL

ewarding, fair and sustainable are the words that describe the Maire Tecnimont 2016-18 Employees Share Ownership Plan, to apply and promote meritocracy and involvement. The company, in fact, offered free shares to its employees in Italy, India, Holland, Germany, United Kingdom and Russia, based on the achievement of given company objectives. How did it work out? It was a success. In the first cycle (2016), out of a total of 4,270 potential beneficiaries (more than 50% abroad), over 96% decided to participate in the plan. And the 97% participation and 4,180 applications for the second cycle allow us to confirm its success. Certainly, the initiative provides each employee with the opportunity to benefit from the increase in company shares prices, but a careful analysis reveals that there is far more to it. The share ownership plan is a tool that Maire Tecnimont uses to confirm its company philosophy: the employee is at the centre.

MAIRE TECNIMONT DECIDED TO OFFER ITS SHARES, FREE OF CHARGE, TO ALL ITS EMPLOYEES. LOOKING AT THE SHARE PLAN DATA OF THE MAIN 150 LISTED ITALIAN COMPANIES, OUR COUNTRY MAY RISK COMING IN LAST IN EUROPE.

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Human capital is considered an asset that can generate value through technical-professional abilities, knowledge and competences, and, above all, the motivation and commitment towards strategic challenges, both present and future. Thus, the plan extends the opportunity to participate in company stock to all employees, aligning their interests with those of stockholders and stakeholders, pursuing the objective of creating value over the long term and strengthening the sense of belonging to the Group. The analysis of the share ownership plan reveals two significant elements: the universality and sharing of responsibility. In fact, the initiative addresses all employees and is based on the assignment of rights for each year for the duration of the plan (2016-18), as well as the possibility, for all beneficiaries, to receive Maire Tecnimont shares based on the overall profitability of the Group. In this context, company results represent the “sum” of the commitment of individuals and could generate a “collective plus” by achieving company targets. Another key element is retention: to strengthen long-term employee-company bonds, the plan requires the shares to be kept for at least 36 months before being sold. And, during this period, the beneficiaries are effectively company shareholders and, as such, benefit from all the rights reserved to shareholders.

STRATEGIES | EVOLVE

Italy Still Has a Long Way to Go There are not many companies in Italy that have implemented a share ownership plan similar to Maire Tecnimont’s, which stands out for the allocation of free shares to all its employees. Notwithstanding the fact that this may be a winning formula, one which improves the company environment and reinforces employee participation through an increase in the productivity and profitability of the company, in this matter Italy is not yet aligned with other European countries. In fact, in Europe, 92% of listed companies have implemented a share ownership plan for their employees, while, in Italy, share ownership plans are extremely limited and mostly reserved for only CEOs and/ or top management. In the main 150 listed Italian companies, on average, employee participation (excluding the executive level) is 0.44%, far below the French market (3.88% out of 250 listed companies) and that in the United Kingdom (1.6% out of the top 531). In Italy, there are very few share ownership plans and, unlike Maire Tecnimont’s, they hardly ever involve employees.

This trend was confirmed for 2016, too. Again, unlike Maire Tecnimont, major Italian companies such as Assicurazioni Generali, Campari, Ferragamo, Prysmian, Unicredit and Telecom only involved company management in their share plans or sold shares at discounted prices.

GLOSSARY Employees Share Ownership Plan

Employees

A form of retribution and an incentive plan for company employees, who acquire the right/faculty to acquire their company’s shares, either free or paid, through a specific plan.

People who have an open-ended professional contract with Maire Tecnimont and/or its subsidiaries.

Maire Tecnimont Employees Share Ownership Plan The plan envisages the assignment of rights each year for the duration of the plan (2016-18). All employees receive free Maire Tecnimont shares based on the Group overall profitability.

Rights The rights assigned to beneficiaries who can receive shares at the end of every plan year, based on the achievement of given performance objectives.

Lock-up Period A period of three years from allocation of the shares during which the shares may not be sold.

Performance Objectives

Ordinary shares of Maire Tecnimont as listed on the stock exchange.

Indicate The objectives required by the plan to effectively allocate shares to each beneficiary.

