Previous research demonstrates that entrepreneurial processes underpin the growth of business groups. A business group is a set of companies controlled by the same entrepreneur. Case studies of portfolio entrepreneurs suggest that one of the main reasons for business group formation is the need...

Cainelli G., Iacobucci D. and Morganti E. (2006) Spatial agglomeration and business groups: new evidence from Italian industrial districts, Regional Studies 40, 507-518. This paper is a first attempt to analyse the relationship between spatial agglomeration and firms' organizational structures....

Recent empirical research has demonstrated that the growth process of entrepreneurial firms is frequently achieved through the formation of business groups: i.e. a set of companies run by the same entrepreneur (or entrepreneurial team). This has been hypothesised as result of a growth process by...

Vertical integration, i.e. the control of activities along the production chain, is a fundamental issue for understanding firms’ strategic choices and production organization. In this paper we analyze the determinants of vertical integration in Italian manufacturing firms testing some...

This paper is a first attempt to analyse the relationship between spatial agglomeration and firms’ organizational structures. It takes advantage of a large data set on Italian business groups that allowed us to analyse the differences in the presence and characteristics of business groups...

Over the last few years a growing number of contributions have shown that the presence of business groups, i.e. sets of firms legally distinct but belonging to the same owner(s), is significant. From a theoretical point of view, this presence poses the question of whether the group or the single...