Symbola, the beneficial impact of “cohesive enterprises” – sustainability, export and enhanced growth
In a book recently published by Laterza, Piero Bevilacqua, professor of Contemporary history at the University of Rome, talks of “Italian bliss”, referring to “landscapes, arts, music, food”, i.e. those unique features that distinguish Italian society and consequently also its economy and ability for cultural and civic growth. Agriculture and biodiversity, then, as well as nutrition (as witnessed by the international success of the “Mediterranean diet”), widespread beauty in cities and towns, creativity (the pages that Bevilacqua dedicates to Neapolitan song are fascinating), and a civic tradition based on cooperation that has left its beneficial mark on growth and development models.
A well-documented, positive portrait that doesn’t ignore issues, difficulties and contradictions, however, and yet conveys a spirit of cooperation, a commitment to reforms and keen awareness about changes that can improve the quality of life of both individuals and society.
Therefore, cooperation as a value, without neglecting a continued emphasis – that always permeates non-fictional pieces able to tell an “Italian story” at its best – on the attitude entailed in the etymology of the term “compete”, which derives from the Latin cum and petere: that is, the attitude of pursuing together the fulfilment of an aspiration or a shared project.
Indeed, Bevilacqua’s work inspires such approaches, that are furthermore part of the conclusions drawn at the International Meeting on Human Fraternity, recently held in Rome (on 10 June) and promoted by the Fratelli Tutti Foundation. The aim of the event was to reflect on Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si’ (Praise be) as well as on the quality and environmental and social sustainability of development (and included the participation of 30 Nobel Prize winners and Italian leading figures from the economic, cultural and “third-sector” spheres). As stated by Ermete Realacci, president of Symbola Foundation and coordinator of the Italian working committee, “Fraternity proves to be the foundation of a circular and collaborative economy on a human scale, aimed at healing the wounds inflicted by inequality and injustice during a most frenzied and greedy globalisation era”.
In fact, Europe and Italy, thanks to a prevalent shared culture able to combine competitiveness and solidarity, individual entrepreneurship and welfare systems, productivity and social inclusion, play a key role in this and have the ultimate responsibility of bringing about an increasingly necessary “paradigm shift.”
Themes that also resound throughout the annual “Cohesiveness and competitiveness” Report, promoted by the Symbola Foundation, Unioncamere and Intesa Sanpaolo, which will be discussed at Symbola’s summer conference scheduled for this weekend in Mantua, and whose focus will be on “the strength of territories throughout the green transition”.
What does the Report tell us, with regards to the economy? “Cohesive enterprises help deepening bonds in communities and territories, increase employees’ sense of belonging and life satisfaction (in 2020, welfare payments due to trade union negotiations rose by 19.5%), foster engagement and dialogue with customers, strengthen supply chain and district relationships (according to Intesa Sanpaolo, district-based enterprises have experienced an increase in productivity in recent years, more so than non-district-based enterprises), thus generating a beneficial impact on competitiveness”.
“Cohesive” enterprises are those enterprises that “extend their research beyond company boundaries, collaborating with universities, artists and designers in order to accelerate innovation or discover new material and product applications. Enterprises that, together with the third sector, have strengthened their own communities, promoting the territories in which they operate and engaging civic society in social or environmental projects. Corporate stories where the ability of enterprises to deepen the dialogue with customers, also by listening to them, has led to collaborative production that intercepts community trends and needs, which then become consciously representative and illustrative of those enterprises’ values”. In addition, these are “Enterprises that see banks as ideal partners in the reorganisation and consolidation of their supply chain, thus enhancing their own performance, that of their suppliers and that of the credit institutions themselves. Enterprises that have increased their value by involving their workers in their business goal, or that have created for them a better environment where professional development and work-life balance harmoniously coexist, nurturing and acquiring more talent thanks to the care and attention they pay to their staff”.
Basically, enterprises that “build alliances with institutions in order to boost local services and become increasingly attractive to professionally qualified staff, or to ease their integration within the territory, co-investing together in community-focused projects. Enterprises that have become more competitive through collaboration with other enterprises, whether suppliers or even competitors, in order to generate quality, sustainable and more resilient lifestyles and ecosystems, or to exchange raw materials and know-how, thus increasing their profits through working together”.
