This survey is included within the 2006 Reoport by Unioncamere

In the recent survey by Unioncamere, realised by its Centre Study, having as main topic the actual economy of our Country, emerges a specific research (1) on the competitiveness degree of Italian enterprises. The special feature of this survey is to stress a peculiar fact: within the worldwide list of Countries’ competitiveness rate (2), Italy holds the same position than Botswana. Considering that Botswana is a South African Country, considering that its territory is double than Italy, but housing just a million and six hundred thousands inhabitants and considering that since its independence from the United Kingdom (1966) showed one of the most rapid worldwide growth rate, it would be useful to carry out some considerations on the meaning of the word “competitiveness” and in regards its value within our Country.

First of all, through competitiveness we mean the ability of a Country to sell its production of goods outside its own borders. For what concern the Italian industry’s overall performance, considering floating moments of over and under evaluation of our currency, during the period 1996-2004, the growth of our export has been of the 38%, this both in Dollars and Euros. The result is encouraging, even if it is well below the worldwide economic growth recorded in the same period, which marked a rise of the 70%. This trend is confirmed also from the first 2005 data, which highlighted a growth of our exports of 45%, against 92% of the global ones. This does not mean that our competitiveness is declining, on the opposite, it is showing that along these years our system realised a meaningful progress. Worldwide exports, in fact, manifest a higher growing rate, because of emerging competitive economies of poor countries, first of all China and India, which in 1996 covered the 3.4% of the worldwide total exports, but during 1996-2005 concurred for 13% to the worldwide market. Therefore, in order to rightly size our competitiveness is important to keep comparing ourselves with Countries of ancient development: in such a scenario, the United States and Japan grew of 45%, the United Kingdom of 46% (which is a value similar to ours), France of 50%, Spain of 73.5% and Germany of 85%. This makes possible to affirm that, with respect to European competitors, Italy presents within the same period, lower dynamics, showing, then, a minor competitiveness degree. It would be appropriated, thus, to take in exam what are our productive system characteristics, to underline weakness and strengths.

The above-mentioned study highlights that, from 1996 to 2004, Italian export trend sees emerging two categories of enterprises: those of middle dimensions and foreign multinational branches. Concerning the lasts, it is important to underline that in most cases they exploit a commercial organisation managed by the controlling companies, and therefore, export intensity and they possibly do not depend from the Italian units. The matter is different for middle sized enterprises, strongly rooted to the local territory, which competitiveness is due mainly by the creation and protection of markets’ niches for variegated products, thanks to the Made in Italy. In fact, our enterprises showed to be much more indifferent to fluctuating changes. Moreover, rather than isolated entities, they are strictly linked to a substantial number of (small) suppliers, which represent one of the most important factor of their competitive advantage. The number of this typology of enterprise, in addition, keeps rising, because of the fall SMEs’ of employees and because of the reduction in the dimension, and then in employment rates, of large enterprises.

At this point could be useful understand which are the Italian productive areas, discerning, according with the productive nature, between district areas and large enterprises. On the data ISTAT basis, between 1996 and 2005, Italian exports, in euros, grew of the 42.7% and the district area development (45.4%) exceeded of almost 12 percentage points the large enterprises one (33.6). Provinces including both enterprise typologies (district and large enterprises ones), on the contrary, registered a higher fluctuation (+74%), contributing, however, only to the 3% of the Italian export rate. Finally, Provinces with a high concentration of medium sized enterprises registered a growth as much as 53.9%. Therefore, this demonstrates from the one hand the medium-sized enterprise competitiveness, and from the other the frailty of areas characterised by the settlement of large enterprises.

Moreover, table1, allows reviewing the 13 Provinces, which realised the higher export volumes (it means to say the ones that cover more than the half of the Italian overall). Among these, it is possible to notice that only two of them have a large enterprise vocation (Milan and Turin), while others, which on 2005 outstripped the €6 billions in exported goods, belonged all to the district kinds and, among these, Treviso Province stands out as the eighth one. From data analysis emerges, how it has been realised the larger development of abroad selling by district areas where the light industry prevails.
To finish, the scenario outlined above allows to assess that the Italian industrial system did not lose its competitiveness in foreign markets and it finds its strengths to support its competitive advantaging position at the global level within medium-sized enterprises and industrial districts.

(1) F.Coltorti: 2006: Unioncamere Report, p. 137 and following.

(2) World Economic Forum Index

Daniela Bruniera
"L'Economia della Marca Trevigiana", n.4 -2006