Istat focuses on the competitiveness of Italian companies. And it does so with a report, the first of its kind, which builds a detailed information framework on the structure, performance and dynamics of the Italian production system. It's called “First Istat report on the competitiveness of the productive sectors – Performance and internationalization strategies of Italian companies” and it was presented today at the Roman office of the statistical agency.
“The leitmotiv of this report – said Istat president Enrico Giovannini – is the concept of information integration. Since there are many and various forms of macrodata, we wanted to focus on microdata and, to do so, we had to join forces with those of others". In this sense it speaks of integration: the database of the report was born from the union and processing of data from different realities and from different entities. "Only in this way can we analyze the behavior of our companies - he continued - and understand their strengths as well as possible areas for improvement". The database from which Istat starts integrates information on the methods of internationalization of Italian companies (export and import of goods and services by geographical area of destination and origin, number of exported and imported products, control by foreign companies or on foreign companies) with those relating to the structural characteristics of the production units (economic activity sector, size, geographical location) and to the main items of the income statement (turnover and production, intermediate costs, labor costs, value added).
The report aims to investigate the internationalization of Italian companies and on the cause-effect relationship with competitiveness and growth on the market. “Especially in times of crisis, talking about internationalization is important – said Matteo Bugamelli of Banca D'Italia – because internal demand is very weak and only companies that have an eye towards the outside can survive”. Exports are an important component in measuring Gross Domestic Product; just think that in 2011 net exports had an impact on GDP of 1,4 percentage points (the balance of trade was influenced by both the drop in domestic demand and therefore imports and by the increase in exports). “The information that emerges from this report – said the economist Giorgio Barba Navaretti – is important because it finally helps us to understand the link between the competitiveness of Italian companies and their characteristics. We have the bad habit of always focusing on the negative things of our country and never on the strengths. This Istat report helps us to do it”.
Some conclusions of the report. Firms that internationalize have more possibilities of increasing their competitiveness, make use of two particular strategies (product and price containment) and have to face two main problems (high production costs and difficulty in accessing credit). Sectoral specialization is of little relevance for the purpose of investigating who internationalises and who does not; the size of the company is always a brake on competitiveness and above all on the ability to be exposed to the foreign market.
The companies analyzed between 2007 and 2010 are over 90.000 and operate on foreign markets. Between 2007 and 2010, even in the presence of a reduction in the total number of companies in the sample that have commercial or productive relations with foreign countries (about 5 units, with an employment base of about 315 employees), the companies present in both years they show a general shift towards more evolved forms of internationalization: 12,3 per cent of the sample of companies considered in the analysis (just over 7 companies) made transitions towards less evolved types, while over 18 per cent one hundred (about 10.500 units) has moved towards more complex typologies on the internationalization scale.
Attachments: Istat - First report on the competitiveness of Italian companies
