Toni Belloni, Managing Director of LVMH, at the BBS Graduation 2018

3 July 2018

“We always look at what we have behind, our history. But then we move towards the future.” So Toni Belloni, Managing Director of LVMH, sums up the company’s strategy with extreme simplicity. A strategy, able to transform a portfolio of over 70 brands with strong and distinct identities, in the most important global luxury group. Toni Belloni, since 17 years the closest collaborator of Bernard Arnault, President and owner of LVMH, will share with the BBS Community his experience in leading the strategic and operational management of the Group during the Commencement Speech of the Graduation 2018, on July 6th, in Aula Magna Santa Lucia in Bologna.

Graduated in Economics at the University of Pavia, Belloni immediately entered the world of large international brands. His career began in 1978 in Procter & Gamble, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in the United States, Greece, Belgium and Switzerland, before being elected President of Procter & Gamble for Europe in 1999. In 2001 he joined LVMH as General Manager and as Head of Strategic and Operational Management of the Group’s companies. He is also a member of the board of directors of LVMH and Chairman of the Executive Committee.

LVMH is based in Paris and counts almost 120,000 employees and 2,400 stores worldwide. It is characterized by the high quality and the elitist character of its products, made for 90% in Europe and distributed for 70% outside the borders of the EU. In Italy, the Group has 23 production sites in which it has invested over 120 million a year in the last 5 years. “We have the pride, not only of having invested a lot,” said Belloni in an interview in March 2017 for the weekly l’Economia del Corriere della Sera, “but also to have spectacular manufactures, such as that of Bulgari in Valencia or that of Berluti in Ferrara. We plan to double the production structure of Fendi in Tuscany and we have plans for Céline.”

The manufactures of excellence in our country employ more than 8 thousand workers and carry the name of Italian know-how and craftsmanship high. Among the excellent examples we also find the Louis Vuitton plant in Fiesso d’Adda, born in a territory where the heritage of craft skills has been handed down since the 18th century. In addition to Berluti and Bulgari, other Italian major luxury brands such as Fendi, Emilio Pucci and Loro Piana are also within the Group.

According to Belloni, nowadays the decisive challenge of luxury is the continuous transformation of its customers. We must know how to adapt to change but also how to guide it, or we risk to be overwhelmed by it. The incredible patrimony of the Group’s unique and distinctive companies, of which more than 20 centenarians, must therefore continue to be desirable, fresh and surprising. In order to achieve this result, it is necessary to grow the talents, the leaders of tomorrow, so that they can guide this continuous evolution with courage, vision and creativity. This is also the concrete commitment that LVMH brings among young people with the Institute of Professions of Excellence (Istituto dei Mestieri di Eccellenza), an initiative aimed at developing the artisan know-how, launched first in France and active in Italy since April 2018.

“Leadership is a long distance race. To be good leaders, we need to focus on authenticity, curiosity, passion and character “. Forming new leaders, able to carry forward the spirit of the group with the right propensity for innovation, is fundamental according to Belloni. And about rebel talents, the theme of the XII Reunion of the BBS Alumni, he says: “The contrarians are very precious for any team, any activity. They have the courage to question the common wisdom.”

 

In order to follow live the Commencement Speech of Toni Belloni on July 6, please visit the page dedicated to the streaming of the event.



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