Le medium-sized businesses in the South continue to make great strides. In 2023 their turnover grew by 2,7% while in the Centre-North there was a decrease of 3,6%. export did even better, with a 4,4% increase compared to the 2,1% contraction of the Northern Mid-Caps. For 2024, the Forecasts remain encouraging: the South estimates a further increase of 2% for turnover and exports, while the Centre-North expects a decrease of 1,5% and 4% respectively.
these results emerge from the report "The competitiveness of medium-sized enterprises in Southern Italy between risk perception and innovation strategies” presented in Bari by the Study Area of Mediobanca, Tagliacarne Study Center e Unioncamere.
Technologies, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transition
A distinctive feature of the Southern Mid-Caps it is the push towards the innovation: 87,3% have invested or will invest in 2026 technologies by 4.0, compared to 82,1% of companies in the Center-North. In particular, 41,3% of companies in the South plan to adopt artificial intelligence solutions in the next three years, exceeding the 37,5% of their Northern counterparts.
These investments aim both to optimize existing activities and to develop new solutions, with particular attention to the digitalization of business processes (78,9% of companies).
Pnrr: trust yes, but bureaucracy slows down
Medium-sized enterprises in Southern Italy show a confidence more marked in the potential of the PNRR compared to their counterparts in the Center-North. Half of Southern companies (50%) believe that the Plan can significantly contribute to the economic growth of the country, compared to 43% elsewhere. Also with regard to the digital transition, 42,9% of companies in the South consider it a useful tool, exceeding the 41,1% of other areas. An even clearer gap emerges on the green transition front: 37,5% of companies in the South see the Pnrr as support for sustainable evolution, compared to 33,7% found in the rest of Italy. However, half of the companies highlight that excessive bureaucratic obstacles and implementation difficulties risk nullifying its benefits.
The puzzle of qualified personnel
Another brake on growth? The lack of specialized workers. Over 80% of medium-sized companies in the South reported difficulty in finding suitable professional figures in the last two years, compared to 42,8% in the Centre-North. To address this deficit, 33,3% of companies in the South aim to hire foreign workers within the next three years, mainly due to the scarcity of Italian candidates (61,9%) and young people (28,6%).
The female component is still marginal: the women represent just 12,4% of the workforce in medium-sized companies in the South, and only 3% occupy managerial positions.
Supply Chain Disruptions: 36% of Southerners Diversify Suppliers
Medium-sized enterprises in Southern Italy have been particularly affected by the supply chain disruptions: 36,4% have reported slowdowns in operations, compared to 18,3% of companies in the Center-North. To address this challenge, almost half are aiming to diversify suppliers, although less than companies in other areas (54,9%). A minority are trying to strengthen existing collaborations (28,6% in the South compared to 30,9% elsewhere), while replacing suppliers remains a less common solution, adopted by only 9,5% of Southern Mid-Caps compared to 7,8% of others.
Dynamism, but with fiscal ballast
From 1996 to 2022 the number of medium-sized enterprises in the South has more than doubled, going from 213 to 431 units. This leap compares with a much more modest increase of 13% recorded in the Center-North in the same period, where companies of the same size reached 3.600. Campania, Puglia e Sicilia lead this expansion with 114, 46 and 27 new Mid-Caps respectively. Despite representing only 0,5% of the southern entrepreneurial fabric, these companies generate 11,9% of the manufacturing added value of the region, with Puglia having 84 companies capable of producing 11,4% of the regional manufacturing value.
Between 2013 and 2022, the turnover of the Mid-Caps of the South grew by 71,2% (against 59,7% of the Centre-North), the productivity of 33,4% (vs 29,1%) and the competitiveness by 26 percentage points (+13,9 pp elsewhere), with an increase in employment of 29,6% (compared to 22,3%).
A growth that is surprising, considering that these companies are burdened by a average tax rate of 31,3%, higher than that of the Center-North (28,5%). If the tax gap were filled, the Mid-Caps of the South would have saved a good 220 million euros in a decade.
Comments
“The data confirm an interesting dynamism in the South that must be supported, also by encouraging the path undertaken by medium-sized businesses that are proving to be an important driver of economic development – said the president of Unioncamere, Andrew Priest -. However, there is concern about the excess of bureaucracy that risks hindering the growth path of the South and the difficulties in finding the right profiles to ride the complexity of the challenges of our times, starting with artificial intelligence”.
"The vitality of our Mezzogiorno is demonstrated by the doubling, in 27 years, of the number of medium-sized companies operating there. A figure that highlights the virtuous union between a part of our country that wants to achieve its own economic redemption and that form of entrepreneurship that has already contributed to the fortune of the rest of Italy", he declared Gabriel Barbaresco, director of the Mediobanca Research Area.
“The dynamism of medium-sized businesses shows, in a nutshell, that the era of 'small is beautiful' is over and today is probably the era of 'grow or exit' – underlined the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Bari, Luciana of Bisceglie -. Especially for medium-sized enterprises there are no univocal recipes but certainly one cannot, nor will it be possible, ignore a central role for medium-sized enterprises (almost always small ones that have become large), clearly addressing and with a strong commitment from the institutions the challenges of the employment mismatch with adequate investments, innovation and the ability to create a system, coordinating the ability to cooperate with a view to the general development of the South”.