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INNOVATION SNAPSHOTS “The Middle East is our second home. Thanks to the contribution made to industrialization by the petrochemical industry, we have the opportunity to work on future investments with major local players.”

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Polymers Plant, Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

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Polypropylene Plant, Omsk, southwestern Siberia.

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“Our profound understanding of the Russian world and our engineering and operational capabilities in remote and difficult areas will allow us to act as an international company with a significant local presence.”

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“The contracting sector has changed and is now increasingly complex and multicultural. The ability to manage complexity is fundamental.”

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Operations for transport of a reactor, Tobolsk, Russian Federation.

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Product Storage Area, Urea Plant, Le Havre, France.

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REPORTAGE | EVOLVE

“We are placing our stakes on technology and innovation to transform raw materials into derivatives for industry and agriculture.”

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“Our business is made by men and women. Together with their competences, they create an entrepreneurial body that exports a model of made in Italy to the world.”

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OUR

STORY,

OUR

HISTORY CARLO NICOLAIS, HEAD OF INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATION OF THE GROUP, DESCRIBES THE DAILY COMMITMENT OF A MULTINATIONAL THAT BRINGS TOGETHER DIFFERENT CULTURES AND COMMON INTERESTS.

ecnimont, Stamicarbon, KT. And Italy, India, Holland, Germany. Nobel Prize winner Giulio Natta and the great scientific tradition of Italian chemical engineering. “Can we say it? It is not easy to explain, every day to a different counterpart, the history and cultural growth of Maire Tecnimont, a multinational of Italian origin with such vast and heterogeneous know-how and declinations.” Between one meeting and another, we had the chance to speak with Carlo Nicolais, Head of Institutional Relations and Communication of the Group, who has been with the company since 2006. His job is anything but easy: his team must always be ready to develop new messages for the different audiences that change according to contexts and geographical locations. We are as curious as our readers to understand how it is possible to maintain an equilibrium and produce flexible, yet efficient, communication for an enterprise that is growing quickly and has such a prestigious historical DNA. “When we present our company to the public,” explains Nicolais, “we never miss the opportunity to start from the excellence of our technical-scientific know-how. Italy has enjoyed an excellent global reputation, both in the field of engineering, in general, and more specifically in the energy industry, ever since Enrico Mattei fought to conquer a prominent role for our country. Today, the history of Maire Tecnimont – of important acquisitions such as Fiat Engineering, Tecnimont, and others – reinforces our credibility and authority in the complex field of hydrocarbon processing. Moreover, our cultural approach, the typical management style of Italian engineers, overcomes diffidence and helps us to create the constructive environment that is necessary to focus on projects.” It wasn’t easy for the Group communications team to forge a new language based on different dimensions, enterprise cultures and work dynamics, especially during the initial years of Maire Tecnimont, when company models - inherited from traditional industrial groups - had to merge with the entrepreneurial story of a new generation (introduced by Fabrizio Di Amato) and a far more “familiar” dimension. “Today, this has become a strength,” explains Nicolais. “Our engineers are the ambassadors of a young and dynamic company. However, they can also rely on the wealth and excellent competences inherited through our historic experience in Chemical Engineering. And this is an asset, by no means a burden on creativity or storytelling.

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30 Different Targets, Efficient Messages The discussion extends to the diverse communicational styles that must be employed with different audiences: the “Community of Technicians,” the large energy companies that are our clients (with different international standards and regional characteristics), our industrial partners, the vast system of Italian and foreign suppliers, use a language that is enriched by a series of numbers and codes. “However, when we deal with external parties - such as journalists, institutional representatives and the financial community – we have to mediate, providing, on the one hand, terminology that is comprehensible to a greater audience and, on the other, a translation of technicisms through footnotes and glossaries.” Nonetheless, it is not just a language issue: even the message must be focused on the counterpart. “If we look at the financial world, that type of counterpart appreciates the fact that Maire Tecnimont’s embodies the story of a so-called “asset light” company in terms of invested capital. By this, I mean that the Group’s assets are not really machines, plants and vehicles, but the intellectual and design capabilities of our engineers. If, instead, we are referring to our major clients, we shift the emphasis to the role of the entrepreneur who, as a majority shareholder, is personally exposed to represent the company.” Coming back to an “institutional” audience, Nicolais points out how, in certain geographical areas, the sensitivity of a minister or head of government are necessarily different from what we are used to in Italy, where Maire Tecnimont is headquartered. “It is very important when holding talks with an institutional representative in the Middle East, India or Russia, to transmit the narration of an enterprise culture that is interested in the positive consequences that it will have locally. Our soon to be published Sustainability Report reveals how careful we are about measuring social and environmental impact, as well as addressing the issue of local value-distribution through our larger projects.” Then there is the media, an always careful and varied audience. “Having to simplify their message, journalists start with stock exchange indices and financial parameters. However, if there is the opportunity to delve deeper into the subject, we provide a pleasant surprise to these information brokers, who discover about distant countries, technology, and the story of men and women who face these great challenges like an epic adventure.

