Cohesive Enterprises: Umbria (40%) is the First Region in Central Italy

Umbria is first in the Center but a little below the national average for cohesive companies, i.e. those that improve ties and roots in communities and territories, increase employees’ sense of belonging and life satisfaction, involvement and dialogue with customers. And Umbria still comes out very well in the report”Cohesion is competition” Of Symbola Foundation, Intesa Sanpaolo and 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 “Cohesion is Competition” award 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 100% natural, effective and safe products, with 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 the aspects that are not captured by the most widespread economic indicators, underlining the importance of collaboration for businesses. Cohesion improves ties and roots in communities and territories, increases employees’ sense of belonging and life satisfaction, 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% compared to 21%). Cohesive companies also expect a growth in 2024 in the quantities produced (in 30% of cases compared to 22% of non-cohesive companies). And these distinctive trends are also confirmed for the 2025 forecasts for all four parameters considered.

Cohesive companies also have a strong propensity for green and digital: 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%) have 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 by 11 percentage points compared to 2018. What is growing significantly is above all the average number of relationships established by cohesive companies with subjects of the territory with which it interacts (from 1.9 relationships per company in 2018 to 2.8 in 2023). Therefore, the share of cohesiveness 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 the Cohesive companies demonstrate greater openness towards what is new: the share of cohesive companies using AI tools is 8%, while that of non-cohesive companies stops at 4%.

Umbria first in the Center but a little below the national average

In Umbria cohesive manufacturing companies in 2023 are more than 40% of the total manufacturing companies, less than 43% of the national figure but better than Marche (around 35%), Lazio (a little above 35%) and Tuscany (which is close to 40%).

In this regard, the data estimated at provincial level highlight how the territories characterized by a greater degree of cohesion are mainly located in Northern Italy.

In fact, the top ten provinces for intensity of cohesive enterprises are all in the North

exception for the Molise province of Campobasso. Specifically it is about Bolzano,

Aosta, Pordenone, Trento, Udine, Wedge, Asti, Gorizia, Biella and, indeed, Campobasso.

Conversely, the territories with the lowest intensity of cohesive enterprises are found, predominantly, in the Centre and in the South. In particular, the last places in the ranking for incidence of cohesive enterprises are found in the provinces of Matera, Power, Imperia, Messina, Trapani, Palermo, Reggio Calabria, Ascoli Piceno, Rieti, Genova.

The motivation for the prestigious recognition to Marco Caprai

As mentioned, during the presentation of the report, Marco Caprai was awarded the prestigious recognition “Cohesion is Competition”, “for having contributed in Arnaldo Caprai, Società Agricola Srl, to a more inclusive society towards those who have been forced to flee from wars, violence, persecution, climate crisis. The company has given work to migrants who have found in employment at the company an opportunity for redemption, thanks to the collaboration with the local Caritas and other associations in the area, which in turn have managed to respond to the demand for concrete and regular work of asylum seekers”.

The declaration:

Giorgio Mencaroni, President of the Umbria Chamber of Commerce: “There is no doubt that a strong presence of cohesive companies, that is, attentive to relationships, to building relationships with stakeholders based on trust, is good for the economic and social development of the territories. And it is good for companies, 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 most cohesive provinces the added value per capita is 34 thousand euros (against 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 one year in the share of cohesive companies on the total number of companies) that characterizes above all the North of Italy. In this context, the fact 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, whose Factory 4.0 is based in Pistrino, Umbria, can only be 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, the cornerstones of the Chamber’s planning and which represent a prerequisite for becoming cohesive businesses”.