What makes European industry competitive?

“Industry is the core of our economy and the basis for healthy regions across Europe. We must do everything we can to strengthen European industry. This includes an ambitious industrial strategy by the European Commission” said BusinessEurope Director for Industrial Affairs, Alexandre Affre, during a policy dialogue organized by the European Policy Centre, about what matters to make European industry competitive. On this occasion Assolombarda also presented their recent study “The performance of European firms: a benchmark analysis”, which builds on a comprehensive survey of 650 companies in the most dynamic regions of Europe. This study emphasizes that where industry is strong, the region greatly contributes to EU value added. It also indicates what makes a firm a top performer. A management of human resources that remunerates individual productivity through bonuses, a medium to high level of firm’s digitalization, the protection of intellectual property through patents and a high degree of participation at Global Value Chains (GVCs) are the specific traits associated to top performing firms. Read more