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It’s a part of Italy that works abroad and that is often not enough communicated. Our task is cultural and it’s not easy, but we face it with great enthusiasm. We operate in a sector on the border between energy and manufacturing; thus, it is fundamental to narrate the positive value that the world of chemical engineering plays in terms of research and innovation.” The effort to find the right words to describe a company is a service that is driven by the ideas we receive from the various areas of the Group, which contribute to consolidate a culture that is also “enterprise spirituality.” Maire Tecnimont is composed by a community of individuals who find their identity in the excellence of our technical quality and our drive towards economic results, together with our responsibility towards the external world and the future. These are issues that are rooted in the history of Olivetti and which characterize the very soul of our enterprise. Thus, it’s an extremely vast and intercultural narration, but the strengths and basic company values are fully recognisable in it. And they can be replicated in the future.

HISTORY | EVOLVE

Fiat Engineering This was the civil and plant construction division of the Fiat Group. Originally created in the 1930s to design and construct automobile production plants, Fiat Engineering developed specialist competences in cogeneration and combined cycle plants, both in Italy and abroad, particularly in the Middle East and Latin America. Moreover, it also focused on infrastructural projects, such as the design of high-speed rail lines and innovative metropolitan subways systems. Following a precise strategy aiming to integrate some of the main Italian engineering excellences into a single new Group, in February 2004, Fabrizio Di Amato’s Maire acquired Fiat Engineering from the Fiat Group. At the time, Fiat Engineering was ten times larger than Maire. This allowed the company to become a general contractor and begin working abroad, too, in the energy sector and on civil infrastructures.

Tecnimont Its precursors designed and built plants for the chemical and petroleum industry, both in Italy and abroad, for over 50 years, establishing a record for turnkey engineering works, procurement, and construction projects around the world. Tecnimont was a long-standing Milanese engineering company created by Montecatini-Montedison, which operated worldwide in the processing of hydrocarbons (with a historical leadership in terms of polyethylene and polypropylene). The context is that of the great Italian scientific tradition in Chemical Engineering, which descends from Nobel Prize winner Giulio Natta (1903-1979), the inventor of polypropylene (the so-called “Italian plastic”), which was first synthesized in 1954 at the Milan Polytechnic. After the 1966 merger between Edison (active since 1883 in the production of electric energy) and Montecatini (active since 1888 in the chemical sector and a historical pillar of the Italian Chemical Industry), Tecnimont evolved as the Engineering and Development Division of the Montedison Group, absorbing its tradition of scientific research in close collaboration with local industrial systems capable of engineering laboratory innovation.

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32 2005

The Birth of Maire Tecnimont

With the acquisition of Tecnimont from Edison (which is considered the second most important merging & acquisition operation in Italy and received the KPMG M&A Award in 2006), the new company expanded its activities into the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical sectors, soon becoming an international leader thanks to its consolidated global network of companies and branches. These acquisitions safeguarded and reinforced a long-standing heritage of engineering competences, keeping them rooted in Italy. In fact, the two companies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which were already marginal in their original industrial groups (Fiat and Edison) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; risked being acquired by foreign investors, posing the concrete risk of a loss in employment, decrease in competences and damage to the entire supply system. Moreover, by placing Italian engineering excellence at the centre, the industrial vision at the basis of the project allowed the creation of a new international platform that is capable of promoting its entire range of services and competences with greater efficacy, as well as on new markets.

