Table Of ContentLAURA GAVINELLI
BUSINESS STRATEGIES
AND COMPETITIVENESS
IN TIMES OF CRISIS
A Survey on Italian SMEs
Business Strategies and Competitiveness
in Times of Crisis
Laura G avinelli
Business Strategies
and Competitiveness
in Times of Crisis
A Survey on Italian SMEs
Laura Gavinelli
Di.SEA.DE, Dipartimento di Scienze
Economico-Aziendali e Diritto per l’Economia
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Milan , Italy
ISBN 978-1-137-57809-9 ISBN 978-1-137-57810-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-57810-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016942685
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To my grandmother, Anna Maria (Anita), whose smile accompanies me in
every important decision.
Forew ord I
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for the greatest
part of Italy’s national production, and are also highly signifi cant in other
countries as a proportion of the total number of fi rms and for the contri-
bution they can make to economic growth and competitiveness.
Th e book focuses on the relationship between business strategies and
competitiveness in Italian SMEs. Evidence is drawn from one of the most
productive contexts in Italy, the province of Monza and Brianza, through
a longitudinal analysis covering the period 2011–14 and an average of
900 SMEs for each year of the survey.
Given the themes that are considered, this book can be of interest to a
variety of readers, including scholars in the fi eld of management, under-
graduate and graduate students, entrepreneurs and executives, policy
makers, and institutions involved in support programs for SMEs.
For scholars and students, the literature review on business strategies and
competitive advantage, together with the analysis of Italian SMEs, their
peculiarities, and some of the main drivers of their competitiveness will be
of interest, giving a short though complete a concise overview on them.
Entrepreneurs and executives will fi nd the book useful as it combines
a rigorous research approach with a more pragmatic view of the issue of
competitiveness and its drivers, related to one of the most productive areas
in Italy. For this reason, it gives important insights into the strategic behav-
ior of SMEs when reacting to the current economic and fi nancial crisis.
vii
viii Foreword I
Policy makers and institutions will fi nd it useful to have an overview
of some of the main issues related to the growth and competitiveness of
SMEs, their needs and criticalities. Th is can enable them to plan their
support programs and services in order to be more eff ective and effi cient
in handling SMEs.
Angelo Di Gregorio
Full Professor in Management, University of Milano-Bicocca
Director of CRIET, Centro di Ricerca Interuniversitario
in Economia del Territorio
Forewo rd II
I ndustry constitutes a key component of the economic and social devel-
opment of any country. In Europe, each year the manufacturing sector is
responsible for 60 % of productivity growth, over 60 % of private invest-
ments in research and development, and almost 75 % of total exports.
Th e province of Monza and Brianza exemplifi es industrial excellence:
it is a highly manufacturing-oriented and resilient territory, where the
European target of 20 % of manufacturing value added is an established
fact.
Th e province of Monza and Brianza is currently the sixth most pro-
ductive industrial area in Europe and the third in Italy (behind only the
provinces of Brescia and Vicenza), with a value added in the manufac-
turing sector amounting to more than 7.4 billion euro per year. Despite
the current economic crisis, the manufacturing sector in Brianza, which
is largely characterized by family-owned SMEs, is still one of the most
productive regions in Italy.
Th e province of Monza and Brianza is fi rst in Italy in terms of value
added per employee in the manufacturing sector, at 75,000 euro. Th e
other provinces in Lombardy (Brescia, Bergamo, and Varese) follow at
some distance, with 60,000 euro of value added per employee. Moreover,
20.3 % of manufacturing enterprises in Monza and Brianza have charac-
teristics that qualify them as “resilient fi rms”—that is, fi rms whose pres-
ent turnover and profi tability exceed pre-crisis levels.
ix
x Foreword II
Th ese fi rms are concentrated in the region’s traditionally strong sec-
tors, such as mechanics, with 39 % of all resilient enterprises; wood and
furniture, with 14 %; and textiles and clothing, with 7.8 %. Chemicals,
with 6.8 % of all resilient fi rms, and the rubber and plastics sector, also
with 6.8 %, also have a large number of resilient and competitive busi-
nesses. In short, a highly diversifi ed manufacturing structure, based on a
mix of traditional and new sectors, represents one of the strong points of
the national export performance.
In the past fi ve years, the exports of Monza and Brianza have grown
by 20.6 %, compared with the average Italian growth rate of 18.4 %.
In absolute terms, in 2014 the manufacturing sector exported products
worth over 8.6 billion euro (approx. 35 % of the province’s gross domes-
tic product, or GDP, compared with a national average of 23 %). On
average, in relation to the resident population, our companies export
almost 10,000 euro per capita, against an Italian average of just over
6,200 euro—almost 60 % more.
In terms of international market penetration, almost 70 % of Brianza’s
manufacturing exports go to Europe. Germany, France, and Switzerland
alone account for almost 40 % of the total. In addition, 9 % of manufac-
turing exports go to the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China,
and South Africa). Th ese countries have prospective GDP growth of
6.7 % per year until 2020.
D espite the positive trend, there is—and this should be taken fully
into account—the need to catch up, because of the economic crisis but
also the inexorability of growth. Our manufacturing industry faces fi ve
challenges in the near future in order to keep abreast of international
competition:
• E stablish a new 21st-century manufacturing industry incorporating a
widely applicable “intelligent factory” model, characterized by adapt-
ability, effi ciency, and ergonomics.
• Implement an industrial policy that starts from high-density manufac-
turing areas, like ours.
• I nnovate, in order to grow in the knowledge economy and respond to
ever-changing production models.
Foreword II xi
• M ove toward internationalization to penetrate new emerging
markets.
• Keep skills and training up to date to continue to grow in the future.
Th is book helps us to understand that change is under way. If well
supported by proactive industrial policies and by local cross-fertilization
activities among large, small, and innovative startup fi rms, this change
will pave the way for a new and advanced development cycle.
Massimo Manelli
Vice General Director, Assolombarda Confi ndustria Milano,
Monza and Brianza, Director of Monza and Brianza area
