Date:
2025-09-25
Reading time:
Authors:
Andrea Ingallinera (Equity Partner BIP) Paolo Federici (Equity Partner BIP) Marco Bertoli (Partner BIP) Fabrizio Arena (Partner BIP)
Evolving to Stay Competitive: Why Change Is No Longer Optional
Evolving to stay competitive: why change is no longer negotiable?
The global industrial landscape is experiencing an unprecedented acceleration, marked by figures that speak for themselves. In India, in August 2025, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reached 59.3, the highest level since 2008, supported by a production growth of +7.7% year-on-year. In contrast, in the United Kingdom, the PMI fell to 47.0, marking the eleventh consecutive month of contraction.
Such divergent contexts remind us that the present is no longer fluid: it is polarized, uncertain, and demands different, calibrated, and timely responses.
On the technological front, large companies are driving concrete acceleration in transformation. Nvidia, for example, announced the creation of production facilities in the United States (in Arizona and Texas) covering over one million square feet, with a total investment of up to $500 billion over the next four years, entirely dedicated to AI infrastructure and advanced supply chains.
Today, the real question is not whether to transform, but how to do so—and, above all, with which priorities.
One of the first concerns the reassessment of markets/geographies, both commercially and in terms of supply. In an increasingly fragmented world, yet demographically growing, aggregate demand does not disappear: it relocates. If some markets contract or become unstable, others emerge or strengthen. Evaluating and balancing geographic exposure thus becomes an essential lever to contain systemic risks and seize new opportunities.
The third direction, perhaps the most structural, is people. Even amid full automation, the human factor remains essential. Time freed by technology must be reinvested in higher-value activities: not to increase workloads, but to cultivate well-being, learning, and creativity. This perspective focuses not only on productivity but also on the quality of work and the ability to create motivating, inclusive contexts that foster skill development.
Based on these directions, some challenges common to many industrial contexts arise: how to set transformation priorities with limited resources? How to avoid dispersion among disconnected initiatives and build coherent, scalable, and lasting interventions? How to structure ecosystems—technological, regulatory, educational—that make AI adoption sustainable at an industrial scale, without creating inequalities or negative side effects?
A systemic response is needed, going beyond the individual company logic. Adaptation cannot be an isolated exercise: it must become a shared pact among companies, institutions, and territories. Coordination and vision are required, also involving public action: from regulatory simplification to selective incentives, from energy infrastructure to the integration of industrial policies at the European level.