The new Cleaning Group originally was founded as a dry-cleaning company in 1980 by Fiorenzo Mascetti, in a location close to Milan, during what was then nearly the peak of the market dominance in garment care by large central-processing plants. The Mascetti business grew quickly and profitably until the growth of supermarkets and their advance into the development of many low-cost, ancillary services brought a large degree of unwelcome price-cutting competition to the Mascetti’s door. Competition was growing at such a rate that the Mascetti family had to make a serious choice about their future business prospects and, indeed, carefully ...