Amorim Lage, S.A.: Pasta from Portugal?

This book so far has presented to the reader a cross-section of European companies and has attempted to give an insight into the particular problems and opportunities that lie ahead for each one as their managers prepare not only for a new decade but for a new century. The majority if not all of the company managers interviewed have a plan, or the semblance of one, to guarantee their respective company’s survival and prosperity. While unforeseen events such as the 1991 Gulf War may destabilise the natural course of events in the short term, it would seem a fair statement to say that, in the long run, opportunities abound: trade barriers within Europe are falling, Eastern Europe is slowly opening up, consumers are becoming more homogeneous, distribution chains are simplifying, and so on — these trends and opportunities can all be profitably taken advantage of by those who have the vision to see them, the daring to take them and the wherewithal to ensure their own survival. Yet it must be remembered by executives and politicians alike that economies are not made up only of multinationals with extensive financial and human resources at their disposal, but rather of small and medium-sized companies, often family-run, whose managers are caught up in day-to-day affairs and who do not have a staff of analysts whose function it is to obtain a full understanding of the significance and the impact of macro-political and economic events in the stratospheres above them.