2007

IPO on the Stock Exchange Two years after the merger, Maire Tecnimont decided to increase its international visibility and extend its ownership through its listing on the Italian stock exchange. The IPO project, completed in November 2007, marked a further milestone in corporate evolution in terms of a culture promoting transparency and verifiable results. The operation, with a demand 1.6 times the global offering, was met with great interest by institutional investors in North America, England and Northern Europe, as well as with various important Italian investment funds. The listing provided new resources for further strategic investments.

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2008

Tecnimont ICB India The Indian company is the Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most important international engineering centre. Developing an intense collaboration between India in Italy over the course of the years, today, the Mumbai Office provides Maire Tecnimont with capabilities on par with the office in Milan. Between the end of 2007 and the beginning of the next year, completing the acquisition of the company then called Tecnimont ICB (which was already controlled for 50% with a local partner), Maire Tecnimont obtained full control of an engineering reality with the greatest number of employees in its global network.

2009

Stamicarbon More than 50% of the global market of urea (the main component of nitrogen-based fertilizers) is protected by patents and licenses owned by Stamicarbon, a Dutch company that began operating in the coal sector in the nineteen-forties and then specialized in fertilizer chemistry during the following decade. In 2009, Maire Tecnimont acquired from the Dutch industrial-mining colossus DSM, the company headquartered in Sittard, thereby entering the world of technology. In this way, the Group consolidated the strategic vision according to which the true value of a European engineering and contracting company is determined by its distinctive and technological competences, allowing it to emerge on a global market on which new competitors appeared daily in Eastern Asia (Korea, China, India).

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2010

KT-Kinetics Technology In 2010, Maire Tecnimont completed the acquisition of the Rome-based engineering company KT - Kinetics Technology S.p.A. (formerly Technip KTI), an EPC Contractor active in the Oil & Gas sector. This allowed the Group to draw on significant technological and process engineering competences in refining and gas treatment. The acquisition of KT (recognized in April 2011 as the best Italy-Italy operation by the KPMG M&A Award) brought new value to Italian excellence, reinforcing the supply system and inserting the company into an international engineering Group. The entrance of KT - Kinetics Technology completed an important new milestone for the Group, integrating “noble” competences in key segments of hydrocarbon processing, such as furnaces and hydrogen and desulphurization plants.

2011 - 2015

The Group Turnaround In 2011, Maire Tecnimont reorganized its offices in Northern Italy and officially inaugurated its new global Group Headquarters at the innovative “Torri Garibaldi” Complex in Milan. In 2013, in concomitance with its recapitalisation, the Group began a reorganization of its top management and launched a new plan to reposition its business together with a deleveraging programme. In October 2015, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Maire Tecnimont, the Group held a brilliant event, illuminating its towers and gathering all its collaborators together for the first time for the “TEN TO ONE: Toward the Future”, launching its new strategic vision based on the Group’s values.

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Ten Years of Maire Tecnimont Revenues

2007

2017 (e)

1,981

3,500 *

In € million

* Market Consensus

Backlog

2007

2017

4,196

7,633

In € million

as of September 30, 2017

Employees

2007

2017 5,400 + 3,000 E&I professionals

Countries

Companies

3,614

8,400

2007

2017

2007

2017

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OUR MAIN Salzgitter TPI Engineering Center

Milan GROUP HEADQUARTERS Tecnimont HQs Engineering Center

Sittard Stamicarbon HQs Engineering Center

Houston Mexico City Lagos

São Paulo Local Headquarters

Santiago

Projects

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TERRITORIES | EVOLVE

OFFICES Rome KT HQs Engineering Center

Mumbai Tecnimont Pvt. Ltd. HQs Engineering Center

Moscow Beijing Cairo

Abu Dhabi Kuala Lumpur

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A CROSS-CULTURAL

CHALLENGE

EXPLOITING DIFFERENCES IN MULTINATIONALS IS A SUCCESS FACTOR THAT HELPS MANAGERS TO CREATE SYNERGIES AND DRIVE BUSINESS GROWTH.

t’s not easy to coordinate work by individuals and managers from different cultures. And it is all the more complicated if, besides their cultural education, they speak different languages and have different traditions and professional habits, as well as perceiving the passage of time in a different way, experiencing a diverse bond with the company, conceiving a different respect for hierarchy and relations with stakeholders and, in fact, have a whole other approach to a single corporate vision. Today, however, globalisation forces multinationals to confront the issue of cross-cultural management daily. For a large company, running operating simultaneously in Italy, Europe, Russia, Asia and the Middle East, with offices, research centres and work sites in all of these areas, this represents an even greater challenge. It is something that surpasses the sum of the required competences; in fact, it is an ingredient that alone can degree the success or failure of an entire project.

