PAS programme
The PAS has a reference duration of eleven weeks, plus a follow-up window afterwards.
The methodology takes the company through a structured sequence combining market analysis, executive sessions, the drafting and validation of the entry plan, a practical negotiation simulation and the final assessment for the PAS Qualification. Each pathway is tailored to the company's stage of internationalisation, its sector and its entry model.
Entering a market is an event. Becoming part of it is an operating condition. In today's context, however, preparing for that integration does not necessarily begin after entry: it has become one of the very conditions for a commercial opportunity to move forward.
A company does not always control when the opportunity appears. But it can choose to be ready when it does.
The Italian market is the starting point of the pathway. The European context is brought in whenever its requirements, regulations or dynamics have a direct bearing on the company's case.
The executive sessions form the third step of the PAS and cover the seven themes set out below. At the initial meeting, the Chamber and the company decide which sessions will make up the pathway, with a minimum of five, taking into account the company's stage of internationalisation, its sector and the entry model it has in mind.
How Italian companies assess international partners; distribution and relationship structures; legitimacy, reputation and trust; sustainability as a positioning factor; the difference between selling to Italy and operating in an integrated way within the European context.
Entry and operating models; strategic and tax implications; operational and regulatory barriers; local adaptation; commercial positioning; the risks and costs associated with misaligned entry decisions.
The main regulatory frameworks; operational requirements; recurring vulnerabilities; the role of institutions and local ecosystems; compliance, risk reduction and institutional readiness.
Sustainability and ESG in the European environment; criteria for commercial integration; relevant indicators and metrics; corporate adaptation and the relationship between regulatory pressure and competitive positioning.
Technological structure for international operations; integration between systems, platforms and partners; digital security; data protection; interoperability and scalability.
Adapting the business model; pricing; negotiation and decision-making dynamics in Italy; long-term commercial relationships and recurring mistakes in international positioning.
Corporate structures and formats for a local presence; strategic criteria for structural decisions; relevant tax and legal aspects; regulatory risks, operational protection and building a long-term institutional presence.
Both ways of taking part include the market analysis, the plan drawn up by the company, the validation workshop, the negotiation simulation and the final assessment. The content and the session materials are the same. What changes is the form of support during the cycle of executive sessions.
The selected sessions are made available on video, with professional narration and editable support material.
Access stays open for 90 days: the company works through the content at the pace that suits its team, with as many participants as it sees fit.
Any questions that come up can be raised during the follow-up window after the pathway.
The same sessions are run live, one a week, by a senior Chamber professional with international executive experience.
Having the specialist there makes it possible to go deeper and to test the content against the company's own situation within the session itself.
The meetings can be recorded and made available to the company for later reference.
Recommended participation: we recommend that the main decision-maker involved in internationalisation takes part, together with up to three members of the team directly involved in the strategy and the execution of the project.
In the guided format, sessions are run by a senior professional with an international executive background, with board-level experience in a multinational group operating in Italy and Brazil.
The material is the same in both formats and covers the full set of topics. The professional is there to test that material against the company's own case, with questions, answers and feedback inside the session itself.
The focus is Italy and Brazil. The conversation covers how decisions are actually made on the Italian side: trust built slowly, technical competence weighing more than formal hierarchy, and buy-in built from the bottom up.
Meetings can be recorded and made available to the company together with the support material, for the team to consult during and after the pathway.
The PAS takes up the team's diary in a predictable way. These are the reference times for the activities run with the Chamber.
| Activity | When | Reference duration |
|---|---|---|
| Executive sessions | Weeks 2 to 7 | 2h30 per session, five to seven sessions, one a week |
| Validation workshop | Week 9 | 3 hours |
| Negotiation simulation | Week 10 | 2 hours of simulation and 1 hour of debriefing |
Between 18h30 and 23h30 of session time across eleven weeks, depending on how many sessions are chosen. In practice, around two hours a week.
With the recommended attendance, two to four people, the pathway amounts to somewhere between 40 and 95 person-hours of diary time.
Building the Business Plan and the go-to-market plan sits outside that calculation: it is the team's own work, spread across weeks 7 to 9, supported by a structured template, asynchronous tutoring and one round of comments on the interim version. The market analysis is produced by the Chamber and delivered in the first week.
In the self-paced format the calculation changes: the same sessions stay available on video for 90 days, the company sets its own pace and decides how many people follow each session.
The calendar is set at the kick-off and adjusted according to the pathway agreed and the availability of the information required.
| When | Activity | Deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| Week 0 | Kick-off and confirmation of the calendar | Calendar and organisation of the pathway |
| Week 1 | Market analysis and definition of the pathway | A dedicated analysis and the sessions defined |
| Weeks 2 to 7 | Cycle of executive sessions | Content and supporting materials |
| Week 2 | Business Plan template made available | Template and guidance |
| Weeks 7 to 9 | Drafting of the Business Plan and go-to-market | Plan drawn up by the company |
| Week 9 | Validation workshop | Observations and points for revision |
| Week 10 | Negotiation simulation and debriefing | Assessment of negotiating readiness |
| Week 11 | PAS Qualification committee | Decision on the PAS Qualification |
| After the pathway | Follow-up window | Follow-up provided for in the PAS |
Ask for an initial meeting: we will look at your context and whether the programme makes sense.