The Competitiveness of the Italian Manufacturing Industry: an Attempt of Measurement

The economical crisis affected in particular regions focused on manufacturing specializations. Considering the important role played by Italy in this industry, this paper aims at providing a measure of the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry at regional level, focusing on positioning of Piedmont, a manufacturing vocation region. Despite the important role played by Italian manufacturing, literature concerning the creation of a synthetic regional index of this type of competitiveness is practically nonexistent. The paper bridges this gap throughout the development of a global index of regional competitiveness of the manufacturing industry. Methodology consists in a systematic analysis of drivers supported by literature at the base of the competitiveness of the regional manufacturing industry and in the validation of results by means of three focus groups composed of 30 stakeholders belonging to different organizations in two phases (Delphi method). Results show a system of measure based on eight competitive drivers, and its application to the Italian and Piedmont system highlights a strong heterogeneity among regions; this shows how Italian manufacturing industry depends on a few highly competitive regional systems and emphasizes the first position of Piedmont in this field. The creation of a ranking of the Italian regional systems on the base of the competitiveness of their manufacturing industry allows to draw important developing strategies. Main limits of this research involve the level of exhaustiveness of drivers and indices, chosen throughout criteria of relevance, transferability, and accessibility.