The commitment of training individuals and identifying adequate solutions must not however only turn to inside the group’s boundaries. In this sense, Maire Tecnimont, to mention a known example, does not limit itself to analysing, mapping and coordinating cultural differences amongst individuals operating in the Group, but also studies a correct approach to employ externally with clients, partners and suppliers. It’s an exciting challenge for our managers and requires the development of skills related to communications (both oral and written), flexibility and understanding of local competences (the tendency in our sector is to use local resources and subcontractors) and geographical differences. In fact, many team managers decide to relocate to remote regions along with their families. In the following pages of this section, dedicated to operations around the world, you will discover, in greater detail, the experience of our Group in India, where the process of cultural integration required the adoption of specific strategies, work on identity and a shared development of careers. First, however, there is an interesting interview with Yadvinder Rana, Professor of Cross-Cultural Management at Universita’ Cattolica of Milan. Prof. Rana, who is of Indian origin, explains what it means, for a western manager, to work in such a complex Asian country with a Hinduist social system and a strong British professional influence. Today, more than ever before, in the digital era with global enterprises and increasingly rapidly evolving markets, leading a multicultural team is a great challenge that must be mastered over time.

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HOW TO BE

INFLUENTIAL AN INTERVIEW WITH YADVINDER RANA, PROFESSOR OF CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT AT UNIVERSITA’ CATTOLICA OF MILAN. “TO INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS ONE NEEDS PEOPLE SKILLS, CREDIBILITY AND EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION.” Professor Yadvinder, based on your experience, what is the international outlook of Italian groups operating in different continents? How do our enterprises work abroad? The answer is not simple. In general, the process of internationalisation is subject to the “chicken and egg” conundrum: should I first look for clients in a country and then invest or should I first create a structure that will satisfy the needs of clients? In general (and it is a generalisation), Italian companies have not focused on their internationalisation strategy. If I find a client, I’ll work in a given country. If I have no clients there, it’s not worth investing there, now. Any strategy addressing operations in a new country must consider that returns will not materialise in the short term. It’s hard to reach break-even in 12-18 months. In your university courses on cross-cultural management, you address the issue of the cultural dimensions that characterise the thoughts, reasoning, communications and behaviour of individuals. Why is it so important to graph these points? Going abroad, the two fundamental variables that must always be kept in mind are the language and the distance. These are the main barriers that hinder efficient communication. Understanding cultural dimensions helps to reduce the gap and devise more efficient strategies.

You explain the tools that are necessary to efficiently manage a cross-cultural team. If managers are not able to exercise a direct hierarchical authority, how can they still develop a team spirit and improve collaboration amongst individuals from different cultures and countries? It is fundamental to reduce the “distance” amongst the various members of an international team. Nowadays, most organisations, even those that are not multinationals, are at least multi-site. And, in the case of international projects, language and distance barriers loom larger. Therefore, it is fundamental to pay close attention to team dynamics, trying to create a relation amongst the members (possibly spending some time together in an informal setting before the official project kick-off). At the same time, it is necessary to establish the “game rules” and define processes and procedures for all members to follow.

Yadvinder Rana A Professor of Cross-Cultural Management at Università Cattolica of Milan, Yadvinder is a prime example of interculturalism. He was born in Italy from Indian parents and attended schools in Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United States. He has worked in 8 different countries across four continents. Professor Rana has worked with the FIAT Group managing international projects during the merger between Case and New Holland, Iveco and Renault V.I. and the joint venture between Fiat Auto and GM.

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40 Lateral leadership is the ability to influence individuals on which one does not have hierarchical authority.

