Multinational Strategies and Outward-Processing Trade between Italy and the CEECs: The Case of Textile-Clothing

The paper is focused on the internationalisation process of the Italian firms within the textile-clothing industry. According to the economic literature on this topics, the Italian industry, as well as the textile-clothing sector, seem to be a follower, as far as the internationalisation process is concerned. Only since the Nineties, the international pattern of growth of the textile-clothing sector is strictly linked to the delocalisation of production and the creation of foreign affiliates. Within this contest, the Outward-Processing Trade (OTP) played a major role: the increase of the OTP data from 1991 to 1998 is very strong, especially if the consider the geographical area of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). Among the CEECs, the Italian firms are mainly linked to Rumania. Our paper confirms the complementary existing among the different types of internationalisation tools.