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Abstract:
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The competitiveness of the Italian industrial system during this last decade has shown a strong slowdown. Following the Istat Annual Report (2007), to compete in international markets Italian firms reduced their costs instead of fostering on innovation and investments. The Italian firms' performance has been strongly influenced by small size and by sector activities (traditional sectors like textile, leather, food etc.). Indeed, during the last decade, the firms' performance did not improve and only large size enterprises, micro-firms and some specific sectors (the so called "Made in Italy" sectors) positively reacted to the economic crisis. To analyze this phenomenon, it is necessary to investigate, at firm and sector level, the factors affecting competitiveness. The aim of this paper is to investigate the competitiveness of "Made in Italy" firms using a multilevel longitudinal model.
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