Xenia Kourtoglou Keynote on Sustainability: Change or Transformation?
With the participation of more than 300 delegates — senior executives from the sector of electrical appliances and air-conditioning importers — this year’s APPLIA conference focused on the broad concept of Sustainability for businesses, particularly in light of the ESG regulatory framework that increasingly concerns all companies.
Under the motto “Change or Transformation?”, the conference explored whether sustainability is truly understood within the business world today, and what needs to be done to ensure sustainable companies in the future — companies that respect people, society, and the environment.

Focus Bari, research sponsor of APPLIA for the third consecutive year, conducted a nationwide quantitative survey among the general public to capture attitudes, opinions, expectations, needs, and sentiments on the subject, as well as an in-depth qualitative study reflecting the current image, perceptions and status of businesses within the sector.
In her keynote speech, Xenia Kourtoglou emphasized that consumers need information — and above all, trust — in order to embrace corporate efforts.  She described the “transition process” as a clear need for transformation, so that change becomes permanent, through a shift in culture that begins with leadership and the CEO, and cascades through new strategies, processes, and behaviors across the entire organization.