The sixteenth annual conference of the Friends of Aspen was held in the Art Nouveau surrounds of the main hall at the headquarters of the Philological Society of Milan. As well as offering the now customary opportunity to take stock of the group’s activities, the event also featured a debate on the fierce competition being faced in the global arena as a result of the emergence of key players from new geographical and cultural areas, and the sort of mechanisms that would enable Italian businesses to expand abroad and bear up against a financial shock whose effects are still being felt. It was acknowledged, however, that Italian firms have been making progress in this direction, as evidenced by a series of findings and comparisons contained in a study carried out by Mediobanca-Unioncamere, which was presented at the opening of the Conference proceedings.
Indeed, it was noted that in today’s world, the modes of industrial organization adopted are increasingly based on trade specialization and the formation of “groupings” of firms across which financial resource requirements are then spread. The so-called “fourth capitalism” model is gaining ground in Italy, giving rise to “light” industry networks which allow businesses to operate on the basis of low-capital consumption structures. The model held up as today being most suited to ensuring global success was thus one based on niche specialists with high product and technological innovation levels, equipped with a transnational supply chain but having a critical local foothold as a starting point.
It was stressed that in order to ensure that businesses are kept alive, efforts are needed to boost local-area industry development. To achieve this, the watchword remains innovation in terms of quality, customer service, and investment in R&D. Medium-sized Italian businesses form a dynamic part of Italy’s manufacturing base, nowadays generating 29% of value-added from the country’s entire manufacturing industry. This already significant contribution rises even further to 40-50% if the role of smaller firms in allied industries is taken into account. Indeed, in Italian industry, over three hundred thousand small business owners operate with firms of between two and fifty employees – a broad base that is highly diverse in its composition, ranging from an overwhelming predominance of micro-enterprises, to those that come within the medium-sized category and number in their thousands. All of them represent a vibrant and creative font of “knowhow” that is highly-regarded throughout the world, and more than two out of three of them export, putting Italy in a class of its own in international terms.
Based on this positive fact, the participants sought to come up with some suggested guidelines to steer and further progress the internationalization of SMEs, also exploring more effective ways that Italian institutions could contribute to this process.
Certain recent EU legislative measures, which invest resources in this area as well as in several organizations that have been more effective in building networks, were viewed by the participants as encouraging developments. Even bank lending practices with respect to businesses were felt to be showing signs of improvement, notwithstanding the concerns raised by the introduction of the Basel 3 regime.
It was conceded, however, that a certain amount of underlying bureaucracy persists, which, in the form of taxation that is not always as well-targeted as it could be, and inspection and penalty procedures that are often difficult to fathom, does nothing to help. Thus, in conclusion, it was generally agreed by the participants that great global opportunities exist, but that standing in the way of their exploitation are also several national obstacles which need to be bravely confronted and eliminated.