Cohesive enterprises have grown as compared to previous years: the rate in 2022 was 43%, higher than the rate in 2020 (37% – though it certainly was an “anomalous” year, heavily impacted by the pandemic outbreak) and the rate in 2018 (32%). The increase in cohesiveness, continues to say the Report, is visible not only in the rate of concerned enterprises, but also in the number of average corporate relationships, which are also on the rise: essentially, cohesive enterprises grow even when raising the bar of average relations.
The benefits that cohesive enterprises gain are rather obvious – dimensional growth (in 2023, 55.3% of enterprises expect a higher turnover than in 2022, as compared to 42.3% of other companies), employment (an improvement of 34.1% in 2023 as opposed to 24.8% of other companies), and export (42.7% as compared to 32.5%), and these are clear trends that seem confirmed for 2024, too.
The Symbola report corroborates cohesive enterprises’ propensity for “green” operations, and almost two out of three have invested or will invest in environmental sustainability (62.1% as compared to 33.2% for other companies), and 16.9% of them ( 8.8% of other companies) have integrated sustainability as an item in their reports (sustainability and social reports, ESG ratings, and so on).
In terms of the digital transition, too, 46.9% of cohesive enterprises have implemented or are implementing digital technologies over the 2022-2024 period (24.4% of other companies), and, still over the same period, in three cases out of four have introduced or are introducing innovations (less than half the number for other companies).
Cohesive enterprises “believe, more than the others, in our country: if we consider backshoring activities, as measured through the growth of the rate in local Italian or extra-regional suppliers, over the next three years they’ll involve 26.4% of cohesive enterprises as compared to 19.5% of other companies, and their selection of suppliers providing high quality products is also greater than other companies (83.8% as compared to 76.9%)”.
With its figures and stories, asserts Realacci, “this Report confirms, just as the “Manifesto di Assisi” does, that ‘in Italy, all that may be wrong can be righted through all that is proper’ and that cohesiveness is essential to build an economy and a society on a human scale, leading to a better future.
(Photo Getty images)
In a book recently published by Laterza, Piero Bevilacqua, professor of Contemporary history at the University of Rome, talks of “Italian bliss”, referring to “landscapes, arts, music, food”, i.e. those unique features that distinguish Italian society and consequently also its economy and ability for cultural and civic growth. Agriculture and biodiversity, then, as well as nutrition (as witnessed by the international success of the “Mediterranean diet”), widespread beauty in cities and towns, creativity (the pages that Bevilacqua dedicates to Neapolitan song are fascinating), and a civic tradition based on cooperation that has left its beneficial mark on growth and development models.
A well-documented, positive portrait that doesn’t ignore issues, difficulties and contradictions, however, and yet conveys a spirit of cooperation, a commitment to reforms and keen awareness about changes that can improve the quality of life of both individuals and society.
Therefore, cooperation as a value, without neglecting a continued emphasis – that always permeates non-fictional pieces able to tell an “Italian story” at its best – on the attitude entailed in the etymology of the term “compete”, which derives from the Latin cum and petere: that is, the attitude of pursuing together the fulfilment of an aspiration or a shared project.
Indeed, Bevilacqua’s work inspires such approaches, that are furthermore part of the conclusions drawn at the International Meeting on Human Fraternity, recently held in Rome (on 10 June) and promoted by the Fratelli Tutti Foundation. The aim of the event was to reflect on Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si’ (Praise be) as well as on the quality and environmental and social sustainability of development (and included the participation of 30 Nobel Prize winners and Italian leading figures from the economic, cultural and “third-sector” spheres). As stated by Ermete Realacci, president of Symbola Foundation and coordinator of the Italian working committee, “Fraternity proves to be the foundation of a circular and collaborative economy on a human scale, aimed at healing the wounds inflicted by inequality and injustice during a most frenzied and greedy globalisation era”.
In fact, Europe and Italy, thanks to a prevalent shared culture able to combine competitiveness and solidarity, individual entrepreneurship and welfare systems, productivity and social inclusion, play a key role in this and have the ultimate responsibility of bringing about an increasingly necessary “paradigm shift.”
