The report entitled “Cohesion is competition” edited by the Symbola Foundation, Intesa Sanpaolo and Unioncamere in collaboration with Aiccon, Ipsos and the Guglielmo Tagliacarne Chambers of Commerce Study Center was presented during the Symbola Foundation summer seminar.
In 2024, cohesive companies have more positive forecasts than non-cohesive ones: 34% expect increases in turnover (against 25% of other companies); 25% are planning new hires (against 16%); 27% expect an increase in exports (against 21%). And in the most cohesive companies, the added value per capita is 34 thousand euros (against 26 thousand for the others)..
The declaration:
Giorgio Mencaroni, President of the Umbria Chamber of Commerce: “There is no doubt that a strong presence of cohesive companies, i.e. attentive to relationships, to building relationships with stakeholders based on trust, is good for the economic-social development of the territories. And it’s good for businesses, because cohesive companies invoice, hire and export more. As emerges from the report presented, in 2024 cohesive companies count on more positive forecasts than non-cohesive ones. The greater presence of cohesive companies has a positive effect on the territories: for example, in terms of more widespread well-being, in the more cohesive provinces the added value per capita is 34 thousand euros (compared to 26 thousand in the others). In this context, Umbria is well positioned, a little below the national average but within the growth trend (11 percentage points more in a year in the share of cohesive companies out of the total number of companies) which especially characterizes the North of Italy. In this context, that Marco Caprai was awarded the prestigious ‘Cohesion is Competition’ Award, and that, in addition to “Arnaldo Caprai, Società Agricola Srl”, among the other thirteen companies reported as highly cohesive there is also Aboca, the whose Fabbrica 4.0 is based in Pistrino, Umbria, can only represent a source of pride. The Umbria Chamber of Commerce encourages and accompanies this process of increasing cohesive companies through various tools, all aimed at increasing collaboration between companies and giving substance to the digital and ecological transition, cornerstones of the chamber’s planning and which represent a prerequisite for becoming cohesive enterprises”.
Umbria first in the Center but a little below the national average for cohesive companies, that is those that improve the bond and rooting in communities and territories, increase the sense of belonging and life satisfaction of employees, involvement and dialogue with customers. And Umbria still comes out very well from the report “Cohesion is competition” Of Symbola Foundation, Intesa Sanpaolo e Unioncamere in collaboration with Aiccon, Ipsos and Study Center of the Chambers of Trade Guglielmo Tagliacarnewhich was presented during the Symbola Foundation summer seminar entitled “We are the times – Vision, courage, community”. Not only, in fact, a Marco Caprai the prestigious recognition “Cohesion is Competition” was awarded but, in addition to the “Arnaldo Caprai, Agricultural Company Srl”, among the other thirteen companies reported as highly cohesive there is also pourthe leading Italian healthcare company in health care through effective and safe 100% natural products, which has its headquarters in Sansepolcro in Tuscany, but with the Factory 4.0 located a few kilometers away, in Pistrino in Umbria.
Cohesion makes companies more innovative and competitive
The report analyzes and describes the most significant factors of our country’s competitiveness, with particular attention to aspects that are not captured by the most widespread economic indicators, underlining the importance of collaboration for businesses. Cohesion improves the bond and rootedness in communities and territories, increases the sense of belonging and life satisfaction of employees, involvement and dialogue with customers.
Cohesive firms perform better than firms that are not cohesive. This applies to both the turnover dynamics (for 2024, 34% of cohesive companies estimate increases in turnover compared to 2023, compared to 25% of the others), which for theoccupation (25% indications of increase in 2024 compared to 16% of other companies) and exports (27% against 21%). Cohesive companies also foresee a growth in the quantity produced in 2024 (in 30% of cases against 22% of non-cohesive ones). And these distinctive trends are also confirmed for the 2025 forecasts for all four parameters considered..
The propensity of cohesive companies towards green and digital is also strong: almost two out of three companies (67%) have invested in environmental sustainability in the three-year period 2021-2023 (43% in the case of non-cohesive companies). In 2023, over a third of cohesive companies (39%) invested in renewable sources to improve their environmental performance, compared to 24% of non-cohesive companies.
In 2023, cohesive companies represent 43% of manufacturing SMEs, a figure substantially in line with 2022 but up 11 percentage points compared to 2018. What is growing significantly is above all the average number of relationships established by cohesive companies with the subjects of the territory with which they interact (from 1.9 relationships per company in 2018 to 2.8 in 2023). Therefore, the share of cohesive companies grows over time despite an increase in the threshold of the average number of relationships used to identify them.
In this area, the technology that is having the most disruptive economic and social impact is Artificial Intelligence, the use of which by companies is still rather limited. However, even in this case cohesive companies demonstrate a greater openness towards what is new: the share of cohesive companies using AI tools is equal to 8%, that of non-cohesive companies stops at 4%.
