In the third quarter of 2017 industrial production in Veneto recorded a +2,6% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of +3,3% on an annual basis: for companies that have "resisted" on international markets the great crisis of 2008 seems - albeit with some distinctions - definitively archived.
In the face of comforting signals, he observes Matthew Zoppas, president of Confindustria Veneto, «despite many positive signs, in fact, there is the risk of possible fluctuating trends. There is still a lot of caution and a confirmation in this sense is the dynamics of the employment fallout, which is still slowing down».
Confindustria Veneto and Fondazione Nord Est have revised the financial statements of 13.326 companies in the Northeast, from all sectors, with revenues exceeding 3 million euros. «A dichotomy emerges. There are 25% of companies whose revenues grow by more than 15% (2016 compared to 2015); but then there is another 32,8% who see their revenues decrease. It is in fact a patchy recovery, in which it is difficult to answer the question "which sectors are doing better", because if it is true that some trends at the aggregate level remain, compared to the past they are decidedly weaker. In sectors in difficulty, one discovers dynamic companies that grow with significant profitability and the opposite».
The divergence mainly concerns profitability and the ability to create added value: exports, innovation of processes and products, training, the ability to link the value chains are the "maps" of the new manufacturing frontier in the Northeast.
«Among the main development factors is the return on investment by businesses which, thanks to reforms such as Industry 4.0. – continues the leader of the Veneto industrialists – they are equipping themselves with new technologies to achieve product and process innovations. The competitive game is not played on the ground of the lowest prices, but of the most advanced technologies and human capital. This is why the relaunch of investments, also in training, is a necessary step to recover competitiveness on national and international markets. There is, however, a mass of companies that have not had the economic energy necessary to keep up and that continue to need concrete help to survive».
The the industrial fabric of the Veneto therefore lives in a season of strong "polarisation" of the economy, of work and of knowledge: with companies that innovate, that are on foreign markets, that grind profits and are looking for medium-high specialization professionals and a residual part of companies that, working only in the domestic market, cannot find adequate economies of scale.
It is the photograph of the “new” industrial Veneto that it also offers Daniel Marini, professor of Sociology of economic processes at the University of Padua and one of the most profound connoisseurs of the "engine" of the Northeast.
«Traditionally the Veneto and the Northeast are devoted to relations with foreign markets and despite the "earthquake" of credit in the region, companies that have innovated at 360° establish record profits. Even the small companies included in the system of supply chains that work with foreign countries have hooked the recovery. The widespread fabric of "contractor" manufacturing and small suppliers "go abroad" precisely with the networks of supply chains, thanks to commercial relations with Italian companies capable of exploiting the opportunities of technology and globalization. There is no recent data, but the entrepreneurs are asking – beyond the “color” of the next government – to do not dismantle what has been done so far for Industry 4.0. and policies to support technological innovation".
