decisive human capital for competitiveness – Corriere.it

Turnover up by 15% in 2022 for medium-sized Italian industrial companies in 2022 and good development prospects, even if the trend of increase in turnover for 2023 is more contained and stops at an expected increase or 3.5%o . This is the snapshot taken by the XXII Report on medium-sized Italian industrial enterprises by Mediobanca, Unioncamere and the Tagliacarne Study Center. An analysis that focuses in particular on the strengths of the medium-sized business system “which confirm that they have a dynamic and more resilient model compared to large businesses in times of crisis”. According to the analysis carried out in the Report, “the key to this success lies in the attention to quality and the “human capital” which represents the determining factor of competitiveness”.

Double transition

The report analyzes 3,660 family-owned manufacturing companies, with a turnover of between 17 and 370 million euros and a workforce of between 50 and 499 employees. An ecosystem that in 2021 achieved aggregate sales of 184.1 billion euros, employing over 523,000 employees. Looking at future prospects, according to the survey, companies that invest in digitization and green are more optimistic. In fact, 34% of those expecting a growth in turnover in the period 2023-2025 will focus on the “dual transition”, against 30% who will not. A share that rises to 46% when investments in digital and green are combined with those in human capital formation. From this point of view, about half of the companies have taken action or intend to take action on the programs of the Pnrr, but bureaucracy is the main obstacle for the other half which does not plan to make use of the Plan. “The many post-Lehman shocks have highlighted the importance of strategic capital, and of human capital in particular, as key factors that allow us to seize the opportunities offered by a risky and uncertain context. Human capital rewards companies that know how to find, retain and cultivate it, maximizing its satisfaction and therefore its performance”, declared Gabriele Barbaresco, director of the Mediobanca Research Area.

The criticality of human capital

It is no coincidence that the survey shows that among the “strategic capitals for future development” on a scale of relevance from 1 to 5, human capital obtains a score of 4.6, followed by technical capital (4), financial capital ( 3.8), cognitive capital (3.6) and organizational capital (3.5). Consequently, to retain the best talent, the economic lever is the most considered and in fact 50% of companies adopt wage increases to avoid the phenomenon of spontaneous resignations, while 29% focus on company benefits and 27% on the flexibility of working hours. Only 13% encourage smart-working.

Pnrr, access difficulties

For many medium-sized Italian industrial companies, the Pnrr is a strategic lever to support their investments, but over half of the companies have given up the opportunities of the Plan due to the difficulties they encountered in the field. According to the survey, 21% of medium-sized enterprises have already activated the Pnrr programs and a further 27% plan to do so in the near future. Among these, 54% are committed to carrying out their digital transition, 38% are betting on process innovation with green technologies and 34% are betting on the circular economy. However, more than half of the companies have thrown in the towel, complaining in most cases of excessive bureaucracy which is indicated as an insurmountable barrier by 56% of them. At a clear distance, among other reasons, are the internal technical difficulties related to finding suitable personnel to follow the procedures (16%) and the lack of assistance from external subjects assigned for this purpose (10%).