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| PierCarlo Alessiani, managing director of JT International Italia |
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PierCarlo Alessiani took over as president of the board of directors, managing director and general manager of JT International Italia in 1999 at a time when the company’s products were performing sluggishly in Italy but had great potential for improvement.
Since then, JTI has climbed from No. 6 to No. 3 in the Italian tobacco market, with a 17 percent market share. The combined workforce of JTI Italy has also grown from 55 in 1999 to over 270 in 2008.
“Nine years ago, JTI had a small mono-brand business in Italy with great potential to build a strong business base in the market. We have capitalized on that potential and are reaping the rewards today,” recalls Alessiani.
“We built this step by step together with JTI, keeping a strong focus on its global flagship brands – Camel and Winston – and on putting the right people in the right place at the right time and acting with strong strategic consistency. There is volatile growth and there is solid organic growth. I believe we have achieved solid, steady and organic growth in Italy,” he adds.
Today, JTI has three brands in the Top 10 in the ready-made cigarette market, including Camel (ranked 4th), Winston (ranked 6th) and from 2008, Benson & Hedges American Blend (ranked 10th).
Alessiani believes that success comes with responsibility.
“We started from almost zero in 1999 with an insignificant market share and consequently had little impact on social affairs. As the company’s dimension evolved, so did its social role and we felt the need to be more involved in the community,” he says.
So, JTI Italy has done just that.
In close collaboration with the government of the region of Lombardy on several philanthropic programs, JTI is the sole sponsor of “The Guardian Project,” which lends assistance to the local elderly with serious social difficulties.
The program provides companions, helps with shopping needs, facilitates contacts with social services, delivers meals, organizes transportation to medical facilities for examinations and creates opportunities for socialization within the community in which they live.
The company has also made a strong social commitment to improving the local environment.
“We have partnered with the local waste-management company to fund the distribution of special ashtrays made of recycled materials that are placed outside public premises, and the free distribution of thousands of portable ashtrays to the citizens of Milan. We want to do our part to help keep the city clean and respect the local environment,” he says.
Alessiani says JTI Italy will maintain its successful business and community involvement well into the future and has a simple strategy for doing so.
“If you are passionate, if you do what is right, and if you have the right people, you can succeed,” he says.
www.jti.com |