In multinationals, there often is a doubt about whether there is more value in the model that tends to “homologate,” rather than that which prefers to “enforce.” How do you believe a point of equilibrium can be achieved to drive a sense of belonging? What are the main values of the two different models? It is renowned that while certain companies choose to reproduce their same vision (values, strategies, communications, etc.) in all group companies (even in distant countries), others prefer to leave more space for cultural differences and implement different organisational models based on the geographical location. In my opinion, it is fundamental that a company have clear, well-defined values. The problem is that many organisations do not communicate these values efficiently throughout the entire structure. However, these values can be adapted to local contexts. So, the answer is that both are important.

Focusing on India, where the main Maire Tecnimont Engineering Centre abroad with over 2,000 employees is located, based on your personal and professional life, could you define an Indian leadership style? What are its distinctive managerial traits? India is a very complex country. Managers live in a Hinduist social system, but at work the British influence is very strong. In general, the style of Indian leadership is very different from the European one. In Europe, the style is more democratic, while in India it is more Paternalistic. The manager is the father figure at the office, who makes the decisions and waits for them to be completed. In exchange, the manager provides “reassurance.” If the collaborator has a problem, even a personal one, the manager will do everything possible to help out. Let’s conclude by speaking about communication tools. What should there be, in your opinion, in a company magazine that is read both internally and externally by various stakeholders in different continents? At the international managerial level, it would be interesting to share the specific experiences of those who have expatriated, while local managers could provide information and suggestions on how to improve communication in specific countries.

Coming back to your university courses, in a nutshell, what is lateral leadership and in which contexts should it be applied? Lateral leadership is the ability to influence individuals on whom one does not have hierarchical authority. It requires three key elements: personal credibility, people skills and the ability to communicate efficiently. Without credibility, one cannot influence others; without relations, one cannot lead others.

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INDIA:

FOCUS ENTERPRISE INTERCULTURE THE PROGRESSIVE INTEGRATION OF TECNIMONT PRIVATE LIMITED REQUIRED A CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGY PLAN.

The continued commitment by management to promote the vision that led to the acquisition of another company. The management’s approach helped the Group headquarters to overcome its initial prudence in assigning engineering activities, which were often subcontracted to Italian companies, to the Mumbai Office. Subsequently, the decision to indicate the former TICB as the only engineering subcontractor completely changed the perspective and definitively indicated the new role that the Group reserved for its new acquisition.

upporting a vision, investing time and energy, sharing rules: these are some of the key points of the strategy that allowed a full integration of Tecnimont Private Limited - an Indian engineering company founded in 1958 by an important local entrepreneur, Narendra N. Kapadia - into the Maire Tecnimont Group. Between December 2007 and January 2008, completing the acquisition of the Indian subsidiary Tecnimont ICB (in which the group already had for ten years a 50% participation together with a local partner), Maire Tecnimont took full control of what can be considered a true flagship in the design and management of complex projects, as well as procurement and construction management services. The Mumbai Office (the Group’s most valuable foreign engineering centre) has know-how on par with the Milan Headquarters with which, over the decades, it has developed fundamental industrial collaboration in Italian-Indian economic cooperation (a majority of the 350 projects have been executed jointly). Today, 2,000 of the Group’s 5,400 employees operate in the Mumbai Office, which also coordinates a further 3,000 permanent professionals specialized in Electrical&Instrumentation. It did not happen overnight. As in every merger between enterprises with different habits, life styles and languages, the Group’s management had to employ wide-ranging intercultural strategies to simplify the integration into a single body with shared objectives and rules. The three main actions, amongst the many implemented in the nineties and the first decade of this century, that decreed the success of this initiative were:

The awareness that a process of integration requires important investments in terms of time and energy. In general, an initial lack of trust amongst individuals can be resolved once they get to know each other better. On the basis of this assumption, a number of Tecnimont personnel were offered to be transferred in India for a given period to promote “true” dialogue between the two offices. At the same time, the Indian personnel was rotated and given the opportunity to spend periods of time in Milan, working with Italians in projects’ task forces to prove their professional abilities. In order to consolidate the new climate of reciprocal trust amongst colleagues, the Indian engineering structure came under the direct control of the Italian counterpart and every director in Italy was also put in charge of the corresponding Indian structure to allow all employees to feel part of the same team. Moreover, the Group vision was extended and opportunities were given for careers to develop transversally, too, not just in the Indian Office, to increase the employees’ sense of identity.

