Companies that operate within supply chains are more innovative, more open to foreign markets and more optimistic about the future than those that work in isolation. 41% of these companies expect to recover pre-covid production levels already this year, against 36% of the other companies. A share that rises to 45% for companies in the supply chain that have invested in 4.0 technologies against 35% of the other digitized ones. This is what emerges from an analysis carried out by the Tagliacarne Study Center on Unioncamere / InfoCamere data on the 17 supply chains identified by the Ministry of Economic Development. A universe that counts over 3.8 million active companies – 75% of the Italian business system -, employs more than 12 million people (71.4% of the total non-agricultural economy) and generates 2,500 billion euros in turnover (78 , 9% of the total industry and services).
From the analysis it emerges in particular that innovation and exports represent the strategic levers on which they aim to stay on the market. 62% of the companies that work together have made investments to innovate (against 38% of the others) and 22% export, with peaks reaching 30% in the 4.0 supply chains (against 24% of the other digitized ones). The collaboration between companies that have interconnected activities along the entire value chain – from creation to distribution – of a good or service – is therefore an important competitive factor for entrepreneurs, especially if they embrace advanced digital technology.