Competitive advantage now hinges on the ability to integrate emergent technologies
This abstract shows the core results of a scientific paper that will be presented at ICECH2025 13th International Conference on Emerging Challenges: BUSINESS DYNAMICS IN DISRUPTIVE ECONOMY | 31 October – 1 November, 2025 | Phu Tho, Vietnam https://icech.hust.edu.vn/category/show/id/1
The global yachting industry combines high-value manufacturing, advanced naval architecture, and luxury service, spanning from compact leisure craft to custom-built superyachts.
Over the last thirty years, globalization and digitalization have reshaped markets, supply chains, and vessel lifecycles, elevating the role of data-driven technologies in performance, sustainability, and client experience.
Competitive advantage now hinges on the ability to integrate emergent technologies – such as IoT-based monitoring, digital twins, and AI-driven automation – while navigating high capital costs, environmental imperatives, and cybersecurity risks. This chapter investigates how sector-wide digitalization translates into firm capabilities and how smart-system integration affects performance and risk outcomes.
Two research questions guide the analysis:
(RQ1) How do industry trends translate into firm-level adoption pathways, governance, and capability building for smart-system integration (skills, data infrastructure, supplier ecosystems)?
(RQ2) What operational, customer-value, environmental, and risk outcomes accompany smart-system integration, and through which mechanisms (interoperability, data governance, human–machine teaming)?
The study combines literature review, sector trend analysis, and a single-case study conducted in 2025, using interviews with a CEO, technical staff, and industry representatives, alongside the experience of the author as General Manager of the company, technical specifications and internal company documents.
The case highlights Italy’s leadership in the high-end segment and the tension between digitization and traditional craftsmanship. It concludes with identifying obstacles – notably skill gaps – and policy implications for workforce upskilling, cybersecurity, and governance to support scalable digital transformation in the yachting sector.