Subcontracting in Italian industry. Labour division, firm growth and the North-South divide

Anna Giunta (1) , Annamaria Nifo (2) , Domenico Scalera (3)

1 Department of Economics [Roma 3]
2 Università del Sannio - Facoltà di Economia
3 Università del Sannio - Facoltà di Economia

Subcontracting firms represent a significant portion of the Italian manufacturing industry. Focusing on the second half of '90s, this paper aims at understanding a) whether and how subcontracting has affected firms' growth; b) the role of propensity to innovate in the growth of subcontracting firms and c) the joint influence of subcontracting and location in Southern Italy on growth. The main results are that i) subcontracting does not penalize firm growth and the relationship between subcontracting and growth shows a reversed U-shape; ii) subcontracting is a positive determinant of growth when coupled with propensity to innovate and iii) in Southern Italy subcontracting is associated with poorer performances and slower growth.

Mots clés: Social Sciences & Humanities

Domaines: Science politique

Anna Giunta, Annamaria Nifo, Domenico Scalera. Subcontracting in Italian industry. Labour division, firm growth and the North-South divide. Regional Studies, 2011, pp.1. ⟨10.1080/00343404.2011.552492⟩. ⟨hal-00686086⟩