The ability to face the issue of integration from a cultural perspective: work culture, methods and habits. As a comparison of the number of hours dedicated to given activities revealed that the Indian Office spent more time on each activity, the management initiated a careful analysis of the data, without preconceptions, which revealed that the issue depended on the local work organisation model. Activities in Italy that were carried out by the same number of personnel employed two different profiles in India, which extended the required time for work completion. The solution was simple: apply the Italian rules for work assignment. Today, years later, the difference between the Italian and the Indian approach to work issue management has become a key to success. In India, projects have a longer stage of concept sharing, but the implementation/execution phase is faster in India, than in Italy.

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SUSTAINABILITY AS A

PROJECT AN INITIATIVE TO MEASURE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BENEFITS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES. nteracting with local institutions and communities, creating value for clients, is a fundamental aspect of a multinational group’s identity. The geographical element and the morphological, environmental and social peculiarities of the areas where engineering contractors operate are all factors that profoundly affect daily operations and distinguish Maire Tecnimont’s activities in distant areas like India or the Middle East. Becoming a part of local dynamics drives the adoption of responsible business practices, which generate a positive impact on the communities in which we operate. Maire Tecnimont does not only aim to manage possible repercussions on project flow or contract budgets: the objective is to parallelly develop the ability to create and deliver local value, also considering the relevance of the projects, the dimension of the plants, and the development of local professional competences.

Thus, as part of the Sustainability Reporting that the Group has undertaken from this year (results will be published in spring 2018), PwC, a company with a renowned international experience, will help us implement a more analytical and profound process to interpret the value generated and distributed at the local level. A specific characteristic of this project concerns the analysis of technical and economic data of a first group of projects that are currently underway. The results will allow us to highlight, with increasingly concrete and detailed tools, the issue of sustainability, leading cultural change and promoting the development of a more organic and resistant company. This will contribute – and all the more so in the future – to create trust in communities and help clients to resolve complex needs. Guaranteeing direct support to local employment, training individuals, organizing the supply chain, and consolidating relations with institutions are some of the many spheres of interaction that the Group kicks off every time it begins a project in a new geographical area. Distributed economic value is created in a variety of ways, including the management of environmental and social impact, pursuing responsible business and contributing to the creation of sustainable economies. This project is a fundamental step towards fully understanding that the strategic and operational commitment of Maire Tecnimont includes a strong component of restitution and value sharing with its stakeholders. The correct consideration of these elements will allocate further importance to the role of the Group as a potential driver of development, especially in geographic areas that are less solid and structured.

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Oman: Saving the Coastline Maire Tecnimont is working in the District of Sohar (Oman) on the Liwa Plastic Industries Complex Project EPC2 for its client ORPIC. According to the United Nations Development Programme, over the past 40 years, the Sultanate of Oman - out of 135 monitored countries - is the state with the best highest rate of socio-economic development. Site preparation activities for a large industrial complex normally require the movement and disposal of enormous quantities of terrain. In the case of this project, however, this also presented an opportunity to environmentally redevelop a section of the coastline, which had been damaged by erosion and posed a security menace to houses and roads in the nearby Village of Carawan. The operation salvaged a two-kilometre stretch of the beach and allowed residents to once again enjoy the Carawan sea shore, an area that had been abandoned. The operation was completed in the latter half of 2016 in close collaboration with local authorities: the Municipality of Sohar, the Ministry of the Environment and the Sohar Environmental Unit.

13,780 man-hours dedicated to the operation 65,513 kilometres covered in transportation 2,696 truck trips 113,879 cubic metres of top soil shifted to the beach

Russia: A Church as a Place for Aggregation In geographical areas that are both far away and extreme, a religious building can help create a community. For Maire Tecnimont even the construction of an orthodox church in the village of Kingiseppskiy, ca. 100 kilometres from Saint Petersburg, is part of a strategy for sustainability to promote centres for social aggregation. The sponsorship - promoted by our Group together with our client, Eurochem, in collaboration with residents and local authorities - contributed to the creation of a meeting point for citizens and a place of worship for the community. Father Mitrofan, Bishop of Gatchina and Luga, expressed deep gratitude for the construction of the church to our management. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A church is not only a place for devotion or prayer, but also an environment with a positive impact on the social life of a village,â&#x20AC;? he observed, pointing out that the construction of a new religious building provides an answer to the requests for help made by the village residents. The needs and characteristics of every geographical area require a sign of solidarity and presence by our Group. And, in Kingiseppskiy, Maire Tecnimont did just this.

