The Smart Way to Cut the Wise Guys Down to Size
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I D E A S TRANSPARENCY THE SMART WAY TO CUT THE WISE GUYS DOWN TO SIZE ANTONINO hat do a members, in collaboration with the VACCARO cookie police and other activists, to ensure Assistant Professor of maker, sev- that they don’t play a double game, Business Ethics, IESE en friends, getting the certification to attract cus- and a Sicil- tomers while at the same time paying ALBERTO ian Godfa- bribes to the Mafia. In the Palermo RIBERA ther have in province alone, Addiopizzo can count Associate Professor of Managing People in common? on more than 10,000 members and Organizations, IESE The answer is that the seven friends almost 600 businesses. Wfounded “Addiopizzo” (bye-bye ex- Businesses that sign up to Addi- A grassroots campaign to tortion) — a successful Sicilian anti- opizzo’s certification have to display curb Mafia extortion in Sicily racket organization. The cookie maker the anti-racket symbol at the entrance was the first entrepreneur to join the of their shop so that consumers know shows how information organization and some Sicilian Mafia they are making their purchases from can be used to powerful godfathers have recently experienced businesses that do not pay extortion a significant reduction in the income to the Mafia. As one of the activists effect against even the they receive from extortion. Incred- pointed out during an interview, “Our most fearsome and ible, isn’t it? certification ensures that the money ruthless opponents. Now, let’s do a quick recap of this spent by consumers will not end up story, because the best is still to come. in the hands of Mafia families…In the Addiopizzo was founded in 2004 by a past, people did not realize that racket group of recently graduated university money paid to the Mafia was paid with students who wanted to fight the Ma- customers’ money.” fia’s extortion of Sicilian businesses. Addiopizzo’s activities are not lim- According to the Italian police, at the ited to the mobilization of responsible beginning of 2000, more than 90 per- consumers. The organization has also cent of Sicilian businesses had to pay a created a support program for entre- monthly pay-off pizzo( ) to the Mafia in preneurs who want to fight — and exchange for protection. The remain- denounce — Mafia extortionists. ing 10 percent were in a grey area, as Entrepreneurs who decide to blow they chose not to cooperate with ei- the whistle receive psychological and ther the police nor the Mafia. practical support along with the possi- Addiopizzo has created an anti- bility of entering the special protection racket certification that allows con- program run by the anti-Mafia police. sumers to identify businesses that do As an anti-Mafia expert pointed out not pay bribes to the Mafia and refuse during a recent interview, “a few years TRANSPARENCY • BUSINESS ETHICS • to collaborate in any way with these ago, this would have been considered ORGANIZED CRIME criminal families. It also monitors unthinkable... just impossible.” 14 JANUARY–MARCH 2011 / No. 120 Alumni Magazine IESE How did Addiopizzo achieve this? What can we learn from their experi- ence? Why is Addiopizzo relevant to ITS ACTIVITIES business people in general? The answer to the last question HIGHLIGHT THE is relatively simple. Addiopizzo is a successful anti-extortion initiative OPPORTUNITIES that could be replicated in countries OFFERED BY plagued by Mafia-type organizations such as Russia, Colombia, Mexico, THE STRATEGIC Jamaica, China, Japan and several African countries. We should not USE OF forget that organized crime has a sig- nificant impact on economic activity INFORMATION at a global level. The World Bank re- cently estimated that criminal orga- nizations generate annual revenues of more than $120 billion, equivalent to the GDP of a country such as New Zealand or Hungary. In the past, organizations such as Transparency International have tried to implement top-down ap- proaches in the fight against corrup- tion and crime and have encountered enormous problems in the imple- mentation of high-level policies. By contrast, Addiopizzo is a bottom-up initiative that has focused on micro- level dynamics to boost social change. Addiopizzo’s ability to leverage infor- mation to prevent and fight corrupt business practices make it an exem- plary case of an organization capable of strategically using information dis- closure to induce radical and positive change in a hostile environment. Contrary to the view prevailing among some academics, who call for “extreme,” “radical” or “full” trans- parency, the case of Addiopizzo highlights the opportunities that the strategic use of information