Over the past two decades, companies around the world have faced unprecedented challenges to survive in the rapidly changing global landscape. Traditional industries, such as manufacturing, services, and transportation, have had great difficulty in competing. In 2000, General Motors, Ford Motors and General Electric were among the top five companies on the Fortune 500 list, published by the distinguished U.S. magazine. In 2020, replacing them are Amazon, Apple and CVS Heal-thcare. In fact, a new generation of companies is taking over; traditional companies need to pay close attention to this change.

They need to address a number of challenges in the areas of globalization, technological advances, workforce changes and new ways of doing business. Historically, traditional companies have focused on markets constrained to their own countries, but in an environment in which trade boundaries are blurred and global transportation infrastructure is growing rapidly, foreign competitors are advancing with cheaper products, gaining significant market share. Local companies must leverage their knowledge of the domestic market to produce better products and maintain stronger relationships with local customers.

In a world where technology evolves at an exponential rate, the most successful companies are those that adopt the latest technologies to develop efficiently and profitably. The advent of the Internet in the 1990s revolutionized communications: companies began to communicate efficiently with customers, suppliers and partners in real time. The pace of business accelerated exponentially. Digitization has turned much of our lives into a matter of seconds and minutes: for example, music, books, videos, manuals, technical drawings and more can be transmitted rapidly over the Internet. Meanwhile, an entirely new class of digital sensors drives the pervasive growth of the IoT (Internet of Things), in which automated digital data collection replaces laborious analog human data collection (e.g., on the production line). At the same time, the processing power of computers has increased exponentially (confirming Moore's Law) and is being used to transform collected digital data into useful information. Advances in machine learning and AI are resulting in intelligent machinery that is more productive (robotic process automation) or more efficient (self-driving cars). Traditional companies need to transition to the digital world as soon as possible to compete with the new generation of companies that have already gone digital.

The adoption of technology must be accompanied by a transformation in the organization of work, and from traditional structures, often consisting of familiar hierarchies in Italy, there must be a shift to more agile organizations. Because the world is changing rapidly, in order to adapt quickly, it is critical that the workforce have a mindset that is open to growth ("let's be open to new and better ways") rather than a rigid way of thinking ("it's always been that way"). An organization that is driven by a spirit of growth and willing to engage with new skills learns more quickly and can understand and implement the latest market and technology trends in order to provide the customer with exactly what they want, profitably.
Finally, companies need to pay attention to new ways to cut costs and make money from technological advances and collected data. Indeed, data analysis could reveal inefficiencies in production, or operational, processes that can be eliminated. Such analysis also could identify new features or products that customers want and would be willing to pay for. Amazon, Apple, and CVS He-alth have leveraged technology and an open mindset for growth to advance and catapult themselves to the top of the Fortune 500. Both emerging and traditional companies need to pay attention to this.

This book provides valuable insights, nuts and bolts, and frameworks based on the Lean Digital approach used by companies to move forward on their journey to adapt to a globalized, technology-driven world. If they can treasure it, Italian companies, especially traditional family-owned ones, will be in a better position and condition to become stronger and more profitable, and compete and thrive in today's world.

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