EVOLVE | MOTTOS

DISSEMINATING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL

MINDSET

OUR COMPANY MOTTOS FOR CULTURAL TURNAROUND, A COMPASS TO INSPIRE THE DAILY WORK OF THE PEOPLE. oming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success,” was the philosophy of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Automobile Company, who earned an estimated 199 billion dollars, making him the ninth richest person of all times. This is how the American entrepreneur explained one of the main issues faced by companies: placing individuals in the same work group or environment is not sufficient to achieve satisfactory results. Far more is required; reciprocal collaboration is fundamental to pursue common objectives. And this is why multi-nationals are increasingly interested in sharing their corporate beliefs with employees. These principles embody a strong and deeply rooted corporate culture that helps to support, inspire and guide the work of every professional. In 2015, on the tenth anniversary of its foundation, Maire Tecnimont identified its Group corporate beliefs. This led to the development of the eight mottos (see next page) which have quickly become a part of the company’s common heritage and which every employee promotes as an ambassador in his or her daily work. Indeed, this is the expression of an effective and efficient corporate culture that guides not only the decisions of its leaders, but also the work of every manager and professional figure. In Maire Tecnimont, as in all companies based essentially on human capital, success depends on individual attitudes. Value is created by promoting individual micro-actions that are typical of enterprise systems which, working project-based, naturally have a decentralized and disarticulated decision-making approach.

Enterprises are complex social contexts: influencing organizational behaviour is probably the most beautiful and challenging of all management exercises. Our mottos are displayed in all our offices and work sites, around the world, to daily promote the entrepreneurship of individuals, which is necessary to: Be proactive and organized in order to contribute to change and excel as initial adopters of new paradigms. Embrace challenges as an opportunity to test our limits and reveal our true value. Accept uncertainty as a physiological element and the understanding that experience progressively makes us immune to it. Understand the importance of defending one’s DNA through adaptation. Fight the “bureaucratic approach” with great resolve when it is used as an alibi to not actively manage complexity. Use discernment to understand how one’s individual contribution is fundamental to achieving a greater shared benefit. Work so that the present, which depends on us, will enable the best future possible. EVOLVE will address each motto with a dedicated issue. The magazine, which will be published every three months, will provide analyses and insight to all those who believe that entrepreneurship is the true measure of success.

N° 0 - DECEMBER 2017

RIDE THE TURNAROUND!

The challenge of our Group: impeccably deliver our portfolio through operational and financial discipline.

Master the change, be actively part of it!

EVERY SINGLE DECISION COUNTS! Our work-success is the result of a thousand single choices made in the right sequence. There is no time for procrastination.

Your contribution makes a difference!

BE ADAPTIVE!

Fast changes in the market create discontinuities while opening also opportunities to the most responsive players.

Agility is the key!

NOT JUST THE COMPANY, THIS IS YOUR COMPANY! Building together the success of our Group creates shared value to everyone.

Be entrepreneur in a network of entrepreneurs!

TAKE THE CHALLENGE!

Managing uncertainties is the core of our job… As a sailor faces the sea every day.

Let the passion for results drive your actions!

STEP UP AND MAKE THINGS HAPPEN! Talk and listen directly to your colleagues. Sending an e-mail could not be a solution. Let’s keep our doors open.

Beat the bureaucratic approach!

WE ARE RESILIENT!

Recovering quickly from drastic changes is part of our noble and precious DNA. We live in a tough environment, but adversity made us stronger.

Let’s capitalize on lessons learnt!

OUR TOMORROW IS NOW! These are extraordinary times. If we stay focused on our corridor of growth we will be ready to build the next decade of Maire Tecnimont.

The floor is ours!