offers for effecting positive change. Instead of disclosing “everything now,” Addi- opizzo has opted for a more focused informational disclosure approach — strategic transparency, where only certain types of information are dis- closed and where the timing of dis- closure addresses specific situations. INFORMATION IS POWER Strategic transparency has noth- ling to do with concealing the truth or manipulating stakeholders. Instead, strategic transparency is IESE Alumni Magazine JANUARY–MARCH 2011 / No. 120 15 I D E A S “ADDIOPIZZO focused on a pragmatic and realistic timidation, coupled with police protec- understanding of the power of infor- tion, had the positive effect of stopping HAS TAUGHT ME mation and the role played by con- the Mafia’s threats. Criminal organiza- textual conditions as important indi- tions prefer to work underground and THE POWER OF cators for decision making processes cease to function when they are forced related to information disclosure. out into the light. INFORMATION We can draw a parallel to physics to By the same token, Addiopizzo clarify this important issue. Transpar- uncovered the strong connection be- AND HOW ency is the “social” analogy of the con- tween Toto Cuffaro, former regional cept in physics laid out in Heisenberg’s president of Sicily, and the Mafia. This TRANSPARENCY Uncertainty Principle which states information was released at a critical that if you use light to observe an elec- moment in the regional political de- CAN BE USED tron, its energetic state will alter. By the bate when, according to Addiopizzo’s same token, if you increase the avail- members, the problem of Mafia’s infil- TO AVOID ability of information — shed more tration into politics was being ignored. light on — some business activities, OR RESOLVE then the people responsible for that THE USES OF TRANSPARENCY business will change their behavior. We have seen how businesses PROBLEMS.” Too much information, like too lthat work with Addiopizzo have much light in physics, can render learned how to strategically leverage things unstable and unmanageable. information to fight the Mafia. As one Indeed, too much energy, released too entrepreneur mentioned in an inter- quickly, can destroy a system instead of view, “Addiopizzo has taught me the improving its performance. power of information… making things The same can happen with individ- clear and transparent can be a good uals and organizations; people need way to avoid problems or to resolve time to digest and process informa- them… and I am trying to share this tion. Full transparency can be worse lesson with my employees … Trans- than full opacity, simply because your parency is not only a tool to interface customers, employees or even your en- with the external environment, it is a emies, do not have the time, or are not subject that should also be addressed prepared, to process the information inside any organization to prevent disclosed. This issue is critical in the problems and avoid danger.” development of transparency policies It seems that the saga of the Sicilian aimed at fighting fraud, corruption and Mafiosi might soon come to an end. other misconduct in business. We should note that Italy is not the only country where citizen-driven, LESS THAN FULL DISCLOSURE anti-crime movements are emerging. Addiopizzo has successfully im- During the past few years a number of lplemented a strategy that engages similar organizations have emerged honest individuals and companies to around the world. Among others, it collect and use information as a weap- is worth mentioning EGJustice in on to fight corrupt and violent people Guinea Bissau, the “Youth-driven and practices. As one of the Addiopiz- Mjaft!” founded in 2003 in Albania, zo activists pointed out: “It is not only the Ocasa Colombia founded in 2006 important to collect information from and the Shayfeen founded in Egypt by our members (consumers and firms) a group of women. it is also important to understand However, we should not forget when is the right moment to disclose that mafias around the world are not key information to the public.” just criminal organizations, they are For example, Addiopizzo publicly also the result of cultural traits deep- highlighted the Mafia’s violent intimi- ly rooted in their respective popula- dation of Vincenzo Conticello, the tions. And here we can see another owner of a small restaurant who re- dimension in the power of informa- ported the extortionists to the police. tion: provide the right information in The press releases, which were sent out the right way to new generations and immediately after the start of the in- you will change the world. 16 JANUARY–MARCH 2011 / No. 120 Alumni Magazine IESE.