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Sintetica SA: leadership driven innovation

Sintetica SA: leadership driven innovation

Sintetica SA was established in the year 1921. It is a Swiss pharmaceutical company, hospital market leader for analgesics and local anesthetics.

Its offices are positioned in Germany, Italy, England and countrywide production and development sites in Mendrisio and Couvet, with 300 employees

Since 2015 Sintetica follows “human-centered” organization model formed on deep cultural change concept. According to this organization, the managerial philosophy should be innovative so that responsibility and merit are centered, and changing organizational models and behaviors at all levels.

The firm is highly competitive with regard to ideas, projects, products and operational/management solutions and it contradicts the idea of managing people according to definition and activities’ control.

Sintetica concentrates on making people realize their responsibilities by setting such objectives. Managers, therefore, move from a role of command and control to a more coaching one, in order to manage people, enhance talents, through delegation and accountability for results, and to reward their merit.

Traits a leader should have according to Sintetica

Passion is one of the crucial factors, when compromised; the work would purely be a formal exercise. Naturally, individuals’ engagement cannot be neglected when delegation is considered foremost in the new model, through information transparency on strategy, values, objectives and performance.

Having confidence and autonomy by promoting teamwork with a clear definition of each individual’s contribution to the achievement of the team’s goal.

Total respect in the organization in terms of corporate and individual priorities; therefore, it is fundamental for managers to explicitly say what they expect from their employees. And, consequently, it is fundamental to frequently align these behaviors to expectations, thanks to the continuous and constructive share of feedbacks. The feedback is returned to resources, not to judge their work but to address them towards a continuous improvement, thanks to the more coherent redefinition of priorities or their change, if necessary. In order to succeed in this growth path, it is essential to build the culture based on results’ measurement both of the team and every resource involved in it, as well as merit.

Skills and knowledge shall be widespread and placed at the base of delegation and autonomy process; they must be sought, valued and rewarded in every collaborator. The last essential element is smiling. A characteristic of the company’s DNA is the research for quality without compromises, which is measured, first of all, by enjoying togetherness. A true smile is contagious and is the identity of Sintetica and its concept of “great place to work”.

Peripheral decisional autonomy (to be leader at all level)

The two things that are the background of Sintetica’s ongoing business are ‘the growing complexity and the company marked growth rate’. Managers are focusing more on the “control of results and accountability for results” rather than the “control of activities and how these activities are carried out”.

To exercise the "managerial" delegation, the company leverages strategic idea of growth, based on the international diffusion of innovation and corporate culture, which is hinged on the centrality of the individual and respect. Managers and talents, which are the real protagonists of this change, are following an endless path of high-level training (Sintetica never ending School) their task is going to become more and more linked to: leading collaborators; and their goal: making each person's specific skills and knowledge productive, by giving them decision making autonomy and measuring their results.

All human resources of the company are subject to this change, also thanks to a broad training program addressed to all collaborators (democratic learning) that involves them in order to enrich them and prepare them for continuous improvement in the digital age. Sintetica never ending school is the name of the program powered by MIP, the business school of Politecnico di Milano.

The ideal model- IMR (balancing strategy with operations)

Inter-functional Management Routines (IMR)  consist of groups of people whose level of responsibility is not necessarily homogeneous, coming from heterogeneous functions, able to harmonize operations with the strategy in the hinge sectors for the development and growth of Sintetica. Basically, an IMR pool which, thanks to the exchange of critical information, decides and acts "easily" by continuously combining strategy and operations, and maintaining a live coordination throughout the entire organization. They reach a horizontal dimension thanks to interfunctionality and the exchange of decisive information; but also a vertical dimension, thanks to the multilevel composition and the mechanism of the peripheral decisional autonomy present in the organization. Rebuilding strategy and operations means acting, changing one or the other, correcting routes, abandoning paths, all in the shortest time possible and with the highest involvement of responsibility in the organization. The expected result is maximum agility.

IMR’s purpose is to lean on the two bands and pull the one diverging towards the correct position. Continuously operating, in order to make the operations adhere to the strategy, but also bending the strategy to operations, if necessary. Flowing of critical information is the essential condition for the proper functioning of IMR.

The decisions made by routine A selectively impact many routines, as well as the decisions of other routines have an impact on routine A, and so on. Critical and selective decoding of the information produced and their IN-OUT flow play a hypercritical role in the functioning of the management model above described. Applications and digital portals make this management model easy and innovative to live.

The identified Routines, cornerstones of the new management model, are the following:

IMR innovation pipeline

Purpose: to target, coordinate and monitor drugs development IMR infrastructure for growth.

Purpose: to target, coordinate and monitor industrial developments.

IMR "human-centered" organization

Purpose: to address sustainability and human resources development policies.

IMR digital transformation

Purpose: to direct, coordinate and monitor the path to the digital company.

IMR world markets

Purpose: to direct, coordinate and monitor international divisions and broad strategic marketing projects.

IMR from control to integrated management

Purpose: to address and guide the integrated process of forecasting, budgeting, controlling and action.

IMR Switzerland global innovation lab

Purpose: to address and monitor the efforts to develop and search for new national opportunities in a global key perspective.

Meet the remarkable person

Augusto Mitidieri, Italian and Swiss citizen, graduated in Management Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, he also obtained a CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) in Economics and Health Policy at the University of Lausanne.

His work in the pharmaceutical industry began as Project Manager for the Engineering Division of Bioren SA, (Bigmar Group) in Couvet (NE); he went on to become Production & Logistics Manager of Bigmar Pharmaceuticals SA in Barbengo (TI).

In 2000 Augusto joined Sintetica SA, Mendrisio (TI), as Production & Engineering Manager. In Sintetica, he also worked as Quality Assurance Manager, before becoming General Manager of the Company in 2004. Since 2011 Augusto has held the position of Corporate CEO of the Sintetica Group.

Under his guidance, Sintetica SA, the oldest pharmaceutical company in Ticino, has undergone a period of extraordinary growth and entered international markets with its high-quality products in the sector of local anaesthesia and pain therapy. Able to implement a real strategic vision which places the individual at the very centre of corporate decisions, Augusto Mitidieri, together with the whole of Sintetica SA, has earned important international awards and recognition.

Participating in the international research project called Ideals of the Politecnico di Milano for creative leadership, innovation and design as leadership, Augusto Mitidieri is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s leading CEOs.

“We believe in the great place to work culture that promotes creativity, informed risk-taking, an exciting environment and a good feeling in every day work.”

“We believe in the great place to work culture that promotes creativity, informed risk-taking, an exciting environment and a good feeling in every day work.”


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