Produrre all'estero e fare profitti in patria: uno studio sulle imprese venete dell'abbigliamento e delle calzature

Information on the globalization of Italian companies is vast but incomplete and bitty. This work estimates some effects of delocalization on firm’s profits and value added for Veneto clothing and footwear firms. Through a direct survey on several companies and the estimate of a fixed effect model, we have estimated the “advantages” to a company brought about by the overseas delocalisation of some production phases. The increase in production moved abroad coincides with a significant net increase of both the per capita value added and the gross operative margin. These results seem to be in contrast with the idea that overseas outsourcing can only be a short-term answer to competitive pressures. However this is a measure which does not seem to have had any effect on the rate of production growth.