A small region like Marche is certainly affected by the problems and policies of the larger systems within which it is embedded: Italy and the European Union. The presence of these externalities does not justify the more pronounced slowdown of the Marche economy compared to the average of other European regions. Therefore, we are addressing this open letter to the regional community to draw attention to our specific problems, in the belief that it is the responsibility of all stakeholders, both private and public, to respond.
As researchers who have long studied local development in various settings, not only academically, we cannot simply document the Marche region's declining economy. This decline has been going on for a long time: it began in the early 2000s and consolidated after the 2007-2009 international crisis. This trend is the result of the structural fragility of our regional economy, which stems not from a lack of excellence, but from the inability to place it at the core of an innovation system.
The region continues to showcase individual talents in some manufacturing sectors, recognized as expressions of high quality, but these struggle to drive the rest of the production system, especially given the predominantly small size of businesses. Innovation remains the prerogative of individual, leading companies, lacking the critical mass needed to drive the entire region.
In our opinion, the main difficulty does not lie so much in the individual or system entrepreneurial capacity, but in the weakness of organizational and management structures These enable businesses to grow, consolidate, and securely maintain development trajectories. It is in this context that the loss of competitiveness of the Marche manufacturing system should be understood. Without adequate managerial skills and organizational models, technological investments produce limited returns.
We believe that lines of action, coordination, and the ability to adapt to change can be recovered by combining private and public organizational capacity.
While past development has generated widespread entrepreneurial capital, the same cannot be said for organizational and managerial capital. This asymmetry helps explain the regional system's limited ability to respond to shocks: the near-total absence of organizations capable of operating stably within complex networks exposes the Marche region to a growing risk of peripheralization.
A clear sign of this process is represented by the progressive loss of local control of strategic functions by leading companies in numerous sectors – from mechanics to fashion, from logistics to shipbuilding, up to finance and credit – often in conjunction with changes in company ownership.
Countering these signs of slowdown and marginalization requires a significant leap in the governance of social and economic relations, both in the private and public sectors. The shift from endogenous development, whose driving force appears to be fading, to coordinated development poses a significant challenge to the Regional Authority, which must increasingly assume the role of a body capable of guiding and accompanying transformation processes, including in the private sector.
To avoid getting trapped in the vicious circles of progressive decline we have identified in industry, which includes craftsmanship, the driving force, provided that businesses are enabled to capture the necessary innovative forces and spread them to other sectors of the economy and society.
The main tool to focus on is managerial and organizational skills not only in companies, but also in public administration and in leading its intermediate bodies.
In our opinion, investments should be concentrated on four strategic lines: organizational capacity, resource allocation, human capital, knowledge networks.
Within these strategic areas we indicate some possible intervention options, which must be adapted both to available internal resources and to the external constraints and pressures to which a small region is inevitably exposed. These are lines of action that require a clear and shared vision of what the region can become in the coming years. No single intervention is sufficient: each produces multiplier effects when acted upon together, even if not all are activated simultaneously. They require a shift in time horizons to the medium and long term and an assumption of responsibility by the regional leadership, which includes entrepreneurs, politicians, and administrators.
This responsibility also involves researchers, who are required to provide a documented diagnosis, highlight existing good practices, and stimulate discussion on viable alternative solutions.
We do not claim to be exhaustive nor to replace the decision-making role of businesses and politics., called to assume a broader leadership role, within the institutional limits of democratic representation.
It is possible that some lines of action have already been identified or initiated: however, we believe it is useful to recall them and include them in a concise and coordinated plan.
What's important is that the construction site be opened as soon as possible to avoid further delays and that it remain open for maintenance and any necessary route adjustments.
We recognize that this is a highly ambitious challenge, but we believe it is a necessary one, one that can only be met with intelligence, commitment, and trust. We are open to a constructive dialogue, which we hope will help restore the region's ability to be, as it has been in the past, a leader in its own development.
A clear sign of this process is represented by the progressive loss of local control of strategic functions by leading companies in numerous sectors – from mechanics to fashion, from logistics to shipbuilding, up to finance and credit – often in conjunction with changes in company ownership.
Piero Alessandrini, professor emeritus of economic policy at UnivPM
Marco Bentivogli, expert in innovation and labor policies
Charles Carboni, full professor of sociology at UnivPM
Marco Cucculelli, full professor of applied economics at UnivPM
Donato Iacobucci, full professor of applied economics at UnivPM
Frances Spigarelli, full professor of applied economics at UnivMC
LIST OF STRATEGIC LINES AND AREAS OF INTERVENTION
- Organizational skills of businesses and institutions
Without adequate managerial skills and organizational models, technology investments produce limited returns.
- Production repositioning projects
- Management strengthening plans for companies.
- Technology transfer governance.
- Management collaboration programs.
- Resource Allocation
Insisting on existing sectors without accompanying their structural transformation, compatible with varying levels of proximity and complementarity, ties up resources and reduces development opportunities. Likewise, pursuing specializations where the system is structurally lagging behind risks proving ineffective.
- Selective support for high value-added production trajectories.
- Value chain monitoring programs.
- Advanced Technology Integration Programs
- Human capital
Without adequate knowledge, skills, and the ability to govern innovation, no industrial strategy is sustainable; innovation—including artificial intelligence—produces effects only when embedded in an ecosystem that integrates training, research, and technology transfer.
- Training course coordination actions
- Integrated Talent Re-entry Package
- Distributed cognitive infrastructures.
- Centrality in knowledge networks
The external connections that once supported regional development are weaker or severely compromised. Rebuilding, governing, and strengthening them is essential in an economy increasingly based on knowledge, networks, and long-term relationships.
- Structured program of events and initiatives
- Government of polycentrism.
- Managerial role of the Public Administration.