Themes that also resound throughout the annual “Cohesiveness and competitiveness” Report, promoted by the Symbola Foundation, Unioncamere and Intesa Sanpaolo, which will be discussed at Symbola’s summer conference scheduled for this weekend in Mantua, and whose focus will be on “the strength of territories throughout the green transition”.
What does the Report tell us, with regards to the economy? “Cohesive enterprises help deepening bonds in communities and territories, increase employees’ sense of belonging and life satisfaction (in 2020, welfare payments due to trade union negotiations rose by 19.5%), foster engagement and dialogue with customers, strengthen supply chain and district relationships (according to Intesa Sanpaolo, district-based enterprises have experienced an increase in productivity in recent years, more so than non-district-based enterprises), thus generating a beneficial impact on competitiveness”.
“Cohesive” enterprises are those enterprises that “extend their research beyond company boundaries, collaborating with universities, artists and designers in order to accelerate innovation or discover new material and product applications. Enterprises that, together with the third sector, have strengthened their own communities, promoting the territories in which they operate and engaging civic society in social or environmental projects. Corporate stories where the ability of enterprises to deepen the dialogue with customers, also by listening to them, has led to collaborative production that intercepts community trends and needs, which then become consciously representative and illustrative of those enterprises’ values”. In addition, these are “Enterprises that see banks as ideal partners in the reorganisation and consolidation of their supply chain, thus enhancing their own performance, that of their suppliers and that of the credit institutions themselves. Enterprises that have increased their value by involving their workers in their business goal, or that have created for them a better environment where professional development and work-life balance harmoniously coexist, nurturing and acquiring more talent thanks to the care and attention they pay to their staff”.
Basically, enterprises that “build alliances with institutions in order to boost local services and become increasingly attractive to professionally qualified staff, or to ease their integration within the territory, co-investing together in community-focused projects. Enterprises that have become more competitive through collaboration with other enterprises, whether suppliers or even competitors, in order to generate quality, sustainable and more resilient lifestyles and ecosystems, or to exchange raw materials and know-how, thus increasing their profits through working together”.
Cohesive enterprises have grown as compared to previous years: the rate in 2022 was 43%, higher than the rate in 2020 (37% – though it certainly was an “anomalous” year, heavily impacted by the pandemic outbreak) and the rate in 2018 (32%). The increase in cohesiveness, continues to say the Report, is visible not only in the rate of concerned enterprises, but also in the number of average corporate relationships, which are also on the rise: essentially, cohesive enterprises grow even when raising the bar of average relations.
The benefits that cohesive enterprises gain are rather obvious – dimensional growth (in 2023, 55.3% of enterprises expect a higher turnover than in 2022, as compared to 42.3% of other companies), employment (an improvement of 34.1% in 2023 as opposed to 24.8% of other companies), and export (42.7% as compared to 32.5%), and these are clear trends that seem confirmed for 2024, too.
The Symbola report corroborates cohesive enterprises’ propensity for “green” operations, and almost two out of three have invested or will invest in environmental sustainability (62.1% as compared to 33.2% for other companies), and 16.9% of them ( 8.8% of other companies) have integrated sustainability as an item in their reports (sustainability and social reports, ESG ratings, and so on).
In terms of the digital transition, too, 46.9% of cohesive enterprises have implemented or are implementing digital technologies over the 2022-2024 period (24.4% of other companies), and, still over the same period, in three cases out of four have introduced or are introducing innovations (less than half the number for other companies).
Cohesive enterprises “believe, more than the others, in our country: if we consider backshoring activities, as measured through the growth of the rate in local Italian or extra-regional suppliers, over the next three years they’ll involve 26.4% of cohesive enterprises as compared to 19.5% of other companies, and their selection of suppliers providing high quality products is also greater than other companies (83.8% as compared to 76.9%)”.
With its figures and stories, asserts Realacci, “this Report confirms, just as the “Manifesto di Assisi” does, that ‘in Italy, all that may be wrong can be righted through all that is proper’ and that cohesiveness is essential to build an economy and a society on a human scale, leading to a better future.
(Photo Getty images)