White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 8dynastic line have not always had thesame quality and at times have failed tochoose competent managers. Moreover,family-run management, especially fromthe second generation onwards, seemsprincipally to aim at making moneythrough rent, at times exploiting an oldor recent tradition. In any case they areloath to risk innovation or a shrewdrather than miserly management ofinvestments.Many smaller businesses, especially inthe sector of so-called “independent”television production, have anotherproblem, which often compounds thekind of ownership set-up describedabove: i.e. the lack of a true market onwhich products can be put up for sale tovarious competing players. In fact theseproducers are only independent inname, since they are stronglyconditioned by the wishes or evenwhims of executives and managers (andby the changes in the broadcastingnomenklatura), which in the case of thepublic broadcasting network is, in turn,conditioned by political events. This,too, deeply affects the possibility ofmaking investments, not only becauseof the endemic disease of undercapitalisationbut also because of thedifficulty in making serious mediumtermassessments, albeit in uncertainmarkets.One particular enterprise model hasdeveloped greatly in the last 20 yearsand plays an important role not onlyand not so much in the directproduction of “content”, as in theproduction of services and intermediarygoods in the increasingly elaboratesupply chains in publishing and theaudiovisual field. Examples of thismodel are companies offering editing oriconographic research services forpublishers, or firms specialised insearching for footage and obtaining therights for their reproduction. Thesesmall and very small enterprises havebeen created by young, often highlyqualified people as a response to thescarce supply of jobs and also the widelyfelt need for economic and personalindependence. Although created notonly under the pressure of necessity, butalso partly by choice, these firms areextremely fragile financially, volatile interms of life span, generally weak also instrictly legal terms. The real extent ofthis phenomenon is very difficult toassess with any precision due to a lackof any in-depth studies. Which is a pity,because they could be an importantpatrimony of professional skills andexperiences.8.3. Market sizeFor both the television and radiosectors, we mentioned local or groupbroadcasters, working in circuits ornationwide. An imaginary alien whovisited our country in 1976 and thencame back today would certainly beamazed, since the legislation in 1976setting up the so-called “liberalisation”of broadcasting denied any broadcasterexcept state television – i.e. the RAI –the right to broadcast nationwide. Butin fact already in the 1980s,conspicuously in the field of television,and more subtly but no less tenaciouslyin the field of radio, the national marketcompletely overreached local markets interms of advertising revenue and also inscheduling and promotion strategies.WHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 195